The Vincent Boys 1 [Extended & Uncut] (22 page)

I shrugged, thinking of Sawyer watching silently from a distance.

“He’s just like his father. Don’t know why that surprises me. Ain’t gonna help none when Beau comes back. When my boy finds out Sawyer let this happen he’s gonna be spittin’ mad. I was hoping them two’d mend fences once Beau shows back up.”

“I don’t intend to tell Beau about any of this. He won’t know it happened and hopefully once he’s back it’ll have tapered off. That way he won’t have a reason to be mad at Sawyer.”

Honey snorted and slapped the bar in front of me with her towel.

“Girl, you grew up with Beau. You should know better than that. He ain’t a dummy. Besides, someone’ll tell him, and when they do, all hell’s gonna break loose.”

I sighed and picked up the empty rack in front of me to take it back to the kitchen.

“I know he’ll find out but I want them to make amends. I won’t ever forgive myself until they do.”

Honey nodded. “Yes, well, my advice to you is stay away from the boys. I know you think you love my boy but the Vincent boys are trouble. Both of ’em. They got issues you don’t know about and they need time. You’ll just go messing up their heads. Besides, they run when things get tough. Beau’s a prime example right now. Where’s he at while you’re being treated like a damn scarlet letter’s tattooed on your forehead? And Sawyer ain’t no better. He’s letting a girl take the rap for all this and not saying a word. I love my boy but he ain’t the kind of guy you plan a future with. You need to move on, girl. Find someone whose last name ain’t Vincent.”

Since I was persona non grata these days I decided it was in my best interest to bring a pack lunch and go hide in the library and eat. This way I was far enough away from Nicole and her soda to remain nice and dry. No one seemed to notice I was missing or they didn’t care.

With five minutes before the bell I stuck my empty lunch bag into my backpack and headed toward my locker. I tried to avoid going to my locker except first thing in the morning and before going home. I just carried all my books around in my book bag. The bruising on my left shoulder from my book strap was nothing compared to being shoved into a locker face first. The sticky notes hadn’t tapered off any, which was surprising. The hallway was full of people who hated me but my back was aching from the weight of the books so I had to unload some at my locker.

“The princess has fallen pretty low when she goes to hiding during lunch,” Nicole’s amused tone greeted me as I approached my locker. I slowly lifted my eyes to meet her glare. I wasn’t sure why she detested me so thoroughly. Did she not think I had paid enough already for my sin against her? She stood directly between me and my locker. Stepping around her would be stupid. Instead, I waited for her to say whatever it was she had come to say.

“How does it feel to be pond scum, hmm?”

I had to bite my tongue to keep from replying that I wouldn’t know as I wasn’t her. In a fight she would bash my face in. Besides, I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing her words affect me.

“Don’t ignore me,” she sneered, taking a step toward me. I stilled myself. The pure hatred flashing in her eyes was a warning to tread carefully.

“I just want to get to my locker and then I’ll go. I’m not trying to cause trouble.”

Nicole cackled like some deranged witch. “You already caused trouble, bitch.” She reached up and yanked on a strand of my hair, causing tears to sting my eyes from the sudden pain. “You think you’re so pretty and perfect that you can just take whatever you want. Well, I got news for you, chick—you can’t take what’s mine.”

Nicole closed the space between us and in one swift move sent me flying backwards onto my butt with a shove to my chest. Great. I was going to get into a fight in the school hallway and I hadn’t even done anything. Just what I needed. My parents would be furious if I got suspended. Standing up seemed pointless. I kept my head down and waited on something else to happen. It didn’t take long. My book bag was yanked off my shoulders and books came pouring down on my head. I cringed and let out a strangled cry as my head was battered by the heavy text books I’d been forced to carry around all day.

“That’s enough. Move.” Sawyer’s voice silenced the laughter and chatter filling the hallway. “Leave her alone, Nicole. Your beef is with Beau. Not Ashton. I don’t want to see you touch her again. That goes for all of you. Back off. No one here knows what happened and it’s no one’s business. Stop acting like a bunch of jerks and leave her alone.”

