Page 37 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson (A Sawyer Brothers Story #1)

Reed looked confused, his dark brows knitting. “In what?”

“I suppose that’s between him and me,” I shot back, moodily folding my arms. Two could play that game.

My actions caused him to glance at my breasts, which were squashed from my arm gesture. The suggestive look he shot me was pure sin.

“I can imagine.”

Rapidly uncrossing my arms, I placed my palms on the table, feeling the need to do something with my fingers. “It’s nothing like that, thank you very much.” Pushing my lunch tray away, I looked down my nose at him.

“So, you guys weren’t playing tongue tennis by the lockers last week?”

“It’s complicated,” I said on an exhale.

“Where Hudson’s concerned. It usually is,” Reed replied. He’d finished Storm’s salad dish and then eyed the apple with distaste. Clearly not a fruit guy. Shaking his head, he added, “Twelve bucks for three pieces of chicken and grass . Fucking waste of money. You going to eat that?”

Ignoring his comment about the overpriced food, I said. “Knock yourself out.”

I watched wide-eyed as he tugged my tray towards him and tucked in. “Look, he asked me to help him with his maths.” I didn’t relish any dirty-minded suspicions.

“Math?” he echoed, leaving off the ‘s’ like Americans did. His tone suggested he was surprised .

“Yes. Something about a bench and staying off it?”

Reed nodded as he placed the fork down and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Yeah, there is that.”

“Please tell me if he’s OK.” I was suddenly scared of the answer.

“Why do you care?” Reed sidestepped jamming his elbows on the table and steepling his fingers.

Shrugging, I answered truthfully. “I don’t know—I just do.”

His brows were pinched. “After all the shit he’s thrown your way? I mean that’s some slap worthy shit,” Reed puffed, motioning with a flick of one finger.

I tried to keep my mind off Hudson’s tongue sweeping against mine. “What can I say, I’m a forgiving person.”

Reed dropped his hands to the table, knocking Storm’s bottle of water over. Luckily, the cap was still on.

“Yeah, well, that’s where you and he differ. Hudson is about as forgiving as an STD, and you should stay the hell away from him,” he drawled in a rough voice.

Shaking my hair back, I exhaled noisily. “So, you’re warning me off your brother. For his good or mine?” I was curious as to his motives.

The big guy gave me a bored look. “I don’t know, pick one,” Reed said, pushing to his feet. Our conversation, it appeared, was over.

Looking down his strong nose at me, he added in a hushed, gruff voice. “You seem to have gotten under his skin, Molly Miller, and believe me, the deeper you get, the less you will like it. Hudson’s backstory is worse than any of ours and believe me when I say we’ve all seen our fair share of shit.”

Reed’s words were unwanted as I thought about what I had been through, and was still going through. I was under no illusion that this guy believed I’d had the perfect life. I wondered what story was out there as to the reason I moved to America. They didn’t know my mom died, and why would they?

I needed to put him right. “You're wrong. We all have problems, Reed.”

“I agree we do. But Hudson’s are much bigger and louder than anyone else’s. You’ve been warned. What you do with that is up to you.”

“What makes you think I’ve gotten under his skin?”

“Because you’re all we hear about every fucking night,” Reed huffed .

I felt like telling him to go fuck himself but that just wasn’t me. Shit, why did I have to be the nice girl all the time. I had suffered too! Didn’t I have the right to throw my teddy out of the cot?

“See you around, new girl.”

Before I could add anything further, Reed walked away, leaving me with a what the hell expression.

So, Hudson talked about me to his brothers? That had to mean something. Anxiety knotted my stomach, and I considered texting him. Reed didn’t come across as overly worried about his brother, so things couldn’t have been that bad.

I decided to park my thoughts about Hudson and his rotten brothers and went to class.

At the end of what felt like a long afternoon, my father was tied up with some parents, so I messaged to say I would walk home. It wasn’t far.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but with the sun baking my head, I soon started to regret it. My backpack also felt like it had rocks in it. Did handwriting add extra weight to paper?

As I was crossing the road, I heard a screech of brakes and a car door slam. Glancing across the street, I saw Harper had just climbed out of her brother’s car. She was enraged, screaming something at him through the window, although I was too far away to hear her words.

