A Different Shade of Violet? (26 page)

“I’m right here with you,” I say and caress his cheek. His eyes shoot open and his hand rushes up to grab mine on his face.

“Fuck, Vee?” he asks looking right at me, all the life and sparkle I can see are clearly visible in his eyes.

“I’m right here—”

“You’re alive?” he asks looking at me and reaching out to touch my cheek as a tear falls from my eye.

I nod and smile as I suppress a happy sob. “I’m fine, I’m right here with you,” I say and he relaxes like he’s relieved.

“When I saw the Dogs at the cabin. Fuck! That was the worst moment of my life. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” he asks as his eyes run over me and then he notices my bruised collarbone and cut forehead. “Shit, they did hurt you didn’t they?” he asks caressing my cheek.

“Not as bad as they hurt you,” I say resting my hand on his chest.

He looks down and exhales. “They shot me?” he asks and I nod.

“Three times. You were such a hero,” I reply and he shakes his head and I see his eyes well up.

“I was so scared when I saw the Dogs. I knew I couldn’t stop them from getting to you. Jesus Vee, I thought as soon as I saw them that they were going to get to you and that I’d failed in protecting you again. I thought you’d be dead for sure. That moment of realisation hit me so hard, Vee.”

“Shh, it’s okay. I’m okay.” I can see he’s starting to get worked up about it.

“No, listen baby, I thought I was going to lose you forever. I thought they were going to kill you or worse torture you and God knows what else. I honestly thought I’d lost you and now here you are, like some fucking Angel and I know, I just know it now,” he says as a tear runs down his face.

“Hey, it’s okay really, I’m fine,” I reiterate caressing his cheek. He shakes his head like I’m not listening to him.

“No, you’re not hearing me, Vee. I love you. I fucking love you so much and the thought of being without you killed me. I can’t do it, I can’t do this,” he says and my heart constricts on itself and implodes.

He can’t be with me, is that what he’s saying?

Fresh tears prick my eyes as I see Hudson’s panic in front of me. He doesn’t want me here, he can’t handle being around me. So I take my hand from his face and try to stop myself from crying in front of him. He doesn’t want me and I completely understand why.

“I’m sorry, I’ll leave,” I whisper and he furrows his brows and goes to sit up, wincing in pain and flopping back down to the bed. He grabs my hand and shakes his head.

“No Vee, stop.”

I turn back to look at him as my heart is splintering into a million tiny shards. The worst outcome is happening right in front of me. We survived this, but he still doesn’t want me.

“I’m sorry you got shot because of me, but I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want,” I whisper and look down at my lap.

“What?” he asks and I look up at him and he looks distraught.

“I’ll leave,” I say and he shakes his head pulling my hand to his chest over his heart.

“Don’t you ever leave, Vee. That’s what I’m trying to say, if you’ll stop and listen,” he says and then winces. He’s breathing too fast. I look at him and notice we’re both crying. “I love you. I love you so fucking much, Vee. I can’t do it. I can’t keep pretending like we aren’t meant to be together because, after everything we’ve been through, after both of us surviving a Mad Dog attack, we’re still here and in love.”

I start to really cry as I realise he isn’t saying he can’t be with me, he’s saying that he can’t
not
be with me.

“I love you, I have always and will always love you, Hudson,” I say and lean up even though the pain is killing me and I kiss his lips softly.

He relaxes and his lips mould against mine. And I feel like I’m home.

He breaks the kiss and caresses my cheek. “I don’t care about your job and I don’t care about Cupiditas. Fuck what people think! I’ll leave the force, I don’t care. I won’t be apart from you anymore, Vee. Be with me?” he asks and I nod my head and cry a fresh river of tears.

“Of course, I’ll be with you. I never really stopped, but don’t make any decisions now, we can talk about it later when you’re fully recovered,” I say and he smiles and pulls me down for another kiss. His lips caress mine tenderly and then he slowly pulls away.

“Vee, what happened with Mad Dog?” he asks suddenly looking terrified. I notice his heart rate going up on the monitor, so I decide to avoid the question. He’s only just woken up fully, he doesn’t need to know the extent of the damage Mad Dog inflicted on me.

“Shh babe, you just rest. We don’t need to talk about that now. Let’s wait till you’re functioning a little better, okay? Just rest, please? I don’t want you exerting yourself.”

He swallows hard and nods. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

I run my fingers through his hair. “And I’m so glad you’re alive and awake. I missed you,” I say.