Feet shuffled all around me and laughter had turned into hushed whispers as the crowd did exactly as Sawyer had ordered. The reigning prince had spoken. It’d taken him a week but he’d finally ended this. His hand appeared in front of my face and I stared at it a moment before ignoring it and standing up on my own. I didn’t make eye contact with him nor did I thank him. His interference was way past due so my gratitude was expired. I began picking up my scattered books.

“Are you going to at least acknowledge me?” Sawyer asked as he picked up my book bag. I shrugged and barely glanced up at him before shoving my books into the bag he held open.

“You brought this on yourself, you know.”

That was the last straw. I’d been a punching bag for five days too long. I snatched my book bag out of his hands and glared up into those blue eyes I’d once thought were so beautiful. Now they seemed pale and boring.

“No one deserves what I’ve been put through. I might have deserved your anger but I didn’t deserve the entire school’s anger. I did nothing to them. So forgive me if I don’t see where I brought a week’s worth of relentless bullying on myself.”

I spun around and started heading for the door. I was done for the day.

“Ashton, wait.” Sawyer jogged up behind me and reached for my arm. “Please wait. Listen.”

“What?” I snapped, not wanting my escape botched.

“I have something I need to say. Just listen, please.”

I nodded but kept my gaze focused on the doors I so desperately wanted to flee out of.

“I’ve been wrong. Letting them do those things to you all week and saying nothing was horrible. I’m sorry. I really am. In my defense I’m hurting, Ash. I didn’t just lose you, I lost my best friend too. My cousin . . . my brother. Everything came tumbling down at once and I couldn’t deal. I told myself you deserved it that you could fight your own battles. I guess I kept waiting to see the little fireball emerge I remembered from when we were kids. If I could see her then I’d understand more why you turned to Beau. But you kept reacting the way my Ash would react. You never fought back or retaliated. You just took it. And God, that hurt so bad. They were hurting you. The girl I’ve loved all my life. I wanted to jump in and protect you but the image of Beau touching your lips and you gazing at him like you wanted to eat him up flashed in my head and I became furious all over again.”

He let out a sigh and his grip on my arm fell away.

“I love you. I know the real you, too. You think I don’t but how easily you forget I was the one who bailed you out of trouble over and over again as kids. I didn’t ask the perfect Ashton to be my girlfriend when I was fourteen years old. I asked the only Ash I’d ever known. You changed all on your own. I’m not going to lie. I was proud of the girl you had become. My world was complete. I had the perfect family, perfect girl, perfect future. I let myself forget the other girl you once were. Beau didn’t forget her.”

I swallowed against the lump in my throat. This was the conversation we should have had as soon as Sawyer came home this summer. Instead, I’d run from the truth.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” I replied as I stared down at my tennis shoes.

“But you did.”

Chapter 24

One simple honest reply felt like someone had shoved a fist in my stomach.

“I know you hate me. I don’t blame you. But Beau. Beau needs you. Please don’t hate him too.”

I finally lifted my eyes to meet his gaze. A frown creased his forehead and he slowly shook his head.

“I don’t hate you, Ash. And I don’t hate Beau. I wish he’d come back. When I left the bar Sunday I didn’t realize he’d make a run for it. I should have guessed but there was you and I knew he wouldn’t want to leave you.”

“He loves you. He hurt you and he can’t face it.”

A sad smile lifted the corner of his lips. “No, Ash. That isn’t why he left.” Sawyer glanced back at the now-empty hallway. We were late for class but I didn’t care. I intended to go home anyway.

“Come on. There’s something I need to tell you,” Sawyer said as he turned his attention back toward me.

I followed him outside to his truck. It was odd climbing up inside without him opening the door for me and lifting me up onto the seat. But somehow it felt right. This was how it should have been all along.

Sawyer pulled out of the parking lot and turned his truck south. Apparently we were headed out of town for this talk.

“I went after Beau Sunday. I knew I’d find him at the bar shooting pool. It’s where he always goes to unwind. When I got there we said a few things and threw a few punches.” Sawyer glanced over at me and smirked. “I’d like to say Beau looked worse but we both know I’d be lying. I might have the throwing arm when it comes to football but he has me beat when it comes to throwing punches. Fact is, he could have really put a hurting on me. He spent most of the time blocking my punches.” Sawyer stopped and let out a frustrated sigh.

