Page 118 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson
Principal Dick stepped into my space—foolish, foolish man. “I mean it Hudson. We’ve had our differences of opinion over the years. But that was child’s play. You stay away from Molly, or things could get real difficult, real fast.” Yeah right.
“Are you threatening my son?” Ma’s voice sounded from the doorway. She was standing there with a not-so-impressed look, a carton of milk in her hand.
Miller raised his hands. “No ma’am, just a polite warning. Molly has been through enough this year. She’s making a new start, and I won’t see her hurt.”
“Are you finished?” Ma said, doing her version of squaring up to a man so much bigger than she was.
Miller gazed dispassionately for a moment longer before speaking. “I’ll see you in school, Hudson. Don’t be late.”
As he left, closing the door behind him, I released a puff of air.
“Care to share?” Ma said from over my shoulder as I pushed off the window by the door. I waited until Miller’s piece of shit Corolla had left our street before spinning around.
“No. Not really. Just want to grab my protein shake and hit the gym.”
“OK,” Ma called me back as I moved past her. “Hudson?”
Looking up into my face, she said. “Be careful. From what Harper said, the girls suffered enough.”
“See, that’s what I don’t get. Miller suggested the same. I’m guessing it’s because of her mother leaving.”
“Leaving?” Ma grunted, her face expelling her disbelief.
“Yeah. Molly’s mother left them. That’s why she’s living with her father now.”
Shaking her head, she placed the milk carton on the tall table and moved towards me. “Molly’s mother didn’t leave, Hudson. She died.”
And. What. The. Hell?
“What?” The word left my mouth like vapour. I was so shocked.
“Yes. A few weeks ago.”
My throat dried up.
Ma’s eyes pierced into mine before she said. “I guess you don’t know the girl as much as you thought, Hudson.”
What the actual hell? It felt like a slap to the face. I had poured my fucking heart out last night and Molly hadn’t said a thing about her mother. Well, apart from saying she’d lost her, but I took that to mean that her mom left. Notdied.
Did she not trust me?
I skipped weights; my mood was far too distracted to be on the bench, especially without a spotter. Concentration was key when working out. Ma’s words needled for the rest of that morning.
“I guess you don’t know the girl as much as you thought.”
The fact that she was right wounded me. And I decided at that point that I was going to change that. I had been so self-involved that I had failed to see that the girl I was falling for was also hurting.
And you knew that. You saw it that day in the library.
Molly Miller was going to be mine in every sense of the word. There would be no more barriers between us, be that mental or physical. The knowledge of that roared through my body like a primitive war cry.
I would claim her body and soul, and in return, I would give her my all.
MOLLY
I was almost late for school as I had to make the twenty-minute journey on foot. My father had left a note for me in the kitchen, apologising and stating that something had come up at work, so he had to go in early.
I didn’t mind, it was a nice sunny day, and it gave me a chance to clear my head. Everything I had learned about Hudson had been playing on my mind. I still couldn’t believe we’d fallen asleep in my bed. It had felt amazing, not being alone.
