Page 12 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson (A Sawyer Brothers Story #1)

“Whatever you say, Reed,” Storm was snorting, carrying the hell on, and rolling her ridiculously long eyelashes.

How she kept her eyes open with the weight of those fuckers was beyond me.

I usually had no time for overindulgent bitches that were too into their looks.

But Storm was one of us and as I said, I’d still been there and done that.

If the rumours were true, most of our high school had.

There was still a seed of doubt in my mind that that wasn’t the case and that Storm just played the part of school whore.

Possibly to mess with her fancy parents.

Most of the rich girls were attention seekers.

I found it interesting that Storm and Reed appeared to be locking horns more frequently. There has always been a love-hate type of deal between them.

A shadow fell over the table, and we all glanced up to see the tower of muscle that was Phoenix (aka brother number four). He was eating an apple and glaring at that unfortunate kid with big enough balls to take the empty place at our table. The ninth grader paled, and his mouth dropped open.

“You’re in my seat,” Phoenix barked at the boy. His Adam's apple bobbed as he ate, and the veins in his thick neck flexed.

“Err, but…” the clueless freshman began with a flustered look before moving everything back onto his lunch tray.

I watched the interaction with a wry smile. “ Move! ” Phoenix roared, making the smaller dude jump out of his seat .

“OK, sorry, sir,” the kid squeaked, now sheet white. The chair scraped against the wooden flooring as my brother assisted the boy with his hasty exit.

I sucked my teeth, a habit I’d picked up from Micah, shaking my head, “You’re such a bully Phoenix.”

We all fist-bumped Nix in greeting across the table.

“What? I only told him to move,” he pointed out with an innocent expression. Something he was far from being. Phoenix aka Nix was the toughest linebacker on the team, nobody fucked with him. Yes, smiling wasn’t his strong suit, but the guy was a legend on the field.

“You could have asked him nicely . He’s a freshman. Do you want him to shit his pants on the first day of school?” I commented.

Phoenix sniffed and then carelessly dropped his apple core onto the side of Micah’s tray. “Nice isn’t part of my DNA.”

“Throw it in the trash, you dirty bastard,” Micah hissed with a scowl.

I cringed at that one, as that’s exactly what Phoenix was.

A bastard. He had no idea who his father had been.

His birth mother had been a crack whore who hadn’t a clue how many men she’d screwed.

Phoenix Carter had an unsavoury past, but then again, we all did.

Micah was still whining, “I’ve got a test on Friday, the last thing I need is your dumbass cooties.”

We had all recently had a cold, apart from Micah, who luckily escaped it. As I said, we were tight; we shared everything , even bugs.

Flipping him the bird, Nix replied, “Bite me.”

Out of all my brothers, Micah and Phoenix were the ones who fought the most. And I don’t mean a little slap here and there, or a game of not touching, can’t get mad . We’re talking a full-on brawl and a possible trip to the ER.

“So, what’s up fuckers? What did I miss?” Nix questioned with a glance around.

Reed started to tap a beat out on the table with his hands as he explained, “Not much. Micah, talking about titties.”

“Again? Really? ” Storm whined, dropping her fork.

Phoenix rolled his eyes before darting a sly look around the hall. “Nothing new then. Who’s and where?” His gaze then stopped on Storm, who shot him the stink eye. A look she had mastered over the years.

“Don’t look at me,” she snapped .

A shit-eating grin spread across my brother’s face as Nix replied, “I wasn’t, since yours are non-existent.”

Storm fluffed her hair and said in annoyance, “You’re only saying that because mine are real.”

“Oh, they’re real alright. Real disappointing,” Phoenix laughed with a wink in my direction. I rolled my eyes. I was so tired of high school shit.

“Fuck you, Nix,” Storm blasted out.

My brother pulled a feigned look of distaste, “No thanks, I’d rather eat glass. God knows where your pussy has been.”

Reed’s body stiffened, but he kept his eyes on his food tray. “Now, children. Can’t we all just get along?”

“Talking about children? How’s your new little sister settling in?

” Storm volleyed back, purposefully bringing up Harper, the thorn in Phoenix’s side.

They had a history and had been through the social services system together.

He’d told us some of her background but not all of it.

Said it wasn’t his shit to sell. Harper Radcliffe’s wealthy parents died in a house fire when she was young.

Fortunately, she survived but had no other relatives, which forced her into care.

“She’s not my sister, shit for brains,” Phoenix growled back, her barb having hit its intended target.

The big guy reckoned he hated her, but I wasn’t so sure.

