A threat, and while most other people would believe it, I just stood there, waiting. “Are you done now, rich boy? Because I have to get back to class. Unlike some people, my grades matter. I can’t buy my way to a job after this.” I turned on my heels and started back to the door, feeling his stare on me.
He stopped me by saying, “Travis…”
I threw a glimpse over my shoulder, taking in his slumped shoulders and frowning face. “I would ask him about it,” I advised. “Because it seems like a lot of your problems with me involve him.” I said nothing else as I returned to class, smiling to myself.
Turn the two alphas against each other. What would happen? Who would stand victorious? Who would win? Honestly, it was a fight I’d pay to see, but I knew it was also a fight that I probably wouldn’t witness.
I had a feeling it would be glorious.
Chapter Seventeen – Sawyer
I skipped the rest of my classes that day. I couldn't bear to sit in any of them, let alone see Declan’s face. And Travis? Fuck. I had no idea what to believe. Why would Travis tape me and Brooklyn together, and why would he send it to Ash? He must’ve known how she’d react, and…
That’s, I realized, what he wanted. Travis wanted Ash to hate me. He didn’t want her to fall for me at all.
He fucked up our plans, for what? For a girl? For some pussy? I was all for getting it, but not destroying friendships along the way. Bros before hoes, and until today, I’d thought Travis was my bro. My friend, the only real friend I had left. Now I wondered differently.
I sat in the living room of my house, staring at my hand on my knee, watching as my knee bounced over and over again. I was antsy, jittery, anxious in every way. I knew there were many tiny pills in the kitchen that could help me relax, but I wouldn’t sink to that level again.
Fuck it. I should really just throw them away, flush them down the toilet. Why had I kept them for so long?
I ran both hands through my hair, letting out a long sigh. Ash saw me with Brooklyn, so of course she was upset with me. I didn’t think there was any way to salvage it, to use her like I’d originally planned.
I couldn’t use Ash, and it was Travis’s fault.
I got my phone out and texted him to come over. I left it at that, not wanting to get into specifics over the phone. Things were always easier to misconstrue over text messages, and when I asked him about what he did, I wanted to be staring at his face.
After setting my phone on the couch beside me, I glanced at my hand, at my knuckles. I’d cut them up a little after punching that mirror, but the small cuts were healed. My lip took a bit longer, mostly because the wounds were deeper. Ash’s teeth had cut into me so fast, she was in and out, up and off me, before I could blink. The bitch. She needed some payback of epic proportions, but right now all I could think about was Travis.
Travis, and the betrayal I felt.
If I didn’t have Travis, who did I have? If I couldn’t trust him…who the hell could I trust?
In that moment, I’d never felt more alone. It was mostly of my own doing, but that didn’t make it any better. After Sabrina’s death, I’d pushed everyone away. Travis was the only one I kept close. Me, him, and Declan, growing up we were near inseparable. I couldn’t stand to lose both him and Declan at the same time, but now—now it seemed I was losing him anyway.
Losing him all because of a fucking girl. A trailer park trash whore who thought she could run the show. Ash had no idea who she was messing with. Until now, I’d played nice, but I was done. I was done playing nice. She’d get the bull and the horns. She’d get my inner monster. She’d get everything she never asked for.
Travis finally made his way to my house sometime in the late afternoon. When he stepped into my house, he reeked of smoke, and I frowned as I watched him saunter into the kitchen and grab a beer out of the fridge as if he was welcome here, as if nothing had changed between us.
He was about to pop open the bottle, but I said, “We need to talk.”
He stopped, glancing at me, bringing the bottle over as he came into the living room, sitting himself on the coffee table across from me. Travis set the cold bottle down, and his blue eyes met mine. His blue-black hair was combed to the side, his torso covered in a black shirt, matching most of his tattoos. “What’s going on? You seem upset.”
“I seem upset because I am upset,” I told him. “I spoke to Ash today.”
