Page 37 of Liar
I opened my mouth, ready to argue, but then I realized he was right. We always ordered in, or got food on campus. Still, that didn’t automatically mean Sawyer was better than them just because he tried—and failed—to cook chicken alfredo. I settled for saying, “Don’t call them fools.”
A slow smirk spread across Sawyer’s face, and he leaned forward on the table, setting his full-force smirk on me. “Why?”
“Because it’s not nice.”
“I wasn’t aware you liked nice.”
From the living room, Travis called out, “She doesn’t. Don’t let her fool you.” His words only furthered the smug look on Sawyer’s face.
Oh, I wanted to smack that smirk right off him. Smack him, make out with him, whatever. Same difference when it came to the blonde one. God, he drove me crazy. It was like every single word out of his mouth made me want to either jump him or kick his ass.
“I do, too,” I argued in a huff. “Declan and Will are nice.” To me, at least, but that was all that really mattered.
“Then I think you need to even it out,” Sawyer suggested, giving me a wink as he got up, leaving me speechless at the table. A wink. It wasn’t the first time the douche had winked at me, but it was the first time I found myself liking the ridiculously stupid gesture and wanting more.
Even it out? Like, have him and Travis be my bad boys and Will and Declan be my good ones? I didn’t—that wasn’t how things worked.
Ugh. Boys. No matter where you went or what you did, they were all the same. Stupidly infuriating and downright sexy.
Sawyer joined Travis in the living room, and I remained seated for a while, fuming. Fuming mostly because Sawyer got to me, like he always did. He was back with a vengeance, and it was like he never left. My feelings for him hadn’t lessened, hadn’t diminished at all while he was away. They were as strong as ever, and it was as I watched Travis and Sawyer from the table, as I tossed a glance at Will and Declan, that I allowed myself to think something optimistic for once.
This…this might actually work out.
Chapter Fourteen – Declan
Getting back in the swing of things with a new addition to the group was a bit of an adjustment. Sawyer wasn’t around all the time, but he did hang with us a lot. Maybe I found it so difficult because he’d hated me for so long, and I’d hated him. Maybe this reconnecting thing wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. It was tough, and it would take time.
The new dean, some old woman who I tried not thinking of, mostly because I just ended up thinking about Dad and then everything he did, had filled the position that was vacated when Corey Weinberger was murdered. Security had been upped on campus; most days, walking to and from class, you were lucky if you saw less than a dozen individual, privately-hired officers roaming campus. Everyone was on high alert. The police might think it was Ray, but we knew the truth.
Ray was gone. There was another killer around here. Maybe that’s what put me on edge so much. It seemed almost ironic that the moment Sawyer came back and decided to try, another man ended up dead.
Not that I blamed Sawyer for it. I wasn’t sure if Sawyer was capable of hurting someone else like that.
Then again, I never thought Will was either, but I guessed when you were pushed to your limits, you found out just what those limits were. Most people would kill to defend themselves. My brother was no different. I was no different, although…
There were a lot of things I wished I could take back, many things I wished I could’ve done differently.
It was a Friday night, and Ash and I were already over Sawyer’s house. Pizza had become a weekly thing. Tonight Travis and Will were both running a little late, but that’s fine. Gave me some time to think, some time to get Sawyer to myself while Ash went to the bathroom.
Sawyer and I were in the living room. He spread out on the couch, one leg hanging off the side of the couch and the other draped on the floor. At least he was clothed. I sat cross-legged on the floor, a textbook before me. I did have some work to do, and I tried to do it when I could. Still, I couldn’t concentrate.
Ash got up to go to the bathroom not even thirty seconds ago, and I closed my textbook. This whole time, I’d kept a secret, and it was a secret I didn’t want to confess, not something I wanted to tell. And yet, as the semester wore on—we were now in early February—I couldn’t help but feel like the more time I waited, the worse it became.
I was ashamed, really, and if there was anyone else in Hillcrest who knew how much it sucked to drown in your own shame, it was Sawyer.
Before I could speak, before I could even bring it up, Sawyer was sitting up and turning towards me. His blonde hair was a bit rumpled by how he’d been sitting, and he ran a hand over it, flattening it down as he spoke quietly, “Hey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”
“What?” I met his stare, and even though we were five feet apart, it felt like we were too close. Instinctively, I still wanted to get away from him. That’s what being terrorized for a year did to you, apparently. It was hard to acknowledge he was trying to change and be better, but I did it for Ash.
Sawyer was quiet for a few moments, glancing to the hall, as if he was nervous Ash would make her return. Not quite yet; we had a little bit more time. “This is insane,” he muttered, frowning to himself.
His comment made me confused, but at least it brought me out of my inner shame. “What is?”
“That I have to ask someone’s permission to ask a girl out,” Sawyer mumbled.
Oh. So that’s what this was about. Sawyer was finally going to make his move. Couldn’t say I wasn’t expecting it, but he had been taking his time with things these last few weeks. Had to give him that. He wasn’t trying to rush into anything…but maybe that was only because Ash was already dating three other guys.
Yeah. It was an atypical scenario, definitely, and there was a learning curve. It was something Sawyer would realize if he meant what he said and truly wanted to be there for Ash.
