Chapter Three – Travis
Holy fuck. I definitely didn’t expect to come across her so soon. She was…pretty in the same way Sabrina had been. The same heart-shaped face and spunk, though her hair ended in a light bubblegum pink. A skateboard sat near her feet, and she’d been too busy texting to notice my approach.
Sawyer was going to love her, I knew. I knew it instantly. Sawyer was going to love using her to get back at Declan.
This was my first year at HU, but Sawyer and Declan were on their second year. We all used to be friends, once. Before the world crumbled below our feet and left us all to pick up the pieces and point fingers. Unfortunately for Declan, all fingers pointed at him.
Sawyer wanted Declan to pay for what he did. Me? I just liked the drama. I liked the fights. I liked getting down and dirty and playing the blame game. Not going to lie, though—the other games I liked to play flashed in the back of my mind when I met this girl’s stare.
Wonder how she’d look, tied down…
She’d started to say something snarky to me, but the moment she’d looked at me, she stopped herself. Her cheeks flushed slightly, just a tiny bit of redness there that signaled she liked what she saw. I was good at picking up signals like that. I learned from the best.
My family had dropped me off early this morning, leaving me to lug my shit to my room and unpack by myself. I made it to my room, left all my shit in the suitcases, and headed to Sawyer’s house. Since he was a second year, he didn’t have to live on campus. He was renting a house just outside of HU, basically across Main Street. The parties he’d have would be legendary.
We all had gotten word that there was going to be a girl on campus. Hillcrest was inching toward modern times—which was great. I loved girls. I loved looking at them, touching them, kissing them, and I loved fucking them the most, especially when they were compliant and submissive.
This one…she looked like she could be trouble, but luckily for her, I craved trouble like a drug.
A girl on campus meant one thing. Sawyer and I had a bet going to see who would sleep with her first. A juvenile bet, I knew, but it was one that practically begged to be made. And when we found out that she’d be rooming with Declan, the little bitch who should never have come back here? The bet changed a little.
We were still going to try to sleep with her, but it’d be fun to use her against him too, wouldn’t it? Turn her against him, make her believe he was an awful human being—tell her the truth about what happened last year—and convince her to break his heart.
Maybe if we all played it just right, Declan would do us all a favor and kill himself, and then Sawyer and I could put all our focus on our new toy.
“So you’re the pretty girl they let in through the gates,” I said, giving her a lazy smile. I had one arm hooked on the back of the chair behind me and the other splayed along the table. I could tell by her tense shoulders that she wanted to get up and leave, but she was also intrigued.
“I really hope you have a better pickup line than that,” she said, shooting me a forced frown.
My smile only grew. “When I’m trying to pick you up, you’ll know it.”
“Oh, great. That’s comforting.” She turned her focus back to her salad, picking at it with her plastic fork.
When I told Sawyer I’d head to the union to buy a pizza for dinner, I had no idea I’d run into her. What a fucking coincidence. Almost like fate, if I believed in fate. There were…not many things I believed in these days, not after what happened to Sabrina.
“I’m Travis,” I told her, watching as she picked up a crouton and ate it, glancing at me as her mouth crunched on it.
“And I’m not interested, sorry” was her response.
I smirked. I knew Sawyer and I wouldn’t be the only ones trying to get her, but Sawyer had the connections. One word from him, and most everyone would back off. If they didn’t…if people chose not to listen to him, people had a habit of getting hurt. Declan would be hurt in the worst of ways, once it was all said and done.
“Oh, come on,” I said, eyeing her up. The more I stared at her, the prettier she became. “Just tell me your name and I’ll stop bugging you.” It was spoken as a promise, but what this girl didn’t know was that I’d find out her name one way or another.
If this girl wanted to make it through these next four years, she’d play nice with me and Sawyer.
She rolled her eyes. “Ash,” she muttered, her glare indicating she was done with this conversation, whether or not she was intrigued by me.
“Ash,” I spoke her name slowly, letting it roll off my tongue. My fingers tapped the table. Ash. I liked it. It was fitting, in a way, since Sawyer and I planned on using her to turn Declan’s life upside-down, set it on fire and leave only when it was in ashes. I was more of a straight-forward kind of guy, but I’d follow Sawyer’s lead on this one. After all, Sabrina was his sister, and there was no replacing her.
“Travis,” Ash spoke, setting her fork down as she turned to me. One of her knees moved between mine, its bare skin taunting. Sabrina liked to wear short shorts like that, too…I could remember spending many summers watching her in them. I also took them off of her more times than I could count. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I was hoping to at least make it twenty-four hours here before the hordes of boys starting trolling me.”
“Trolling?” I chuckled, eyes falling to her lips. No lipstick, no gloss, but they still looked full, supple, and so inviting. Mark my words: I’d take those lips soon enough, and I’d take them before Sawyer did.
Sawyer was…he didn’t know when to temper his anger, when to play nice. He had one setting, and it was downright mean with a side of dastardly conniving.
“You know what I mean,” she said with a shrug. The small gesture made me realize just how small she really was. Thin, not an ounce of fat anywhere on her. Just like Sabrina. God, she reminded me of Sabrina so much, it might be impossible for Sawyer to sleep with her without thinking of his sister.
That would only help me win.
“Okay, okay,” I said, getting to my feet. I pretended not to notice how her eyes followed me, how her gaze ate me up. “I get the not-so-subtle hint. I’ll leave you alone. All bets are off though, if you’re in one of my classes.”
I headed to the pizza place, tossing a look over my shoulder once I got there. Ash was watching me, distrust in her gaze. Hmm. That was interesting. Whereas most girls found me easy to talk to and be around, this one didn’t seem to like me very much. Maybe I came on too strong, or maybe I wasn’t her type, beyond my looks.
Fucking ridiculous. I was everyone’s type.
I ordered two pizzas and carried them all the way to Sawyer’s place. They made the pizzas after you ordered them, so it took about twenty minutes. Sawyer’s place was a nice two-story house that normally housed a bunch of guys from HU, but when Sawyer got his hands on it—and his parents’ money—he’d rented the whole damn thing, no roommates needed to split the cost. Next year I’d move in here with him, once I didn’t have to live on campus.
I brought the pizza to the kitchen table, flipping open the top box and grabbing a piece as I went into the living room, plopping myself down on the leather couch and kicking up my feet. I was seconds from turning on the TV when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I glanced up, watching as a girl came down, her hair and makeup messed up in a telltale way, her skin flushed. She met my eyes awkwardly before leaving.