Page 5 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson (A Sawyer Brothers Story #1)

HUDSON

" Son of a bitch!? " I roared, clutching my wounded head; every muscle was clenched in anger.

Scowling, I glanced down at the puddle of books surrounding me; their impact against my skull was as hard as a fucking football without a helmet.

“Hello?” a panicked voice blurted from the other side of the shelving. My yell, as well as the rows of books, masked their identity. Boy, girl, teacher?

Someone, a dead someone, had knocked books off the top shelf from the opposite side of the stacks directly onto my head.

The library was supposed to be the dullest and therefore safest place on campus, and yet I’d almost had my brains bashed in.

Was I under attack? A ploy to keep me off the field at the game on Friday? Who knew?

I batted off that ridiculous thought. I was Hudson Gage. No one would dare unless they wanted to end up in the hospital. Either that or they were new to the school; now that was a possibility.

Harbor Heights High was my kingdom. If you messed with me, you only did it once. It had to be a freshman or someone else who had yet to fear the meaning of the name Gage.

Another book dropped, narrowly missing my shoulder. My nostrils burned with every breath I inhaled. Shit, I needed to calm the hell down.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I bellowed, shifting on my knees with a hand on the back of my head.

If there had been any sense up there, it would have been knocked the fuck out.

I pressed my fingers against my hair and then checked my hands, if they’d made me bleed, their family and friends were toast too.

“Oh bugger, did I get you?”

Great. A fucking female. The only can of whoop ass I could ever open on a girl was the verbal variety; my least favourite kind. I liked to settle shit with my fists, it was faster and no one ever raised the ‘what do you mean by that’ question.

“Shit, stay there, I’m coming,” she squeaked .

Hearing the guilty party curse from behind the stacks and that voice getting louder, I knew she was on her way to ‘assess’ the damage she'd caused.

After that third instalment, I picked up on the British accent.

The fact that my assailant was also a foreigner did not bode well for her.

She could shove her rescue attempt up her ass, fucking clumsy bitch .

Then, the culprit appeared around the corner like a ray of sunshine.

And. The world. Stopped. Spinning.

My would-be assassin was captivating. All sense of reason left me, and I had no words as my mouth dropped open. Nothing. Nada . I was literally fucking tongue-tied for the first time in my life.

That earlier streak of aggression instantly dissolved as the girl stood there watching me only feet away with a horrified expression.

Did my heart stop? My chest tightened, and I couldn’t breathe. Screwing my eyes together to clear my head, I wondered if she’d disappear, but as I opened them again, there she stood like a fucking daydream.

Clichéd as fuck I know, but she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She stole the air from my lungs.

As she saw my precarious position and registered what had happened, she slapped a hand over her mouth and mumbled something, an apology of sorts, but her fingers muffled the sound.

Rolling my shoulders, I started to stand, and her hand dropped to her side.

The girl's rosebud mouth opened wide as she saw me pushing away the books surrounding me like leather bricks.

Moving forward, her face was full of concern as I pushed awkwardly to my feet.

“I’m so sorry. Do you need a hand?”

I inhaled deeply. The crude sexual connotation that followed her question needed to do one. I’d purposefully pulled my gaze off her in fear that my tongue was hanging out, and now the girl was unknowingly putting other thoughts in there.

My eyes roamed over her tight body in our school’s uniform.

She wore her skirt longer than most other girls, but she still looked as fit as fuck.

Gorgeous legs brought her towards me, almost like she was floating.

Her waist was tiny and her perky tits pressed against the cotton of her school shirt.

And that face, it was perfect. Flawless skin, plump lips, bright blue eyes, and long blonde hair.

She even had freckles, which dusted her cute little nose. Adorable .

I think I’m in love.

Fuck, the blow must have been hard to allow that sappy shit into my head.

I geared my thoughts towards the ones I usually felt when I saw a fuckable female.

The image of this one gasping, ‘I’m coming’ under different circumstances caused my dick to twitch.

Filthy, I know, but I was a healthy, almost eighteen-year-old guy, and that’s what we do.

The girl was small in height and build, fun-sized , my brother Phoenix, the dirty bastard, would say. She only just reached my shoulder as I flexed my thick legs, dwarfing her with my big body. She was the type of female to make you weak in the knees, so I applauded my ability to remain standing.