“How long have I been in here for?”

“Two weeks and you’ve had surgery, but I’ll let the doctors explain all of that. I don’t really understand it all.”

We both stare at each other when there’s a knock on the door. We both look up toward the door to see Denzel and Macca standing there. I look back at Hudson and he smiles waving them in. Denzel smiles at me while Macca frowns and shakes his head.

“Fuck dude,” Macca says as Denzel pulls out a chair for them both. “The guard told us you were awake, so we thought we’d come in to see how you’re doing. You look like shit and Vee… you’re in a fucking wheelchair?” Macca says somberly.

“What?” Hudson says looking at me and trying to sit up again. “Fuck,” he says and I push him back down to the bed. “Vee, you’re in a fucking wheelchair? What did they do to you?”

“It’s just a small leg injury, I’m going to be fine,” I say glaring at Macca.

Denzel slaps Macca on the back of the head as Hudson runs his hands over his face.

“I should’ve tried harder. I should’ve shot all the fucking bastards—”

“Stop Hudson! I’m okay, I promise,” I say and he takes my hand in his as I can see his eyes welling.

“Sorry man, I thought you knew,” Macca says and Hudson puffs his cheeks out in frustration.

“It’s good to see you fully awake, Stone. We’ve all been pulling for you,” Denzel says. “Just so you know, the entire MC is in custody. For some reason, Mad Dog has decided to rat and he’s told us everything. So him and his cronies will be going away for a long, long time. We got them Stone, we finally got them! One of them… Chops I think his name was, was incriminated by Mad Dog as being the murderer of Adam and Doug. We got the bastard Stone, we got him,” Denzel gushes and my breath catches at the look in Hudson’s eyes. He looks relieved and like he’s in pain all at the same time. I squeeze his hand and he looks at me shaking his head.

“I hope they all fucking rot in jail. Adam and Doug didn’t deserve what they got, and neither did Vee or anyone who came into contact with those evil fuckers. I’m so happy right now. I just hope I am out in time to see their trials,” he says and I caress his hand knowing that he probably won’t be.

“I hear they’re discharging you today, Violet?” Denzel asks and I nod watching Hudson.

“Wait you’ve been in here for two weeks as a patient too?” Hudson asks and I nod. He exhales and shakes his head.

“You don’t have to tell me now, but I do want to know what they did to you,” he says and I nod.

“The only problem is now I won’t be here all the time, so I’m going to have to taxi from Prospect to Flinders every day to be with you Hudson. “

“Can’t you drive?” he asks and I shake my head.

He huffs and rests his head back onto his pillow. “Fucking Dogs,” he mutters.

“What I really want is to be able to stay here. I don’t care if I have to sit in a chair all day and night, I just want to be by your side. After thinking you were dead, I don’t want to be away from you any more than I have to.”

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Denzel says and stands abruptly and walks from the room.

I look at Hudson and then at Macca and we all have the same confused look on our faces.

“That was weird,” Macca says and walks over to Hudson. “Anyway I’m glad you pulled through, mate. Even though I tease the fuck out of ya, you’re still one of my best mates and I never want to see you hurt.”

“Are you going all soppy on me, lieutenant?” Hudson asks making Macca and I both laugh.

“Fuck no! I was just being nice in front of your missus,” he says with a smirk and goes and sits back down on his chair.

“So, I’m your missus am I?”

Hudson smiles at me. “I think you never stopped,” he says and I smile leaning in to kiss him softly.

“Get a room,” Macca calls out and we both laugh as Denzel comes back in with a nice looking lady, her skin the same chocolate tone as his and she is stunning.

“I thought I would get someone to check on you, but I also wanted to introduce you to Victoria—”

“Vicki,” she says with a smile.

“Vick, is my wife and the head of the Surgical Ward,” Denzel tells us.

“Oh, hey Vicki, nice to see you again,” Hudson says and I smile at her and shake her hand.

“I hear you want to stay here, but you’re being discharged from the hospital Violet, is that right?”

I nod and smile. “Yeah, I really don’t want to leave Hudson’s side. I know there are visiting hours and things, but I honestly don’t want to leave him. Especially now, he’s awake.”

She looks at Denzel and she frowns and he looks at her sideways enticing her to say yes.

“I promise I won’t get in the way,” I say as Hudson holds my hand tightly.

“I don’t know, it really is against hospital regulations.”

