I peeled Hudson’s jersey off my body, inhaling the scent as the material passed my face.
“Woah, there, princess,” Reed suddenly said, pushing to his feet and glancing around the space. He looked worried.
“What?” I said, wondering what was wrong. I flicked a look down at my bikini to reassure myself that I didn’t have a boob hanging out or something.
All Hudson’s brothers and Nash were staring. “What’s up, you guys?”
Nix cleared his throat and pushed Courtney off his lap. She slid to the side. “Has Hudson seen what you’re wearing?”
I frowned, suddenly confused. Didn’t I look nice? “No. Not yet. It’s new.”
All the men in the circle exchanged a worried look, apart from Phoenix, who shifted from his position on the floor to one of the empty chairs.
“Why did you move up there? You got a numb ass or something?” Courtney mumbled, crossing her legs, looking affronted.
“Nope. Just getting a better view for the fireworks,” he said with a cheeky grin.
“There are fireworks?” I said, dusting some sand off my feet.
Micah started laughing, and Reed rolled his eyes. “The fireworks when Hudson sees you in that.”
“I don’t get it? Don’t I look nice?”
“Nice? Baby girl,cupcakesare nice. You look smoking hot,” Micah husked.
“I’d back the fuck up, unless you want another ass kicking from Hudson.”
Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Micah explained with a wink. “Can’t blame a brother for trying, and I did meet Molly first. And did he fuck kick my ass. Dude took me by surprise, is all.”
And then the penny dropped. Hudson wouldn’t want everyone else to see so much of my body. And Micah was wrong, as I’d met Hudson in the library before Storm had introduced us in the hallway that day.
“Well, he’ll just have to deal with it?”
“Yeah? Try telling his psycho ass that?”
“Try telling my psycho ass what?” Hudson said. And I turned to the sound of his voice.
His expression was one of shock at first and then hunger. His eyes scanned my body like I was the tastiest of treats.
“Fucking hell, you should come with a warning.” He didn’t say anything else. I remembered I’d told him once that the day would not come when I allowed him to tell me what to wear. And he didn’t.
For the first half of the party, Hudson kept me tucked to his side. Anyone who looked in my direction was dealt with something you could only describe as a death glare, but he didn’t mouth off.
I enjoyed the banter in our group, and about an hour into the evening, Harper appeared. She was in good spirits, and any awkwardness seemed to have dissolved. It felt amazing sitting on the sand between my boyfriend's legs as he nuzzled my neck and we all put the world to rights.
It was like the most perfect of nights. I had no thoughts that anything bad would happen. Far from it. How wrong a person could be.
*****
The temperature started dropping, and I tugged my denim shorts back on over my suit. The breeze was much cooler than when we’d first arrived, and the bonfire was dying, so I tugged Hudson’s jersey back on.
“It’s getting cold, isn’t it?” Harper said, plonking herself into the camping chair Phoenix had been using.
“Do you want to move closer to the fire?” The look of alarm that flashed across her features told me I’d said the wrong thing. Of course, Harper lost her parents in a house fire, silly Molly. “Sorry,” I added, and she gave me a small smile.
“It’s fine. Beach bonfires aren’t so bad,” she explained, glancing over her shoulder towards the embers.
Hudson and the boys had excused themselves to take a leak, leaving Harper and me to guard the stuff. They’d been ages, so I wasn’t sure what spot they'd chosen, most likely somewhere behind the tree line past the rocks.
