To Save You

by Ruiz, Rebeca

  “I don't, Cindy is mad and we need to work things out. I'll do my best to make it, though.” He rolls his eyes, and I smirk. It was common knowledge to know that Cindy was good in bed. James got to her before I could, but then he decided to make her his girlfriend. It's been all downhill for him since. She was clingy and cried a lot, and it's only been three months.

  “Finally ready to cut the thread?” He nods.

  “It's time.” James was about to be a free man, and that would mean back to wild nights and wild hookups. Including being the best wing man for me.

  I look at the time. “Crap. I have class. I'll see you later, man.” I grab my keys, and walk out to make it to Composition.

  I made my way to the school library. I already had a paper to write, and I needed to get the book before my game tonight. I would not want to get up early tomorrow to check it out, especially if I was going to be hungover.

  Walking through the library, I could feel someone's eyes on me. I looked behind me to find the beautiful Leah walking right behind me. She smirked and I slowed down enough to let her catch up. Leah was a brunette, tall, beautiful. The most amazing feature about her was her mouth, that girl could give blow jobs.

  “Matty, how about I help you blow off some steam before your game?” I wrapped my arm around her small waist.

  “And how are you going to do that, princess?” I ask as I turn into the aisle I needed to get the book from. I could feel my cock twitch with excitement.

  We weren't alone here though. There was a girl, one I recognized from this morning, on the floor reading a book. From the way she refused to look up, I could see that she knew we were here. She was just choosing to ignore us.

  “I have a few things in mind, and if we go to my room, I'm sure I can show you all of them and still get you to your game on time.” That's when Presley decided to look up. She immediately looked down and back at her book.

  “I actually have to go talk to coach, but maybe tonight at the party.” Leah started pouting. I hated when girls pouted. It wasn't cute.

  “Fine.” She says when she gets no reaction from me. “But I can't promise that I'll be available later tonight.”

  “Neither can I.” I knew she was trying to make me jealous, but I wasn't the jealous type. I watched her as she walked away from me, and I knew swayed her hips more than usual just to give me something to look at.

  I looked back to Presley. I made my way over to her and sat down in front of her. She looked at me. Her blue eyes were beautiful, and unique. I don't think I've ever seen blue eyes in that shade.

  “What can I do for you, Mathew?” Mathew? I hardly ever hear my full name.

  “Didn't I say you could call me Matty?” Everyone calls me Matty, even my sister, even my parents.

  “You did.” Is all she says in her soft velvety voice. Presley looked back down, her blonde hair falling over her face as she read the last page to the chapter.

  I look at the way she holds her book, like it's a treasure and something she has to treat with care. My eyes wander to her wrist, and I spot the red lines. They were self-inflicted. How did I miss them earlier? Feeling my eyes on it she moved her wrist and hand under the book.

  “Do you need something, Mathew?” She asks. I look back at her blue eyes. I could see the nervousness behind them.

  “Do you need a ride to the game?” I could see that she wasn't expecting me to ask that. I understood enough to know that James didn't know about these wounds. Or maybe he did, and that's why he was so protective over her?

  “I-uhm.” She takes a deep breath. “I have a car.”

  “Doesn't mean I can't offer you a ride.” Presley shakes her head.

  “I'm fine. Really. I like driving alone. Hell, I traveled Europe alone for a year.” She was trying to explain to me that she wanted to be alone. Alone was what she was used to. I wonder how she was adjusting to the college life.

  “You went to Europe?” She nods. “You're just full of surprises aren't you?” I could see her blushing.

  “I have to go. I have a paper to write.” Shit. Almost forgot about my paper and the damn book I have to find.

  “I'll see you at the game then?” I ask when we both stand. I watch as she slings her backpack to one of her shoulders. Even the way she does that is sexy.

  Chapter Three

  Presley Masters

  “I'll see you at the game then?” Mathew asks, and I nod. “Will you be the one cheering the loudest?” I could feel myself blushing again for the millionth time today. I hug the book to my chest, making sure my bad wrist is covered. What was the point? He already saw it.

