Page 21 of Psycho

I wasn’t quite sure how to take that, because I honestly didn’t know whether all of us put together could take down someone like Ray. The police had tried and failed. The American judicial system was a joke. There would be no outside help here. We would have to figure something else out.

Declan broke his silence, “So Ray’s the one who stabbed Will?” Just that fact alone would push Declan to Travis’s side. The two brothers cared a lot about each other, and if someone harmed one of them, the other wanted retribution.

Nodding once, I said, “Yes, with that knife, too. He’s been following me this whole time. He stabbed Will because Will came onto the scene late and he…Ray said he was moving too fast on me. Ray didn’t like it.”

“The letters,” Travis muttered. “Ray’s the one who sent those letters.”

That was the first I’d heard about it. “Letters?”

“Sawyer got one, a long while back. Pushed in through the mail slot in an unmarked envelope.” As Travis explained it, I vaguely remembered pulling a similar envelope off our dorm door. At the time, I’d thought it was just another rude note from one of the other students on the floor—they liked to tape tiny nooses and headless barbies to the door, so I thought nothing of it. I hadn’t even opened the envelope to read it. “It basically said to stay away from you.”

All this time, Ray was here, and I was too oblivious to realize it. Stupid, stupid.

Travis frowned. “I was too busy trying to sabotage Sawyer’s attempts at swaying you to his side. I should’ve done something, should’ve looked into it.”

Declan muttered, “You and Sawyer.” Travis shot him a glare. To me, he asked, “How did you get away from him this time? Did you…did you stab him again?” Even though Declan was tentative, he sounded hopeful. Hopeful that I’d killed Ray for good this time.

He’d be sorely disappointed shortly.

“No,” I said. “I threatened to kill myself with that knife. I found it in his car, along with two bodies. I told him that I’d kill myself if he tried to hurt any one of you again.”

Neither Declan nor Travis seemed to particularly like that. Travis grabbed one of my hands, practically squeezing all of the blood out of it as he growled, “You will not hurt yourself to get back at Ray, Ash, and if you try to, I will chain you up and keep the key in my pocket this time.” Spoken so boldly, so loudly…and so right in front of Declan.

Did I miss something?

Declan didn’t even look surprised. Not really. He merely looked sad when he stared at me, even after all Travis just said. “I hate to agree with him, but I do. I don’t want you to hurt yourself, Ash. I…I wouldn’t know what to do without you. I, uh, I don’t know about the chaining up part, though.”

Did I step into opposite day when I wasn’t looking? What the hell was this shit? Were Travis and Declan best buddies now? Did they talk about chaining me up in their free time?

“Well, seeing as how it worked and he let me walk away, I’m still going to consider that a win,” I spoke dryly, knowing better than to try to pull my hand from Travis. The way Declan’s dark eyes stared at me made me feel all kinds of self-conscious. “It’s temporary, though. He will try to come after me again.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Travis said, to which I simply chuckled.

“He’s had years of experience,” I said, eyeing him up. I knew Travis was dangerous, knew it the first moment I laid eyes on his sexy, tattooed self, and yet here and now, I was reminded of how wild he was in that basement in Stanton. He barely looked like a man with the bloodlust on his features.

Maybe…maybe Travis was more dangerous than I thought.

“You shouldn’t be alone,” Declan spoke. “Ever. No more running off.” As he said it, Travis was busy nodding. “One of us should be with you at all times.”

“What about my classes?”

“Fuck your classes” Travis spoke the exact same time Declan said, “You can miss some classes, and if all else fails, I’ll tell my dad that you caught the flu or something and have been bedridden. I’ll say your immune system was weak from the accident and that’ll be that.”

It was as good a plan as any, I guess, although I wasn’t too happy that I would have a shadow for the foreseeable future. As if these guys could take on Ray. Travis, maybe, but Declan?

Fuck. Then again, maybe I wasn’t that good at reading people. Maybe Declan was capable of just as much pain as Ray himself was. It was hard to tell at this point.

“Fine,” I reluctantly agreed, knowing I didn’t really have a choice here. These two would force it on me, or, I knew, Travis would break out the chains again. The bastard. “Now can one of you please tell me what’s going on with Sawyer?”

In a word, withdrawal. Travis and Declan were getting Sawyer sober and clean, though I still wasn’t sure why the hell they were trying. The dude was a mess, and I was of the mind to let him fuck up. Let him do whatever it was he wanted. It wasn’t like I cared about him in the scheme of things. Nope.

Okay, those were lies. Big, fat, ugly lies, but still.

Then again, if I was having help facing my problems, maybe—just maybe—Sawyer should have help, too.

Chapter Eleven – Ash

I wasn’t going to be able to sleep, probably ever again. My life was too crazy to waste any time sleeping. Sure, exhaustion would eventually take me, but right now, as I lay in one of the guest rooms in Sawyer’s house, I couldn’t help but be wide awake.

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