AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Two body towels and two washcloths, which I set on the vanity beside me before turning and giving her a smile. “Thank you,” I said, watching her a bit more closely now, after that talk with Declan. Though that talk had ended nearly two hours ago, it was impossible not to obsess over it.
I had no clue whether Declan was truthful in what he said or not, if he was simply trying to step aside and let me at Ash because he knew I liked her. We were alike in that way; it’s why I always did my best to protect him. Soon enough he’d see.
“Declan said he talked to you,” Ash whispered, tilting her head up at me. Her blonde hair was so light that it was nearly white, its pink-tipped tendrils falling away from her face as she leaned on the door frame behind her. She wore her pajamas—booty shorts and a flimsy tank top. I couldn’t help but wonder if she wore anything beneath those shorts.
“He did.”
“I hope he wasn’t as awful as Sawyer was about it.” As she spoke, a slow smile spread on her lips.
I recalled the things Sawyer said when I first arrived, and suddenly they all made a lot more sense. “Of course not. You know Declan.”
Her blonde head nodded. “I do.” Ash reached up, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “I just hope…I hope you don’t think differently of me, Will.” Heaving a sigh that could shatter an entire world, she murmured, “I don’t want you to think less of me.”
Would she think less of me if she knew I wanted to run my hand up that smooth leg and keep going until my fingers found the warmest place on her body?
“I don’t,” I said, meaning it. The whole Travis thing, well…girls liked the bad boys. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a fact, but it was a cliché—and sooner or later, those clichés ended in misery. Travis would do something, say something, and it would break her heart. I knew it.
Travis…you couldn’t trust someone like him, just like you couldn’t trust someone like Sawyer.
Ash’s mouth curled into a wider smile, and she stood on her tiptoes, placing a single chaste kiss on my cheek before murmuring, “Goodnight, Will.” She said nothing more, shuffling out of the bathroom in her slippers, seemingly unaware of how fast my heart beat just from that encounter.
If I had her, I feared I wouldn’t know what to do with her. She was wild, a beast unable to be tamed. No man was up for the challenge, but that was fine, because I didn’t want to tame her. If Declan was happy, if Ash was happy…maybe I could be happy, too.
Chapter Seventeen – Ash
While Will was here, Travis was stuck on babysitting duty, which annoyed him, I think. He didn’t want to babysit Sawyer while Will, Declan and I got food and brought it to the house. He didn’t want to watch Sawyer or deal with his attitude while we swung by the dorm room for more clothes, and I couldn’t blame him. Now that Sawyer was starting to look up, he was insufferable.
Will ended up staying for five days. Five days, and we all slowly got back into the grind of classes and school. You know, what our lives should be like, if they didn’t revolve around a serial killer-slash-stalker who I knew was waiting, watching. It’d been quiet on the Ray front, which was a shock, not that I was complaining. I had too much on my plate already, with my multiple boyfriends and the feelings I had for Will.
Sawyer…let’s just not go there. Not right now. The wound was still fresh, even though it happened nearly two weeks ago.
Two weeks. Two weeks since I’d seen Kelsey, spoken to her. She’d given up trying to text me, and that was fine, as I wasn’t sure what I’d say to her. I still needed time, my mind needed to process what I saw. I had to, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, forgive her for what she did.
Her, and him.
Though a part of me wanted to saw off his dick like some psycho gone wild, I knew it was an overreaction. I never mentioned Kelsey to him, never talked about her at all to him. There was no way the dickhead had known who she was to me. And Kelsey? With his hair greased up, and us being at Stanton, the last thing she’d probably expected was to encounter one of the guys who tugged relentlessly at my heart.
Ugh. Okay, so maybe I still was kind of pissed.
The sun was setting, and me, Declan and Will stood near his car in Sawyer’s driveway. Will was leaving, heading back to his own place, which I didn’t want. Of course I wanted to be selfish, to ask him to stay, but I knew his mind was made up. Plus, even after Declan spoke to him, Will hadn’t made a single move on me. No passes. No winks. No extra flirtiness. No anything. It was like Declan had never spoken to him at all about me.
That, or maybe Will didn’t like me as much as I liked him.
I…did not appreciate that intrusive, terrible thought.
“Are you sure you can’t stay a little bit longer?” I asked, resisting my need to grab him by the collar and drag his ass inside…and then do some other things to that ass. A very fine ass, by the way.
The thought of him going home, being alone in that apartment, was not one I enjoyed.
“I’m sure.” Will threw a good-natured grin to his brother. “I’ve already stepped on enough toes, I think.”
“You didn’t step on anyone’s toes,” Declan said, to which I resisted my urge to roll my eyes. Because it was true. Will stepped on no one’s toes, not even Travis’s—which made Travis kind of look like a diva with how he’d been acting lately.
I took a step toward Will, holding my hands behind my back. If I didn’t, I might reach for him, beg him to stay. “You know my toes are always here, ready to be stepped on.” My feet had mostly gotten better. The soles were a bit scarred now, but that was to be expected after the long hike I’d done on them.
Will gave me an easy smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He’d already packed up his car, and he swung the keys around his finger. “Besides, I’m sure it won’t be too long before we see each other again. Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Maybe I can convince Dad to invite you and your mom over.”
“You think he’d go for that?” Declan asked, making it obvious he was not ready to spend a week apart from me due to the holidays. I totally understood that, because going home, possibly seeing Kelsey, was the last thing I wanted to do, too.
