Page 14 of Sinful as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #1)

HOLLY

Brodie was the first one to show up for the weekly meeting for The Chronicle.

I was in our usual room for our weekly meetings, my laptop opened up on my desk. Tension instantly filled the room when I saw Brodie. He walked into the room slowly, his skateboard hanging loosely in his hand.

“Brodie.” I broke the awkward silence. “You’re early.”

“Yeah, didn’t wanna be late,” he mumbled out. He sat down at one of the desks. One that was rather far away from me. I couldn’t deny that it stung a little.

“Well, thank you for coming.” I forced a smile. My eyes scanned his board. “Are you going skating later?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I’m going to the skatepark with Lucas.”

I nodded, forcing a smile on my face. “That sounds really fun. Don’t forget your helmet.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t like my article?” he asked. “If you hated it, you should have just said so.”

“Brodie…” I stood up and took very slow steps towards him.

For some reason I felt like Sawyer was going to suddenly appear and scream in my face again.

I still hadn’t got over that argument we had earlier in the day.

That one had been so intense. Not to mention that last comment he made to me.

He had some nerve saying what he did back in the hallway.

You ever need someone to fuck that frustration outta you, you know where to find me . Ugh. Who else but Sawyer?

“It had nothing to do with your writing. I swear. It was just…”

“What?”

How would I tell him? He wouldn’t get it.

“It wasn’t you,” I said simply. “It was me.” It sounded like a bad break up. It was the worst excuse one could give, but there I was giving it.

“What happened?” he mumbled, his eyes on the floor.

My heart ached. From the first day I met him we had gotten along well. Despite his last name – despite who he was related to – I still thought Brodie was a good guy.

“Was it your boyfriend?” Brodie asked before I could come up with an explanation. He finally looked up at me. There wasn’t any malice in his voice. And his eyes… He was looking at me with such kind eyes that I felt guilt run me over like a truck.

“Brodie…”

“I didn’t mean to start anything between you two,” Brodie murmured. “I’m sorry if he was mad at you because of what I did.”

Was he really apologizing to me ? Brodie was too nice for his own good.

“Brodie,” I sighed, closing the small gap between us.

My hands landed on his shoulders, giving them a little squeeze.

“You don’t have to apologize for a thing.

You didn’t start anything with me and Carter.

” That was a lie and he probably knew that.

Brodie’s article had been the reason for me and Carter’s latest argument – but that wasn’t Brodie’s fault. “You did nothing wrong.”

“It feels like I did…”

My arms wrapped right around Brodie when he said that, pulling him into a hug.

I shouldn’t have removed his article. That was an obvious fact, and my mistake felt like it would cloud over me for a long time.

I should have done something else instead of hurting him, but we had to go to print.

There hadn’t been any time to get Brodie to write something else. And Carter… Carter had been so mad.

“You did nothing wrong,” I insisted. “I promise. Thank you for writing your article and thank you for all the work you put into it. I appreciate that so much. It was my fault. All of this. I promise. You don’t deserve any of the blame.”

“You mean that?” Brodie asked when we pulled away from one another. “It’s not ‘cause my writing sucked?”

“Your article was the best one,” I told him with a sad smile. “Really. And I wanna see what other stuff you’ll write for the newspaper too.”

“You’re happy with me to stay on the team?”

“Absolutely! This had nothing to do with your writing. It was a me problem. Trust me, I want you to keep writing for The Chronicle.”

“Thanks,” Brodie whispered. “I guess I’ll have to go to this week’s football game too, right?”

“Uh, how about I take over for sports?” I offered. “You’re big into music, right? You’re wearing a different band tee every time I see you. How do you feel about writing about some local bands and stuff? Principal Yorke can probably hook you up with free tickets.”

A wide smile quickly formed on Brodie’s face, his eyes twinkling a little. “We could do that?” he asked, his voice laced with curiosity. “I’d love that.”

I smiled right back at him. The look of elation on his face was so wholesome. How the hell was he Sawyer’s cousin? “We can definitely do that. I’ll organize a show for you to go to and get back to you. Maybe something on the weekend if you’re okay with that.”

“Oh, for sure.” Brodie gave me an eager nod. “I think this topic is more up my alley. Maybe it’s a good thing this whole sports thing didn’t work out… Honestly, I kinda hate football. I’m definitely more of a band guy.”

