Page 36 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson
“I think Reed’s silence speaks volumes,” Harper smirked.
Reed held up his hands, waving his knife and fork in the air, “Please don’t drag me into your little drama.”
“They talk a big game, but that’s all it is—talk,” Nix grunted.
“Nicky said their team has a history of beating ours,” Harper bragged with her mouth half full. Harper was a sophomore at The Heights, why the fuck was she mixing with boys from St Andrews. Her spouting the name Nicky got my attentionandPhoenix’s.
Nix slapped a hand on the table, causing the cutlery there to rattle, “That’s why they choked during the finals last year and, who thefuckis Nicky?”
“Nicholas,” Harper blustered, causing Nix to snigger. Her reply amused the big guy, but drew my eyes towards Micah’s. I raised an eyebrow at my brother, but he just shrugged. Of course, it could have been another Nicholas, but I doubted it. Shit.
“Nicholas, what?” I asked, clearing my throat.
“Creed, I think.”
Fuck.
That surname was not welcome in our house. In the past, Micah and I’d had beef with the Creed boys. Nick on the field and Xander off it, after trying to cover for his fowling shit of a brother. I also remembered Nick from primary school and he was a cock back then.
“Nicholas Creed? What type of shit name is that? Sounds like a proper douche.” Phoenix and Reed hadn’t been on the field the day we had clashed with Creed.
There was a brief pause as Ma clattered in the kitchen.
I kept the fact that I knew who he was to myself for now. Micah and I needed to monitor that one. Telling Harper not to do something would make her do the opposite. I hadn’t known her long, but I knew her type.
“He’s nice, actually,” she huffed, Harper’s eyes flicking to mine briefly. Did she know I knew of him, or was she expecting me to shut it down?
I remembered I’d tried that last time, and she’d yelled at me for interfering. It’s like none of us could do anything right. Hence the reason I said the girl was screwed up.
“Nice is the word you use to describe someone as dull as shit, Harper.”
“Oh, there’s nothing dull about the Creeds.”
Alarm bells went off in my head, did Harperknowthey were into dodgy shit and didn’t care? I glanced at Micah again, but he was on his cell phone, pretending not to listen.
Why was he ignoring me? Out of all of us, Micah always had a stash of weed at his disposal. Hopefully, he was careful who he bought his shit from.
Whatever. If I found out he’d been buying weed off those fuckers I’d nail his ass to the wall. I didn’t have an issue with Micah liking a smoke, but he needed to choose his suppliers more carefully.
“So,that’swhy you’ve got a hard-on for the bowling alley. It’s all about afucking boy.”
“So?” Harper’s cat-like eyes narrowed dangerously. Oh dear. Not good.
“So, you know whatthat’scalled?” Phoenix was now manipulating the conversation into an area where he could cause her the most damage. If there was one thing our little foster sister craved, it was validation.
“Human nature?” she said with a shrug.
“I beg to differ,fucking desperationI would say,” my brother said nastily. On another day, I would have jumped in, but I was exhausted and still nursing my wounds after the Molly Miller shock of the century.
Harper’s nose was wrinkled, which caused her freckles to join up. “It’s not like that, he’s a friend. Boys and girlscanbe friends, you know. He’s a nice guy. Not that you’d know what that looks like, being a knuckle-dragging neanderthal.”
We all looked back and forth between them, Reed biting his lip to stop himself from smiling, Micah rapidly shovelling so much food in his mouth he looked like a hamster. Our little fiery sister had a point. Nix loved to throw his weight around for the girls.
The big man didn’t like her description of him one bit. Phoenix placed his elbows on the table and gave her a death stare, “Then you’re more naïve than I thought. The only thing the boys at St. Andrew’s are interested in is the magic between your legs, baby girl.”
Nix purposefully added his nickname for her, one shehated. Harper shot to her feet, catching the tablecloth, rattling everything on the table. “You’redisgusting,and I hate you!” she yelled, her eyes clogged with tears. “Stay out of my life.”
There was a pinch of silence, and Reed omitted a nervous cough as Harper stormed from the room.
