Page 13 of Sinful as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #1)

HOLLY

My hands shook as I held the newest copy of The Chronicle.

The latest edition had been printed, the crisp copies sitting in a few places around school: the library, the main office, and in a few classrooms. It was a little lighter than I intended it to be, and that was because it was one page short.

There wasn’t going to be an article on the football game.

I felt awful. Brodie had done such a good job with writing it.

A really good job. His questions weren’t boring; Lucas had been into the interview; and overall, it had been a good read.

But it had to be scrapped. If Carter didn’t want it in the newspaper, then I wasn’t going to go against his wishes. He was my boyfriend and he came first.

With a sigh, I shoved the newspaper into my folder. I was normally proud of myself whenever a new issue came out. I worked hard on it to make sure it wasn’t the same boring drivel school papers usually contained. But this time, I was ashamed to even look at it.

I had just finished up a free period with a few minutes to spare until my next class.

I had spent it in the library, getting ahead on some history projects.

I was hoping to avoid Brodie. And Sawyer.

Sawyer would be pissed at me too. He was probably still mad about the other night because of the whole money thing.

He was so obnoxious. And testy. I tried to be nice and he threw it right back in my face.

But if he knew I had messed with his cousin, then he’d mess with me more than he already did. I remembered what he said to me the first day of school…

I rounded a corner, intending on getting to my locker, but that was when I saw Sawyer leaning up against it. He spotted me straight away. He had a boot pressed to the metal, the other placed firmly on the ground. As per usual, both of his hands were stuffed into his pockets.

It would have been sane to turn around, walk away, and avoid confrontation. But even though I knew I was in the wrong, I still didn’t want to give Sawyer Westbrook any satisfaction.

“You gonna get out of the way?” I asked, standing in front of Sawyer.

“You remember what I said to you the other day? About fucking with Brodie?” he asked, his voice monotone.

I sighed loudly. Sawyer already knew. “Look, when I see him, I’ll apologize. I owe him one. The article didn’t work out.”

“He stayed up all night writing that shit,” Sawyer continued. “Then he made me drive him to the library the next day so he could type it up and send it to you. He was excited . He did what you asked.”

Guilt hit me again. I didn’t want to screw Brodie over. He was my friend. But Carter came first. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I catered to Brodie and not my guy?

“He can write a new article and I’ll put it in next one,” I offered. “Maybe we’ll take him off sports, okay? There’s a hundred things happening at school, so I—"

“You told him to do sports,” Sawyer cut me off, a deadly edge to his voice. “You told him to write about that stupid fucking football game.”

“Look, it just didn’t work out. I’m sorry! There’ll be other opportunities. It’s not the end of the world.”

“I told you not to fuck with him.” Sawyer took a step towards me. “And yet there you go, doing the exact opposite of what I asked of you.”

“You think I follow your rules, Sawyer?”

“No, not mine. But your boyfriend’s ? Yeah, I think that insecure little prick may have had something to do with this.”

I had to laugh. “Carter is not insecure.”

“He threw a hissy fit that night, didn’t he? I saw him storm outta there. Dude looked pissed. Is he mad, Holly? Is he mad he’s not the big, bad guy he wants you to see him as?”

Sawyer kept walking. He was slowly closing the gap between us the more I moved backwards, not stopping until my back was to the lockers.

And the hallways were empty. Sawyer was cutting class and I had been in the library.

There was no one to get in the way of what he was about to do – whatever that was going to be.

“Leave Carter out of this,” I insisted.

“But it’s true, right?” Sawyer cocked an eyebrow. “He’s mad about the other night. He’s mad that all the attention wasn’t on him, that he couldn’t fucking impress everyone. I know I’m right. I saw the look on his face.”

“Look, this is stupid. I don’t have time for this…” I made an attempt to leave, taking a tiny step to my right, but that was when Sawyer slammed his left hand up against the locker behind me. Then his right hand was right by my head a moment later. My folder dropped and my breathing quickened.

He moved quick, and I was trapped right there between his leather-clad arms. He was so close.

I could see the small scar above his eyebrow, his bright green eyes, the crooked smirk he always seemed to wear around me.

I had seen it all before, but I had never seen it so up close.

Just inches away from me. The smell of his cologne and cigarettes met my nose as I sucked in a sharp breath.

The scent shouldn’t have been intriguing to me.

“You’re not going anywhere, princess. Not yet.” He shook his head.

“God, you’re so annoying. What do you want?”

“You’re a shitty friend,” he snapped.

He didn’t know it, but those words were enough to make shame and guilt fill me right up.

I already knew I had messed up, that I had done something unfair and dishonest and cruel.

