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by Ashley Jade
Bianca starts laughing, and everyone joins her.
But it’s not funny. It’s sad and pathetic.
“Fuck this.” I glower at him. “Fuck you.”
I turn to go back inside.
“Come on, Bible Thumper,” Cole slurs. “Don’t be like that. Have a little fun with your boyfriend.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to correct him, but there’s still a part of me that cares about the ass too much to do it.
I quicken my steps.
“Come on, babe,” he taunts, chasing me into the house. “There are all these people around. That’s exactly what you wanted, right?”
What the hell is he talking about?
I spin around to face him. “What—”
“Don’t act like I don’t know the real reason you’re dating me.” He thrusts his cup, sloshing some of the amber liquid over the rim. “Hell, everyone here knows why someone like you is dating me.”
Hands on my hips, I stare him down. “Oh, really? Well, go ahead, Covington. Enlighten me.”
If he wants to put an end to this, I won’t stand in his way.
It’s his loss.
“Because I am me,” he states, wobbling. “And you…are you.”
“Wow, way to really clear things up, champ.”
Surprisingly, a few people laugh.
“Oh, look at that. Sawyer’s finally getting some attention.” He takes a sip of his drink. “Come on, everyone. Give her what she wants.”
I have no idea where any of this is coming from.
I’m not dating him to get attention.
“It’s like you don’t even know me.”
He taps his head with his free hand. “Oh, but I do.” He steps closer. “Everyone here can see you for what you really are…everyone except you.”
“Oh, yeah? What am I?”
He titters, trying to get his balance. “An attention whore. A crazy, dramatic, good-doer crybaby asshole who always needs the spotlight.” He points a finger in my face. “And you know what? I don’t fucking like you. No one likes you. It’s why everyone bullies you.” His eyes glaze over. “You know what else? I’m better than you. Always have been. Always fucking will be.” He punches his chest. “Because I’m alive and free…and you’re nothing but a fake coward who will never be good enough.”
“Cole,” Bianca yells. “Shut the fuck up.”
I clutch my stomach. I’m trying really hard not to take offense to the things he’s saying because he’s clearly drunk out of his mind…but his words burn.
No, more than that. They sear my goddamn soul.
It’s like he pulled out my worst fears and darkest thoughts and put them on display for everyone to see.
“So why don’t you do me a favor!” he yells to the ceiling. “And stop fucking torturing me so I can live my life!”
I didn’t realize he felt suffocated by our…whatever we are. Were.
“I didn’t—”
“What’s that, Bible Thumper?” he questions. “You got something to say?”
I clamp my mouth shut. He’s so drunk nothing I say will make one bit of difference now.
“You think you’re so special, don’t you?” He looks around the room. “But ladies and gentlemen…don’t let my innocent angel fool you. She, too, is nothing but a liar.”
My cheeks flame. “I didn’t lie to you because I wanted to hurt you.”
He skims my cheek with his thumb. “No, of course not. You just showed your true colors is all.” His grin is cruel. “And now…I’m showing you mine.”
These aren’t true colors…this is someone getting drunk to escape something he can’t handle.
If anyone is the coward, it’s him.
“That’s it. I’m calling Jace,” Bianca tells him.
“Please do,” Cole taunts. “Trust me, I’d love for him to hear this. Maybe he’ll get another tattoo to commemorate the special occasion.”
Oakley steps forward. “You’re drunk.”
“And you’re a lame pothead who likes to fuck MILFs. Thank you for stating the obvious for everyone. We all appreciate it.”
Cortland laughs. “Man, I think I like drunk Cole.”
I most definitely don’t.
Cole flashes some teeth. “Do you, bud?” He places his hand over his heart. “Well, thank you, pencil dick. It’s truly an honor to be liked by a nobody.”
He turns his attention back to me. “Look, Sawyer. It’s our guy—”
I slap my hand over his mouth. “Be quiet, Cole.”
He taps my nose. “You’re so damn cute, you know that?”
Jesus. From one end of the spectrum to the other.
“And you have fantastic tits. Best I’ve ever seen, in fact. And trust me. I’ve seen a lot.”
I’m positively mortified when a few guys howl.
He tries to put his arm around me, but I move out of the way.
“Oh, Bible Thumper. Don’t be shy. Give daddy a little taste.”
Oakley shoves him away. “That’s enough. This isn’t you, Cole.”
“You’re right.” He takes another sip of his drink. “It’s not. Because Cole sucks.” He looks around the room at everyone. “Lucky Seven is who you bitches want. Am I right?”
A few people cheer.
“Look, babe.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Your boyfriend is the shit.”
“More like a shithead,” I tell him.
“Burn,” some guy calls out.
Cole, not taking well to being mocked himself, scowls. “Is that right, Sawyer Grace?” He slaps his leg. “Well, yeehaw…why don’t we have a little showdown and let the court of public opinion decide?”
God, I actually pity him right now. He has no idea how much he’s embarrassing himself.
He grabs his crotch and swivels his hips. “How many girls here want Lucky Seven?”
