Page 77 of Sinful as They Come
“You can do better. You can do so much better than him.”
“Like who? You?”
“Yes!” I said quickly. The word escaped my lips before I had the chance to harness some self-control.
Holly shook her head, looking like she was trying to process what I had just said – just like I was. “Yes?”
“Yes,” I said again, still not quite in control of the anger that was pulsing through my veins. “No. I mean… Fuck, you know what? No, you can do better than me. Fuck, I don’t think anyone in school is good enough for you. But I know for a fucking fact that Carter is not the guy you should be with. That prick doesn’t deserve you.”
“But I love him! How many times do I have to explain that to you?”
“That asshole was about to cheat on you!” I screamed out.
It was finally time I told her, and at that point, I couldn’t hold the words back. If no one else was going to tell her, and if her stupid fucking boyfriend wasn’t going to admit the truth, then I was gonna do it. Someone had to tell Holly Sutton the truth.
“What?” she asked so quietly.
I let out a long breath and dragged my hands through my hair. The way she was looking at me wasn’t making it any easier. Her big eyes, her tilted head, her pouty lips. She was the picture of innocence. I didn’t want to break that. But how could I keep the truth from her any longer?
“Don’t make me say it again,” I muttered.
“What do you… What do you mean?”
“Holly, come on. You must have seen something. It’s not like this is the first time…”
“What do you mean?” Her eyes darkened more when I didn’t answer the question straight away. “What the hell is that supposed to mean, Sawyer?”
She approached me fast, anger clear as day on her face. Her heels clicked on the ground as she took rushed steps. It was the first time I had ever seen her truly furious. She got annoyed and pissy with me all the time. But the look she was giving me was of total fury.
“You can’t tell me that you don’t know,” I tried to reason with her. “That you’ve never seen what he does. Holly, he’s fucking half the girls in school. God, he’s probably fucking the whole cheerleading team. Everyone knows. You’re gonna look me in the eyes and tell me you’ve never suspected a thing?”
There was a pause. A long, uncomfortable one. Holly’s eyes filled up with tears as she shook her head.
“Carter wouldn’t do that to me,” she whispered. “Why would you lie about something like that?”
I took a slow step forward. “I’m not lying. When have I ever lied to you? About anything? We’ve never gotten along. Ever. But I have never, not once, lied to you.”
She wiped at her eyes quickly. “No! You’re lying. You... Why would... Carter loves me!” She said the words like she was trying to convince herself. As if they’d make it all better. “This is all a big joke to you! That’s why you punched him! That’s why you’re doing all of this!”
“Carter’s not the guy you think he is,” I told her. “You know how many times I’ve seen him with other girls? No one’s told you. I don’t know why. Maybe they’re scared of Carter. But I’m not. You can do better than him.You’re wasting your time with that selfish, little prick.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me until tonight?” she demanded, fury still in her wet eyes. “We fight every day! How come you’ve never told me this exclusive, little news story until right now?”
“Because I knew it would break your heart! I didn’t want to do that!”
“We fight about everything! About sitting next to each other in class, about me being a cheerleader, about the school paper! We fight about every little thing!”
“I didn’t want to be the one to tell you! I felt bad for you, Holly. That might be hard to believe, but I felt fucking bad for you. That was always the one thing that tripped me up when it came to you.” I sighed loudly. “I couldn’t do that to you. I knew it would break you...”
“You’re such a liar!” she screeched, giving me a weak shove. Of course, I stayed firmly planted on the ground. “You’re just saying that to make me mad. To make me upset. Because you like it. You like seeing me like this!”
“No, I fucking don’t.” My hands landed on her waist. I had to feel her. I had no idea why, but I had to feel her. “I never wanted to see you cry. I fuckinghateseeing you cry, actually. That night in the woods... You don’t know how pissed off I was knowing that he was treating you like that. That he was pushing you, that he was making you question what you knew was right. I wanted to kill him that night, Holly.”
She took a hasty step away from me, removing my hands from her waist. “No. No. You’re such a liar.”
I took a quick step forward, wanting to close the gap between us. “Holly, I’m not—"
“Don’t come near me! Don’t! Stay away from me!”
