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“Cole.” I lifted my hand in greeting, wincing internally as my bruised knuckles made themselves known as I stretched them out. It probably hadn’t been the best idea to punch the wall, but it was the next best thing to punching Cole’s face—which I still wanted to do. Strolling over to them, I watched the shock flare in his eyes as he took me in. Maybe I should’ve tried this sooner—faked playing nice to see what I could get out of it.
He recovered quickly, his gaze flicking to his companion before returning to me. “Ahhh. Huxley. My favourite brother.”
I was temporarily struck dumb. He’d never said my name before, but the way it had rolled off his tongue so easily, like he’d been saying it for years… Gritting my teeth, I focused on the task at hand. The fucker was just trying to get a rise out of me by calling me his brother. “Stepbrother, you mean.” I turned to his companion, holding out my hand. “I’m Huxley Granger. And you are…?”
“Elliot Clarke. Cole’s cousin. My dad is his dad’s brother.” He gave me a small, polite smile, and it was clear that he had zero interest in me, which was good, because now I was here, I wasn’t feeling any kind of way about him. My gaze returned to Cole, who was watching us both with his brows pulled together, his bottom lip trapped between his teeth.
There was something in his expression… I stepped closer to Elliot, and the second I did so, I saw Cole tense up out of the corner of my eye. “Elliot. I haven’t seen you around before. Do you live locally?”
Shaking his head, he gave me another small smile. “Nope. Bournemouth. But I go to London Southwark Uni—do you know it?”
“LSU? Yeah.” This time, there was nothing fake in my interest. “What’s it like? I’m starting there this September.”
His smile turned genuine. “It’s good. There’s a lot of clubs and societies and things if you like all that. Great facilities. Yeah. I like it.”
“Good,” I replied, briefly glancing back over at Cole, who was now giving me a look that was definitely a glare. Returning his glare, I took a step back. “Nice to meet you, Elliot. Maybe I’ll see you around campus.”
As I turned to head in any direction that led me away from them, I made sure to brush past Cole, dipping my head to his ear. “Call me brother again, and I’ll knock your fucking teeth out.”
He huffed out a laugh, although it sounded a little shaky.
I didn’t bother to look at the expression on his face as I walked away.
4
COLE
“Cole!”
I glanced away from Elliot to see my mum beckoning me towards her. I sighed, turning back to my cousin. “Duty calls. Sorry.”
He swiftly shook his head with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. I should probably text Ander back anyway—he’s been blowing up my phone asking how everything’s going.”
“Sounds like him.” Ander was Elliot’s best friend, and from what I’d seen of their friendship over the years, they were both obsessed with each other to a level that I could never contemplate with anyone. Then again, I’d never had a best friend, so who knew how best friends actually behaved?
Shoving my hands into my suit pockets, I headed over to my mum. I plastered on a smile when I drew closer, because despite my reservations about this whole thing—mainly Huxley, if I was being completely honest—it was clear to anyone with eyes that she was happy.
“Ah, Cole. The photographer would like to take a few photos down by the lakeside. David and I thought it might be nice to include a few family photos.”
Great. More time with Huxley. I kept the smile on my face and hoped it didn’t look too fake. “Okay, yeah. Where do you want me?”
“Just down here.” She pointed down the gravel path that wound down the side of the lawn in the direction of the lake. I took her arm as we walked down, helping her to balance. Those heels were not made for gravel. As we drew closer to the lake, I saw Huxley and his dad waiting with the photographer, who was kneeling down and changing his camera lens. He had a bit of a pained expression on his face, and it soon became obvious why when I heard David’s voice.
“…Smoking weed on our wedding day! All I ask is for you to behave for one day, and you can’t even manage that.”
I smirked, and at the same time Huxley glanced over at me, shooting me a savage glare. “Cole smoked too.”
My smirk dropped, and I shook my head. “Smoke? Me? You must be mistaken.” Okay, I’d made a point of taking a drag in front of him, but after that I’d put the joint out to save for later, and then I’d done my best to air out my suit and spray on some aftershave, and made good use of the toothpaste and mouthwash in the facilities the hotel had provided. Huxley hadn’t even bothered to try and hide it.
“You know you did, you lying wanker,” he hissed.
“Huxley! Please.” David pinched his brow, huffing out a breath. “Can you just pretend to get on with Cole for one day? You’re brothers now, so act like it.”
“Yeah, come on, brother,” I said, just to piss him off, and he gave me the middle finger, not even caring that his dad, my mum, and the photographer were all watching him.
“Huxley. That’s enough.” There was a finality in David’s tone, and Huxley dropped his arm, his jaw clenched. David cleared his throat, giving Huxley a pointed look, before turning to the photographer. “My apologies. We’re ready for the photos now. Where would you like us?”
The photographer slipped into professional mode, directing us to stand in front of the lake. I was on the end next to my mum, and Huxley was thankfully at the other end, next to his dad. My smile came easily as I imagined various ways that I could piss off Huxley. It would be amazing if I could just trip him up so he fell in the lake.