Nothing changed on his face when I brought her up. He was a good actor. Why didn’t I ever notice it before? “Yeah? And how’d it go? Not good, I’m assuming.”
“I was hoping to find a way to salvage this, but she told me something.”
Travis held my stare. “What did she tell you?”
“You sent her a video of Brooklyn and I fucking,” I stated. Finally, Travis blinked, a small reaction, but a reaction all the same. “You’re the reason she came to that party ready to kill. You’re the reason I look like a fucking freak.”
He said nothing, not admitting it. He only watched me, an unreadable look on his face. Finally, Travis asked, “She told you?” His tone was bored, but I could hear faint traces of shock in it. Apparently he didn’t think Ash would tell me.
Looked like Ash was not someone either of us could predict.
“She did. She also showed me the video. You know, I don’t think I would’ve believed her if she didn’t have the video ready to go on her phone, and it makes me wonder just what else you’ve been up to while I’m not looking.” I glared at him, feeling the rage inside me threatening to take over. I wanted to hit something. Maybe him.
When Travis was quiet for a while, when neither of us spoke for a few minutes, I asked, “Well? Aren’t you going to admit it? Or at least tell me why you did it? Ash will never be on my side now, and I think I owe most of that to you.”
His tattooed shoulders rose and fell once. “She was never going to fall for any of your tricks,” Travis spoke, barely looking at me. “She’s above that.”
“She’s above it,” I repeated, incredulous. “Like she’s a fucking all-powerful god. She’s not. She’s just a girl—she’s nothing.”
No sooner were the words out of my mouth when Travis got to his feet, shooting me a frown that was almost vicious. “She is not just a girl, and don’t you dare say she’s nothing.”
I blinked, not believing what I was hearing. I stood, quite a few inches taller than him. Bigger, too. Wider. I worked out religiously; Travis didn’t. “Don’t fucking tell me,” I hissed. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
“Does it matter?” he asked.
“No, no it doesn’t,” I said. “Because you know what? I’m going to figure out something new, and it’s going to be a plan you’re not a part of. I’m going to use Ash however the fuck I want to, and this time I’ll be the one videotaping it. This time I’ll be the one sending out the video. Tell me, Travis, do you think you’ll enjoy seeing Ash’s face while I fuck her from behind?” I had no idea why I went that far, but I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted him to hurt how I hurt.
I wanted everyone around me to hurt, actually.
Travis’s fists clenched at his sides, and I could tell it took everything in him to not lunge at me. “She knows better than to fall for you,” he muttered, and I couldn’t say why, but his words didn’t sit well with me.
Knows better. As if she was taught.
“I didn’t say anything about making her fall for me,” I said, flashing a half-smile at the one who used to be my friend. We weren’t friends any longer, not after this. I was done. “You don’t have to make a girl fall for you before fucking her, you know. There are other ways.”
“If you do anything to her, if you force her to do anything, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” I egged him on. “You’ll hurt me? Make me regret it? That’s what you don’t get, Travis, even after all this time. I’m dead inside, and I want the world to burn around me, along with everyone in it.”
Travis took a s
tep back, exhaling a long breath. “You keep pushing everyone away. Without me, you have no one. You’re alone. You’ll always be alone. Sawyer, you’ll fucking die alone, too stupid to realize it.”
His words might’ve been true, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed hearing them.
“Get out of my house,” I said. “And don’t ever come back.”
Travis shook his head, flipping me the bird as he went. “Fuck off, Sawyer Salvatore,” he muttered under his breath, slamming the front door as he left.
Alone. I was alone.
I was fine with it; being alone only gave me more time to come up with a plan. I’d take Ash, mark my fucking words. I’d take her, and use her against everyone. My heart was ice; my thoughts about her before? How I couldn’t cum unless I was thinking of her? None of that mattered.
