Page 1 of Psycho

Chapter One – Declan

Sawyer’s house was unlocked, which didn’t surprise me. He was never one to be careful. If there was one thing Sawyer Salvatore was, it was rash. Stupid. Growing up with him, hanging out with him, I found him fun to be around, if a little over the top. Of course, at the time, his over the top attitude and behavior was nullified by the fact that I was head over heels for his little sister, but that was neither here nor there. That was so far in the past I could hardly think about it as I walked into his lavish rental house.

I’d almost lost myself to depression after losing Sabrina, but recently I’d found myself, in no small part due to Ash. Ash stormed into my life like a whirlwind. A hot, dangerous, messy whirlwind that I couldn’t help but be caught in. A storm like her you couldn’t avoid. You could only stand still and hope you got out alive.

Me? I didn’t want to get out. I didn’t want to escape the eye of her storm. I was right where I wanted to be—with her.

Right now, though, I wasn’t where I wanted to be, because standing in Sawyer’s house was like filling my heart with knives. We used to be friends, yes, but after everything he did, after everything he made the other students on campus do…how could I possibly forgive him for that? Some rifts between friends weren’t mendable. Sometimes when bridges burned they simply burned to ashes and were irreparable.

I meandered to Sawyer’s living room, gingerly sitting down on the couch since Travis and the others weren’t here yet. I felt antsy; my blood pumped a bit too fast. Something was wrong. I could tell from his voice when he called me. The bastard refused to say what exactly had happened at the party Ash and Kelsey went to, and I prayed nothing happened to either of them.

Prayed. Hah. As if I believed in God.

I didn’t. Not anymore. Not after everything.

I lost track of time as I sat there, staring at my phone. I hoped that if something had happened to Ash, she would’ve called me, or texted me. Done something. I didn’t want to rely on Travis when it came to her.

Travis was…it was hard to forget what happened in the past. How he and Sabrina were together behind my back. I knew Sabrina wandered, and when we were on our breaks I’d been fine with it, because—foolish me—I always thought she’d come back to me.

But no. She and Travis were together behind my back for months. How could I overlook a betrayal like that? From both her and him? She was my girlfriend, and he was my friend, as much as a guy like Travis Scott could ever be friends with someone. I didn’t want a repeat of the past.No secrets, no lies, no going behind my back.

There would be no repeat, I swore to myself. This time would be different, because Ash was different. Travis might’ve liked her, but I did too, and this time I wasn’t going to step aside. She was there for me even when I tried to push her away, so I’d stick around, fight for her, for as long as I possibly could.

Yes, even if Travis stayed in the picture. Even with our shared history.

After a while, I heard car doors slam in the driveway, and I got up, heading to the side door near the garage. I yanked it open, stumbling back when I saw Travis lugging a mostly unconscious Sawyer into the house. A muscle in Travis’s jaw was clenched, and he looked pissed. Beyond pissed. Pissed and with a stare that could kill.

In other words, normal Travis.

Behind Travis, Kelsey stood, a look of pure worry on her face. She’d torn off her Hello, My Name is… tag, and from her smeared makeup, it looked as though she’d been crying. Ash was nowhere to be seen.

What the hell?

“What—” I couldn’t even get more out, because Travis threw me a look over his shoulder that told me to zip it. I went to close the side door.

“Help me get this asshole up the stairs,” Travis muttered, frowning. Meanwhile, Kelsey moved to the living room, sitting on the couch, furiously texting someone. Her hands shook, I noticed, and in my heart of hearts I just knew.

Something happened. Something bad.

Where the hell was Ash?Why was she not with them?

I slowly moved to Sawyer’s other side, grabbing his limp arm and moving it around my shoulders. Together Travis and I heaved Sawyer up the stairs, dragging his feet as we went. It looked like he had some kind of grease in his hair, but I could see pink bits sticking through. He wore a vampire cape and dark clothes beneath it.

Wait a second. Did this mean Sawyer was at the party Ash and Kelsey went to? At Stanton?

I never thought I’d be grateful to Travis for his tendencies to go over the top, or to stalk, but in this case…in this case I just might be—but really, that depended on what happened to Ash, and where she currently was.

I waited until we made it to Sawyer’s room, when we laid him down on his bed, to ask him, “Where’s Ash? Why isn’t she with you? What happened, Travis?” I was about to say more, but I froze the moment I watched Travis dig out a phone from his pocket.

Was that…Ash’s new phone? I was pretty sure it was, the new phone Briggs money had bought her after the accident. I had no idea why Travis would have it, why he was here without her. If Ash wasn’t here, and she didn’t have her phone…where the hell was she, and how were we supposed to find her if she’d run off while at Stanton?

“Fuck,” Travis muttered. “She’s fucking relentless. Twenty texts, seven missed calls. It’s a good thing this phone’s on silent, otherwise I’d have some explaining to do.”

I glared at him. “You do have explaining to do.”

“To you, but not to her,” Travis hissed. “We have to get her out of here. I don’t want to have to focus on her friend when we should be focusing on getting Ash back.”

“Back?” I repeated, clueless. “Where did she go?”

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