They had a past, and it was more complicated than he let on.

She was a screwed-up, soon-to-be sixteen-year-old kid and had just started tenth grade at our school.

Harper didn’t deserve how Nix treated her, but I stayed the fuck out of it. Too much of a headache.

Plus, any interference in Phoenix’s shit came with the chance of getting smacked in the face. And I mean, I wasn’t scared of anyone. I was big and could hold my own, but Phoenix was a good foot taller than any of us and much meaner.

As I said, he was the most popular linebacker on our football team. Coach would cream his pants every time Phoenix was on the field. He was a highly decorated defensive player and a hard fucker.

Out of all the players, Nix was more adored than Reed, who was the quarterback.

Micah played centre. I was a two-way player, a defensive back, and a wide receiver, but lately, I spent most of my time benched, a punishment for headbutting the opposing team’s linebacker after he tripped me during a game last season.

What could I say? I had anger management issues, hence the medication I took .

Storm was still playing with Nix about Harper.

“What is it with you two anyway? Always fighting. I would say it’s sweet, but it feels a bit incestuous.”

“How can it be incestuous when we’re not biologically related. And you call yourself smart,” he replied with a smirk.

“Whatever. I’ve seen the way she looks at you with those puppy dog eyes. The little runt would fuck you in a second if you gave her the signal.”

“You know fuck all about anything, Storm. So, save it,” Phoenix growled. He stated he didn’t care for Harper but he got pissed real quick when anyone else had a go at her.

Picking up her fork and pointing it at him, she sneered, “If you say so.” She opened her poisonous lips to add another insult, but Reed slapped his palm on the table. Everything rattled as he grabbed our attention.

“Enough, both of you,” he growled. Reed then shook his head and narrowed his eyes, “Fuck off somewhere else if you’re going to fight.”

“Yeah, Storm. Go find some of your shallow as fuck girlfriends to torture,” Nix grunted. He usually managed to keep his misogyny hidden under a layer of careful disdain, but recently, the pig kept coming out of its sty.

Phoenix was still nursing a broken heart after his last girlfriend (an older woman, I might add) dumped him and moved to New York. The sap had been super wifed up. Hence, his current woman-hating phase. “Maybe you should start eating lunch with the other witches.”

“Maybe I will from now on. Sometimes I don’t know why I put up with you losers,” Storm muttered, clearly feeling ganged up on. She went back to pushing salad around her plate.

“You’re such a baby sometimes. You can dish it out, but you can’t take it,” Reed added.

“Screw you, Reed.”

Save me from the fragile egos of men and women. The frustrated groan I released was loud and clear.

“Who’s crawled up your ass?” Nix snorted, grabbing Storm's water bottle and taking a drink, earning him a hissed ‘jerk off’ from said female.

I felt like saying you , but went with, “What do you mean? ”

“You’re unnaturally quiet? Moping into your lunch like a fucking girl,” he added, leaning over the table, and jabbing me on the arm.

It hurt too, the motherfucker.

I reared with a growl and shot him a scowl, “First of all, I could do without a dead-arm when I’m due to sit Beaker’s fucking science test today.” I took a deep breath before I said, “And as you can see, I’m eating lunch and waiting for you dicks to shut the fuck up.”

My mood was souring by the second. I usually enjoyed banter with my brothers, even clashing swords with Storm could be fun but I felt pissed off that Molly hadn’t shown up. Where the fuck was she?

“You’ve not eaten shit and what the fuck do you keep looking at?” Nix said, glancing around the room. “You’re either PMS-ing, or you’ve something on your mind. If it’s girl-related, give it up?”

“Yeah, spill it. We don’t keep secrets from each other, remember? Especially not when it concerns pussy,” Reed pointed out with a huff.

Storm cursed under her breath, clearly opposed to the label Reed used for her sex.

I waved them off and played with my food. “I’m not keeping a secret. Can’t a guy just eat in peace?”

“You’re cagier than a fucking zoo, bro,” Nix added.

“Do you want to know what I think?” Reed quipped.

I rolled my eyes. “Please do impart your wisdom.” I couldn’t have been more sarcastic if I had tried. Luckily, Micah was fucking around on his phone and so didn’t jump onto the bandwagon.

“You’re pissed because you lost your shit again today which means Coach will probably bench you for the game this weekend.

” He then turned to get Nix’s reaction to his translation of my behaviour before he tacked on.

“Hud always dishes out the silent treatment when he can’t join us on the field,” Reed said with a smirk.