  “I hardly understand what's going on half the time unless someone is telling me what is happening.” I admit. I was never a sport person, books and studies were more my things. “I wouldn't even know when to cheer really. I only go to the games to support James.” I could hardly look at Mathew in the eyes. His beautiful emerald green eyes.

  He was smiling at me. “Well-” He gets cut off by the person I was trying to avoid. Finn. My best friend. I met him in eighth grade, and we've been friends ever since. Just friends, and he understands that I'm not ready for a relationship. We’ve made out and had sex. We have a no strings attached relationship. That’s the only reason he doesn't ask me out. For now he's someone I whisper my secrets to in bed.

  “Presley.” He says and walks towards me. Mathew is taller than him, but it doesn't stop Finn from standing his ground. Finn wouldn't stand a chance against him. “Pennington.” They know each other?

  “Riley.” From the looks of it, it doesn't look like they like each other. I would need to get the inside scoop from Finn.

  Finn looks at me with his dark brown eyes. Finn was the complete opposite of Mathew. “Ready to go, babe.” Fuck. He was claiming me in front of Mathew. He only calls me babe when he wants to be flirty.

  “I told you I would meet you at my dorm.” I say through my teeth. Mathew was looking at my face, trying to see if maybe Finn really was my boyfriend.

  “That was twenty minutes ago, I knew where you would be.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder, and it takes everything not to shrug him off.

  I looked at Mathew. “I'll see you at the game, good luck.” He nods, and Finn walks me out of there. As soon as we're out of sight, I push him off me.

  “Prick.” I mutter.

  “Right.” He thinks I'm talking about Mathew.

  “Not him. You.” He chuckles. “Why don't you two like each other?”

  “It's a football and soccer rivalry thing.” He shrugs. I roll my eyes. Boys will be boys. “Plus, I didn't like the way he was looking at you.”

  “How was he looking at me?”

  “Like he was undressing you with his eyes.” I roll my eyes again. I don't mention what happened that morning. That secret would be for me only.

  After we were done pleasuring ourselves, I managed to convince Finn to come to the game with me. I had my school sweater on and I had a pair of jeans on. The weather is cooler at night now that we were in September. It didn't stop other girls from wearing shorts and the small shirt they could find.

  “Remind me why I'm here again?” Finn asks.

  “Because you're my best friend. I wasn't going to come alone.” I itched to have a book with me, but Finn made me leave it in the car, he knew I'd ignore him if I had it.

  The crowd cheered and we stood up along with them. I honestly had no clue what was happening. “What happened?” I ask.

  “The prick managed to score.” I rolled my eyes, it was a habit I needed to break, or people needed to stop being stupid. Finn has been calling Mathew a prick all afternoon, he kept asking me questions, and I kept giving him the same answers.

  I could see Mathew getting high fives and thumbs ups from his teammates. I smiled for him. He looked to the crowd and a whole bunch of girls were squealing. We got here right after half time or whatever. From the score, I could see we were ahead by a lot
.

  The whistle blew and almost immediately the ball got thrown out of the lines. I assumed that meant it was out of bounds. The other team threw it back in, and I watched at James tried to steal it from them. I saw the big guy coming before James did. I stood up and watched as the guy pushed James to the grass in front of him, and then managed to trip over him.

  For a moment, a very small moment, the crowd was silent. When James didn't get up, I knew it was bad. I started running down the stands, I couldn't care less about Finn. The referee stopped the time and ran out to the field. I saw James socks were tinged with red.

  “James!” I yelled. I managed to find an entrance to the field and got to the crowd of the players. I'm not a very strong person, but in that moment I managed to fight my way to the front through ten soccer players, all bigger than me.

  I heard James cry out in pain. “I think it's broken.” Crouched down beside him was the referee and Mathew.

