Page 21 of Sinful as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #1)

SAWYER

“Do you think the Enlightenment period is more interesting than the Industrial Revolution?”

I rolled my eyes and groaned loudly at Brodie’s question. I didn’t care. And he knew that.

“Well?” he prompted.

“Aren’t they the same thing?” I scratched at the back of my head. My cousin had dragged me into the library for some stupid history project. I probably had the same thing due; but I had yet to one, get started on it, and two, give a fuck.

“Yeah, I thought that too,” Brodie mumbled, picking a few books off the shelves. “These look good. Huh. I might read some of these now. Let’s go sit.”

“Can you just borrow them so we can leave?”

“But I have history next. I don’t wanna look like an idiot if I get asked a question.”

“Just wing it.”

“We can’t all wing it like you, Sawyer.”

“It’s called not caring. Also: I need a cigarette.”

Brodie dragged me to an empty table and I let him get to work spreading the boring books out in front of us. I leaned back in my seat, my hands resting on the top of my head.

My eyes shut before I could really help it, so thankful it was Friday and I wouldn’t have to deal with school for a little while.

Last night I barely got any sleep. And the night before that.

And the night before that. That was all thanks to Holly Sutton.

It was all her fault. Her and that stupid dream.

I shut my eyes tighter at the memory of it.

She had sounded so good. Felt so warm, soft, tight, wet.

I quickly snapped my eyes open when I felt my cock twitch. The last thing I needed was to get a fucking hard on in the middle of the library with some stupid history books sprawled before me.

Focusing on what was in front of me instead of what was in my head, I almost swore when I saw Carter sitting a few tables away from us. He had his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a cheerleader, whispering into her ear. He even gave her a few kisses – kisses she happily returned.

It was a cheerleader that wasn’t Holly.

“This fuckin’ guy,” I muttered to myself. Carter really didn’t care if he got caught.

“Huh?” Brodie snapped his head to me. He followed my eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. “We should tell her.”

“She won’t believe you,” I answered quickly.

“How do you know?”

“Because she’s fucking delusional.”

“Someone has to tell her, Sawyer.”

“You wanna be the one to look into her eyes and tell her that her boyfriend’s fucking every girl in school, then be my guest. Actually, I’d love to see that. I wanna see her cry.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I?”

“If you did, you would have told her by now. You’d be rubbing it in her face, because you know that’s gonna hurt her more than anything.”

I kept my hands placed firmly on my head, moving my eyes away from Carter and the girl he was kissing.

Brodie was right. He didn’t know it, but that had always been the one thing I couldn’t fuck with Holly about.

The cheating… I knew that would break her.

And while I was more than willing to tease her about everything else, her cheating boyfriend almost ma de me feel sorry for her. Almost.

It would have been so easy to rub it in her face: Holly, your boyfriend is fucking every girl on the cheerleading team, plus the dance team, plus all of their cousins . Maybe one day I’d do it. But until then, I’d keep those harsh words to myself.

“I really need a cigarette,” I mumbled.

***

Brodie approached me a few hours later with an over enthusiastic grin on his face, and that was when I knew that he was up to no good. I knew my cousin far too well.

“What do you want, Brodie?”

“How do you feel about getting in touch with the great outdoors, cousin?” Brodie asked, slapping a hand to my shoulder.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know Lucas, right? He just told me he has plans for tonight. He has a cabin down at Alden Lake. It has a few rooms. You wanna go? He invited me and told me to ask you. Should be fun. I haven’t been camping in a while.”

“You know it’s not really camping if you’re sleeping in a cabin, right?” I laughed.

“Whatever. You wanna go or not? Either way, I’m in. Wouldn’t mind a break from the trailer. No offense.”

“Nah, it’s a shit hole. I don’t blame you. When did you and Lucas get close?”

“He’s a skater too.” Brodie shrugged. “I see him at the park sometimes. He’s pretty cool.”

“Huh...” I didn’t know that about Lucas.

“So?”

“Alright, yeah. Sounds good. Just us and Lucas?”

“Yup. Guy’s night. You like him, right? I know he’s friends with Carter, but he’s been cool to me. ”

I nodded slowly. Me and Lucas weren’t close or anything.

We’d give each other a friendly nod here and there and exchange a quick “what’s up?

” when we had to be near each other. We had art together last year, and he had always been quick to compliment me on my projects.

Dude was cool. I just didn’t like his friends.

If he was willing to share his cabin with me and Brodie, then he was okay in my books. I could hang out with him.

Being in the outdoors was one of my favorite places to be, anyway. I liked the open sky. The sight of deep blue lakes and rivers that looked like they could take you anywhere you wanted. Far, far away. That sounded like heaven some days.

“Nah, he’s alright,” I said lowly. “But I finish work at six-thirty tonight. What time do we have to be there?”

“That’s fine. Lucas said he has a free period this afternoon, so he’s gonna drive up a little early and get all the shit set up. Barbeque and all that. You okay to drive up that way?”

I had been to Alden Lake a few times. The road twisted left and right and it wasn’t a fun place to be if you got car sick easily, but I didn’t mind.

I liked the freedom of that place. How quiet it was.

It was so easy to get lost in your thoughts up there, the breeze carrying everything away like your problems really didn’t matter in the long run.

It could be good inspiration for me. I did need to paint more. Maybe it could trigger something in me. Just the outdoors and some good food and freedom…

“Sounds fun, cousin,” I said with a grin.