Chapter Nine
Ian
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“I’m not,” Hudson insisted, hand on his hip as he stood in front of Ian and Ryker who were sitting on one of their low-slung couches after Hud had called an emergency meeting a few days later. “She literally has nowhere to go. Since this was my fucking fault, and we have the resources to have her here, Cosima is coming home with us.”
Ian wanted to tear his hair out. Yes, Hud had a predilection for adopting strays. It was one thing with furniture left on the curb—hell, his favorite chair was one his partner had grabbed right before it got thrown into a trash truck and then painstakingly refurbished. It had been another when Hud tempted Stella the cat in from her wild days on the streets to live as the equivalent of feline royalty in the loft. But this? A whole ass person?
“The only one at fault here is that shithead and you know it.”
Hud crossed his arms. Intellectually, yeah, his buddy knew that and Ian was sure Hudson would say that to anyone else. But Ian knew that in his heart, Hud felt the weight of Cosima being beaten until she was nearly dead. Would feel responsible for it until he died because that’s just how the big guy rolled.
“And what does Eric think of this? What about Cosima? What about her social worker and all the other people who actually get a say in this decision?”
Hudson narrowed his eyes. Yeah, he was often the more sensible one while Ian was more likely to fly off the handle. But when Hud was being unreasonable—like he fucking was now—Ian took up the reins. Being responsible sucked. He was much more comfortable being the impulsive dumbass in their relationship.
“I think Cosima would be delighted. Or at least willing. Eric? I don’t think he’d be real excited about it but what the fuck else are they supposed to do with her? She literally has nothing and no one.”
Even the name her abusive asshole of a top had given Cosima—which Hudson had finally pried out of her—hadn’t been real. No Judah Miller existed within a hundred miles of Clover City. Didn’t stop Cosy from being terrified of her own shadow, thinking it was that fucker coming to finish her off.
He looked to Ry for help but his other partner stared straight ahead, focused on Hudson. “I don’t like it but I’m not going to say no.”
Fucker. He should’ve known Ry wouldn’t be any help. He wasn’t the one who was going to get roped into caring for the little matchstick girl. Cosima. Her name was Cosima. And yeah, she’d been through some really rough shit and she was a mess. He felt terrible for her. But that didn’t mean she had to move in here. They could help her…just, from a distance.
“Look,” he started. “I’m not immune to her situation. It sucks. But she has parents—”
Huds shook his head. “No. I asked last time I was with her and Eric and Nora and she freaked. She hasn’t seen them in eight years and she doesn’t want them to see her like this. I don’t want to force her into seeing them, never mind living with them, if she’s not ready. Can you imagine what that would be like?”
Ian scrubbed a hand over his stubble and then through his hair, no doubt leaving it sticking straight up. Shit just did whatever the fuck it wanted to and he’d given up trying to tame it. Lucky for him, other people seemed to find his dishevelment charming.
Ryker on the other hand pushed off the couch and walked away without a word. He’d issued his verdict and that was all he felt responsible for. Besides, he had a hard time when parents were mentioned. Nevertheless, it rankled that Ry could walk away while he was now the holdout, the asshole.
The only time Ian enjoyed being the bad guy was when he was spanking women, flogging them, making them come until they begged him to stop and then not, or edging them until they were out of their heads and still not letting them come, binding them, pulling their hair, shoving his cock down their throats until they choked. Yeah, he could be sadistic but only when it was fun for everyone involved. Mostly he liked being the good guy. Everyone likes the good guy.
Before he could form another argument against Cosima coming to live with them, Hudson wedged himself between Ian’s knees and the coffee table. Aw, dammit. He could never say no to Huds when he got on his knees.
“Ian. I don’t ask you for much.”
Well fuck that was true.
“I am asking you for this. And I know you felt it too. You could’ve left her on the street but you didn’t. You carried that little girl up here because you cared.”
“I had to come up here for my phone anyway,” he muttered, feeling salty as hell.
“But you didn’t just run up for your phone. You brought her too, put her in my bed. I saw your face when you looked at her. Did you think she could be the one?”
Ian closed his eyes and thrust both hands through his hair, then stood and started to pace while Hudson stayed on his knees.
“Of course I did, but I think that with every woman I see.”
That wasn’t exactly true. Any woman who walked into Hive though, especially if she didn’t come with a partner.
It hadn’t bothered him for a long time, not having a girlfriend or a sub to call his own. He had plenty of play partners, plenty of people who were affectionate with him, plenty of people he could fuck, so many friends.
But most of all, he had Hudson and Ryker. Ry could be more of a shadow than an actual person but that’s who he was and Ian had learned to live with it. Especially when he knew that even if his vampire friend didn’t say much, Ryker would be there when it really mattered. Always had been, always would be, and nothing would change that. Not just because the three of them managed the club together, either. It went way deeper than that.
Plus Hud was so much. They’d been living together for twenty years and Ian had no intention of ever living without Hudson. He was his other half. Or some other fraction when you figured Ry into the picture because he’d always be there too. But Hud filled in every crack like he was putty instead of a six-foot-seven massive motherfucker who weighed in around three bills.