Page 40 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson (A Sawyer Brothers Story #1)

The body turned out to be none other than our host, Nash Straker, number sixty-nine himself. Thankfully, he’d been behaving himself recently.

“Sorry,” I said, as he sucked his fingers free of the beer which had spilt from his bottle onto his hand when I’d crashed into him.

“Don’t worry about it, beautiful,” he replied, lowering his arm with a toothy grin.

As Nick appeared back from the kitchen with their drinks, he and Harper started to chat, and Nash introduced me to a group of people he was standing with.

It was a mixture of boys and girls, and they were all very welcoming, but apart from Nash, I didn’t recognise any of them from school.

I was surprised Nash didn’t tell us to leave, as we were clearly younger than most of the kids there.

Any nervousness I’d felt earlier vanished.

I was complimented by a couple of the girls who told me how cool my accent was.

Nash had a great sense of humour, and gone was the smut he’d showered me with during that first week of school.

I felt like a normal teenager until my mother’s favourite song came on, and that sadness I’d managed to keep down started to resurface .

I missed her so much, and I wondered what she’d think of me being at a party and drinking. Not good, would be my guess.

As I pretended to listen to a story that a girl named Mia was telling, I glanced outside. I watched the sea as it glittered in the sunshine until my eyes landed on Mark. He was standing with Laura and Lily by a pool house. They waved as they saw me.

I was just about to excuse myself from the group and go speak with them when Harper ducked behind Nick, bumping my cup. Luckily, it was empty. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she whispered-shouted.

Both Nick and I took in her actions with a frown.

“What’s up?” I said, watching the way she was peeking around Nick’s body.

“Phoenix is here.”

A surge of adrenaline shot through me as I knew what that meant. Hudson would be close. The brothers were joined at the hip.

“So?” I questioned.

“He told me he wasn’t coming and that I wasn’t to come either,” Harper confessed, keeping her head down. Nick scowled.

“Who does he think he is?”

“A control freak?” I added.

“A lying control freak,” Harper rasped.

I casually moved position to half shield Harper and laughed at the end of Mia’s story. I could feel Nash and another boy, Sam, watching me the entire time.

“You know it’s rude to stare,” I said lightly, adopting an amused tone.

“Where you’re concerned, baby, it would be rude not to stare. Your body is unreal,” Sam replied, his eyes lingering on my braless breasts. I had gone for the black lace dress I had bought whilst shopping with Harper. It was tight with spaghetti straps and fell just beneath my bottom.

“Don’t let Gage hear you say that,” Nash snorted, necking his beer.

Worried that Harper would hear his comment and think there was something more between me and her brother, I turned to speak, but both she and Nick were gone.

Great. I’d been abandoned. My father’s comment about us sticking together rattled around my head.

“You ready for another?” Nash said, nodding at the empty cup in my hand. There was a poser table next to our group with an ice bucket and what appeared to be a bottle of cheap fizz. It was what the girls were drinking. Nash made a move to grab it, but I shook my head.

“No, I’m good thanks.”

He shrugged and leaned back. “So, you and Gage are the talk of the school,” Nash said, nudging me with his elbow. I noticed how his biceps strained against his black tee.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I replied.

He frowned, momentarily distracted, and then drew his phone out of his jeans. Glancing down, he swiped the screen and then glanced around the room before his eyes came back to mine, “Are you sure?”

My sixth sense kicked in as he nodded towards the corner of the room where the pool table was.

As I turned to glance where he’d motioned, my eyes locked on Hudson.

Fuck. He was there.

I turned back to Nash, stating. “Yes. We aren’t together.”

Nash thumbed his chin with the same hand he clutched his beer in.

“Does he know that?” he said, his eyes dancing with mischief as he shoved his phone away.

Taking a deep breath, I sneaked another look.

The boy who had given me my first proper kiss and then blanked me for a week was watching me.

I could see him from the corner of my eye as a girl called Angela filled my solo cup with some of the fizz.

It dragged my gaze back as I stared down at the clear liquid hitting the remnants of vodka and Coke.

I muttered a thank you, but wasn’t sure I’d drink it.

I wasn’t stupid. I hadn’t intended to drink at all, and mixing alcohol was not a good idea.

Sod it. After attempting to convince Nash that nothing was going on between Hudson and me, I gave in and took a sip from my cup. Dutch courage and all that. The bubbles went up my nose, and then I turned towards Hudson. I had nothing to hide; he was the one who’d gone AWOL.

My skin prickled as his dark gaze roamed lazily over my body, from the top of my head to my bare feet in my toe-post sandals.

He took in everything with an unapologetic expression, like he had every right to undress me with his eyes.

And that was what he was doing. I may as well have stood naked before him.

I heard Nash chuckle from beside me .

“Yeah, nothing’s going on there, right?” number sixty-nine snarked.

Ignoring him, I watched Hudson’s brother Micah, who was sitting on the sofa with a girl on his lap. Micah raised his head and followed his brother’s line of sight to me. Those dark brown eyes captured mine, and his perfect white teeth shone against his satin-like black skin.

Part of me regretted wearing the dress Harper had picked out, as it left little to the imagination.

I was also braless, another gutsy move for me and my nipples were currently pebbled against the material.

Feeling ballsy, I raised an eyebrow and saluted Hudson with my cup.

His lips twisted, but he didn’t respond straight away; he just slowly raised the beer he held to his lips and finished off the contents.

As he lowered it, he wiped a hand over his mouth.

Even that looked sexually suggestive. It drew my attention to his lips, and I thought about how they had felt over mine.

There were loads of girls around the Sawyer boys, all vying for their attention.

With our eyes locked together and neither of us giving much away, I watched as he uncurled his large body and placed the empty bottle on the coffee table in front of where Micah was sitting. It was then that I saw her . Tate Parker.

The cheerleader had been half hidden by the bulk of his body and a wing-backed chesterfield.

She was dressed in what looked like leather hot pants and a bikini top.

Tate was talking in an over-animated way with the biggest of the brothers, Phoenix.

aka Nix. I stared as Hudson turned to whisper something in her ear, and she gave him one of those sexy smiles she used on most guys at school.

It felt like a punch to the gut as she cupped his face and planted a kiss on his mouth.

Her eyes closed, but his remained open and on me.

Almost like he wanted to rub my nose in it.

And to think I had let him kiss me. I hated how she giggled when she pulled back and wiped his lips with a taloned thumb, removing any trace of her lipstick.

Why was I so obsessed with a boy who had been nothing but mean towards me?

Because he’s the best kiss you’ve ever had, and he intrigues you.

I turned away and pretended to listen to what Aaron, another boy in our group, was saying. I had seen him around school, his head was always in a football strategy book. My eyes scanned the crowd for Harper and Nick. Where the hell were they? I could have done with some backup right then .

As Aaron started talking about Apple watches of all things, I sensed a looming presence beside me.