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When Ash came out of the bathroom again, her hair was dry and straight, and she’d applied a bit of makeup around her eyes, making their grey color pop. Declan froze, his mouth hanging open, as if he had lost all the words he wanted to say.
Me? I’d like to say I was different, but as I looked at her, I was the same. In her short skirt, her thin tank top, with her smoky eyes and her full lips, Ash was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, her splint aside.
The most beautiful, and also as off-limits as a girl could be.
“Well?” Ash asked. “How do I look?”
“Good,” Declan stuttered, “I mean, I mean great. You look…you look good.” His already flushed face grew pinker as he kept stumbling over his words, sounding, unfortunately for him, quite lame.
Her eyes turned to me, their color ten times more striking while lined in black. “And you, Will? Do you think I look good, too? I’ll admit, I was going for a few rungs above good, but I guess I’ll take it—”
Declan turned his dark eyes to me, pleading, wordlessly asking me to salvage this. But that was the problem: I didn’t know if I could, mostly because, as I stood there staring at her, I couldn’t help but have a selfish thought, one I hated myself for instantly.
I didn’t want Declan to have her. I wanted her.
It took me a while, but I managed to say the truth: “You look beautiful.”
“Beautiful, huh?” Ash echoed, grinning. “Now that I’ll take.” She turned to her desk to grab her phone, which had been charging, but not before her eyes lingered on me for a few moments longer. Outside, night had swallowed the world, and she ran a hand through her hair, her stare rising from my feet, studying me unabashedly. “You ready to go? I’ll warn you now, tonight is not about getting girls.”
“I’m ready,” I said, glancing at Declan. Declan was looking at me, a slightly confused expression on his face, as if he could see into my head, as if he knew my thoughts. As if he knew, right then and there, that I didn’t want to get any other girl.
The girl I wanted was right in front of me.
Chapter Thirteen – Ash
Will offered to drive, but I turned him down. Walking to Sawyer’s house would help me clear my head, give me time to convince myself that the fuckboy deserved everything I planned on doing to him. It was a slow-burning plan, the kind that took time to fully manifest. Tonight was only the first step. Tonight I’d plant the seed.
Of course, that was before Will decided he was coming to be my escort, since apparently I could only go to class alone.
Sure, it was a little sweet, and it made me feel a bit better that I’d have someone watching my back throughout tonight, but I hoped his presence wouldn’t get in my way.
We weren’t the only ones walking on the sidewalks, but I waited until we were pretty much alone to pull out my phone. “Will, I have a confession to make.” He looked at me expectantly, and I pretended not to notice how intently he watched me. “I have an ulterior motive for tonight.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, his hands stuck in his pockets. He looked better than I wanted to admit wearing Declan’s clothes, a pair of dark, butt-hugging jeans and a shirt that hugged his chest muscles a little too perfectly.
Why did Declan’s brother have to be so hot? I mean, where were all the ugly people around here? Give a girl a break, you know?
“I have a plan for Sawyer,” I said, to which he immediately opened his mouth to retort, probably to tell me I should have nothing to do with that boy, and he was right. So before he could speak, I pulled up the video and showed him.
Will’s legs stopped walking, and I stopped, too. “What…”
“A present of Travis when he returned my phone,” I told him, taking it back and turning off the video. “But you saw her hair, right? Pink?” His expression was difficult to read, so I just plowed on, “He can’t have me, so he made his own me. Now I know Sawyer isn’t the kind of guy to keep the same girl in his bed for long, but if she’s there, I’m going to do my damnedest to break them up.”
He let out a sound that was a mix between a groan and a sigh. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ash.”
“I don’t care. Sawyer is a dick, and he has this whole campus against Declan. He doesn’t deserve to have anything.” I took a step toward Will, setting a finger on his chest. “In order to do what I have to do, I might have to get creative. I don’t want you always three feet behind me. You can be my bodyguard or whatever, but don’t let Sawyer see you, and don’t interrupt me when I’m with him or his new girl. Got it?”
There was no telling how tonight would go, but I knew things would go smoother if Will did not play the knight in shining armor for once. Let me get down and dirty. Let me use some of Sawyer’s own tricks against him. The bastard deserved it.
I was so vehement on this, it was almost funny. That video of him and that girl had affected me more than I wanted to admit. I hated seeing them together. I hated knowing how his ass looked as he was pounding into a girl that wasn’t me.
“Okay,” Will eventually said, glancing down at the finger pressed against him. “You win, but I’m not telling Declan about any of this.”
“Good,” I said, dropping my hand. I didn’t want Declan to know about this anyway. Things were going to get messy before they got better. And Travis? I still hadn’t thought up a way to get back at him, to show him I wasn’t some helpless girl who he could chain up and punish. Kelsey had helped me with Sawyer’s payback, but Travis? I had the feeling his would need to come straight from me.
We continued to walk, hitting the main street the campus of Hillcrest butted up against. We waited for traffic to thin out before crossing, and Will muttered, “You’re knee-deep in a lot of shit, Ash.”
I chuckled. “Rooming with Declan, it was bound to happen. None of this drama is mine, but I’ll take it. I’ll do what I have to.” Everyone needed to know that if they messed with Declan, they messed with me.
