“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 thananyof 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 wasstillgoing 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. Weallhave 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?”
“Becauseyou’reall we hear about everyfuckingnight,” 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 awhat the hellexpression.
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 beenthatbad.
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 withthatjerk-off,” Harper scoffed moodily.
“Jerk-off?” I knew who she meant, but pleaded ignorance.
“Phoenix Carter,” she said on an exhale.
