Chapter 2I Refuse To Be Your Distraction

We didn't see each other again until a week later.

Hudson blocked my car in the hospital parking garage. His imposing frame hovered over me, his voice raw and laced with irritation as he cornered me against the driver's side door.

"Miranda! What the hell are you still mad about?"

I had been with Hudson for three years.

In the beginning, I knew exactly what this was: a rich heir’s passing amusement, a game he wanted to play. If he hadn't crashed his motorcycle and ended up in my clinic that day, our worlds would never have crossed.

He was relentless in his pursuit, and I didn't have the energy to fight him off. I figured I would just wait until he got bored and let the relationship die a natural death.

But when did I start falling? When did I become foolish enough to think we actually had a future?

I blinked back the sting of tears and took a deep breath.

"The night Lexi said she was pregnant... was she really just joking?"

Hudson let out a harsh, incredulous laugh, shaking his head.

"Are you serious? You've been freezing me out for a week because of that?"

"Miranda, I've told you a thousand times! We grew up together. She's like a sister to me. Honestly, I don't even see her as a woman!"

The comments flashed rapidly in front of me.

[Liar! That time she sent him the bikini pic, he stared at it and saved it to his private folder!]

[And she cornered him in the restroom at that club to get him alone. He smirked and asked her when she got so bold, and she literally teased him, asking if he wanted to find out!]

[When she dropped her towel on camera, he cornered her in a bathroom later and told her to stop playing those games. His face was pure jealousy, not brotherly concern.]

My chest tightened, making it hard to breathe.

I looked up at him, meeting his patronizing stare with a cold, mocking look of my own.

"Then tell me. The night we had that fight—the night I walked out—where did you go after you got drunk?"

The usually unbothered, wealthy heir suddenly looked cornered. He ran a hand through his messy hair, taking a sharp breath before speaking.

"Fine. I admit I went to Lexi's place that night."

"But I already explained this to you! Making those stupid videos is her job. She does it for views, she didn't mean anything by it! But you had to make a scene, slamming the door and walking out in front of all my friends. Do you have any idea how that made me look?"

"I was angry, and I went over there to spite you. But nothing happened between us!"

His dark eyes searched mine, filled with an anxious sincerity I had never seen in him before.

"Babe, I swear to God, I would never cheat on you."

[Well, he's technically not lying. In his mind, he just got blackout drunk and passed out at her place.]

[She lied and told him nothing happened, and he actually believed her. He has no idea she's actually pregnant with his kid!]

I looked into his eyes.

"Why did you drop the charges against her?"

He looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. "She's my friend, Miranda. Was I supposed to let her go to jail?"

"If she had hit me with that bottle instead of you, would you still have dropped the charges?"

Hudson fell silent for a moment. Then he muttered, "No. If she hurt you, I'd make her pay."

I laughed.

Perhaps my laughter was too sharp, because his brows furrowed, and he leaned in to kiss me—a hard, punishing kiss.

"Fine, I didn't handle the boundaries well. I admit that. But don't you dare think about breaking up."

I closed my eyes, too exhausted to fight him.

"Let's make a bet."

"If you can prove what you just said—that you'd make her pay if she hurt me—I'll take back the breakup."