I hadn’t seen them fight since we were ten and Sawyer accused Beau of being a trouble maker, then saying he was dragging me down with him. Beau had gone to slinging punches that afternoon too. Sawyer had ended up with a loose tooth. Luckily it was a baby tooth and needed coming out.

“My Aunt Honey was there. It was just the three of us. She tried to break up the fight but we weren’t listening to her. Or I should say, I wasn’t listening to her. I wanted to see Beau’s blood. You both had denied it but I knew he’d kissed you. Heck, it’s Beau, I knew y’all had probably done a lot more. I hated knowing I’d finally lost you to him. It was something that always scared me. Even when you two didn’t speak much he’d watch you and when you thought no one was looking, you’d watch him. I’m not a complete idiot.”

“I never thought you were, Sawyer. I lied about Beau, hoping to save your relationship with him. I fully intended to walk away from both of you.”

Sawyer laughed but the humor didn’t reach his eyes. “You really think Beau was going to just let you go? Not in this lifetime.”

“He loves you,” I argued.

“I know. The thing is, he loves you more.”

I started to shake my head.

“Ash, Beau wouldn’t have betrayed me if he wasn’t head over heels in love with you. No use in denying it.”

“Okay,” I agreed. Maybe he was right. I wanted him to be. “What did you bring me out here to tell me, Sawyer?”

Sawyer pulled over into a deserted parking lot and cut the engine. I waited patiently as he gathered his thoughts together. An empty plastic bag danced in the wind across the parking lot and I watched it thinking I knew exactly how it felt. It was on a path it couldn’t control. So was I.

“Ash, Beau isn’t my cousin. He’s my . . . he’s my brother.”

I sat there as I let his words sink in. Did he mean in the metaphorical sense? I mean, I already knew he thought of Beau as his brother.

“I don’t understand,” I finally managed to reply.

“I’m still trying to understand it myself, to be honest.” Sawyer shifted in his seat and turned his body to face me. “When we were yelling at each other Sunday and saying things we really didn’t mean, or at least we would take back later, Honey informed us that my dad wasn’t just my dad. But Beau’s dad too.”

“What?”

“Honey was my dad’s high school flame. Then my dad went off to college and met my mom his first year in law school. She was the daughter of one of his professors. He fell in love with her and married her. Once he graduated and passed the bar he moved back to Grove to open a practice. Honey was here still raising hell and breaking hearts apparently. She and my uncle Mack used to hang out and stir up trouble together. So when she got pregnant with Beau, and married Mack everyone thought it was Mack’s. My mom got pregnant with me the same year. She had no idea about Beau and didn’t until I confronted Dad right in front of her Sunday evening. Dad and Honey hooked up one night in a bar after he and Mom had gotten in a fight over her spending too much money on furniture. They were drinking tequila shots and Dad says all he remembers is waking up the next morning in Honey’s bed. Six weeks later she was knocking on his door claiming she was pregnant. He didn’t believe her, or at least he didn’t believe it was his. So my uncle Mack married her. He believed her. Once Beau was born, Uncle Mack threatened Dad with revealing his night with Honey to my mom if he didn’t agree to a paternity test. Dad took one. Beau was his. Uncle Mack said he’d raise him as his own. He was in love with my Aunt Honey. Had been since high school. Then you know the story. He died. Honey was the lousiest mother on earth and Beau was left to fend for himself.”

I sat there staring out the window, unable to look at Sawyer. How could his father do something like this? He’d known how much Beau had suffered. I rested my forehead against the cool glass window and closed my eyes. Tears squeezed out and trickled down my cheeks. No wonder Beau left town. It was bad enough he felt unwanted by his mother. Now he had to deal with being unwanted by his father. Mack Vincent had only been his uncle. The only memory Beau had of a stable life had been with Mack.

“Beau didn’t abandon you, Ash. He just needed time to deal.”

“Where is he?” I asked as a sob tore from my chest.

“I wish I knew.”

Sawyer didn’t say anymore. The truck cranked up and we headed back to town in silence. I knew I should say something but there were no words. Not for this.

Sawyer pulled up beside my Jetta and I finally looked at him.

“I’m sorry. I know this has been hard for you too. I understand now why you didn’t say anything all week about what was happening to me. You have bigger issues to deal with than a little school harassment.” I reached over and squeezed his hand. “Thank you, Sawyer. For telling me. For being a friend. For everything.”