My phone rang, and I glanced at the caller-id before picking it up, my blood boiling. “Brooklyn,” I practically spat her name, never wanting to say it or type it out ever again. “I told you to stop calling me.”
“Why?” she asked on the other line, demanding answers. As if she had the right to demand anything from me. “Is this about that skank? Sawyer, I’ll—”
“Don’t you ever say my name again,” I said. “I’ve blocked you online, and if you call me one more time, I’m going to file a police report saying you’re stalking me, get a restraining order, and make sure the whole world knows how much of an obsessive bitch you are.” I hung up, throwing my phone down. It landed on the cushions, bouncing once.
I half expected her to call back, but she didn’t. Brooklyn, at least, knew what was good for her. If she fucking redialed my number after that, I’d make sure to make her life a living hell. I’d ruin anyone and everyone’s life if it got me what I wanted.
Declan, gone, out of the picture completely. Travis, feeling the same betrayal I did. And Ash? She would realize she wasn’t so special, that she was just another cunt for my cock, useless and boring in every other way.
I would never be the same Sawyer I was growing up. That Sawyer was dead. This one? The man I was now? He was angry, and he was willing to do anything to get what he wanted.
Chapter Eighteen – Ash
I was on my way back from the student union, carrying a bag of food back to the dorm when my phone rang. I thought it was my mom, since no one else ever called me except Kelsey, and I knew she had a few evening classes since she wasn’t a morning person. I answered it without thinking.
“Hello?”
There was silence on the other line for a few seconds.
My eyebrows creased, and I withdrew the phone from my ear for only a moment to see that the number calling was restricted, an unknown number. Someone didn’t want me to know who was calling.
I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, causing two guys behind me to nearly walk into me with the suddenness of the stop. I gave them an I’m sorry look before moving onto the grass near one of the business buildings, out of the way of everyone else walking nearby.
“Hello?” I said again, my heart in my throat. A chill ran over me, and I couldn’t shake the strange feeling that I was being watched.
“We need to talk,” a loud voice came from behind me, not from my phone, and I dropped my cell as I practically leaped out of my skin. My phone landed in the grass, luckily unharmed, and I tossed a glare at the voice’s owner.
Travis.
I glanced all around, only feeling slightly more at ease because of all the people nearby. It wasn’t quite dark yet, so many other students were out, going about their day. I picked up my phone, noticing that the caller had hung up.
“I don’t have time to talk to you,” I muttered, not feeling good. I was starving until that call, and now I felt…odd.
“You continue to surprise me,” Travis said, eyeing me up. In the fading light, his hair looked pitch-black, his eyes dancing and reflecting the light from the setting sun. Such a beautiful blue hue, a deep color, one you could get lost in if you weren’t careful. An ocean, calm and tepid at first glance, but one that would swallow you up without hesitation.
“I’m not here to surprise you,” I told him. I’d made the mistake of not bringing my skateboard due to the amount of food I planned on buying. If I would’ve had it, I could’ve skated away, too fast for Travis to catch me.
Alas, we dealt with what we were given, and right now Travis stood between me and my route back to the dorm building.
“You told Sawyer about the video,” Travis stated.
Frankly, I was shocked. “Yes,” I said. “How’s he handling that news, by the way?”
“I don’t think we’re friends anymore.”
My gaze narrowed, because I knew Travis more than I wished I did. Guys like him didn’t have friends, not really. “But you weren’t friends to begin with, were you? He was just convenient for you.”
Travis gave me a smile, as if I’d done him proud. “You catch on quicker than Sawyer did, that’s for sure. It took someone ratting me out for him to realize it, but you? You figured it out all on your own.”
“I’m a smart cookie,” I spoke dryly, knowing that, deep down, I wasn’t. I made mistakes, plenty of them; mistakes a smart cookie did not in fact make. A dumb cookie. I was a dumb cookie who didn’t know when to quit or walk away.
