The Sudden Love (Hudson Brothers #3)

by Emma Vikes

  “You’re probably right about that,” I answered, chuckling as she settled next to me with a blanket and I placed her laptop on her coffee table and picked a show for us to watch, “and I’m also probably going to fall asleep.”

  “Psh, you know you love anime as much as I do,” Alexa muttered and her eyes were glued on to the screen as the show began. All I could really do was stare at her and take in how insanely beautiful this woman was and how she affected me in a way that I’d never been affected by any girl before.

  Fifteen minutes into the show, someone knocked on her door and I got up, paid the delivery guy and then carried the box to where Alexa was. I placed it beside the laptop and handed her one slice since she was still too engrossed with the show to pay attention to anything else.

  “Alexa,” I called to get her attention when I saw sauce dripping down her chin, but she was too focused on the show to have any care for it. “Alexa!”

  “What?!”

  “What can I help you with?”

  Both of us stared at each other and then Alexa cackled in laughter when she realized it was the Alexa AI that had responded to me. But rather than telling her about the sauce on her chin, that she still didn’t seemed to have noticed, I thought of another idea.

  “Alexa, play a slow song,” I said in an even voice and Alexa stared at me, her eyebrows furrowed. I reached for the slice in her hand and placed it back in the box, took a tissue and wiped her hands and face. Then I pulled her in just in time as the first notes of the slow song began.

  “What are you doing?” Alexa asked as I placed her hands gingerly on my shoulders and then snaked mine on her waists. She was looking at me with the same curiosity, like before.

  “The last time we danced, you complained there wasn’t any music. If only we’d brought the AI Alexa along, we would’ve had one,” I told her quietly as we swayed to the slow beat of the song that played in the background. Alexa stared at me and gradually, her eyes softened and she rested her head against my chest as I continued to sway her along, humming to the tune of the song.

  “I like dancing to the beat of your heart better,” Alexa murmured and then she looked at me and I swear it felt as if my heart had suddenly swelled up with a magnitude of emotions that I couldn’t even begin to explain and comprehend.

  It felt as if the sheer magnitude of my emotions rippled through my heart like a tidal wave and my heart was taking hit after hit after hit. The barriers that had long been placed were being broken down. It was as if my heart was ready to be taken out of its cage any moment, and I wouldn’t even put up a fight and would personally offer it for her to take.

  But it felt like she already had a hold on it, without even asking for it.

  We have our priorities, Everett.

  But why did it feel like I was ready to make her my number one?

  “Alexa,” I whispered and she reacted when she heard her name slip past my lips. She looked at me, her mouth slightly open, waiting for me to say something more, “now feels like a really good time to kiss you.”

  It felt weird to say it out loud, to say it with such intimacy and sincerity. I’d kissed Alexa many times and I remembered the way her lips felt against mine, the way she tasted. But there was something different about this moment, the intimacy that it brought, the way I was holding her and the close proximity between us. The song playing in the background, the way my heart wasn’t erratically beating but was rhythmic and steady, everything felt as if it was meant to be.

  Alexa didn’t say anything and the two of us stood still. I could hear our breathing despite the song playing and I leaned in, slowly, my eyes flickering to hers briefly, looking for a sign that I should stop. But Alexa stood very still and just as our lips brushed against each other’s, I felt her eyes flutter close, her lashes kissing my cheeks briefly just as our lips moulded against one another’s.

  It was soft, gentle, and euphoric at the same time. There wasn’t any urgency, but rather, it held the same slow and steady rhythm as the beat of my heart. It was as if the kiss was dousing us with comfort after a long day of being apart, a kiss that felt like the only right thing to do after a series of wrongs. Her lips caressed mine and I could feel her body pressed up against me, as if her very essence was seeping right into me. And it was then that I felt it, two caged hearts finally breaking free, like wild birds that had been trapped in a prison for a very long time, finally reconnecting.

  And just like that, it all abruptly stopped when Alexa pulled away and the moments our lips parted, it was as if my whole world had come to a crashing halt. She looked at me, wide-eyed with fear. “Everett, no…”

  I clenched my jaw and then took a step back, her words echoing in my mind again. “Alexa…”

  She was breathing hard as she continued to shake her head. “You weren’t meant to do any of this. Like the coffee you got me earlier this morning, or the picking me up or dinner….”

  “What did you expect me to do?” I asked her, my eyebrows furrowed. “I was just doing what I normally do, Lexi.”

  But Alexa continued to shake her head and took a step away from me. She ran her hands through her hair and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. “You don’t understand. The things that you did before, the things that you think are normal…all of those things…”

  She looked at me, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You’re making me feel so many things that I shouldn’t, Everett. But feeling them will only make me want to jump to conclusions, and we both know that I can’t do that, that you can’t do that.”

  “What do I make you feel, Alexa?”

  She turned away and let out a shaky breath, her eyes still focused on the ground when she responded. “You make me feel a thousand things at once, Everett. It’s as if you’re this blazing inferno that swallows me whole and thaws my being. Like a fire that lights up my soul and envelopes me into this warmth. You breathe a different life into me. But at the same time, you also make me want to turn into ice, cold as a stone, because I know that no matter what it is that you feel for me or what I feel for you, it doesn’t matter.”

