“Well?” Sawyer spoke, sounding bored. He’d plopped himself back down on the couch, though instead of laying, he now sat, his knees apart. He was the only one in the room who was sitting, but that didn’t seem to bother him. Sawyer liked to stand out. He also wanted people to think he didn’t care, even when he did. “Don’t keep us in suspense, Trav. Tell us.”
Travis’s mouth thinned as he glanced at Sawyer, but the disdain didn’t linger. “I rented a cabin for spring break at Beacon Hills. I figured we could all get away for a while…unless you have plans for spring break?” The question was directed at me.
Beacon Hills. Never heard of it, but that was probably because I came from up north. Maybe it was a rich Hillcrest thing.
“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.
I went straight into my bedroom, dropping the bags onto my bed and emptying their contents. My eyes roamed across them. A pad of paper, wrapped in plastic, unused. A capped pen that screamed rich, which I’d wrap his unconscious hand around for fingerprints, along with one other thing, the bulkiest thing.
I’d forced Sabrina to write that note at knifepoint. My adrenaline had been coursing through my veins so fast that I neglected to think of the possibility that everyone would assume D. Briggs meant Declan and not the dean of Hillcrest. This time, I wouldn’t make the same mistake. I’d write the damned note myself. Just a quick, simple message. It would get the point across.
The last item I bought tonight, and quite a few feet of it, was rope. Thick and strong, I’d make good use of it.
Oh, it would be poetic, how Sawyer would draw his last breath. He’d die the same way his sister did, and the Salvatores would effectively have no heir. No heir to their throne of lies and deceit. Fine by me. So many in this world didn’t deserve what they had, and that family was one of them.
Maybe I was a monster. Maybe this darkness inside of me had only grown the older I became. The more of a need I had to protect those I loved, the more the beast inside needed to be unleashed.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t one of those freaks who thought their inner darkness was a separate entity, something that came out and controlled me. Behind every action, I stood. I was to blame, as much as anyone could be blamed for such things. In my eyes, I simply did the work that had to be done. The things no one else wanted to touch.
Sabrina’s loss didn’t end the world. My father’s loss didn’t, either. Mom was a regrettable mistake, but I’d learned from her. Sawyer’s death would be the start of the final reckoning, the beginning of the end of this sick and twisted tale.
I would do only what I had to. Some might call my reactions over the top, but I didn’t care. I could see no way else out of this. No other way to protect
Ash from making a huge mistake when it came to Sawyer. Sawyer’s crimes could not be forgiven. He would meet his end, and when he did, he would look his death in the eyes and realize that he’d wasted his few, precious years on this earth. I’d make sure he knew it was me before he died. I wanted him to realize just how much he fucked up.
Five of us would go to this cabin, but only four of us would leave it alive.
Chapter Twenty – Ash
“This is because of a boy, isn’t it?” My mom’s voice was almost shrill on the other line, and I had to hold my phone away from my head. I also had to actually walk back from class instead of skate—talk about annoying. The past two weeks, Helen Bonds just couldn’t let it go. Practically every day she was calling me, trying to get in my head and ‘see where I’m at.’
I loved her, I did, but she could be a little overbearing.
It wasn’t the first time she’d asked me that question, either. I mean, I was on a campus surrounded by dicks. Of course it was going to be about a boy.
Still, though, I said, “It’s not because of a boy.” Not a boy, anyway. More than one? Yes, definitely, but I’d rather cut off my own foot than tell my mom that.
Oops. Probably not the best thing to joke about, considering what happened to Brooklyn.
You know…I’d been so wrapped up the current state of my life that I didn’t have time to linger much on what happened to her, or what I saw. Which was good. That sight was not something I ever wanted to repeat or see again.
Not a fan of blood.
“It’s because of a boy,” Mom harrumphed on the other line. “Will you at least tell me where you’re going? The address, his full name. License plate would help, too. Just in case—”
I knew where she was going with this. “Nothing’s going to happen, Mom. I promise.”
“I’m sure all those girls that went missing in Midtown said the same thing,” she said. “And that guy was let off, of all the things…” My mom, talking about Ray. Not a topic of conversation I wanted to have. “Just, please, honey. Humor me. I promise I won’t come stalking you. You’re an adult and…” It sounded like she had to pause to swallow, as if this next part was difficult for her to say, “I trust you. Who I don’t trust is everyone else. You never know what people are hiding these days.”
Oh, I knew all about that. Again, something my mom didn’t need to know.
“I’ll text you everything, okay?” My dorm building appeared in the distance, and I told her, “I’m back at the dorm. I gotta go, Mom. Have to pack.” Which wasn’t a lie. We were leaving tomorrow. Two more midterms to go. I had everything under control.
It was nice, having my life under control, for once.
“Goodbye, honey. Have fun,” Helen spoke begrudgingly. “And don’t forget—”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll text you all of the info, I promise. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I hung up, choosing to skate the rest of the way.
My dorm room was extra full now. Two huge suitcases sat on the floor between the two beds—Briggs suitcases, one of which I’d commandeered since all I owned were holey bags and boxes. The other was Declan’s, and it was mostly packed. Mine, however, lacked everything. Mostly because I didn’t know what I wanted to bring.
I settled for climbing onto my bed and looking up the weather for Beacon Hills in the next week. Temperate. A bit of rain here and there, but that could be expected for March. The lows were fifties, at night, but daytime temperatures would be comfortable in the mid-sixties and even low seventies.
I supposed just to be safe I should pack some jeans along with shorts. Pajamas, my new bathing suit. All that fun stuff.