  I crouched alongside with him. Mathew looked at me for a brief second before looking back at James. The athletic trainers pushed everyone back, but I refused to move. James wasn't opening his eyes, but we all knew he was awake.

  I watched in silence as the athletic trainer patched him up as much as they could without moving his leg that was positioned in a way legs should never be positioned. It was broken, I'm sure of it. This could require surgery to fix.

  “Who are you?” I hear somebody ask me.

  “I'm his sister.” I manage to say, but I wasn't taking my eyes off James. They loaded him up on the cart they drive around, with the help of the players, I sat in the back with him. Somebody else tried to get on, but I stopped them. It was Mathew.

  “Finish the game, there's nothing you can do for him at the hospital.” I tell him. “I'll be with him.” I could see the worry on his face. He was going to fight me on this, but then stopped. He knew I was right.

  “Okay.” He nodded and something dark came over his eyes.

  The cart sped off to meet the ambulance. James had opened his eyes and I could see just how much pain he was in.

  “You're going to be fine.” I say. I was unsure though. His leg looked bad, and I hadn't looked at it for more than a second.

  “I don't think I will be.” I hear him say quietly, I don't think he wanted me to hear that, so I pretend that I didn't hear it. I know what he's thinking.

  This injury could be the end of his soccer career. The one thing he loves most. Now for sure he'd be out for the rest of the season.

  Chapter Four

  Mathew Pennington

  My knuckles were bruised from punching the guy who stepped on James. It was after we won the stupid game, so they couldn't penalize me for it. He didn't even try to fight back and I'm glad. I got my anger out with one punch.

  I got to the waiting room, where I saw Mr. and Mrs. Masters. It's crazy how much beauty Presley got from her mother. Mrs. Masters was always so kind to me, and I could see that she was crying into Mr. Masters arms. I look around the mostly empty waiting room, and I don't see Presley here.

  I go up to Mr. Masters. “Hello, sir.” I shake his hand. I managed to change into my soccer sweats after taking a quick shower. I wanted to be the first one here, I knew the rest of the team would be here soon.

  “Matty.” Mrs. Masters looks up.

  “Is he in surgery?” They nod.

  “His fibula is shattered. They're repairing it right now, he will be out for the rest of the season, possibly won't play next season either depending on how physical therapy goes.” Mr. Masters says.

  “All we can do is pray.” Mrs. Masters says. The Masters have always been religious people, but my family isn't. We respect each others beliefs and actually get along great.

  “Where is Presley?” I ask.

  “She's in the cafeteria. Would you mind keeping her company?” Mr. Masters asks. I nod.

  “Sure thing. Come find us if they come with any news.” He nods and I head out toward the cafeteria, following all the signs.

  I spot the blonde right away, and see that she's alone. Why wasn't her boyfriend here? Didn't he care about her brother?

  I sit across from her. She doesn't notice, she's in her own world. Presley is looking down, her hands on the table and I reach out, startling her.

  “Hi.” She says, pulling her hands back.

  “How are you doing?” I ask her.

  “I'm fine.” Her make up looks intact, and her eyes aren't red. I can see that she hasn't been crying. Something tells me that she's one to hold things in until she is alone.

  “Where's your boyfriend?”

  “I don't have...” Then she realizes who I'm talking about. “He's my friend. We have a small thing but it’s nothing serious. I've never had a boyfriend.” I feel relieved that Finn Riley is not her boyfriend, he's a dick. I could understand why he would have a friends with benefits thing with her.

  Wait. “What do you mean you've never had a boyfriend?” She's fucking gorgeous. If she wasn’t James’ sister I would make her mine in a second.

  “I've been single all my life. I mean unless you count this one time in preschool when I got married to a kindergartner. To be fair, I think it ended in a messy divorce, I got the swings, he got the slides.” I smile. She's funny. It's not often you get a woman who is beautiful and funny.

  “It does count. So you like older guys?” She starts to blush. “How is it even possible that you've never had a boyfriend?” I won't drop the subject.

