Page 70 of Liar
I stood, leaving the noose on the floor. “He’ll come back here when he doesn’t find us on the trail,” I said, glancing at Travis. “I need to talk to him.” I knew Travis would argue with me, knew he’d want to be here with me as I confronted him, so I walked with a purpose to the kitchen, opened the drawer I knew the silverware and other utensils were, and pulled out the sharpest, shiniest knife I could find.
The stainless steel glimmered in the darkness, and for a moment, I was thrown back in time. Back to the day when Ray had me in that basement. Back to the day when his hand curled around mine and had forced me to stab that helpless girl. To when I, in turn, stabbed him. And then that day in that house, when I’d threatened to kill myself.
I set the knife down on the table, near the note, and then I sat down, meeting Travis’s eyes. He knew I was serious, knew I wouldn’t argue with him about this. I needed to talk to Will, and he needed to believe that he and I were alone here. Travis went to hide in the nearest bedroom, and I waited.
Time had never crawled by so slowly.
And so here I was, waiting for Will. Waiting for him to come back and explain himself. Confronting a killer was never smart, but I owed it to him, to us. To hear him out. If there was any trace of something salvageable in him, or if…if it had to end today.
He’d tried to kill Sawyer. That was something he couldn’t come back from.
The worst part was, Sawyer wasn’t the only one. Will’s kill count was high, but I had to hear it. Had to hear him say it. He’d killed his father, framed him. He’d so easily reviled another man for his own crimes, and it made me wonder if his mother had killed herself, or if, maybe, he’d done that, too.
Will, as it turned out, was the worst monster of them all. Ironic, considering how normal I’d thought he was. How instant our connection was. How he instantaneously cared for me, both lusting after me and pushing me away because he knew Declan wanted me.
This was a reckoning. After today, nothing would ever be the same.
I didn’t know how long it was until Will came back. Until I saw him open the front door and step in, surveying the area. Eventually he landed his gaze on me, and the knife near my hand on the table. His hazel stare looked almost black in the darkness, and it took everything in me to stay seated and act calm. To say, “Hello, Will” like nothing at all was wrong.
So much was wrong here. So fucking much, it was hard to see through the bullshit.
Will swallowed, immediately looking caught, guilty, a fish hooked on a line he knew he should’ve avoided. He took a step toward me, giving me a nervous smile as he sought to act normal, “Ash. What’s going on?” His feet kicked at the rope on the floor between us, and he spoke, “What’s this?”
“Why don’t you tell me what it is?” I suggested, tilting my head slowly as I watched his expression change, as I watched the realization dawn on his face.
He knew I knew, and yet he still acted oblivious. He still lied.
“No, instead of telling me what that is, why don’t you tell me something else,” I said, getting to my feet. As I stood, my fingers curled around the knife, and I held it at my side, well aware Will’s eyes were on me and not the stainless steel. He didn’t think I’d hurt him. He was a fool. “Now that I’m thinking about it, it was a little weird for Dean Briggs to have Sabrina’s journal in his office. For a whole year. Why would he keep it there?”
Will’s brows came together, and he tried to talk, “I don’t—”
I didn’t let him continue. “Why would he hang Sabrina after forcing her to write a note that blamed himself? Why, Will? Why would he do something like that?” My teeth grinded as I stared at him, revulsion rising in my gut. “Because it wasn’t him, that’s why.”
All Will could do was let out a sigh.
“It was easier for all of us to blame the dead guy,” I went on. “But then Corey, now Sawyer. Who’s next, Will? You going to go after Travis next? Or are you going to get tired of me and decide to hang me, too?”
Will’s hazel stare closed, and he whispered, “It’s not like that. I would never hurt you.”
“I don’t believe you,” I stated. I knew Travis wouldn’t hurt me, but that’s because now his psychosis, his obsession was out in the open. He had nothing to hide from me, besides this suspicion he had that Will had been keeping his own secrets. Will had kept so much from me, this entire fucking time, and now that his day of reckoning had come, he still lied to me.
It was like that. Someone who could get jealous and kill a graduate student who was only trying to help me get passing grades on my quizzes would hurt me if I kept smiling at the wrong men. Someone like that you couldn’t trust with your life, or in your bed.
“Ash—” Will tried to come to me, to close the distance between us, but I stopped him as I lifted my hand, extending my arm straight, pointing the knife right at him.
My arm might’ve shaken before. My grip might’ve been sweaty if it was the first time I’d held a knife against someone I loved, but it wasn’t. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t the me of last year, the Ashley Bonds who was frightened at the blood and the death. Today when I stared death in the face, today when I met the monster’s beautiful hazel stare, I felt not an ounce of fear.
I was resolute, dauntless and firm. My arm did not shake, my grip did not sweat. I pointed the knife at him as I would toward someone I was ready to kill.
I didn’t want to hurt him, but knowing everything he did, how could I ever trust him again?
“I only did it to protect you,” he said, gaze falling to the knife less than an inch away from his chest. He could make a move at me, try to overpower me, but I knew he wouldn’t. Just like Ray, he was at my mercy.
I somehow held power over these psychos, and by God, I was going to use it.
“And your father? Sabrina? Were they for Declan? Tell me, Will, is there anyone you wouldn’t kill for the ones you love?”
Will waited a mere second before answering honestly: “No.”