There was no joy taken in what I had done to Brodie and I never wanted to hurt him, but Brodie didn’t know – and his annoying cousin certainly didn’t know – why I had done it.

“Look, you don’t get it.” I drew in a long breath. “It’s complicated, okay?I’m sorry Brodie’s story got cut! I am. I’ll give him a new article to work on and—”

“Your boyfriend’s a fucking pussy,” Sawyer cut me off once more.

I sighed sharply. “You’re vulgar.”

“You’re a shallow bitch.”

“Again: you’re vulgar.”

“I’m sure your little boyfriend says worse things about you in the locker room with the boys. When he’s not crying his fucking eyes out, that is.”

“You are so obsessed with him. Get over it.”

“Nah, I enjoy how…” Sawyer tilted his head. “Insecure he is.”

“ Insecure ? Carter? Do you even know what that word means? Carter is not insecure. You’re projecting.”

“Am I?” Sawyer licked at his lips, his eyes running up and down my body slowly. “I mean if he saw me here, bein’ all nice and cozy with you – what do you think he’d do?”

“He’d punch you in the face.”

“You don’t remember what happened last year?”

I huffed. Yes, of course I did. Everyone remembered. Sawyer got into fights all the time, but that had been one of his most violent. It was my poor boyfriend that had to suffer at the dangerous hands of Sawyer that day.

“That’s what I thought.” He snickered. “And what about the other day? You know, when he ran away from me after your stupid, little meeting. He seemed scared. And the other night he ran away from you . Like he couldn’t take the heat.”

“What’s your point, Sawyer?” I rolled my eyes.

“Just making an observation. From the looks of things, Carter Henderson seems like an insecure little bitch. Always stomping around school all angry when things don’t go his way. He gets so offended so easily. I mean… What is it, really?” He nodded at me.

“What. Are you. Talking about?”

“You can tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

Sawyer clicked his tongue. “He can’t fuck you good or something? Is that it? That why he’s overcompensating all the time?”

My eyes widened. He somehow managed to become even more crude over the course of just a few seconds. I turned my head to the side, taking in what he was saying. I had no comeback. No real way to respond. My face felt far too hot for my liking.

“Ooh, seems I hit a nerve.” He chuckled. “I knew it. Dude’s packing two inches.”

“Oh my God, shut up! And no, Carter is not packing two inches. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Damn, one inch then?” Sawyer asked with a wince. “Makes sense that Malibu Barbie is with a fucking Ken doll.”

I grunted and shoved his arms away, taking no joy in the way he laughed at my actions, because he was quick to put his arms right back where they were.

“I’m not here to hurt you, princess,” Sawyer said lowly. “Just here to give you a warning. Do not fuck with Brodie again with this writing shit. It means a lot to him.”

“I told you I’d give him something else to work on. He’ll have another chance to write.”

“Good. Don’t fuck up again. And you better say sorry to him. To his face.”

“I already planned on doing that.” I rolled my eyes. That was the truth. I wanted to say sorry to Brodie properly. But I didn’t want Sawyer to think I was only doing it for him.

Sawyer didn’t say anything for a long moment. He just stared at me, eyeing me up and down once again as he gave me a painfully long, curious stare. I hated it. I hated having his eyes on me. He always looked at me so intensely. Like he was trying to see inside my brain or something.

“You know, it suddenly makes sense why you’re so fucking uptight all the time,” he told me lowly.

“Excuse me?” I blinked.

“I bet you lay there, not feeling a fuckin’ thing, wishing you could be with a real man,” he grumbled out, leaning in that little bit closer.

I scoffed and pressed my hands to his chest, giving him a shove backwards. It did nothing except make him laugh, and he finally took a couple of steps away from me, opening up a gap between the two of us. I quickly took it, sliding across the lockers to get away from him.

“Sounds like you’re projecting again.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Nah, just being observant.” Those green eyes never left my face as he walked backwards, taking casual strides away from me.

“You ever need someone to fuck that frustration outta you, you know where to find me.” Then he reached down and literally grabbed his length through his jeans.

“Maybe you’ll stop being such a prissy, little brat all the time. ”

I didn’t even have the chance to react. He just chuckled and turned around, walking away from me like he hadn’t just said that . My face felt hot as I stared at the back of his head. He was wrong. About Carter, about me being frustrated, about… everything!

And even if he was right – which he definitely wasn’t – did he really think I’d ever let him touch me like that? That’d I’d ever let Sawyer Westbrook put his hands on me?

I felt my face, instantly noticing how warm my cheeks still felt. Ugh, I couldn’t wait until next year. Until I was at Columbia, and then I wouldn’t have to see his face anymore.

Why did Sawyer have to enjoy getting under my skin so much?