“Vicki, please. I thought I’d lost Vee forever. I don’t want to spend a second away from her, especially when I can’t protect her. I’m completely useless like this and I don’t want to feel like less of a man than I already do. You don’t want me to feel like less of a man do you, Vicki?” Hudson asks and the rest of us smirk at his coercion.

“C’mon Vick, for me? Hudson and Vee need this,” Denzel asks.

“And what do I get out of this, huh? Other than a headache if the head of the hospital finds out,” she says smirking.

“How ‘bout I take some time off when Stone is back in action and we take that trip to Hawaii you always wanted?” Denzel says.

“Really? You’re not just saying it this time?” she asks tilting her head and creasing her brow like she doesn’t believe him.

“Really sweetheart, you do this for him and I’ll even make sure I turn off my phone when we go. Hell, I might even retire so we can go for longer, how about that?” he asks and I look at her face which is lit up like the spectacular giant ball in Times Square at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

“Seriously? You want to retire?” she asks looking around the room at all of us.

Hudson and Macca both look kinda shocked.

“Yeah, after this debacle I think I’m done with this life. The stress is giving me heartburn,” he teases.

“Sorry Chief,” Hudson says and Denzel smiles at him.

“I’m old honey. It’s time. Let me take you away from all this, but can you just do this one favour for us?”

“Okay fine, you can stay, but I can’t get you a bed or anything and when he leaves the Surgical Ward I’ll make sure you can stay in the ward with him too. Only because Jim thinks so highly of you. And don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“If I could stand I would hug you right now.”

“Oh honey, no need for that. I would’ve let you stay anyway. I just wanted my holiday,” she says smirking at her husband whose real name is Jim. Who would have thought?

He shakes his head as she walks over to Hudson and checks his obs. “You’re doing well, Hudson. You’ll be out of the Surgical Ward before you know it. Just stop thrashing about all the time and opening up your wounds.”

I think I love her!

“Yes ma’am. I’ll do anything you want me to from now on. Thank you. I really appreciate you helping us like this.”

“Anything for young love,” she says and walks toward Denzel kissing him on the cheek.

“I still want my holiday,” she says with a chuckle.

He nods and smiles at her so lovingly it makes my heart flutter as she walks out the door.

“So you’re totally playing favourites Chief,” Macca says and we all laugh and then Hudson and I both frown from the pain. He takes my hand and smiles at me. And right now I’m the happiest I’ve been since I was told Hudson was alive. And at this moment, even though they’re two other people in the room, Hudson is staring at me with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes. And right now I know with every fibre of my being that Hudson and I are going to be one hundred percent okay.

I’m sitting in this God awful chair, the same one I’ve been in for three weeks since Hudson woke up. He’s asleep right now and his recovery is driving me insane. I just want him happy and healthy. He seems to be in good spirits and the doctor says that he’s doing really well and should, hopefully, only be in for another month and a half, which still seems like ages to me. I wish I could just take him home and look after him, but I guess that’s a little hard when I can’t even walk on my own.

Maybe he is better off here.

His family comes in to visit. I didn’t know, but they’ve been here every day since he came in, we just kept missing each other. But now that I’m basically living in Hudson’s room the day I was discharged I saw them again. Holden and Flynn were their usual boisterous selves. Bill and Fran were really nice to me even though they know my injuries and Hudson’s are related, but they haven’t been told what happened. Hudson and I want to keep Cupiditas from them, so we just told them Hudson was working on bringing the Dog’s down and they came after me to get to him. Brige cried when she saw me for the first time, and I cried with her. Seems like that’s all I do these days. My tough walls have shattered and evaporated and now I feel every emotion and I can’t seem to block them out anymore. Guess going through trauma will do that to you.

It’s getting close to dinner time and Hudson has been asleep for hours
.
I’m starting to wonder if he’s okay. But he does have up and down days. One day he’s awake all day and the next he’s asleep for hours on end. Today is one of those days, and even though I let him sleep so his body can heal, it still hurts knowing he’s so badly injured because of me.

I exhale as I rest my head back in the seat. I might get a quick sleep in before our dinner arrives. I close my eyes when I hear a commotion outside. My eyes shoot open wide and my heart starts to race as I hear a high pitched squeal and some men laughing. My body tenses while I look at Hudson as fear creeps into my chest.

They’re finally here for us!

I start to breathe fast and shallow as I watch the doorway waiting for the Dogs to enter.

They must be out on bail.

I hear another squeal and what sounds like running, when I see Brige come bursting into Hudson’s room followed by Holden, who is chasing her with a stuffed lizard toy.