“I’m good. I think,” I grunted, unable to sift out the miffed element entirely.

Towering over her, I noticed how pale she was; clearly a stranger to the sun. And from what I knew of British weather, I daresay she would have been. I went to London on a school trip years ago, and didn’t see the sun once.

Her cheeks held a flush of pink, probably from embarrassment after knocking what appeared to be an entire series of encyclopaedias over me from the other side of the stacks.

"The ladders tipped, and I must have knocked the books off when I went to grab the shelf," she panted again.

I winced as I searched my head with my fingers for possible eggs.

“Do you want me to take a look?”

She was standing so close now that everything inside me quivered. What the hell? I’d never quivered in my life. That voice carried the sweetest melody, like how you'd imagine an angel to sound.

I lowered my hands, flexing my arms, attempting to get the blood flowing. The sheer sight of this girl had caused everything to stop working normally.

“Nah, I’m good,” I replied.

Looking up at me silently, her expression switched from worry to awe. The girl stepped back, her baby blues trailing over my frame. The interest in her eyes was clear. I half expected her to reply, “Yes. You. Are.”

I hit her with my most charming smile.

And there it was, the way girls usually gawked when they saw me, but hers was slightly different; almost like she was looking beyond the surface and into me. This female could probably reach inside and pull out my soul. Well, what was left of it .

I cleared my throat, noticing her eyes were more greenish-blue as they frantically scanned my face.

Their color reminded me of the turquoise waters at Mohegan Bluffs beach.

It was on Block Island, where I holidayed with my grandparents when they were alive; during the days I’d had a semi-normal childhood.

And I knew then that one day, I would take her there.

What the hell? I was losing it. Where was Phoenix when I needed him to slap the shit out of me?

Pull yourself together dickhead!

The girl pushed a strand of pale blonde hair back behind one tiny ear as I looked down into her pretty, feline features.

That small nose was raised towards mine, and God, I wanted to kiss her there, briefly peck that button before transferring my lips to her pouty mouth.

The need to taste her burned inside me like an inferno.

She was incredibly lovely. Lovely? Another word that I didn’t realize was part of my lingo.

"Does it hurt anywhere?” she asked. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. I felt like replying; Yes, it hurts everywhere, sweetheart. Please kiss and make it better!

The wholesome purity of that face encouraged a further fire low in my pelvis. I was floored by the innocence that radiated from her and immediately regretted my smutty thoughts from earlier.

This girl was too good for depraved, sexual cravings; she was the type who deserved to be treated like a queen.

When I didn’t answer, she fiddled with her tie. “You’re awfully quiet. Are you sure you’re alright?” she remarked again, tilting her head to one side.

My pulse accelerated, and without even thinking about my reply, I confessed, "I am now."

As she digested the full meaning of my words, that dazed confusion on her face lifted, and she grinned.

And fucking hell , this girl could put the sun in the sky even on the darkest day with that smile. It was contagious, and I wasn’t a smiler by any means.

I knew I’d never be the same again. The warmth radiating from her enveloped me.

“I take it you're new here?” I stated, dashing a hand across the scuff on my face. Why hadn’t I shaved that morning? The girl before me was so pristine, I probably looked like a sack of shit in comparison.

“It’s that obvious? ”

As her beautiful face ignited , it almost unmanned me.

I felt the intensity of that look down to my toes and other more interesting areas.

My entire body throbbed in anticipation, and I felt the urge to reach out and touch her to prove she was real.

This girl, whoever she was, looked so out of place in the shabby library stacks, like an apparition sent to torture me.

“Absolutely. You’re not showing signs of acute trauma yet,” I informed her, narrowing my eyes purposefully like I was searching for some.

“Trauma?” she questioned with a raised brow.

“Yes. Low self-esteem, lack of energy, that air that suggests you’re bored out of your skull. In a nutshell, that vibe of feeling mentally drained. That’s what the Heights does to a person over time.”

“Wow, you really don’t like school,” she laughed.

“Not usually, although this one just got a hell of a lot more interesting.” My nostrils flared as I looked her up and down, making my interest in her clear.

She pursed her lips and shook her hair back, “Really?” That body language was typical of a girl who wanted to appeal to a guy. And she did, in fucking spades.