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“I know. Believe me, that’s the part of this I regret the most. It’s not that easy. We tried so hard to stay away from one another, but eventually our…attraction to one another became too great to ignore.”
“He still should’ve left her before he did anything with you,” I muttered. “And it still doesn’t mean that Huxley should hate me. I didn’t even know you were seeing the guy until three days ago.”
“Cole, listen. David and Catherine had a very unhappy marriage, from what I could gather. They’d already been sleeping in separate bedrooms for over a year before he and I first…got together, although they’d taken care to hide the breakdown of their marriage from Huxley. He had already been in quite a bit of trouble at school, and they didn’t want to contribute to his…issues. From what I could gather, Catherine didn’t take the news of our relationship too well, even though she’d fallen out of love with David a long time ago. She…well, there was a lot of animosity on both ends.” Picking up her wine glass again, she took a sip, and I noticed the tremble in her hand. “When she left, she wasn’t interested in taking Huxley with her. She’d never been the maternal type, I suppose, and David said that Huxley was quite upset when he found out that he had to stay with his dad. You have to understand, his world has been upended. He can’t direct his anger at me, not in person at least, and unfortunately, that leaves you as the next best target.”
“Great. Well, that’s just idiotic.” I placed the bag of peas down on the kitchen island. “Mum, are you sure it was a good idea for me to be here? I don’t want to live somewhere where I’m going to have to be walking on eggshells.”
Meeting my eyes, she finally let a small smile cross her face. “Cole. You’ve never let anyone push you around before. Show him that you won’t accept his behaviour, and then maybe you can move past everything.”
Somehow, I didn’t think it would be that easy. But she had one thing right. I’d never let anyone push me around before, and I wasn’t going to start now.
I wasn’t interested in being friends with an asshole like Huxley Granger. And if he continued to threaten me, he’d soon learn that I wasn’t the easy target he thought I was.
2
COLE
Huxley gave me a wide berth over the next few days, other than the odd times our paths crossed and we’d both glare at each other until one of us cracked and left the room. But through his dad and my mum, I managed to find out a few things about him. Not by choice, but by the fact that David and my mum seemed to want to saturate me with information about the Grangers every time I was in the same room as them. It was like my mum was trying to make up for not telling me anything by oversharing every single detail she could think of.
I couldn’t blame them. Regardless of the fact that they’d gone about things the wrong way, they were both trying to make an effort now. And now I was over the shock of being uprooted from my life—at least my school wasn’t too far to get to—I could see there were some benefits to being here. Much more space. Quieter, too, without paper-thin walls and neighbours who liked to blast music at all hours of the day and night. My mum seemed much happier as well, happier than I’d seen her in years. David seemed alright, from what I could tell. He’d taken a particular interest in my upcoming summer voluntary role at MindYou, a mental health charity, offering to research the charity’s background and financials. He’d also offered me the opportunity to gain some work experience at his architecture company—something I turned down because working with my mum and my soon-to-be stepdad was not something I had an interest in. And I’d rather get by without handouts if at all possible.
Anyway, back to Huxley. If my brain had a list made up of all the things they’d told me, it would look something like this.
Things I know about Huxley Granger:
1) His middle name is John, the same as his dad’s and his grandad’s
2) He plays the guitar (I knew it!!!)
3) He’s studying A levels in business (same as me), computing, and music (not the same as me—my other subjects are maths and design & technology)
4) David wants him to work at his architecture firm, but isn’t pushing him into it because he doesn’t think he wants to work there
5) He broke his left arm when he was six, falling out of a tree
6) He has a sweet tooth, and his favourite fruit is strawberries
7) He was close to his mum when he was younger, but when he became a teenager they grew apart
8) He’s hot, but his wankerish personality cancels it out
Okay, scrap the first part of point number eight, and keep the part about his wankerish personality.
It became especially clear on Tuesday night. My mum and David were out entertaining some clients. I’d set myself up at the kitchen island, switching between revising for my A-level maths exam, and scouring the internet for possible part-time jobs that I could fit around my volunteer job and wouldn’t be too soul-destroying. I’d just put a pizza and a garlic bread in the oven, and the kitchen TV was playing the football highlights in the background. Everything was chilled, and it was the first time I’d sat in the kitchen and not felt like a stranger.
An advert caught my eye on one of the job sites—a bartender at Revolve, a gay club in Soho. Part-time shifts of varying hours, and the pay wasn’t bad either. That could work. I quickly filled in the application form, attached my CV, and hit the Submit button.
The TV abruptly turned off, and my head shot up to see Huxley standing across the other side of the island, his arms folded across his chest and his usual glare on his face.
I jerked my head in the direction of the TV, glaring straight back at him. “I was watching that.”
“Yeah? Do you have an extra set of eyes? Because it looked like you were looking at your laptop screen to me.”
Dick. Pushing back my stool, I rounded the island to stand in front of him, mimicking his posture by folding my arms across my chest. “Did you want something, or did you just come in here to piss me off?”
His lip curled as he turned his body to face me head-on and took a step closer to me. “You’re way too easy to piss off.”
“Am I?” I stepped forwards. There was no way I was going to back down. “Are you sure it isn’t the other way around? Let’s think back to when we first met…oh yeah, I remember. You pushed me into a wall and told me that I shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking I belonged here. Seemed to me like you were very pissed off then. I hadn’t even spoken to you at that point.”