  And when Alexa looked at me again, I could see the pain in her eyes clearly. “I could take the risk and free-fall from the edge of this cliff that we’ve been tethering on. But I know that you won’t be there to catch me. Not because you can’t but because you do not have the courage to do so.”

  Each word was like a bullet piercing my heart. “Is that what you think of me?”

  Alexa swallowed and looked at me with steady eyes. “Tell me, Everett Hudson, are you willing to catch me, now that you know what I feel for you, or are you still a coward when it comes to love?”

  I was stunned momentarily. “But tell me this, Alexa Stone, are you really ready to take the risk and jump? When I’m not even something that you can prioritize?”

  Alexa pursed her lips and turned away, letting out a harsh laugh. “Exactly, Everett. Our lives have been set. Our roles have been set. I’m working to make sure that I can provide my family with a better life than the one that they’re living. I want to make sure that I have enough for when it’s just going to be my brother and me. And you’re working hard for your own future, for a life that you’re certain you will live without regrets.”

  As she said all of those things, the reality of our decisions as well as the pride that we both held was evident. I could see the pain in her eyes and I remembered the first time I had met her, when she told me that she wanted to be selfish even if it was just for a little while. When she told me that she wished she would be able to have the courage to do the things that made her heart flutter. It was then that I understood why she had agreed to be with me last night, because it was the only time she had allowed herself to be selfish. Being with me at that time- and all the times before that- she was allowing herself to be selfish even when it had come at a price.

  And my heart ached for her, for how she was trapping herself to a life that she thought was set in stone. I took a bold st
ep towards her and reached to touch her face. My thumb gently caressed her features, my skin memorizing every detail and in a low voice I said, “But what if I tell you that if I don’t get to have you- to really have you- I would end up living a life that I would regret? What if I tell you that I’ve found the courage to want to be with you, Alexa? Will you be with me too?”

  All she could do was stare at me, as if she was unable to comprehend everything that I had just said. Alexa took a step back and blinked, shaking her head and letting out a harsh chuckle. “You don’t even understand what you’re saying, Everett.”

  But I did. At this point, I was certain, I was in ‘love with her’. Maybe I’d always been in love with her this whole time, but I hadn’t realized it because I didn’t know what it felt like. I wanted to be with her even though I knew that I had planned on focusing entirely on my career. I wanted to try and give her the entire world, because it felt as if she set my soul on fire every single time she smiled. She was the only one that had ever provided warmth to my cold, freezing heart…

  Love was what I’d been feeling all along but had been too oblivious to admit, even to myself.

  “But what if I tell you that I do, Alexa,” I whispered, taking a step closer to her as she took another one back, cowering from my approach until her back hit the makeshift transparent wall of her bedroom. “What if I tell you that if you just allow yourself to fall right now, I promise that I will be there to catch you and that I have found the courage to do so. I want to be with you, Alexa. Do you want to be with me too?”

  Her hazel eyes were wide and was flushed with a flurry of emotions. I waited, patiently, and hoped that she would nod her head and crash her lips against mine and tell me that she wanted to be with me too, that she was done trying to restrain her feelings and was done trying to reason against what actually felt right.

  But a tear fell down her eyes and she let out a choked sob. “Three words. Three words, Everett, if you say them right now then maybe this could be real.”

  I love you.

  I was saying it over and over in my mind but as I opened my lips to say those three words, suddenly I couldn’t. Somewhere in the pit of my stomach, it seemed as if my insides were tied together and I tried to open my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

  And Alexa wiped away the tears that fell down her cheeks and she tried to smile at me but it came off as a grimace. “I thought so too. I think it’s best if you just leave, Everett.”

  20

  Alexa

  I hadn’t seen Everett for almost a week since I told him to leave Monday night after his ‘almost’ confession, if you could call it that. Technically, it was all just a coincidence. He was scheduled to leave for Chicago on Tuesday, which was something that I had forgotten. It was for the research that he had been working on and he would be in Chicago for almost a week. So we hadn’t really had the chance to talk again after what had happened.

  That is if he wanted to talk about what had happened at all.

  To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to talk about it. It was overwhelming to see Everett breaking his own barriers down but just as he continued to break his, mine seemed to have strengthened and trapped me in my own fear. A part of me wanted to break out of the cage, wrap my arms around Everett, kiss him senseless and tell him that the feelings were mutual. That I wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with me.

  But the fact of the matter was, what if he just wanted to be with me? He couldn’t even tell me that he was in love with me, he couldn’t even begin to say those three words. What if Everett just wanted me, my body, what I could offer him, and then he would leave the moment the going got rough and leave me hanging, heartbroken and weak?

  I couldn’t afford to do that to myself.

  I couldn’t afford to risk my heart for someone who wasn’t even sure if he loved me.