“You better be careful, because now he wants to get back at me. Me, you, Declan…” Travis’s voice quieted as he inched nearer, his azure gaze falling to my mouth, which was pursed in an unimpressed look. “What’s the common denominator there?”
Him, Declan, and I…well, we were all human beings, but I didn’t think he meant it like that. We all went to Hillcrest, but so did a lot of people. I knew what he meant, though. I knew it because the common denominator between the three was me.
I was Travis’s obsession. I was Declan’s roommate. And, obviously, I was me. To get back at all three of us, Sawyer really only had to go after me.
Great.
“I have a feeling he’s going to go after you full force now, so be careful.” Travis lifted a tattooed hand, rubbing the back of his neck. He stood a bit too close, especially considering what he’d tried to do to me a few weeks ago, but I found myself unable to move away. “He’s off the rails now. He’s dangerous.”
Ah, see, that—that would be the problem. That would be the biggest problem ever, you know why? It was why I didn’t move away from Travis. It was why I didn’t tell the cops after the stunt Travis pulled. It was why my last boyfriend was not someone I could bring home to Mom.
I liked danger. I craved it like a druggie craved their next high. I was an addict when it came to danger, and knowing Sawyer was dangerous would only make me want him more.
“I’m not afraid of danger,” I whispered, my feet drawing us closer together. I shouldn’t move closer to him, but I did. I moved as close as I could without pressing myself against him. Travis stood rooted in place, watching me with serious eyes. “But you knew that already.” Of course he knew; it was why he was never arrested for what he did.
“There’s more than one type of danger,” Travis warned. “The kind you can get high off of, and the kind that kills you.”
“Which one are you?”
He grinned, and when he exhaled, I smelled the faintest traces of smoke. I wasn’t a fan of smoke in general, but on him? The smell worked, made me weak in the knees, all that shit. My eyes fell to his mouth, and I licked my lips, wondering if he’d taste like smoke, too.
“To you, the first kind,” he whispered. “But to everyone else…” He let his words fade away with their implication, and before I knew what he was doing, he grabbed my neck and pulled me against him, crashing his mouth to mine. Urgent, desperate, needy. The kiss conveyed so much, and yet it was over faster than you could blink. “Sawyer’s not like me. Watch out for him.”
My breath was stolen from my lungs when he kissed me, and it took me a while to say, “I’ll handle him.” When he gave me a look, I added, “And I mean I’ll handle him. Not you.
I don’t need your help with this. If I need your help, I’ll ask for it.” I had a feeling Travis’s help would include the kind of danger I was addicted to.
“Okay,” Travis said. “You do what you have to do, but know I’ll be watching.”
Oh, great. Another stalker. But then again, I already knew that about him. Knowing he would keep an eye on me was not new.
He turned, starting to walk away, but I called out for him. Travis returned to my side with a smile, and I said, “I do need to know, though, if you were the one who did it.” I didn’t elaborate on what it was I meant, but I didn’t need to. Travis knew precisely what I was talking about, which was good, because there were too many people on the sidewalk nearby to ask him point-blank: did you kill Sabrina Salvatore?
“Tell me the truth,” I added when he was silent.
Travis’s jaw clenched. “No,” he finally whispered, holding my stare. “No, it wasn’t me. None of it was me.”
None of it, meaning what happened to Declan? If Travis didn’t kill Sabrina, then who did? And if he wasn’t the one who hurt Declan…who—
He could be lying, I supposed, but as I stared at him, I couldn’t help but believe him. Every word he said I believed, which was downright stupid. I was probably falling right into his trap, but a part of me didn’t care. A part of me wanted to see what he’d do next, how we could take this thing, whatever it was, to the next level. Level up.
“I would look closer to home,” Travis said. “What would Declan gain by hurting himself?”
I opened my mouth, ready to retort, but nothing came to mind, because Travis had brought up a point I hadn’t considered. What would Declan gain by hurting himself? How could he even say something like that?
Freak (Hillcrest University #2) Page 12