Page 69 of Liar
“First, I think you should call Will. Tell him to meet us here.”
“Why?” It was Declan’s turn to ask, and I agreed with him, personally not seeing any reason why I’d call Will.
Travis’s mouth thinned into a line. “Just call him, tell him to meet us on the trail. Trust me, Ash.”
After all this, I knew better than to question Travis. He’d helped me with Ray, so I owed it to him to trust him. Plus, you know, I loved the twisted fuck, even if he could be a little over the top sometimes.
Like right now, for example.
So I called Will, told him to come back and meet us on the trail. It sounded as if Sawyer didn’t want Will there anyway, so it all seemed fine and dandy, at least when I hung up the phone. Then we started walking, my mind running through all of the possibilities.
This didn’t feel right.
Travis led us back, cutting through the woods, a straighter shot back to the cabin. We had to walk through our neighbor’s yard, but that was fine. Didn’t look like they were home right now anyway. Or maybe it was another rental and it was empty tonight.
Well, needless to say when we arrived at the cabin, I found out the truth.
Declan, Travis and I stopped as we watched Sawyer come stumbling out, tripping and falling down the stairs, coughing and wheezing, generally looking like shit. He held a hand to his neck, and I ran to his side, helping him up. Tough, considering how much he weighed.
“What…” I stopped when I saw his eyes. His pupils were a bit too dilated.
“I didn’t,” Sawyer coughed out. “It was Will. I didn’t do this.”
Next to Travis, Declan paled. “What are you talking about? Will did what? Sawyer, what happened?”
My gaze moved to the dark, bottomless blue pits that sat on Travis’s face. Eyes that hid so much, eyes that could be both warm and kind and cold and cruel. A calm stare. A stare that told me he’d known something was going on.
And it was as I stared at Travis, as I helped Sawyer stand, that I said, “Declan, take Sawyer to the hospital.”
“What?” Declan repeated. “No, I—”
“Please,” I begged.
I was not a beggar, and Declan knew this. His confusion turned into acceptance, and he nodded once. He hurried up the steps to grab the keys, emerging from the cabin shortly after. As Declan got into the car and started her up, Travis and I helped Sawyer.
Sawyer’s jaw was tight, bags under his eyes. “Don’t confront him. He’ll try to kill you. He almost fucking killed me.”
It was a good thing Declan was in the car, and Sawyer wasn’t quite yet, otherwise Declan would’ve heard that, and then he would’ve wanted to stay.
It was also a good thing I had experience confronting psychotic exes.
“Don’t worry about me,” I told Sawyer, opening the car door for him. “Go where it’s safe.” As Travis helped Sawyer in, I went around to the driver’s side, to Declan. He rolled his window down, allowing me to lean in. My heart pounded in my chest like a drum, and acting like everything was fine when it was falling apart was one of the most difficult things I’d ever had to do. “I’ll call you in a bit,” I told him, giving him a smile I hoped he believed.
Declan nodded, and I stepped away from the car, watching them drive off.
Just me and Travis now.
“What am I going to find in that cabin?” I asked Travis, since it seemed like he knew everything there was to know about this, about what was going on.
Travis said nothing, only heading up the steps, and I followed him.
The cabin was…almost exactly as we left it, only there was a disturbance in the kitchen. A chair was pulled back from the table, a note and a pen sitting on top of the table. A rope sat coiled on the floor, and I cautiously brought myself to it, kneeling beside it, studying the noose at the end of it.
Suddenly everything Sawyer had said clicked into place.
Suddenly it was all clear, and I felt sick.
Suddenly I knew that the saga of Sabrina Salvatore wasn’t over quite yet.