Every girl but me and Bianca react.
“Take it off,” one girl shouts.
“Take it out,” another one says.
“All right settle down, bitches. It’s Sawyer’s turn.”
“Please don’t do this,” I whisper. “You’ve made your point.”
“No. I don’t think I have.”
“You did. Everyone wants you. I get it.”
Something passes in his hazy eyes. “That’s not the point I was trying to make.” He slaps his leg again. “Which means, it’s on to round two.” He gestures to me. “How many guys here want my Sawyer?”
I literally want to crawl in a hole and die when you can hear a pin drop.
“Come on,” Cole yells. “What the fuck is the matter with you bastards?” He cups a hand over his mouth. “How many guys here want Sawyer?”
No one says a word.
“Goddamn sheep,” he seethes. “None of you will ever be good eno—”
“I do.”
Before I can blink, Oakley cups my face.
Right before he kisses me.
Chapter 48
Sawyer
I’m so shocked my brain temporarily checks out.
It isn’t until I feel his tongue enter my mouth that I come to my senses and push him away.
“What is wrong with you? Why did you—”
“I’m gonna kill you, motherfucker,” Cole roars, winding his fist back.
“Come on.” Oakley points to his jaw. “Right here.”
“No!” Bianca screams.
But it’s too late, Lucky Seven is already in motion. “Backstabbing—”
Oakley side-steps him mid-swing.
He’s so drunk, he loses his balance and falls on the floor with a heavy thud.
“That,” Oakley says as he points to a now passed out Cole. “Is why I kissed you.” He bends down. “You and Bianca each grab one of his legs, and I’ll get the rest. It’s time to blow this popsicle stand.”
“I think he’s bleeding,” I say as we begin hauling him to the door and I see a small trail of blood.
“He’s a big boy, he’ll be fine,” O
akley says. “But if he’s not…he kind of deserved it. Now didn’t he?”
Cole starts yelling incoherent things at him.
“Love you too, man,” Oakley says back.
A few minutes later we place him in the back seat and drive off.
“Are you guys gonna be okay bringing him into the house?”
Since I left my car at school, Oakley has to drop me off first.
He waves a hand. “We’ve got this.”
Bianca nods. “We’re pretty much pros.”
Oh. “Well, in that case. Have a good night.”
I start to walk to my car, but Bianca halts me.
“The things Cole said before—”
I stop her right there. “I know you want to defend your brother because you love him, but you can’t bail him out of this. He hurt me and it’s not something I’m gonna forget.”
Not now…not ever.
“I know it sounds crazy, but those things weren’t about you, Sawyer. I mean, some stuff was. But not the long tangent he went on about no one liking you and being so much better than you.”
I’m so confused. He was definitely looking at me when he said all those mean things.
“If he didn’t say that stuff about me, who—”
“Liam. All those things he said were directed at Liam.” She frowns. “What you witnessed tonight wasn’t Cole. It was the evil twin.”
“Oh.”
I honestly have no idea how to respond to that.
I know Cole didn’t always get along with Liam and they weren’t particularly close…but that’s a lot of animosity to be harboring toward your brother.
“I have no right to ask you this, but please don’t give up on him just yet. You’re good for him, Sawyer.”
That may be true, but after tonight, it’s clear he’s not good for me.
Chapter 49
Cole
The pounding in my head feels like a hammer.
If the hammer was an icepick.
I look at my surroundings in confusion.
Why am I sleeping on Oakley’s couch?
I glance down at the floor. Bianca’s huddled up with a blanket and pillow.
I have no idea what time it is, and for the life of me, I can’t string together the pieces of how I ended up here.
“Have a good nap?” Oakley questions.
I turn my head toward the kitchen. “What time is it?”
Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, he says, “Just after three a.m.” He walks over and hands it to me. “Here.”
“Thanks.” I crack the top open and take a long swig. My throat feels like sandpaper. “What happened tonight?”
He plops down on the chair across from me. “You know the K-T event that wiped out all the dinosaurs?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, what happened tonight was like that…only worse.”
Well, shit. “That bad, huh?”
Oakley doesn’t look amused. “Yeah.”
I sit up. “All right, Oak. The suspense is killing me. Hit me with it.”
His expression turns hard. “Oak? Or lame pothead who likes to fuck MILFs?”
I have no idea what he’s talking about. Well, I mean I kind of do because he is a pothead and he did screw his stepmom…but…
I wince as a flashback of me shouting those very words in Christian’s living room zips through my head.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t—”
“It’s fine. I’ll get over it.” He gives me a pointed look. “I can’t say the same for Sawyer, though.”
He has a point. “Yeah, I figured she’d be pissed I beat up her boss.”
But once I tell her Bianca lied—and because she lied too, I thought the worst and went postal on him, I’m sure she’ll forgive me.
Eventually.
Oak laughs, but there’s not an ounce of humor. “Brother, you punching Mr. Gonzales is the least of the shitstorm you caused.”
My stomach rolls. “What do you mean?”
