“Celia, stop it.” Hudson’s sharp command drew my attention.

“Are you still sticking to the story that you’re in love with her?”

Her question made my hair stand on end. He’d told her that he loved me…did that mean there’d really been some truth to it?

He didn’t answer her verbally, but his expression must have been in the affirmative because Celia scoffed. “That’s ridiculous, Hudson. You’ve never loved anyone. It’s not in your nature. You’re fascinated with her for some godforsaken reason. But it’s not love.”

“What do you know about love?” He’d never spoke so harshly in my presence.

She laughed again. “Everything you taught me—it’s a fleeting emotion that can be manipulated and fabricated. It’s not real. It’s never real.”

“It’s time you found another teacher. I no longer believe any of that.”

I drew my knees into my chest. He believed in love now—because of me? The discovery tugged at my heart, begging me to reexamine the status of our relationship. Oh, how I wanted to fasten myself to his love. Wanted to turn it into a chance for us to be together.

But I couldn’t. His deceit was too great. It didn’t matter that he fell in love. It was deserved. His just rewards. His karma.

“Maybe I should be the teacher for a while,” Celia suggested. “It’s time to change up the game anyway.”

There was a sound of ice rattling—Hudson shaking his glass, perhaps. Then a pause while he swallowed. “I don’t want to play anymore, Celia.”

“You said that before with Stacy. And you ended up coming around.”

“That was all your game. I gave you a make-out session. That’s all. And it wasn’t for you, it was for her. I don’t know the extent you played with her, but it was time you were done. I knew that the kiss would end it.”

“Are you trying to convince me you had feelings for Stacy too?”

“You were using my name to f**k with my sister’s assistant. It was going to come back and bite me in the ass eventually. And she was a nice girl. She didn’t deserve it.”

Their words had come fast, one statement on top of another.

Now they paused as Hudson perhaps took another swallow of his drink. Then he said, “Those are the only reasons I resorted to helping you with that.”

His words hung in the air. They sunk over me slowly. They pissed me off. I didn’t want to think of him as the hero of that situation, of any situation. So he’d participated in the scam to help Stacy. There were other ways he could have helped her. It wasn’t enough to redeem him.

I heard the creak of the couch—maybe just Celia leaning forward, but I tensed, afraid she was on the move again.

But there wasn’t any sound of footsteps, just her speaking, “And why did you agree to the Alayna game? Don’t tell me that was an excuse to be with her.”

Hudson must have nodded, because next she said, “Liar. You’re you. Hudson Pierce. You would have found a way to be with her anyway.”

“The minute I showed her any interest, you did too. Going along with your game was the only way to protect her.”

“Whatever,” Celia echoed my thoughts. “If it’s true that your interest was what attracted me, then the way for you to protect her would have been to run from her. Far and fast. I don’t buy it. You wanted to play.”

I hated to admit she and I were on the same page, but we were.

It was Hudson’s answer that surprised me. “You’re right. I should have run. I couldn’t. So I did the next best thing.”

A memory flashed into my mind of the first time I’d seen Hudson at the bar of the club. I’d known immediately that he was someone I should run from. The words far and fast had even occurred to me. Against my own conscience, knowing my faults and my weaknesses, I’d gone after him anyway.

Could I blame him for doing the same?

“I didn’t want to play the game with her,” he said next. “And I don’t want to play ever again.”

More movement. Then Hudson returned to the bar.

I should have moved. I should have moved! My pulse accelerated, and again, I held my breath.

“You don’t mean that, Hudson.” Celia stood as well. Her heels gave her away.

God, please don’t let her join him. Hudson was at least focused on his glass. She’d see me for sure.

Thankfully, she stayed where she was.

“Remember what it’s like?” she asked him. “The adrenaline rush? To stage a situation, knowing exactly how it will play out because you studied the characters so well you understand what they’ll do. There’s nothing like it.”

“You’re destroying people’s lives!”

“You taught me!”

“Then learn this next lesson well—it was wrong. I. Was. Wrong.”

Their words flew back and forth again. My heart continued to thud in my chest as they sparred. It was thrilling, exhilarating to hear him fight her.

Did that mean I thought of her as a worse enemy than him? Because I wanted him to defeat her?

Until that afternoon, I’d thought of them as a pair. Two of a kind. Now, my feelings were changing ever so slightly.

Hudson turned again to face her. “And of all the lives I’ve destroyed, Celia, I’m most regretful for what I’ve done to yours. But I can’t be responsible for that anymore. You have to decide now who you’re going to be. This is not who I’m going to be.”

Damn tears at my eyes again. Not wanting to move while I was still in his sightline, I let them fall freely. If it was true—if he really was done with his games—well, it made me proud.

Why the f**k I even cared, I couldn’t say.

“Then you’re out,” Celia said, resigned. “That’s fine. I’m not. And I’m not done with the Alayna Withers experiment.”

My stomach sunk. My break-up with Hudson should have won me a reprieve from her games. I’d never be away from her, would I?

Hudson thought I would. “Oh yes, you are done with Alayna.” He stepped further into the room, again out of my sight. “And don’t give me the line that you play to win. I can think of some times that you’ve lost. You’ve lost big, if I recall.”

“That’s cruel.” She actually sounded hurt. I hadn’t realized the woman had feelings.

“Ah, but isn’t that one of the requirements to playing the game?” His awful, caustic tone both frightened and elated me. It was scary to think Hudson had it in him, but it was delightful that he used it on my nemesis.