I recognised it as Phoenix’s car from the bowling alley. It set off with a squeal of rubber, leaving Harper at the side of the road. She was in the same school uniform, but her shirt was knotted, showing off her flat stomach. I was surprised as she didn’t usually show much skin.

Unwrapping my hand from the straps of my rucksack, I called out to her, the noise of the traffic almost drowning me out.

Harper heard, her face lightening up, and she lifted a hand in greeting. I waited as she crossed the road and joined me. “You walking home?”

“Yes. You?” I replied.

“Yeah. Need to clear my head and it beats sitting in a small space with that jerk-off,” Harper scoffed moodily.

“Jerk-off?” I knew who she meant, but pleaded ignorance.

“Phoenix Carter,” she said on an exhale.

“Oh, your brother. ”

She released a pfft and started walking. “We both know he’s not my brother, Molly,” Harper grunted with her eyes forward.

“Well, foster-brother then?” I batted back, nudging her with my elbow.

Shooting me a tight smile, she replied. “Nope, not even close. He’s nothing to me. The only ones I can tolerate are Hudson and Micah. Nix and Reed can go fuck themselves.”

“You can tolerate Hudson?” I was surprised she got along with the moodiest of the brothers.

“Yeah. Hudson’s a pussy cat.” I couldn’t help my snort. Hudson and pussy cat did not belong in the same sentence.

“And Micah?” I queried.

“Harmless. He’s always off his face,” she chuckled.

“Off his face?” Did she mean on booze or other substances?

Throwing me another side glance, Harper grinned. “You know, weed and shit like that.” She had an amazing number of freckles, and the sun highlighted the ones on her nose. A random thought that she needed sunscreen seeped into my thoughts.

I took a deep breath and then waded in. “OK. So, what’s the story with you guys? If you don’t mind me asking? You and Phoenix seem to butt heads regularly.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Do you like him? As in, you know…” I suggested, giving her the look.

Harper’s entire face screwed up. “Eww, no. Phoenix and I were fostered by the same family when I was ten.”

“So, you knew him before you moved in with Mrs Sawyer?”

“Yes. We were with the same family for a while.”

“And then?” I prompted. I could see the sadness in her eyes.

“And then he ditched me for a better deal.”

“So, Phoenix was moved to another family? I thought the foster system encouraged long-term placements. To allow the kids to settle?” I had read all about the social services system in the USA after hearing that Hudson was fostered.

“In theory, they do. Unless the placement isn’t working out. Phoenix started fighting with one of the other fosters we lived with, and that’s why he was transferred.”

“So, it wasn’t his fault then?” Heaven knew why I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“He said he’d come back for me,” Harper explained with a slight shudder .

“And?”

“And he never did. In all fairness, he visited me a few times until he got bored. His new home, Ma Sawyer’s place, was just across town. I was left there for two years until my term ended.”

“But you’re back together now? With Phoenix, I mean.”

“Yes, but it's not the same. The time apart changed things,” she said, turning away and setting off again.

Scooting to catch up, I asked. “Have you talked to him about it? Asked why he stopped coming to visit?”

Harper released a heavy sigh. “No, it’s water under the bridge, and we’re very different people now.

” Then the obvious question surfaced. Why was this girl in the system to start with?

But then again, why was any child? The list was endless.

I had read that there were thousands of kids in children’s homes and supported accommodation, all with tragic backstories.

She must have read my mind as she suddenly said. “My real parents died in a house fire. It made me an orphan, as I had no other living relatives. That’s why I was fostered by that first family at ten. It was shit but Phoenix made it bearable. When he was there.”

“What about now? Are you happy with the Sawyers?”

She shrugged her narrow shoulders. “Sort of, but it’s only a trial placement.”

“Can’t you request to remain there until you're eighteen?” I knew Harper would need to be eighteen to be allowed to live independently.

“I don’t know. Ma only took me in as a favour. For whom, I have no idea. She knows tons of people at the agency. But she’s only ever fostered boys before.”

I wondered if Phoenix had anything to do with it, but didn’t put that suggestion out there. I knew she wouldn’t have appreciated that. Harper had it in her head that she hated him now.