Right after Travis brought it up, I’d done a bit of research into Beacon Hills. It was definitely a place for the rich, with log cabins the size of huge houses and even private access to the giant lake resting in the middle of the retreat. Nature walks, even ziplining—this place had a bit of everything.
Not saying I wanted to zipline through the treetops, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. My last getaway at a cabin had been…well, one of the worst days of my life. This time, I wanted everyone to have fun. I wanted to laugh, to play around, to love. I wanted to be able to be carefree and stress-free, and I really hoped that wasn’t too much to ask.
Declan entered the dorm room a few minutes later. “I picked us up some dinner,” he said, setting his backpack on his desk and unzipping it, pulling out two footlong sandwiches. “Hope you don’t mind.” He tossed me a tiny grin, those cute dimples making an appearance again.
God, I could seriously stare at those dimples all day.
“Ooh, gimme!” I sounded like a child, but I didn’t care. Random food was the best gift ever. I mean, the only thing that could’ve made it better would’ve been chicken nuggets. When Declan stepped over the suitcases and handed me the one he’d bought for me, I grinned. “Thank you, good sir. What did I ever do to deserve you?”
Declan let out a laugh. “I…can’t answer that question.”
He sat on his bed, turning on the TV for background noise as we ate. “Will is coming over tonight, I think.” Declan spoke with his mouth full, and sauce fell from his mouth. He’d gotten a meatball sub, heated up of course, so his sandwich’s heat had rubbed off on my footlong turkey.
I wasn’t complaining, though. Like I said, food equaled greatness.
“Probably to make sure I pack that bathing suit he bought me,” I said after swallowing. Granted, it wasn’t his money. It was the Briggs money, but now that Dean Briggs was gone, technically it was all Will’s and Declan’s.
“You know my brother doesn’t care about the money.”
Yeah, I knew that, which was why I jokingly said it. I also knew the reason why Will was coming over tonight—tonight would be the last night he’d have me alone, truly alone, for a little over a week.
As alone as I could be with Declan here, but it was clear the brothers didn’t mind sharing.
Hmm. Wonder if they could share me…
There was that time in the woods by their house. That was hot. I wouldn’t mind a little voyeurism, or if one of them wanted to join in while I was with the other… Again, I needed to stress how difficult it was to not be horny all of the time, with four sexy as hell boyfriends who would bend over backward just to make me happy.
“You’re lucky you have a brother that cares so much about you,” I told him. The television set played some old sitcom from ten years ago. It was too early for any new shows to be on, too early for the nightly news.
“Hey, I know it’s not the same, but you have more than one boyfriend who cares about you,” he reminded me. “Not every girl can say that.” A subtle joke, followed up by those damned dimples.
I looked at him, really looked at him. Declan had come into himself these last few months. He was bolder, stronger, worlds more confident than the closed-off boy he was when I first met him. This was who he was: passionate, caring, gentle. The best kind of lover a girl could have, frankly.
“Yeah, I guess I am pretty lucky,” I remarked, taking another bite of my sandwich. “Kind of wish we didn’t have to go through all that shit to get here, though.” I refused to let old memories surface; I’d been doing better. I would not fall back into that bottomless pit of despair.
“I can agree with that.”
By the time Will arrived, dinner had long settled in my stomach. Declan was at his desk, watching some video on YouTube with his headphones on, and I had to get up and answer the door. He’d given Declan a key to his place, but we weren’t allowed to make copies of ours, since we lived on campus. Every time we had to manually let him in, because we’d learned our lesson when it came to locked doors.
Locks wouldn’t keep everyone out, but they would slow them down, at least.
Will slipped off his shoes, joining me on my bed. He immediately pulled me onto his lap, and I let him, losing myself in the warm, steady way his arms curled around me. If there was one guy I k
new I could depend on, it was Will. He was older than Declan, Sawyer, and Travis. Not by much, but I did think it mattered.
He was…probably the sanest out of my group, which was almost startling to think. Will held a quiet confidence the others simply didn’t have. A smoothness that maybe stemmed from how much he cared about Declan, how badly he just wanted to protect his younger brother. I bet it killed him every day he was away while Declan was being bullied.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” I asked, my face against his chest. We reclined back, extending our legs. Never had I felt more comfortable in someone else’s arms. Will put me at ease.
“Of course,” he answered without a second thought, arms tightening around me, “more time I get to spend with you. Have we decided car arrangements yet?”
There was no way the five of us could shove ourselves into one car, so we’d have to take two. I figured I’d split my time between them. Ride with two of them on the way down, and the other two on the way up. I assumed Will and Declan would ride together, while Sawyer and Travis would make up the other car.
“I’m riding with you and Declan tomorrow,” I told him, causing him to smile.
His smiles were rare, but how earth-shattering they were.
“Good,” he spoke, reaching to give me a soft kiss. Just a quick peck, but I angled my face upward, pressing my mouth against his again, harder. I ran my tongue along his lower lip, and I was met with a low grown, along with a rumbling of his chest. When our mouths parted this time, Will managed to whisper, “Ash…”
A warning. A word of warning that if I continued to kiss him like this, we’d be doing other things soon enough.
It was a warning I’d throw to the wayside, I think.
I fisted his shirt in both hands, moving to crawl on top of him. Will’s back leaned against my headboard, and I hungrily brought my lips to his once more. This time he was ready for me, hands roaming my back, tugging at my shirt as his mouth devoured mine. A growing hardness swelled under me, and I ground myself against it, causing Will to tear his mouth from mine and let out a groan.
Liar: A Dark College Romance (Hillcrest University Book 6) Page 18