  “Guys don't really look at me like that. Finn is pretty much the only one who has looked at me like that.” She shrugs. What?

  “Trust me when I say, we look at you like that.” If she wasn't red before, she definitely is now. Can she not see what she has to offer? “The only reason you may think that is because Finn likes to scare them away.”

  “Okay I'm done talking about my nonexistent love life.” She says, marking her boundary. She looks up at the clock and then back at me.

  “The surgeon said it would be about two hours. One more to go.” I could see that she was worried.

  “Did you eat?” I ask her, I was going to try to take her mind off her brother, for the next hour. She didn't have to worry. James would be fine.

  “No. I'm fine though.” I've noticed that she says that a lot.

  “Come on.” I encourage her. “What can I get you?”

  “A Mountain Dew would be great.” I give her a look.

  “That's not food.”

  “I'm honestly not hungry.” I get up and go inside the little shop in the cafeteria. I get a bunch of stuff, nutrition bars, cookies, two sandwiches, and two Mountain Dews. I would eat whatever she didn't, I was hungry.

  I place the tray of food between us and she goes for the Mountain Dew and a sandwich. I knew she would be a little hungry.

  “Do you have any other siblings other than Ashton?” She asks after she's eaten about half of her food. Presley doesn't look at me, and I hope that she will because I want to look into her clear water blue eyes.

  “I do. I have one more older sister.” One which doesn't talk to us anymore, she ceased all contact with us years ago. The other one, Ashton, is a year apart from me and she just graduated from NYU, and she is recently engaged to her British boyfriend, Braxton.

  “Are you guys close?” I nod. I don't feel like going into detail about my other sister Megan because it was a long story.

  “Which countries did you visit?” I ask her. She looks surprised that I remember the comment about her traveling.

  “I was in England for a few months, I worked while I was there as a free lance photographer. I made enough to go to Ireland then I went to France then Spain and then finally Italy before I went back to London for some more work.” Her eyes lit up even more as she talked about her travels. I could see that she was proud of herself.

  “You're a photographer?” She nods. “What do you like to take photographs of?”

  “I love cat
ching people off guard, when they don't even know I have the camera pointed at them. There's something genuine that I capture, they're not trying to put on a face that's not them. I capture the realness.” I nod. “Sorry, I don't know if I'm making sense. Sometimes I just ramble and my mind works faster than my mouth.”

  “You're making sense, don't worry. I completely understand.” I was being honest. I understood her. I have just gotten a snippet of her genuine self as she talked about photography. I wanted to know more about her, understand more. Find out why she harmed herself behind closed doors, find out if she was in more pain than one could understand.

  “What about you? Do you have any hobbies or loves?”

  “Soccer and my families business.” My family owned the biggest bakery and catering business in the world. We sponsored celebrities, we hosted many of their parties, which in turn got us invited to many of them as guests. I've met more A-list celebrities than I can count on two hands.

  I wasn't going to tell Presley that because something told me that it didn't interest her how many famous people I've met. She's different, and I don't believe all my tricks would even work on her. I would have to try something new.

  Chapter Five

  Presley Masters

  My parents let Mathew and I stay in the recovery room with James as they went to go fill out paperwork, and get some dinner. James was still asleep, Mathew was asleep on the recliner as well, I was sitting next to James. My mom has been crying all night. She used to cry when we got colds as kids, or even a scratch on our knees, she's very emotional and caring and I love her because of it. That’s the reason I can't tell her about my self-harm. It would kill her.

  It started when I got to the boarding school. I saw some girls with the cuts, and when I asked them, they said it's an easy way to release stress, it was a trend I didn't want to be a part of...or so I thought. One day in my sophomore year I just felt so depressed because I was far away from my family, I saw them for a month in the summer, a few days for Thanksgiving, a week for Christmas. It was a year round school. I looked to my razor blade for answers that night, and I still have evidence of that night on my thighs.