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I wasn’t quite sure what he meant, but I knew the feeling. If something happened to Declan because of me, I’d be devastated. More devastated than I’d ever been in my whole life, and that was saying something, considering how my last relationship ended.
Declan’s dark gaze was on my mouth. “I really want to kiss you,” he murmured.
My breath caught, my heart skipping a beat or two. “Why don’t you?” The question of the day, maybe even of the year. Why don’t you? What’s stopping you? Why don’t we throw all caution to the wind and just do it already?
“I’m afraid if we cross that line, we’ll never be able to go back.” Declan’s words made more sense than I wanted them to, and as stupid as it was, I found myself nodding along. He was right, of course. We were roommates. If things got complicated between us, there was no breaking up and switching rooms. Things weren’t that simple.
By the time Will came back with the food—McDonald’s, my grease-loving heart leaped for joy—Declan and I were on opposite sides of the room, pretending as if our embrace and near-kiss hadn’t happened. But he was right. It’d be easier to act normal with sexual tension than it was to act normal after you had sex.
Sex with Declan…sounded like heaven, actually.
We ate on the floor, talking and joking as if we were all long lost friends. I was comfortable around both Declan and Will. It was nice, considering. My chicken nuggets were mostly gone when someone knocked on the door, and because Will was not used to how things went around here, he got up and opened it before asking who it was or glancing through the peephole.
A sexy, tattooed bad boy stood in the hallway, his sapphire eyes glaring at Will.
Will didn’t blink, though I did see his back tense up. “Travis.”
Chapter Ten – Travis
I did not think I’d encounter William Briggs in Ash’s room. I was caught unaware for the first time in a while, and I did not appreciate it. It took everything in me to remain calm and give him a tight-lipped smile. I hadn’t spent too much time with him growing up, but I knew he didn’t particularly care for me, especially with everything that went down with Sabrina and Declan in the last year.
“William,” I said his name, not liking the way it tasted.
“What do you want?” Straight to the point, which I could respect. His hazel stare held mine, and he leaned between the open door and the door frame, his muscular body blocking out the dorm room behind him. I couldn’t see much, but I did see Declan and Ash on the floor, though Ash was slowly getting to her feet.
Since I hadn’t expected to see William, I knew my plan was shot all to hell, so I figured why not try to do what I came here for anyway? I said, “I’m here to see Ash.”
“Ash?” William repeated, lowering his voice when he said her name, as if…
I stared at him, fury growing inside me. As if he fucking liked her. How the hell did he even know her? Why was he here? Just to test me? God, if I survived Hillcrest without killing half a dozen people, namely everyone who stood in between Ash and me, it’d be a miracle.
“I wasn’t aware you knew each other,” William went on, narrowing his eyes at me. “May I ask why you’re here to see her? You know, she strikes me as a good girl, not your type. Maybe you should just run along, Travis. Find someone else to fuck with.”
I was about to snap at him, my fingers curling into fists at my sides, but William’s back straightened the moment Ash appeared beside him, her hand on his back. She was touching him as if it was nothing.
I wasn’t gone for that long, was I?
“It’s okay,” Ash spoke, causing William to toss me a glare before stepping aside and letting her through. He did not leave, however, and further inside the room, Declan had gotten to his feet. I noticed his arm was bandaged up.
“What happened there?” I said, too busy glaring at the brothers to notice the splint on Ash’s hand. “Had a busy weekend?” I asked, cocking my head, staring as intently as I could at her.
She all but squirmed as she stood before me. Even after everything, even after she dislodged her own thumb to escape me, her body still reacted to mine. It gave me quite a bit of satisfaction. I still had her. We weren’t done yet.
“Oh, you know,” she said. “The typical weekend, running from psychopaths, hospital trips, all that.” Her words were laced with facetiousness, but they were closer to the truth than they were to lies. “What’d you do, Travis?” Barbs, meant to hurt me, corner me into admitting something.
“The usual,” I said, reaching into my back pocket. “I did find this at my place, though. Thought you might want it back.” Her cell phone sat in my hand, and I offered it to her. Ash froze the moment I brought it out, and she paled when I said I found it at my place. I made sure to say it loud enough that both Briggs in the room could hear.
They had to know she was already claimed.
Ash said nothing as she snatched the phone from me, so quickly she hardly touched me. She only glared at me as she took a step back and slammed the door in my face, a gust of air my only goodbye.
I stood there for a while, the muscles in my jaw clenching. Ash was harder to nail down than I thought. I definitely underestimated her. She’d gone to the hospital, and since I hadn’t been arrested, I knew she hadn’t spoken a word about what happened to anyone. There was no way William would’ve answered the door if he knew what I did to Ash a few days ago.
How much more would it take before she realized she was mine? I hoped what was on her phone would help her see that Sawyer wasn’t right for her…but I had to do something about Declan and his brother. The Briggs brothers would not get in my way.
I spun to leave. I made it to the stairs, taking two at a time as I headed to the ground floor. I left the building, made it about twenty steps away on the sidewalk when I heard someone shouting. My legs stopped, and I turned to face Ash, who was rushing up to me. Behind her, I saw, William stood with his arms crossed, keeping the side door to the stairwell propped open, her fucking bodyguard.
“What are you playing at?” Ash demanded to know, her hand clenching her phone so hard her knuckles turned white. Her splinted hand hung useless at her side, and I wondered how long it would be until her hand was healed.