Standing up, he blows out a breath. “Let’s see…where should I start?” He scratches his chin. “How about Sawyer walking into Christian’s back yard and finding you and Casey in the hot tub? Granted you were passed out, so you probably had no idea what was going on and that snake took advantage of the situation—but it still didn’t stop you from inviting Sawyer to join you two in there.”
I can practically feel my world crumbling piece by piece. No matter how mad I am at Sawyer for lying or how fucked up I was over the shit Stone said about Liam, I’d never touch Casey.
Not willingly anyway.
“I wouldn’t…” I scrub a hand down my face. I’m having a hard time believing I’d ever hurt Sawyer like that…again. “I wouldn’t do that to Sawyer. I care about her too much.”
Dread fills my chest.
Which is how I know he’s telling the truth.
I hurt the people I care about the most.
Always have. Always will.
Christ. I fucked this shit up so bad.
“Normally I’d agree, but I saw it with my own eyes, man.” He shrugs. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you fucked her—most likely because you were so drunk you couldn’t get it up—but, hey, it’s one small blessing, right?”
Nothing about Casey is a blessing.
“I have to apologize.”
For someone who doesn’t do it very often, it seems like it’s all I do when it comes to Sawyer.
Oakley makes a face. “Yeah, I don’t think an apology is going to cut it. I mean, if that was the only thing you did…maybe.” His eyes turn somber. “But it wasn’t.”
My mouth goes dry again, so I down the rest of my water.
“Tell me everything.”
I need to hear it…this way I can figure out how I can make it right.
How to fix it.
“Well, after she found you with Casey, you chased her into the house and accused her of dating you for attention.”
A groan lodges in my throat. “Sawyer isn’t an attention whore.”
He snaps his fingers. “Funny you say that—because that’s exactly what you called her…in front of everyone.” He starts ticking things off with his fingers. “You also told her that she was a crybaby. Told her how much you didn’t like her. Well, you and everyone else. Then you said some shit about being alive and free…before calling her a coward who couldn’t hack it and yelling at her to leave you alone and stop torturing you.”
It’s becoming a struggle to breathe.
I might have said it to Sawyer…but I most definitely was not talking about her.
The muscles in my chest tighten. “Liam.”
Oakley frowns. “That’s what Bianca said.”
“Stone started talking about him and I lost my shit.”
“Well, that Stone dude is a real douchebag.” He plops down in the chair again. “And so are you, because after all that…you told everyone how great her tits were.” He sucks in a breath. “I mean, it wasn’t an insult, but you know how Sawyer is.”
She probably felt humiliated. Not only does she hate when people talk about her body…the fact that I talked about her like a piece of meat in front of everyone…
“Jesus fucking Christ. Please tell me I shut up after that.”
“Man, I wish you did, because the shit you did after was definitely the nail in your coffin.”
“What did I do?”
“You decided to have a little contest between you and Sawyer.”
Safe to say I’m confused. “Contest?”
He slaps his leg. “Yeehaw. Ring a bell?”
Can’t say it does. “No.”
“Well, it should because that’s exactly what you said…before your egotistical ass asked everyone in the room if they wanted to fuck you.” His nostrils flare. “The girls went crazy, by the way. But the same can’t be said for poor Sawyer when you flipped the tables and asked the guys about her.”
Just when I think it can’t get any worse�
�it does.
“I—”
His eyes narrow. “And that’s when I kissed her.”
My guilt quickly turns to rage, and I stand up. “You did what, motherfucker?”
He matches my stance. “I kissed Sawyer.”
“Why the fuck—”
“Because the guy she was excited to go on a date with turned around and publicly massacred her…again.” He points to his chest. “No way in hell was I going to let that girl believe she was worthless, because her drunk boyfriend was going through some shit and decided to use her as his proverbial punching bag for the night, you ruthless prick.” Making a face, he shrugs. “I also knew it would make you want to punch me, and when you tried to take a swing, I moved out of the way and you hit the floor. That’s when it was over.”
Remorse ripples inside me…the kind I’ve only experienced one time in my life.
“I have to see her.”
Oakley shakes his head. “You need to do that girl a favor and let her cool off for a little while.”
“I can’t.”
Staying away from Sawyer isn’t an option…ever.
I fish around in my pocket for my keys, but come up empty. “Does Bianca still have them?”
“Probably, but your car is at Christian’s.”
Doesn’t matter. I’ll walk there if I have to.
However, it won’t get me there fast enough. “I need a ride.”
“Where to?”
“Her house.”
Oakley looks at me like I’ve sprouted another head. “You’re definitely still drunk. It’s three thirty in the morning.”
“I don’t care.”
Oakley starts to protest, but I cut him off. “Stop acting like you’ve never fucked up before.”
Sighing, he pulls his keys out of his pocket. “Fine, let’s go. But when her daddy shoots your stupid ass, don’t come crying to me.”
Hell, at this point I deserve it.
Chapter 50
Sawyer
I’m tossing and turning in bed when something hits my window.
Assuming it’s harmless, I roll over and fall back asleep.