“Anyways. You can’t get too close. And I have my backup plans. I won’t be waiting to emancipate when I’m eighteen. If I’m fucked over again, when I have enough money, I’m off. I don’t need a mother or a father. It’s easier on your own.”

Harper was clearly screwed up if she thought she could live as a runaway but I didn’t say anything. I just listened.

When we got to a fork in the road, Harper stopped.

“Well, this is me, so I guess I’ll see you at school.”

“Great. ”

She then turned slowly towards me, her eyes scanning my face. Her next words almost choked me up as I didn’t expect them.

“I’m sorry, Molly, about your mother. I heard you talking to Nick’s brother, Xander, about it that night in the lot at Langs.”

“Thank you.”

“No one has any clue, you know. When the news circulated that the principal’s kid was starting at school, the hot gossip was that your mother ditched you. I don’t think anyone knew that she’d passed away.”

So, rumour had it that my mother abandoned us? Well, that explained the lack of sympathy.

“It’s fine. I don’t really want everyone knowing my business. I’m quite a private person.”

“Me too,” she said, her expression turning grave.

“Do you know what happened to Hudson’s parents?”

Her nose scrunched as she thought about it. “I only know stuff I’ve heard from the rumour mill. His mum’s dead, I think, and his dad is in prison, but I don’t know why. And the rest of the Sawyer boys' stories are a bit vague. Boys don’t talk, they keep that shit inside.”

I found it hard to compute so many tragic cases living under one roof. “And here I thought I had problems.”

She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Your Mom died. That’s life changing shit too.”

Smiling, I batted back. “So did yours, and your father.”

Harper dropped her hand and inspected her nails. I noticed they were chewed down to the skin. “It feels like such a long time ago now. I don’t think about it. Anyways, you want my number? We can hang out sometime.”

“I’d like that,” I choked out, pulling myself together. Hudson’s warning to stay away from Harper was pushed to the back of my mind.

After a short, uncomfortable silence, Harper’s demeanour shifted, and she grinned.

“What did you think about Xander?”

“He’s OK.”

Harper nodded her head in understanding. “Well, his brother, Nick, is taking me to Nash Straker’s party on Saturday. You and Xander could chat in the car on the way over there. They’re picking me up. You could get to know each other?”

“Storm Summers also mentioned it,” I explained. “I’m not sure it’s me. ”

“Please don’t tell me you’ll go with that plastic not-so-fantastic?” Harper’s face was screwed up in disgust. I didn’t explain that Storm had apologised for the pool incident.

“I feel that she isn’t like the rest of them. The mean girls, I mean. And I’m not sure which bits are plastic?”

“Oh, please. I know hair extensions when I see them. She probably only asked you to go to keep you away from Hudson.”

“Will he be there?” I asked.

“Probably.” Her question sounded innocent, but I knew she was digging.

Shrugging, I said. “I just wondered.” Trying to play it down.

Harper gave me a knowing smile. “I heard about it. The kiss. Fuck, it was all over the school how could I not.”

The bottom of my stomach fell out. “Sorry?”

“Hudson, pinning you against the lockers. You don’t have to hide it. News travels fast at The Heights, it seems.”

“It’s nothing. He was trying to prove a point.”

“What, to prove that you're hot? Maybe? Maybe not? Why don’t you come to the party and find out? Although I wouldn’t encourage you to get involved with Hudson on any level. He’s as screwed up as they come and from what I’ve heard, is a total player.”

“Thanks, Harper. I’ll think about it.”

“Cool.”

I watched as she walked away, her shoulders stiff. Harper presented a tragic picture and I felt sorry for her and protective. She projected that little lost girl vibe even more than I did.

As I branched off towards my father’s street, I accepted that Harper Radcliffe needed a friend, and if nothing else, I could be that. I knew I needed to monitor her ‘big plans’ for her future, as running away wouldn’t solve anything.

Letting myself in through our front door, I wondered what my father would say when I told him about the party. I could have said I was having a sleepover, but I wasn’t one for lies.

As I made my way into the empty house and threw my bag down, Reed’s words came back to needle me.

“Hudson’s backstory is worse than any of ours and believe me when I say we’ve all seen our fair share of shit.”

If Reed was including Harper in that, what the hell had Hudson been through?