Page 73 of Sinful as They Come
“Yeah, me too. I’m trying not to think about it too much.” I just wanted to change the subject. “When did you get here?”
Annie shrugged. “Like, half an hour ago. You missed a fun, little fight in the front yard. No cops showed up thankfully. And no, before you ask, Sawyer was not involved.”
My eyebrows furrowed, looking over my shoulder for a second. “Sawyer’s here?”
“Yeah. So is Brodie.”
“Oh. Well, I haven’t seen those two yet. I haven’t even seen Lucas yet.”
Annie suddenly groaned. “That reminds me. I was supposed to get chips from the basement. Lucas needs help being a good host.”
“Sounds spooky.”
“Tell me about it. You okay out here? I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
I waved a hand at her. “Go help Lucas. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
Annie squeezed my hand for a second before taking off back into the house. Sighing, I decided to do a little walk around the garden. Maybe that would help me forget about how mean Carter was being.
I was dodging people left, right and center. It made sense the party was so busy since Lucas was one of the most popular guys at school. And I had almost made it to the other side of the yard until I bumped into someone.Or they bumped into me. Either way, I almost lost my balance until two big hands landed on my waist. My hands instinctively landed in front of me, and they pressed up against something hard so I could settle myself.
That was when I saw Sawyer before me.
I blushed, quickly pulling my hands away from him. “Sorry,” I said, my cheeks feeling too hot.
“Looks like you’re in a rush to get outta here,” he told me, his deep voice loud so he could speak over the music. Then his eyes lowered to my dress. “Also looks like you’re about to go on a picnic or something.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to go to this party tonight.”
“Lucas didn’t invite you? You gatecrashing, Malibu Barbie?”
“No,” I laughed. “He did. But... I was supposed to be at a nice restaurant eating some Italian food and staring lovingly into my boyfriend’s eyes.” My voice was laced with bitterness. And that was because Iwasbitter. I did not want to be stuck at some dumb party surrounded by drunk people. And why the hell was I confessing all of this to Sawyer?
“Yeah, I saw him a couple seconds ago.” Sawyer rose his eyebrows up at me. “But I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Oh?” I frowned. Did he want to argue? Because I was too upset for that.
“The, uh, article...” Sawyer’s eyes darted to the side for a second. “I read it.”
Oh, God. Did he hate it? Sawyer’s painting was my favorite, and I thought what I wrote had made that known. “And?”
Sawyer rubbed at the back of his head. “I... I just wanted to say thank you.”
Oh my God. Sawyer Westbrook was thanking me. Me. Had I imagined the words? They sounded so odd coming from him with his gruff voice.
“You... You liked it?” I shook my head in confusion.
“Yeah, it was... What you wrote was nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me,” he continued, his eyes not quite meeting mine. “And someone actually bought that painting the other day.”
My eyes widened. Andthatright there was the nicest thing Sawyer had ever said tome. But I was happy for him. He deserved that. “That’s greatnews! Congrats.”
“You might know the guy.” His eyebrows furrowed for a second. “Eric something. Adams? Anderson?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s big on art. He works for the council and teams up with a lot of artists. Maybe he’ll buy some more stuff off you. He actually knows my dad.”
Sawyer gave me a little smirk. “Yeah, he happened to be at Eric’s place when I made the sale.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
