Oh Brother (Completed)

Hudson River

"Yeah, Jessica should be here any minute for shift change."

My head whipped toward the familiar hum of Cady's voice as she led Hudson up the beach to me. She couldn't see it, but he was staring at the back of her head, looking as if he wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder, but the decided against it and continued on after her. Once they reached me, I straightened out and looked between the two of them, waiting for someone to speak.

"You and Hudson can head home if you want. There's supposed to be a storm coming in. Not a great time to be near the water." Cady made a gesture with her thumb over her shoulder as she spoke. "Everybody's already packing their stuff up. Shouldn't need more than one person."

We nodded and watched in silence as Cady stalked away, Hudson retreating back into his cold shell once she was out of our line of vision.

"Can I ask you something, Hudson?" I found myself asking my half brother. He looked toward me, eyes prompting me to go on. "Why don't you like me?"

"Same reason you don't like me." He answered with a shrug.

I frowned. "I don't dislike you."

"But you don't really like me either." He stated flatly. "Don't take it personally, Arianna, I don't like most people Me actually acknowledging you is a step up from everyone else."

I recalled Buck saying something similar a couple months ago. I hugged my towel around myself, not sure how to continue the conversation. Breaking the tension, Hudson grabbed a surfboard leaning against the shack beside us, earning a shocked look out of me.

"What are you doing? Did you not hear a word Cady said?" I said, reaching forward to grab his wrist. "There's a storm coming in, Hudson. Its dangerous out there."

He rolled his eyes as if I'd said the Earth is flat. "I've done this a million times before, Arianna, I'll be fine. I'll be back in a few minutes."

He shook my hand off and tucked the surfboard under his arm until he was standing along the shoreline. He then tossed the board in front of him and began paddling further out. I shook my head to myself, looking the way Cady came, but she seemed to have disappeared. I watched in silence as he caught a few decent waves, but as soon as lightning lit up the sky behind him, I started down the beach.

"Hudson!" I shouted, cupping my hands around my mouth for emphasis. "Hudson, come on!"

Even when I blew my whistle a few seconds later he didn't budge. The waves must have been overpowering my voice. I looked behind me again, but none of the other lifeguard's were anywhere in sight. Which meant I'd be the one forced to paddle out.

"I swear to God none of you Bennett boys listen." I grumbled, discarding my towel on the sand. I grabbed a surfboard and started toward the water, only making it to just before the shoreline before a sharp pain shot through my foot. I hissed through my teeth, looking down to find a large shard of glass wedged directly in the arch of my foot. Pulling it out, I glanced up just as Hudson looked at me and the wave swallowed him.

"Hudson!" I screamed, throwing myself into the water on the surfboard. The further I paddled out, I understood how it was impossible to hear me calling for him. I couldn't hardly hear myself think. "Hudson!"

I threw a look over my shoulder and gulped. I'd never been out this far in the water, even during training they'd kept me closer the shore as the only people who ventured out this far were experienced idiot surfers like Hudson. My eyes found a figure jogging out of the house, but from this far I couldn't make out who it was.

"Arianna!" It was Hudson, grasping his board as he spat water out beside him. He pushed himself up, trying to catch his breath, pointing at my foot. "Put it on the board!"

As soon as I was within reach, he grabbed my forearms and guided my surfboard to him until they were almost connected. When I looked back up, his eyes weren't trained on me, but the water around us.

"I thought you drowned." I said, slapping a hand against his wet arm. "Cady was gone and I—"

"What happened to your foot?" Hudson reached out and turned my foot in his direction, wincing when he saw the damage that'd been done. "Fuck!"

I looked toward him, shocked by the outburst. It was when his eyes met mine again that I saw the fear in them.

"What?" I whispered, looking at the dark water around us. "Hudson, what's going on?"

He ran a hand down his face, shaking his head. "Your blood, it draws in sharks. They're like piranhas. They got into a frenzy."

I looked toward him, horrified by his statement. "You said there aren't usually sharks out here."

"There aren't." He said through a shaky breath. "But the blood drew them in and there's nobody out here right now."

He was staring along the shore, likely for Cady of a lifeguard, but there was nobody but a few families evacuating before the storm could get worse. Cursing under his breath, he looked down at his trunk, then at my foot before he reached for the bottom of them and tore in a quick, swift movement.

"It won't do much, but it may help a little with the bleeding." He grabbed my foot roughly and set it on his bare leg, tying the strip of cloth before releasing it. I nearly fell back, and likely would of, if he didn't reach out and grasp my shoulder. "Do not splash. Do not scream."

All I wanted to do was scream. For Cady. For my brothers. For Damien or Nix. But even if I tried, there was a knot in my throat and I could barely breathe passed it, let alone scream.

"The reason I don't like you, Arianna, is because we're too alike." Hudson said in a hushed whisper. "I tolerate our brothers because they're all a bunch of loveable idiots. But you, you're like a mirror. When I look at you, I see my reflection."

"What do you mean?" I looked back toward the shore, my body beginning to tremble as a loud rumble of thunder sounded above us.

"I mean that we'd do anything for our mothers. We both internalize everything in fear that we'll end up dragging other people into our burdens. We remain, or remained in your case I suppose, strong for our mom's because we didn't have any other choice."

I stared at him for a minute, tears finally breaking the surface and rolling down my cheeks. "Do you think we're going to die?"

He shook his head. "No, Arianna. Maybe if we wait it out long enough they'll leave. Or. .or one of the lifeguards will see us out here."

Just as he said it, the sky lit up and a loud clap of thunder followed. I jumped, grasping on to Hudson a few feet away to keep me from falling. Tears began to sting my eyes as I looked to Hudson.

"This is my fault. My foot is the one bleeding." I clenched my trembling hand into a fist. "I'm sorry, Hudson."

"It's not your fault." He mumbled, but his own eyes were glistening with tears through the sheet of rain dividing us. "You were only trying to get me to shore before this happened. Its my fault. I should have listened to you."

I felt something nudge of my board and cried out, throwing my hand over my mouth a second later in fear if I screamed too hard I'd lose my balance and fall into the water. Hudson's breathing was growing ragged, and a moment later began to shake as he bowed his head. He was just as scared as I was.

That was not a good sign.

"Hudson." I touched a hand to his bare chest. "Hey, we've gotta get out of here. We're survivors."

He smiled weakly at that. The first smile I'd ever gotten out of him. Possibly the last.

I looked away from him and toward the shore again, but there was almost a mist encasing us and I couldn't see anything but darkness. Then, out of no where, a loud, ear piercing whistle pierced through the sound of the waves. But it was enough. Enough for Hudson and I to jump in either direction and send us into the dark water.