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I’d told everyone I could to lay off her. Ash was mine. Declan was mine. I would make them both pay for what they did. My cock would enjoy Ash, and my black heart would enjoy breaking Declan. I would follow them across the country if I had to. I would never let up. If they decided to seek police help, I’d just toss a bit of money around. Green loosened a lot of things in America. It loosened lips, caused eyes to look away, and made instant friends.
Ash had no fucking idea who she’d messed with that night. I wasn’t the kind of man who’d take an insult like that lying down. She’d get what was coming to her. She’d get it, and more. The bitch would take everything I’d give her, and I’d only stop when I had her on her knees, begging. Hell, maybe not even then.
The clock struck the magic number, and suddenly all the rooms around me opened, students flooding out. Most of them steered clear of me. I watched the door to one particular classroom, waiting for her to emerge. I was a strange kind of eager; it threatened to swallow me whole.
Sabrina wouldn’t even recognize me now. For starters, I hadn’t touched anything but alcohol since she died. No more drugs for me, and no overdoing it on the drinks. I would always be in my right mind; never again would I get so lost in the high that it took me days to stumble home and realize my family had been trying to get ahold of me the entire time.
Another reason why she wouldn’t recognize me? I didn’t look the same. I was beefier now than I was when she was alive. I weight-lifted probably a bit too much, but it was the best way to release steam when there were no girls around.
The last reason she wouldn’t know me was…well, because I’d never been this vindictive before. I’d never wanted to watch someone die before. Declan? I’d watch him drown in a pit of acid if I could, and I’d videotape it for prosperity.
Ash eventually emerged from the classroom, in the process of zipping up her backpack. She held onto her skateboard under an arm, her eyes averted toward the floor. She looked a bit out of it, which was good; it meant I could sneak up on her.
I let her walk right by me before following her. Before she made it to the building’s outer doors, I grabbed the skateboard from her, causing her to instantly jerk back, ready to yell. Those lips of hers, so full and pink, pouting, fire in her storm gray eyes, but the moment she saw it was me, she faltered.
Holding onto her skateboard, I moved aside to let the crowd of students leave the building. Ash said nothing as she reached for it, but I was much taller than she was. If I had to, I’d hold it above our heads. Unless she planned on climbing me like a tree, she wouldn’t get it back.
“What are you doing?” she hissed, unable to hide her frown. Ash wasn’t the prettiest girl around, but when she frowned like that, it was a little hard to think straight. Most people looked downright hideous when they frowned, but her? She looked like a fucking pissed off angel with pink hair.
“I want to talk to you,” I said, shooting a glare at a group of guys walking by, checking Ash’s backside out. When they noticed my glare, they were quick to hurry away, leaving the building.
Ash’s frown deepened. “So you steal my skateboard? Clever, because that’s about the only reason why I would stop and talk to you.” Her words were knives, meant to hurt me. Pity. She should know by now that I wasn’t one to be hurt. Superficially, sure, but deep down? I was ice.
“I like it when you’re upset. There’s a fire in you I can’t help but be drawn to.” Blowing smoke up my ass, or hers? Who cared. All that mattered was that I was finally here, talking to her, meeting her death glare with one of my own. I would not be intimidated by the likes of her. I’d stared down worse things, uglier things than a street rat.
“I’m sorry, it’s hard to hear you over all the bullshit,” Ash deadpanned, lifting a single blonde eyebrow. “What do you want, Sawyer? I already told you I’m not playing your game. You’d think after what happened at the party you would’ve learned your lesson.” She set her hands on her hips.
My balls tightened in memory. “I admit, I acted like a douche,” I told her exactly what she wanted to hear. “I shouldn’t have tried to drag you in the middle of me and Declan.”
“So this is an apology?” Ash questioned, not having any of it. “Stealing my skateboard?”
“The skateboard, actually, is incentive. You’ll get it back, if you agree to a date.” I had the feeling that eating a meal with her at the student union wouldn’t be enough. I’d have to really put my all into it to sway her to my side, to make her believe I wanted to be better. Maybe she’d think she had a chance to change me, to make me a better man.
Hah. As fucking if.
“A date?” she echoed, looking a bit less confident. “With you?”
No, I wanted to say, with my dead baby sister, but instead I said, “Of course with me. I’m here, aren’t I?” I was here, two feet from her, holding onto a piece of wood with wheels as a bargaining chip. Skateboards weren’t exactly a common thing nowadays. I had no idea how much they cost, but I could imagine buying another one was out of her hands and her wallet. This skateboard was the easiest way to get her to do what I wanted; I was reasonably sure it was her only one.
If she happened to have another…well, I guess I’d have to recalculate my plan, then.
Her eyes fell to the skateboard. I could tell she waged an inner war with herself, but I had no idea which side was winning. It was a long, tense moment before she finally muttered, “Keep the skateboard. I don’t need it.” Without saying anything else, she stormed away from me, leaving Hampton Hall and heading out into the sunlight.
I did not expect her to say that, or leave so easily. I figured it’d take some convincing, some ass-kissing…hmm. Maybe I wasn’t nice enough. A girl like her probably ate shit for breakfast growing up; she was used to dealing with people who thought they’d get their way with her.
I was not most people, though. I was Sawyer fucking Salvatore, and I was not going to let her slip through my fingers. I’d have her, even if it was the last thing I did. No, wait. I’d have her, and then rub it in Declan’s face. That would be the last thing I did.
It was more than clear Declan cared for her. Why, though—now that was a question I didn’t know the answer to. Like I said, she wasn’t that pretty. Skinny, yes. Nice rack, hell yeah. But beyond that there was nothing unique about her, nothing that drew you in. The bottom few inches of her hair was pink, but that’s it. She definitely wasn’t my kind of pussy.
But then why did seeing her walk away so easily make me so fucking annoyed? No one walked away from me; she did it at the party with Declan…she wasn’t going to do it again.
I was out of Hampton Hall and outside before I knew it, jogging after her while holding onto her skateboard. “Really?” I asked. “That’s it? You’re not going to put up a fight for it? I thought for sure this skateboard was the way to your heart—” I half expected her to make another comment about not hearing me through all the bullshit, but she didn’t.
What she said next made me pause, but only for a moment.
“The way to my heart is a maze, Sawyer,” Ash whispered, flipping her head to me. The wind whipped at her hair, dragging tendrils of it along her cheeks. “A labyrinth. You wouldn’t last an hour inside.”
Regardless of how she meant it, I took it as a challenge. “Then go on a date with me. Let me try.”