“Help Violet, Holden’s being an idiot,” she says as she climbs up on the seat next to me.

My body relaxes and I exhale in relief as Hudson’s family walk in.

Guess I’m still a little on edge.
I wish I’d get over it, it’s been five weeks for God’s sake!

“Hey Brige, how was school today?” I ask as she leans over and wraps her arms around me. I embrace her back as tightly as I can with a broken collarbone and ribs. Luckily she knows how sore I am and she’s gentle with me, unlike the first time I saw her when she practically jumped on me.

“Booooring,” she says long and drawn out making me chuckle.

“Hey Vee,” Holden says as he walks in placing his hand on my shoulder followed by the rest of the family.

“Hey Holds, he’s been asleep for a while. Hopefully, he’ll wake up soon,” I say and he rolls his eyes.

“He can wake up now. Hey, fuck face wake up,” he says nudging Hudson’s shoulder.

“Holden, stop that!” Fran berates as she walks in and smiles at me.

Hudson stirs and his eyes slowly open as he takes in his family that are now surrounding him.

“Hey guys,” he says while his mum walks over to his bedside.

“Hi darling, sorry to wake you.” She leans down and kisses his cheek.

“It’s okay, I think I’ve been boring today and slept for most of it. Sorry Vee.”

“It’s okay babe, you need your rest. Especially when Holden and Flynn come in making all that noise, you scared me half to death,” I joke and they both smile like they accomplished a goal.

“Well, you know us, we love to make a scene, don’t we, Brige?” Holden says forcing the stuffed toy lizard into her face causing her to squeal again.

“Stop it! Dude, this is a hospital, people are sick and shit,” Hudson says waking up fully.

“Yeah, we all know how sick and twisted you are, ya freak,” Holden teases.

“Shut up bro, you’re way more twisted than I am. What about that thing you did with Lucy in the pews at church when you were fifteen?” Hudson states as all heads shoot around to look at Holden with a raised eyebrows and shocked looks.

“Suck my ass you inbred puddle of piss. You said you’d never bring that up,” Holden replies with a dirty big smirk on his face.

“I’m your brother if I’m inbred what does that make you then, smartarse?” Hudson questions with a smirk.

“All right you two, shut up. Hudson needs to rest, not go back to memory lane with you, you freak,” Flynn says sounding sensible for once.

“You’re just jealous because Lucy’s sister wouldn’t do anything with you that day,” Holden says making Hudson laugh and then wince in pain.

“Jackarse, her sister has never looked at me the same. Why’d you have to stay with Lucy for the last fifteen odd year’s man?” Flynn asks.

I love his family and how well they get along. Sure they insult each other at every available opportunity, but I can tell it’s out of love not hate. It’s how they communicate, and I enjoy every second of it. I adore that despite Holden being a kid, he’s been able to stay in the same relationship for so long.

“Wait when did you guys ever go to church?” I ask and the guys all laugh.

“We didn’t. We would sneak in after the service and drink the sacrificial wine leftovers—”

“You did what?” Fran asks with the most disgusted look crossing her face. We all laugh and Brige looks at us like we’re all freaks. “How come I’ve never heard these stories before now?”

“Because Fran, if you knew half the things our boys have done you’d be ashamed of them,” Bill says and she huffs and folds her arms over her chest.

“I swear I don’t know how you boys managed to get so corrupted,” she says and Holden, Hudson, and Flynn all turn and look at their dad smirking.

“What?” Bill says and smirks himself.

“Right you guys are weird. Can you just give Huddy that stupid Lizard and get it away from me, please?” Brige says and Holden laughs shoving it in her face once more resulting in Brige slapping at Holden as he turns and walks over to Hudson and hands it to him.

“We thought you might be missing Lizzy, the lizard so we thought we’d bring her to you. Well, a replica anyway,” Holden says and he takes out his phone. “And here’s some pics of Midas. He’s doing great, he loves being at the workshop and runs around like he owns the bloody place,” he says swiping the screen to show Hudson a pic of Midas sitting in a sidecar of a motorbike.

He smiles brightly and then exhales like he’s sad.

“I do miss them, especially Midas. I can’t wait to see him. How’s the fish?” he asks and Brige stands up and races over to Hudson’s bed. “They’re great, I feed them every day and they swim together all the time, like side by side like they’re boyfriend and girlfriend or something. Can fish be in love?” she asks and I smile at Hudson.

