Page 20 of Heartsmashed
He was a dick. A total dick.
He looked about Sawyer’s age, but there was something about him that felt a little too carefully curated. His coat, his posture, his polished smile. He came off as a guy who knew how to take up space, which was clear in the way he gave no fucks about barging in on personal bubbles and intruding on this entire week.
It felt performative, and I’d only been in his presence for about sixty seconds.
“And C-Mom.” He hugged Catherine—or C-Mom—next, but she didn’t exactly melt into that embrace. “You look great—did you cut your hair?”
“No,” she said, pulling back. I almost laughed at the look on her face, the one Peter seemed oblivious to. She had to be where Hudson got his directness from, because her unimpressed expression spoke volumes. “Alec? A word.”
“Later, Catherine, we just arri?—”
But she was already halfway across the lobby, not interested in having that conversation where the rest of us could hear it.
“Be right back,” he said, then pressed a kiss to Peter’s temple before following after her, Lily close behind.
Leaving Peter to the wolves.
“Ballsy,” Rome muttered, just loud enough for those of us closest to hear.
“Unwelcome,” Hudson corrected him, his gaze never leaving Peter.
Peter shifted, like he could feel it, and with nowhere else to focus his attention, he shoved his hands in his pockets and finally looked at Sawyer. “Hey.”
“Peter,” Sawyer said, his voice even and not trembling at all—unlike the hand I still held tightly.
“Didn’t realize you’d be here already.”
“We just got in.”
Whether it was the word “we” or the fact that I hadn’t taken my eyes off him since he walked in, Peter shifted his gaze from Sawyer to me, and then down to our joined hands.
It was subtle, but I could see the slight movement between his brows that he quickly smoothed over as he locked eyes with me.
“And you are?”
Oh, that was loaded. The expression on his face might’ve been polite enough, but his eyes were assessing and comparing.
“I’m Beckett,” I said. “Sawyer’s boyfriend.”
I let those words settle between us and, with my thumb, soothed the death grip that was Sawyer’s fingers clenching mine.
“Boyfriend,” Peter repeated.
“Yeah,” Sawyer said, wetting his lips. “Beckett and I… We’ve been seeing each other.”
Peter’s gaze flicked between us again. “Since when?”
“That’s none of your business anymore,” Hudson snapped. I got the feeling he wanted to say more, but held himself back.
Or, rather, Drew held him back, his arm tightening around Hudson’s waist so he couldn’t do anything crazy, like punch the guy.
Though I would’ve liked to see that.
But Hudson had gotten his point across, because Peter blinked in surprise and nodded slowly. “Right. That’s…new.”
“People move on,” Sawyer said, a little bite lacing his words.
Good for him.
