Page 6 of Liar
It also helped that Dean Briggs was dead now, so in a way, it felt like Sabrina’s death was avenged.
“I hope so, too,” I finally said as she opened the door for me, holding it with her foot. My gaze dropped to her feet, staring at her high-tops. Never thought I’d miss such ugly shoes, but here I was. Here we were. Everything about Ash I missed, honestly.
She took us up to her dorm room, inserting her key into the lock and opening it up for me. I walked in, noting that Declan wasn’t here. I wandered to her side of the room and set her giant pile of textbooks on her desk. Every class she was taking had one; some probably even had two. It was quite a stack.
I looked all around, my main focus on her half of the room. It felt like it’d been so long since I’d been in here…and that’s because it had been. For the longest time, I kept myself locked away in that house, boozing it up, inviting girls over, even trying to make Brittany be like Ash to get my mind off her.
Yeah. Fucking up had been my specialty.
Ash stood, leaning on the counter in the kitchenette area, her arms folded over her chest. The moment we met eyes, she dropped her gaze, as if she’d been watching me perhaps a bit too closely as I checked out her room.
Maybe she was checking me out, caught red-handed doing it. Or maybe that was just me getting my hopes up.
My feet drew me closer to her, my fingers tapping my sides. I wanted to reach for her, but I knew that would be crossing the line. Slow, I told myself. Had to take things slowly. I didn’t want to overstep, start another fight with Declan and Travis over her. I wasn’t sure if she seemed happy with them, but I also knew that could be because of my sudden appearance. She hadn’t expected to see me today, either.
Before I could say anything else, Ash stunned me by unfolding her arms and reaching them toward me. The only thing I could do was blink as she came to me, wrapping her arms around my sides as she leaned her cheek against my chest, hugging me.
Ash was hugging me.
“I am glad you’re back,” she murmured, squeezing me probably as hard as her tiny arms would allow.
A hug. I never thought…I didn’t know, I guessed I just thought she’d forget me while I was gone. After all, she had other boyfriends to pay attention to, so why bother thinking of me—especially after everything I did to her?
A tiny smile formed on my face, and I was unhurried in hugging her back. My arms wrapped around her slim body, holding her against me tightly. She fit so well against me, her body practically breathing in mine.
“I missed you,” I whispered, satisfaction growing in my chest, my heart on overdrive. With her arms around me, my mind went wild. I wanted to take her to the bed, desperately craving the feeling of her soft skin on mine. To tear off her clothes, to touch every inch of her. To show her just how important she was to me, to make up for all of my mistakes and fuckups.
But all too soon, the hug was over. Ash pulled herself off of me, and I let her go, even though I could’ve kept her close, forced her to stay.
“I missed you, too,” she said, tilting her head up to me, her lips parted ever so slightly.
God, those lips…
She broke into my thoughts by saying, “I have to go, Sawyer. I told Will I’d help him settle in.”
I knew what that meant. I knew what she was saying without saying outright. It was unreasonably hard for me to imagine Ash with Will when I felt like a stranger to her, having missed so much in her life late last semester.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you later, then.”
“Yeah. That would be nice.”
I gave her a smile before leaving, though the moment I was out in the hall, the smile faded. The last thing I wanted to do was leave her, let her go to Will. While it was selfish of me, I wanted to stay in that room and acquaint myself with every part of her. I wanted to hear her whisper my name while I was inside her, feel those nails on my back. Ash could get crazy; I bet she was wild under the covers, too.
Shit. Shouldn’t be thinking about that.
It wasn’t just sex, though. I wanted everything she had to give.
One step at a time.
Chapter Three – Ash
Sawyer was back. Sawyer was back and he looked hella good. Like, how he should’ve looked all last semester. A clean Sawyer was a ridiculously sexy Sawyer, apparently. I could not believe how much my body responded to his. I wanted to yell at that place between my legs, scold it. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been getting plenty of dick with my multiple boyfriends—I didn’t need anymore.
But it was Sawyer, and I’d always had a thing for Sawyer.
Damn it. That was no excuse. That was like cheating on Will, Declan, and Travis, and I wasn’t that kind of girl.
No. I had to keep my body and my thoughts in check when it came to Sawyer. Things were finally good now, and the last thing I wanted to do was screw up and ruin everything.