  The knock on the office door startled me and I almost jumped out of my seat. I had been finishing up the report about a vehicular accident and without Everett around, the entire workload was left for me to finish. It wasn’t that hard. There hadn’t been any indication of foul play as the victim’s family had believed. The victim had been intoxicated and had taken medications, so it may have affected his driving which had led to the crash.

  The only reason that it had taken this long was because the family had begged for further investigation. They didn’t want to believe it. Apparently, the victim had a history of violence and had a series of enemies that his family thought might have done this to him. But we couldn’t really find any evidence pointing to that. Even Dr. Webber had gotten annoyed by their incessant demands.

  “Hey,” Wang greeted me with a smile, peeking into the office. His eyes glanced at Everett’s desk for a moment and then he shrugged and then slipped inside, “it’s kind of weird not to see him here. I mean, this place was either empty or Everett was just running around experimenting.”

  I smiled and closed my laptop and set it aside. It was easy to warm up to Wang, he was sociable and friendly. He had the habit of flirting with women from time to time, but it was easy to deflect his blows. He also spent most of his time here at our office than he did at his own desk. He was a surprisingly good detective, but sometimes, he could be a little over the top.

  “What brings you here?”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “I wanted to see how you were doing?”

  I narrowed my eyes. Although we were on good terms and hung out a lot, we weren’t close enough for him to randomly drop by to check up on me. “What do you want, Wang?”

  Wang pursed his lips and then sat on Everett’s chair, turning it around and around like a little kid. “I kind of want to ask your friend on a date.”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. He had been dropping hints all week since Olivia had come by last Monday. She had come to visit me again the next day, to get me to reconsider. On Wednesday, she dropped by again and told me that it hadn’t worked out between that guy and her. Wang had overheard that and had been asking me about her ever since.

  “You really think I haven’t been expecting you to ask me that all week?” I asked him, rolling my eyes. Everett had told me about Wang’s flirting tendencies. But he seemed to be someone very capable of breaking Olivia’s heart.

  Wang smiled at me sheepishly. “So, will you give me her number, help a friend out?”

  I pursed my lips and then shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest. “Everett told me about you, and Liv’s been through a lot when it comes to dating. If she ends up getting her heart broken by you, I will never forgive myself for having introduced you to her.”

  Wang pouted and then sighed. “You make it sound like I’m a jerk.”

  “According to Everett, you kind of are when it comes to women.”

  He sighed and then ran a hand through his short hair. “Look, it’s just one date, Alexa. If I realize that I’m just attracted to her physically, then I’ll lay it to her gently, respectfully.”

  I eyed him. “Are you really capable of doing that?”

  Wang scoffed. “Do you really think Everett would put up with me if I didn’t have a good side?”

  “Okay,” I said quietly, “but it would be on my terms. This is the first time that I’ll be setting her up with a date.”

  “Thank you!” He cheered, grinning at me like a school boy. I’d never seen Wang look this excited about anything. I was aware that he constantly went on dates but he usually acted cool and all suave about it. He was about to slip out of the office when he turned back and then glanced at Everett’s desk and then back at me. “I’m not sure if telling you this is the right thing but before Everett left for Chicago, he told me that I should make sure you’re alright with work and with everything else. Like make sure you eat lunch on time- which is weird because you do and he’s the one who forgets about himself - and that you get your coffee. Which is why you’ve been seeing me at the café at around the same time that you come in to work.”

&nbs
p; All I could do was stare at Wang in surprise, unsure of how to react. Wang knew nothing about the fake relationship that Everett and I had been in, well, I hope he didn’t. But there was something about the way that Wang told me about all of these things, made me feel like he didn’t know.

  But he seemed to be on the way to guessing something.

  Wang had a smile on his face as he continued. “Seems like Everett has a soft spot for you, which is surprising because he was pissed that they had hired another scientist. I always thought that no one could ever soften that jerk’s heart, but who knew it would be you, Alexa Stone.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  The corner of his lips twitched into a small smile. “Give him a little time and he just might get his act together. As smart as Everett is, he has no clue about the first thing when it comes to love.”

  I blinked. God, he was really on to something. “Wang…”

  He stepped out of the office and only half of his body was out of the door. He looked back at me again and nodded his head slightly, as if admitting to something. “Don’t think that he told me anything because he hasn’t. All he asked me was to make sure you’re alright. There’s a spark between the two of you. I never said anything to Everett because it might have made him run in the other direction. Like I said, he’s a whiz on everything else but love.”

  But even if Everett was clueless about love, he sure knew how to make a girl fall.

  I finished the rest of the report and had the intern submit it for me. All I could think about was what Wang had said and how Everett had confessed to me the other night. He seemed so sure of what he felt but no matter how certain he was, there was no point if he couldn’t actually say he loved me. It wasn’t that I desperately needed to hear them, I just wanted to know if his feelings were real or not. Because Everett could want me for a lot of reasons but that didn’t mean he was in love with me.

  When I arrived at my apartment, I was ready to shrug out of my work clothes and slip into something more comfortable, when I saw someone standing outside my door.