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Probably stupid. It wasn’t a bomb. But, staring down at the nondescript box, I knew exactly who put it there. Ray. Ray Ruiz was here, left the box, and left. Hell. He really did watch Ash like a hawk, a stalker of epic proportions.
I didn’t want to pick up the box, didn’t want to see what was inside of it, and once I made it to the front door, I tossed a look behind me. The street the house sat on was a busy one, but I didn’t see any cars parked on the side. I didn’t see Ray Ruiz anywhere; I’d stared at his face on Google long enough to recognize him.
Once I opened the front door, I went back for the box. I assumed there was nothing bad in it; the box wasn’t that big, and when I picked it up, it felt pretty light. Still, I held it as far as I could in front of me, leaving the other bags on the floor near the door as I walked into the kitchen and set it on the table. Travis was outside, I noticed, and Ash wasn’t in the living room, so she had to be upstairs.
I thought about opening it, but I knew it should probably be something we did together. This box…it had to be for Ash, but she wasn’t going to open it alone. No, Travis and I were going to be there.
“Back already?” Ash spoke, coming down the stairs. Her hair was wet, and I saw she was busy drying herself with a towel. Her clothes were soaked, which I thought odd. Why would her clothes be wet? “Did you get—”
“I got everything,” I told her. I wanted to ask just what the heck she’d been doing to get her clothes so wet, but Ash’s gaze flicked to the box near me.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know. I found it sitting outside.”
“Where?” Her tone grew frantic; she instantly thought of Ray. Who else would leave a box like this in front of Sawyer’s house?
“By the front door,” I said. “Let me grab Travis—”
Ash practically dropped the towel she was using to dry herself—which didn’t really work, considering how sopping wet she was—and ran to my side, limping, and she tugged at my sleeves, stopping me instantly. “No, wait. Let me…let me open it first.”
I glanced at Travis outside; he held his cell phone against his ear, and judging from his expression, he wasn’t too happy at what he was hearing. Well, I couldn’t argue with her about it, as it turned out, mostly because Ash had released my sleeve and moved to the table.
The box’s lid was easy for her to lift, and she set it aside as she peered down into it. It wasn’t a huge box, maybe a foot by a foot, no deeper than six inches. Its color was an off-white. Nothing too remarkable, yet I heard Ash’s breathing hitch, practically heard her heart leap into her chest as she gazed down at what was inside.
“What is it?” I asked, honestly afraid to look. Call me a pansy, call me a wuss, whatever. I’d seen horror movies before, and I knew nothing that could be inside that box was a good thing. Travis should be in here; he should’ve been the one to do the looking, not Ash…
“My stuff,” Ash said. Her slender fingers pulled out the keys to our dorm—damn it. I didn’t even realize he had them all this time. He could’ve made copies without us knowing. I wondered whether they’d change our locks if I requested it. Next out was her ID, which I assumed she kept in her pocket during the night of the Halloween party. “And…a letter.” She pulled out an envelope last.
I’d seen her pull similar envelopes from our dorm door before and toss them out without looking at them. She did it to protect me, at the time. I was weak, still depressed. Now I could throw the stupid notes out on my own. Now I had something to live for, someone to fight for. This Ray…I didn’t think I’d be able to take him on one-on-one, but I wasn’t going to sit back and take it, either. I was done doing that. I would no longer be the bullied of Hillcrest.
“Let me get Travis,” I said, moving to the patio doors. I stuck my head outside, and the moment Travis saw me, he quit his pacing. “There’s something you should see inside. Ray was here.”
“What the fuck?” Travis spoke into the phone, letting out a growl as he added, “Fine, fine, fine. Whatever you want, okay? I’ll do it. Just…fit us into your busy fucking schedule, okay?” It looked like he didn’t even wait to listen to what whoever was on the other line said. He simply hung up the phone and stormed inside.
I nearly bumped into him near the table, for Travis had frozen, and when I sidestepped him, I figured out why. Ash was reading the letter, her grey eyes scanning the paper as if the paper held the answers to the universe.
“What does it say?” Travis demanded, and Ash merely offered him the letter, which he tore out of her hands harder than I would’ve liked. “He was fucking here and I didn’t even know it. If this house wasn’t so fucking big, I would’ve…” He stopped himself from saying anything else, his blue gaze scanning whatever was typed on the letter.
He gave me the letter, and I took it—gently, I might add, because ripping a piece of paper from someone’s hand was just rude, whether or not Ash realized it.
Love grows in time.
Four words that, on the surface, didn’t look too bad. They didn’t sound ominous based on their textbook definitions, but with the context, with the sender of this letter being who he was, those four words meant a whole lot more.
Still, I knew they meant more, but I didn’t know exactly what they meant. I moved my eyes between Travis and Ash. “What does it mean?”
“It means,” Ash spoke after a minute of silence, “he thinks I’ve fallen out of love with him. He thinks we can get back what we used to have.” Her throat swallowed her trepidation. “He’s going to watch me, give me time…maybe try to convince me that I was wrong in coming back here, that I should’ve stayed with him.”
“Do you think he’ll come after us?” I probably shouldn’t have asked, mostly because the answer was obvious. Ash threw me a skeptical look, while Travis just frowned. “Will should take some time off and come here. He’s not safe where he’s at—”
“Ooh, goody, everyone can come sleep over like we’re five again,” Sawyer’s sarcastic voice came from the stairwell, and we all turned to watch him struggle as he walked himself down the stairs. His muscular form was pale, and also dripping wet. He wore wet pants, along with no shirt.
What in the hell…
I looked back to Ash. Ash simply stared at Sawyer like he was an annoying little brother, meanwhile I was busy wondering why they were both so wet. Surely they didn’t…they couldn’t. Not after she saw him with Kelsey. I was confused, and I hated it.
Travis, on the other hand, was too wound up in the letter and the fact that Ray had been here under his nose. “I don’t fucking care what we have to do, but I want that prick gone.” He swore under his breath as he gripped the back of the chair he stood near. “Markus isn’t available to come help us for another month.”