“Yeah, I think they can, Brige. Make sure you feed them lots so they’re nice and fat for when I get home—”

“But not too much. Check the amount you’re feeding them, Brigitte. We don’t want you to over feed them. Be sensible with what you say, Hudson,” Fran says making me smirk at him.

“Sorry Mum, yeah Brige, not too much, okay?”

He’s such a tough, in control man and yet he still recoils like a little boy when his mother tells him off. It’s adorable!

“Okay,” Brige says and leans up kissing Hudson on his cheek.

“So what’s the prognosis, bro? When can we get you out of this shithole?” Flynn asks making me giggle.

“Not for a while yet. I still have a little trouble breathing, hence the air tubes hanging out of my nose, but I should be fine once I get out of here. Just a little bit less lung capacity so I might not be as sprightly as I once was, which sucks—”

“Especially for Violet. You’ll have to do all the ‘sexercise’ from now on,” Holden says and I blush as Hudson shakes his head.

“Holds, what’s sexercise?” Brige asks and we all laugh.

“It’s something a man and woman who are in love—”

“All right that’s enough,” Fran says putting her hands over Brige’s ears, which only makes the guys laugh more.

“I won’t have you corrupting Brige, not until she’s at least a legal adult,” Fran says with a smirk.

“Only eight years to go, Brige, and then everything we say will make sense to you,” Flynn says.

“But I’m old enough to know now!” Brige argues.

“Where is he?” we all hear a woman yell from the corridor as we look toward the door.

“What the hell?” Bill asks what we’re all thinking.

Suddenly a blonde bombshell runs into the room looking frantic. I look past Holden to see fucking bitch face, Cassie.

“H, are you in here?” she calls out making a scene.

“Here we go,” Holden says rolling his eyes as a sudden wave of anger surges through me.

“You have no right being here, Cassie,” I say feeling my entire body tense up.

“Oh, shut up! You’re the reason he’s in here you filthy whore. Can someone have this trash removed, please?” Cassie asks loudly out of the door as everyone in here shakes their heads including Hudson while I get angrier and angrier.

“Cassie, calm down,” Fran says resting her hand on her shoulder to placate her.

“Why are you here, Cassie?” Hudson asks gaining her attention.

“I came as soon as I heard. No one told me and I only found out from Lucy because no one else would answer my bloody messages,” she exhales. “H, why didn’t you call me?” she asks looking hurt, and for a brief second I feel sorry for her knowing she has no chance with him.

“Because I don’t want anything to do with you, Cassie. You’re nothing but a spiteful, manipulative bitch. Vee is who I’m with now and you just need to deal with it.”

“What? Seriously? You’re back with that? The filthy whore who dragged you through the gutter and broke your heart? What the hell is wrong with you?” she asks and walks up to his bed taking his hand in hers. He pulls his hand away and she exhales as I watch her ready to pounce, I don’t care how much it will hurt.

“Cassie, stop—”

“No, you stop! Stop and think about what you’re throwing away here, H. I’m perfect for you. I can look after you.
She
is the reason you’re in here in the first place and look at you, you’re a mess,” she exclaims as tears start to run down her face.

“C’mon Brige, let’s go outside,” Fran says taking her daughter from the room.

“After all I’ve done for you, Hudson. You can at least give me a chance to show you how much better for you I am than…
her,”
she says turning and glaring at me as she says the last word.

“Look Cass, I know you helped me a lot and I know you’re hurting right now, but you and me, we don’t fit. We never did! That’s why we broke up in the first place—”

“But H—”

“No buts, Cass. I’m with Vee and nothing you say or do is going to stop me from being with the woman I’m madly in love with. I’m going to marry her one day Cassie and you can’t stop that from happening.”

My eyes bulge just as wide as Cassie’s do, and she looks back at me, her lip curls up in disgust. She walks across to me and I stand up to face her putting all my weight on my good leg.

“Vee, sit down,” Hudson says glaring at me.

“You! You ruined everything,” Cassie spits at me.

“Actually you ruined it for yourself. Look at you, you’re crazy—”

“Vee!” Hudson tries to stop me, but I’m too angry to stop.

“No wonder he doesn’t want you. He’s a cop and they don’t deal too well with stalkers.”

She rolls her eyes. “Pah-lease, cops don’t deal too kindly to hookers either sweetheart or have you forgotten who you are?” she questions and Holden, Flynn, and Bill all look at me raising an eyebrow.

I exhale and shake my head. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” I say and she laughs.