“You’ll have lots of fun with this. You should be able to go backstage and stuff,” I explained. “This town has a weird amount of up-and-coming musicians.”

“I can’t wait.” Brodie grinned.

“Sorry again for what happened,” I said softly. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

“I know you didn’t mean to upset me or anything, Holly.” Brodie shrugged, that same smile still on his face. “Forget it happened. I’m more pumped about this music thing, anyway. ”

There were some voices by the door. I looked over to see the other writers – Christy, Danny, and Sasha – entering the room, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. They were a good, reliable team, and Brodie was already fitting in really well with them.

“Why don’t you have a seat?” I asked Brodie. “I’ll let the team know about the change. They’re gonna be jealous.”

Chuckling, Brodie got his stuff out and sat down, giving me a chance to process what had just happened. Brodie was kind enough to forgive me. Part of me felt like I didn’t deserve that forgiveness, though.

I thought about Sawyer for a moment. About how he had looked at me with so much resentment in his eyes in the hallway. And then there was that last thing he said to me. Ugh. He was so vulgar. Classic Sawyer…

If only Sawyer was more like his cousin.

***

I had to ask Sasha who asked Lucas who asked Owen for Sawyer’s address: trailer 116 at Mills Mobile Home Park.

Brodie had left his notebook behind after our meeting. From the looks of it, he used it for every one of his classes. And since he had Mr. Bailey, I knew for a fact Brodie would have had a bunch of homework too.

Sawyer and Brodie lived at Mills Mobile Home Park over at Cedar Crest. It would be about over a thirty-minute drive back to my place. Checking my phone, I saw that I would make it home in time for dinner if I left then and there. It was the least I could do after all the Brodie drama.

So, I hopped in my car and began the journey to a part of town that I had never been to. Most of the time I had no reason to go to that part of Dallas. It couldn’t be that bad…

The drive there was a little slow thanks to the heavy traffic.

After a long stretch on the highway my phone told me to take a right turn, which very quickly led to a rather old, dirty road.

I winced as I drove, wondering what damage I was doing to my car.

The road went on for a few more minutes before I saw a chipped sign. Mills Mobile Home Park. There it was .

I made a left turn and noted that the one side of the entrance had a half-broken, picket fence that was flaked all over.

The other side was totally fenceless. I drove slowly and sighed the more I moved.

It was a fairly big trailer park with not much space in between the properties, so different to what I was used to.

I had no idea where to find number 116 since there didn’t seem to be any signs telling me where to go.

I turned a corner and drove up yet another dirt road, moving slowly.

My eyes scanned left to right, taking in each trailer, my eyes squinting at the small numbers on the mail boxes.

Some of them didn’t even seem to have numbers on them at all.

But then I finally spotted the blue truck I had become familiar with.

That was definitely Sawyer’s truck. And the 116 painted at the front of the trailer confirmed that it was Sawyer’s. It looked like he was home then. I just hoped Brodie was too, because it was going to be extremely awkward otherwise.

I got out of my car before taking a cautious step to the small building with eggshell white panelling. My eyes landed on a few open windows that framed the sides of the trailer. Maybe Sawyer heard my car when I drove in. Maybe he was about to argue with me some more.

I had taken just one step forward, eyeing the carefully placed pot plants at the front of the building, when I heard the harsh noises. Swearing, yelling, something being thrown. Something was happening in Sawyer’s home and it wasn’t good. Instinctively I took a shaky step back.

“I swear to fucking God if you touch that—”

Sawyer was screaming. But at who? Then there was a loud crash that made me jump on the spot.

“What the fuck did I just tell you?” Sawyer barked at someone.

That was the first time I had ever heard him sound furious. He sounded utterly filled with rage. Our fights never got that far. I took a step backwards. It was all so intense. Sawyer and I fought all the time, but never like that. It was never that bad.

I suddenly felt the need to leave. Sawyer wouldn’t want me to overhear all of that. I knew that for a fact. But he was storming out of his trailer before I could even turn around. He moved down the stairs in a hurry, pulling on his leather jacket while a cigarette hung loosely between his lips.

When he saw me, I saw wrath in his eyes. Pure darkness. I didn’t know if he was mad at me for overhearing the fight or just mad from the fight. I saw him mutter out a “fuck” under his breath. But then he just kept walking. He moved straight past me.