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“What was that?” Hudson shouts over, cupping a hand to his ear. His cockiness makes him drift back around to us, seemingly underestimating the muscle mass that Tate keeps hidden under his unassuming clothes. Tate’s body is vibrating under my fingers. The last thing that I want to do is let go of him because I know that, if I do, he will immediately begin pulverising Hudson, and as much as I too have fantasised about strapping Hudson down and cutting him into long meaty ribbons, I don’t want the repercussions of public assault to come back to Tate.
“Tate, let’s go,” I whisper, my eyes pleading up at him.
He stares down at me and I almost shiver at how intimidating he looks. His body is rock solid and I can feel the pheromones radiating from him as he eyes me up and down, his breathing heavy. “Get back in the car,” he tells me. “I need to take care ofthis, and then, after that, I’ll…” He inhales deeply as he drags his eyes away from my lips, up to my eyes. I can read his mind. I know exactly what he’s thinking.
And then, after that, I’ll take care of you.
I nod and slowly let go, but as soon as my fingertips leave Tate’s arm I hear the sharpsmackof skin on skin.
My eyes flash in shock to Hudson’s fist, which only two seconds ago was meeting Tate’s jaw. Unflinching, Tate hasn’t moved a millimetre. His eyebrow arches as his hand goes up to stroke his cheek and a bemused look crosses his face as his eyes finally flick back down to Hudson.
And then he smiles.
In the next moment Hudson is shoved down and pinned to the blacktop, with one of Tate’s hands wrapped around his throat and both of his thighs straddling his waist. His other hand is squeezing Hudson’s wrists together, unfazed by his attempts to free himself, as he grits out to him, “You touched her? You touched my girl, huh? And now you’re waiting outside my truck as if I’m not about to fuck you up?”
Hudson spits blood out of his mouth, as if he’s badly bitten his tongue from when his head hit the road, and with a hint of smugness in his voice he rasps out, “You know that you can’t do shit to me.”
This time Tate laughs. “Oh yeah?” he asks, and then, letting go of Hudson’s wrists, he pounds his fist into his cheek. Hudson’s head smacks sideways into the road, both sides of his face split and swollen when he twists back around to Tate.
Hudson makes a low pained sound but he keeps his hoarse voice neutral. “You know, I didn’t expect you to bring a girlfriend to your dad’s housewarming, so things must be pretty serious there.” He spits again, and then loudly whispers, “But just remember, I got there first.”
Hudson’s head is yanked forward and then Tate slams it back against the road. Tate stands up, hovering over him with his hands clutching the loop-holes of his jeans and, for one moment, from looking at Tate’s face, I think that he’s about to piss on him.
But then new lights and noises appear from Mitch’s house and three people come running out. The first person looks so much like Mitch that I realise he must be the uncle – Jason – who I hadn’t got around to meeting. His brow is sterner and his stubble is darker, making him appear formidable as he storms towards us. Then behind him-
Ohno.No, no, no.
Behind Jason is Mitch and my mom, holding hands as they run over to us.
“Jason heard you through the fuckingdouble-glazing, Tate,” Mitch thunders, and they all abruptly stop, seeing Hudson tentatively trying to sit himself upright against the curb. Mitch’s eyes are wide. “What the hell is going on?”
I’m thinking the exact same question.Why the fuck is Hudson here?
Tate’s eyes flick from Hudson to his dad, but just as he opens his mouth to speak a completely unexpected voice rings out.
“Why are your pants open, River?”
My mom has stepped away from Mitch, and she cocks her head to the side as her eyes linger on my crotch. I look down at myself as if I’m not about to see my fly wide open but, sure enough, my jeans are exactly as they were five minutes ago, when my mom’s boyfriend’s son was one minute away from fucking me in his truck.
As my head snaps up to try and explain this to my mom, her eyes have already made their way across to Tate, whose clothing is in similar disarray, his open belt swinging rigidly down the long length of his groin.
Her hands shoot up to her mouth and she stifles her gasp. Her eyes meet mine and she’s disbelievingly shaking her head. Her voice is garbled behind her hand but I can hear her loud and clear. “Oh youstupidgirl,” she whispers. I cringe as her words slice through me.
Tate moves his body in front of mine and I take the reprieve from their eyes to fasten my pants. I want to grab onto Tate’s shirt and press myself into him but now isn’t the time.
Will I ever have the chance to do that again?
As if he can read my mind, Tate moves his right hand so that it’s resting palm-out against his lower back, and he flexes it in invitation. I don’t know who needs the comfort more right now but I immediately envelop his hand in mine, and I wrap the other tightly around his wrist.
Hudson heaves himself up from the ground and he makes a spluttering laugh, despite the lopsided stance that he is currently sporting. He makes a vague gesture between me and my mom and then says, directly to Tate, “Wait. Are you… No way. Are you two, like, step-siblings?” His eyes are glinting so brightly they look radioactive. He coughs wetly after another laugh and then he says with unabashed glee, “Please tell me that that’s her mom.”
My mom speaks up. I can’t see her from behind the protective muscle-shield in front of me but, from her tone, I can tell that she’s talking to Tate. “Are you serious? Is this a joke to you?” I hear her step closer. “You know how smart she is, right? You know that she’s going to be leaving for college.”
Tate’s shoulders bristle and I immediately have a new-found understanding for why he’s been so cautious around me whenever he saw my pre-college work and applications.
Aware that this might be a sensitive subject for Tate, especially considering what he told me tonight, Mitch steps in.
“Come on, they’re just kids,” Mitch says, his tone placating. Then it turns stern. “I’m more concerned about whymy sonis beating up the kid of acop.”
