Page 54 of Liar
“I’m ready for anything, as long as it’s warm. Like, not a skiing lodge or whatever,” I told him. Beacon Hills. I’d have to look it up.
“It’s about an hour south. The temperature should be good. There is a lake,” Travis spoke, blue eyes traveling slowly up my body, as if imagining me wearing something else. “I’m sure the water will be a bit cold, but doable.”
Swimming. He was talking about swimming. Did I even own a swimsuit?
“We’ll have to leave right after classes on that Friday,” Travis went on, explaining how it would go. He’d rented it from that Friday to the next Sunday, a little over a week.
“I think it’ll be fun,” Declan spoke, glancing at his brother. Will only nodded.
Sawyer, however, had something to say, because he always did. He was Sawyer. “Are we going to have to share bedrooms in this cabin, or will there be privacy? It isn’t like I’m pushing for anything to happen, but if Ash finally lets me at her, I don’t want our first time to have an audience.”
I openly glared.
“Now, second and third time? Sure, I’ll let some of you watch. The fourth time is when I’ll allow one extra entry—”
I walked over to him and gave him a whack on the side of his head. Not hard, but enough to get him to stop.
“What?” he asked, blinking, shocked I’d dare do such a thing. “Isn’t that what you guys are all about? Remember, I heard you going at it like fucking rabbits when you were in my house. Don’t think I don’t know what went on in my sheets while I was gone. And, besides, you didn’t let me get to the best part—after the fifth time—”
Shouldn’t be surprised, because it was Sawyer. He had a way about him.
“Yes,” Travis interrupted, which was probably a good thing. I was about to smack that boy again. “There are enough rooms for each of us to have one. It’s a cabin, not a shack.”
“This is a nice surprise,” Will spoke for once, directly to Travis. “It doesn’t feel like something you’d usually do. Why the change?”
Travis was serious as he answered, “We’ve been through a lot. We need to take some time to ourselves, regroup, and, if it’s not too much, enjoy life.” His blue eyes moved to me, and I detected something in those eyes that wasn’t there before. A new darkness. “The key to sanity is letting loose every once in a while.”
“I’ll tell my mom I have plans,” I spoke, giddy.
I was actually excited for something. Imagine that. Of course, I couldn’t actually tell my mom that I was going to a cabin with four boys I was in a relationship with, but she didn’t need to know the details. I was eighteen—and I’d be nineteen at the end of March. Old enough to do what I wanted, I think.
This was going to be fun—but first, we all had to survive midterms. Honestly, at that moment, the last thing on my mind was what happened with Corey. The only thing I could think of was: I had to pack. Maybe even get a real suitcase. A nice bathing suit, too.
In the end, I should’ve known. Spring break was when everything would change.
Chapter Nineteen – Will
Travis’s idea was good for something. It provided me with the spark, the push, the interest to come into my own idea. Oh, I had something spectacular planned for this break. I’d taken Ash and Declan shopping—mostly Ash—and as she had fun being carefree and trying on bathing suits, I devised a plan that I, personally, thought was great.
My plans weren’t always great, I’d be the first to admit, but this one…oh, this one would take the cake. This one would show Ash, along with everyone else, that Sawyer never could be trusted.
After our little shopping trip, I dropped Ash and Declan off at their dorm, and then I did a little shopping of my own. Just a few spare items I needed that I didn’t currently own. I’d also have to contact the same dealer who I’d gotten those pills off of. I was sure he had something stronger, something in a different form.
Sawyer wouldn’t take pills? I’d work around that.
When you tried hard enough, anything could be worked around. If there was one thing I was, it was tenacious. I wasn’t going to sit back and let Sawyer ruin everything. He’d corrupt Ash, and in the end, he’d only hurt her.
I didn’t blame her for falling for him. When the devil stood in front of you, wearing a handsome face and whispering exactly what you wanted to hear into your ear, how could you not fall for him?
If Sawyer was the devil, I would be her angel. I would help steer Ash onto the correct path, reveal to her just how much of a liar Sawyer was. He might put on a nice show, but deep down he was the same asshole who made my brother’s life a living hell. He’d make Ash’s life hell too, if she let him.
And, as sad as it was, I didn’t know if she would ever have the guts to tell him to leave.
What if he started hurting her? What if he cheated? What if he went back to the drugs again and again, and Ash’s heart broke every single time because she couldn’t help him? What if…what if Ash fell into his hole and became an addict, too?
I would not let that happen. Ash and Declan were my beacons in the darkness. I would not let either of them collapse into the sea that was life.
It was dark by the time I returned to my apartment, lugging up my new purchases. By the time we’d leave for Beacon Hills, I’d have the last piece to this puzzle.
