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When he disappeared into the bathroom for a while, I pretended not to know what he was doing in the shower. I lay on top of my sheets, pulling out my phone. Declan had texted me a lot. A lot. So much so that if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was a bit obsessed.
Good thing I knew better.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Travis
I stood outside the library, waiting for her. It was early on Saturday, the day after her and Sawyer’s date, and I could not get it out of my mind. Sawyer could never appreciate someone like her. He wouldn’t know what to do with a girl like her. Between him and I—I was the one better suited for her.
Even if Sawyer hadn’t dragged me out for breakfast this morning, I would’ve known where they went last night. The fucking zoo. I knew it because I used some of my family’s connections. It wasn’t hard to find her phone number with her full name, and once I knew her number I was able to use it to track her. I knew where she was at all times, and she didn’t have a single clue.
Or maybe she did. Who could say?
It was fucking torture, sitting there listening to Sawyer go on and on about what they did, how he thought he was getting to her. He told me they’d kissed, and that she’d helped him with his boner once. None of which were details I wanted to know, but they were enlightening. She was getting too close to him.
I didn’t like it. It had to change. Ash had to realize that Sawyer was a no good prick, and I was the one who deserved all of her attention.
Did it make me mad to think it? Did it make me a stalker? Some would say yes, others no. I didn’t give a shit as to what I was. Sawyer was spiraling anyway. Honestly, it was a wonder he lasted this long. I didn’t think I gave him enough credit. I thought he’d spiral long before now.
I gave him until the anniversary of his sister’s death, then Sawyer Salvatore would lose it completely. Lose his mind, lose his chance with Ash, lose his sanity and maybe even his student status at Hillcrest. Honestly, the place would be better off without him. He didn’t do much around here besides boss other students around and fuck everyone’s sisters.
Ash knew what kind of guy Sawyer was, and yet she still kissed him. More than once.
Yes, that girl had to pay for her mistakes. Luckily for her, I paid enough to have my own room in one of the dorms. No roommate, no cameras. Nobody watching what I did with my spare time.
I had the room set up for her. All it was missing was her.
The sun was bright overhead, and I waited patiently for Ash to emerge from the library. I threw my cigarette to the ground, stepping on it as I debated on pulling another one out. But the moment I decided to, Ash herself walked out, lugging her backpack over her shoulder. She didn’t have her skateboard, which was fine. I didn’t want to touch that damned thing after Sawyer had it. Ash herself needed some cleansing from Sawyer, too.
Her grey eyes squinted, and she immediately saw me. She looked around me, and I knew what she was thinking: avoid me by going a different way, or tackle me head on and see what I wanted. If she was the girl I thought she was, the girl I hoped she was, she’d choose the latter.
And that’s exactly what she did, marching up to me with a stern expression on her face, her full lips drawn into a pout. “What are you doing here?” Ash asked, tilting her head, her pink hair falling slightly over her shoulder. “Are you following me, Travis?” The way she asked, as if she already knew the answer, made me grin.
“I should ask you if you’re following me,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets to look less threatening. Looking less like a threat was always the key to luring someone into your trap. This time my trap wasn’t a deadly one, but the same principle applied. “You always seem to show up anywhere I go.”
Ash let out a laugh. “You’re the one always appearing where I am, like a ghost.” Her gaze dropped to my arms, studying my tattoos. “A very attractive ghost, I’ll give you that.” Back up to me, she asked, “Seriously though. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you,” I told her, making her laugh yet again, even though I was a deadly kind of serious. One did not joke about these things, not when you were taught practically from birth how important the catch was.
She wrinkled her nose, fighting herself to stave off how intrigued she was. “Why?” Ash did her best to sound bored.
“Because I feel like it’s been too long since I last saw you,” I said, speaking the truth. I’d missed her face, her storm gray eyes, the way she glared slightly when you said something she didn’t trust. I missed her body, her hair, her semi-holey shoes. I missed everything about her, which was why she had to realize what a mistake she’d made with Sawyer.
She wasn’t Sawyer’s. She was mine.
I’d been told that obsession ran deep in my family, but I never knew until Ash walked into my life just how true it was. Everyone in my family was obsessed with one thing or another. Money, blood, power…the feeling of cutting into soft flesh. We all had our vices. Ash just happened to be mine, and I wasn’t about to share her with anyone.
Ash shrugged. “We don’t have any classes together. Would you like me to transfer into some of yours to make you feel better?”
I moved closer to her, watching as she turned up her nose, inhaling me and my smoky scent. “No,” I spoke in a hushed voice. “But I do want to spend some time with you. Are you free now?”
“Is this some stupid competition between you and Sawyer?” Ash asked, frowning. “I told you guys I’m not falling for it. I don’t want to be in the middle—”
Oh, at first it was a competition. Use her to get back at Declan and then see who could fuck her first…but now things had changed. Things had changed so quickly, before I realized it. She couldn’t ever be with Sawyer, because she was mine.
Why couldn’t Ash realize that she already belonged to me?
My expression must’ve told her the truth, or at least some variant of it, for her hardened face turned empathetic. “Do you really want to hang out with me? I warn you, I’m a lot lamer than I look. I might look cool, but I’m not. I’m as lame as they come, and in case you forgot, I’m dirt poor, too. You might get your hands dirty being around me.” She sought to make herself less appealing, something people did when faced with a true predator.
What horrors had she seen before? What monster had she looked in the face before meeting me? It didn’t matter. I had to make her mine before I delved into any of that.
