AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Why had my dad taken such an interest in him? He said it was because Cole hadn’t had the same privileges I’d had, and with his own dad a mostly absent figure, he wanted to try to make it up to him. Yeah, great, but he forgot about his own fucking son in the process, other than gifting me a car as my graduation present, which was basically him trying to buy me off. And I didn’t see June Clarke making the same effort with me. In fact, she’d hardly even spoken to me…okay, maybe because I’d made it clear that I didn’t want her near me, but whatever.
Bringing the joint back to my lips, I inhaled deeply. At the same time, the door to the hotel room opened, and I steeled myself, biting back words I wanted to let fly. This wasn’t my room, after all. It was just a room that the groomsmen were using to dress in, where the photographer kept popping in and out and making us pose like imbeciles.
The words I wanted to bite out died in my throat anyway as I saw who was standing in the doorway.
Cole.
I hadn’t seen him since early summer when I’d moved out, taking care to only come back home when I knew he was busy with his volunteering or his new job in a club in Soho. Now, I couldn’t help taking him in as I exhaled slowly, the smoke curling in front of me and making it look like I was seeing him through a mist.
The first thing I noticed was his dark hair, usually on the messy side but now parted to the left in a boring-as-fuck, neat style that had the unfortunate effect of accentuating his features. His deep brown, thickly lashed eyes blinked the haze of smoke away as his lips curved into a lazy smirk. His tailored dark grey morning suit matched mine, which fucking sucked because I couldn’t deny he wore it better than me.
“My favourite brother.”
“Not your brother,” I ground out, giving him the finger.
“Black nails. Cute.” He made a show of pulling his phone from his pocket and glancing at the time. “I’ll wait to call you brother in about…hmm…forty-five minutes.”
Before I could reply with a cutting remark, he strode over to me, plucked the joint from my fingertips, and took a deep drag, blowing the smoke into my face.
“Give that back. I need it. It’s medicinal.”
“Yeah?” He raised a brow. “In that case, I think I’ll finish it up.”
Then he was gone, and the only thing I could do was punch the wall, wishing it was his smug fucking face.
* * *
The ceremony and speeches were finally over, and I was able to escape outside, avoiding well-wishers and other relatives I had no desire to ever see again in my life. Heading out onto the stone patio with a JD and Coke, I stopped dead when I saw Cole over to the left, deep in conversation with a cute guy with light brown, wavy hair. A weird feeling went through me. Almost like jealousy, except I knew better. I’d known for a long time that I was bi, but that guy wasn’t my type at all. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to find out who he was. Just in case.
“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.” 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 mebrotheragain 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.
5
“Cole!”
I glanced away from Elliot to see my mum beckoning me towards her. I sighed, turning back to my cousin. “Duty calls. Sorry.”
