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The hand touching my shoulder became firmer, and before I knew what he was doing, he pulled me against him, careful to cradle me on the side of his body that hadn’t been stabbed. His arms wrapped around me, and I sank into his chest, smelling him, practically melting into him.
“Don’t be,” Will murmured, resting his cheek against the top of my head. He’d turned his body so that we both sort of laid on the couch, his back against the pillows and me on him. “You have a whole house of guys ready to do anything to protect you.”
I said nothing. No defense would ever be enough to beat Ray. No, we’d need to go on the offense, and I hated relying on outside help to do it. Travis might’ve grown up with his family, with Markus, but I didn’t know him, so tell me how the hell I should trust him to help take care of our serial killer problem?
Finally, I muttered against his chest, “I wish I was as confident as you.”
“You don’t have to be,” he told me, his voice falling onto my ears like honey. Smooth, warm, utterly delicious. Was his voice always so sultry and inviting, or was that just me and my eager beaver of a body? “It’s obvious they have your back, and if all else fails, I have your back, too.”
I closed my eyes, wishing I could believe that everything was going to be fine. I’d told Sawyer that before, but just because I told him didn’t mean I believed it.
“If I’m honest, though,” Will went on, “I wish I had more than that.”
Tilting my head up, I met his eyes. The way he stared down at me just now…it made my stomach clench and an even lower part of me heat up in anticipation. I could only describe it with one word: hungry.
William Briggs wanted me, too.
It wasn’t a surprise, considering our impromptu make-out session practically right after we met. I knew we had a connection, and knowing he’d gotten hurt because of me only made me feel worse. I cared so much more for this man than I should, considering I was with his brother, and with Travis.
I slowly propped myself up, meeting his eyes. Our faces were less than six inches apart, and yet the distance still felt like too much. Too much space. Far too much space when those lips could be on mine, helping me to forget everything going on outside. “Will…” I probably sounded ridiculous, saying his name with so much longing, but I didn’t know how else to say it.
Will was Will, and I was helpless in trying not to feel for him.
He must’ve had the opposite impression for he gave me a gentle smile and helped me sit up, no longer leaning against him. No longer smelling him. No longer six inches away from those tempting lips. “It’s okay,” he said. “Declan deserves to be happy again. I’m more than willing to step aside.”
Happy to step aside and let his brother have me. Those two…I had a thought once that they would both trip over their own feet to be nice to the other and let the other have me, and right now, it was a flashback to that moment.
Declan said he was going to fight for me; I wanted Will to fight for me, too.
“Will,” I whispered his name, my heart tugging in my chest with a longing I couldn’t fill. Not now, not yet. I…if anything were to happen between Will and me, I’d have to make sure they were okay with it, especially Declan. I thought about telling him that I didn’t want him to step aside, but I didn’t want to create a rift between the two brothers, so all I said next was, “I’ve missed you.”
“You won’t have to miss me much longer. In a little over two months I’ll be a Hillcrest student myself, and then you’ll see lots of me.”
Oh. Oh yeah. With all the shit going on, I’d totally forgotten that Will was transferring.
Damn.
Assuming I lived through this shit with Ray, I was going to be in so much trouble.
Chapter Sixteen – Will
Sawyer’s house had plenty of extra space for me—which was a good thing, because he and I…well, let’s just say I still hated him for the things he’d done and said to Declan, what he got other students to do. He made my brother’s life a living hell, so I found it insanely odd that Declan was back with Travis and they were both trying to help Sawyer get clean. Honestly? The bastard didn’t deserve any help.
But you know what else was weird? Whatever was going on with Declan, Travis, and Ash. I tried not to pay attention, but the energy between them had changed. They acted differently around each other. Plus, with what Sawyer said when I arrived, it was impossible not to notice the subtle differences.
Later that night I found out why that was. Declan and Travis were with Ash.
Yes, you read that right. Declan and Travis.
They were…sharing her, or something? In some kind of threesome, thruple, whatever it was called. I didn’t know the details, mostly because, when Declan found me in the guest room I’d be sleeping in and told me about it, I didn’t know what to say. A part of me was shocked that Declan would be okay with it, and the other part of me was…curious.
Curious because I loved that girl, too.
But sharing her with Declan was worlds different than sharing her with Travis. I didn’t like Travis. There was something about him I didn’t trust, something dark and sinister, and the more he brought up this Markus that was supposed to help them with Ray the more I suspected his family’s business wasn’t exactly legitimate.
I stood near the door, my arms crossed. It was closed, giving us some semblance of privacy in a house that I never thought I’d be in. Not again. I’d gone with Ash to one of Sawyer’s parties, but that was it. My involvement in all of this was Ash, and my brother. That’s it. Sawyer and Travis could fall off the face of the world and I wouldn’t be able to care less.
Declan sat on the edge of the bed, staring at me with those dark, nearly black eyes. In spite of the whole psycho ex thing that was going on, he looked good. He looked like he was taking care of himself, which was all I could ask for. If he was truly happy sharing Ash with Travis, then I guess I couldn’t judge him.
