The Way With You (The Way #2) (4 page)

Sebastian doesn't crack even a hint of a smile. He's still pissed.

"Livvy, I know you don't like asking for help from people—and you really aren't because I'm offering—but you can't go through shit like that alone," he tells me. "I won't let you."

"She ignored you last time you tried, remember?"

"I didn't know that. How could I when you didn’t tell me? You need to tell me, Livvy."

It's not light bullying… it's heavy and humiliating and it hurts so much when she brings up the accident, trying to blame me. I've barely come to peace with the fact that they're all gone now and won't be coming back. I'm not ready to handle something like that.

Tears glisten in my eyes and I meet Sebastian's. I nod and his expression softens. He reaches for my hand and pulls me out of the chair and onto his lap on the sofa. I burrow into his embrace because it really
is
that bad.

"What does Stone have to say about this?" he asks.

I tense up and he does the same beneath me. I don't say anything, just fist his t-shirt tighter.

"Alexa?" he prods.

"He doesn't say much."

"What do you mean?" he asks.

She shrugs. "My brother is a dumbass. He's too wrapped up in football to listen to how intense this has been for Liv. I mean, I get it. I do. He's always wanted to play pro and the scouts are here, but…"

Sebastian nods. "There are priorities and he needs to pick one. He can't leave Livvy out in the cold alone to deal with his psycho ex girlfriend. That's bullshit. She's targeting Liv
because
of him."

"Oh, I agree, and I told my fuckwad brother that very same thing," Lex answers.

I just sit in Sebastian's embrace, listening to them talk about mine and Cam's relationship and I'm beginning to realize it's not much of a relationship at all at this point.

"It'll be alright, Livvy," he reassures me.

I look up at him—this pierced and tattooed bad boy who is so kind to me but disposes of women he screws around with so easily. I can't imagine being on the receiving end of that. It'd feel about as bad as this shit with Cam feels right now.

"You know what?" I ask, changing the topic to a lighter one.

"What's that?" he asks.

"You call Alexa, Lex; you call me Livvy or Three. I hate the nickname Seb like your, uh…"

"Sluts," Alexa fills in for me.

I nod. "Yeah, your sluts call you. I think you need a better nickname. One that we," I say, pointing between Lex and me, "won't share with anyone else. It'll just be ours."

He grins. "Yeah?"

I nod.

"Let's hear it."

I tap my finger on my lip and look to Lex who's also thinking. "Elevator Boy is just too long," I tease.

"I'll give you a
boy.
" He tickles my side and I let out a squeal.

"Stop," I laugh. "Okay, okay, we're not using that anyway."

He eases up and pulls me in tighter to him. It's comfortable. It's how we've always been.

"I know!" I exclaim. "Remember how we met?"

"In the elevator?" he asks.

"Yeah, kinda, but more when we really talked the first time when I was going out the front doors…"

"And you face planted into my chest," he chuckles.

I nod. "Exactly. Something that goes with your name too."

"Well, let's hear it!" Lex urges.

"Bash."

They both go quiet, their expressions contemplative.

Lex nods. "Yes. That fits. It keeps that bad boy thing he's got going on and it's sexy too."

I turn to Sebastian and see he's looking at me with just a tip of his lips to the right. "I like it."

"Good! Bash, it is," I give him a quick hug and feel him smell my hair. There's that line again. He's been skirting it the last couple of weeks and if I'm not careful, I'm going to start to like it.

I stand up and go back to my chair. "Let's finish this pizza before it gets cold. I've got a ton of homework to get through."

"Oh screw that," Lex says. "You have one class tomorrow and I know for a fact your homework is already done. We're going to gorge on pizza and popcorn and soda and ice cream and watch a movie. It's been a long week for all of us, it seems."

Lex has secrets—ones she's not ready to share yet and I can respect that. She knows whenever she's ready, I'm here to listen and support her however she needs. Just like she's done for me even though Cam is her brother.

"Sounds like a plan," Bash tells us.

"No she-whores tonight?" Alexa teases.

"Nah. I'm taking a break from that."

"What?" I ask. "Did you have another clinger? Poor Bashy."

He narrows his eyes. "You know I can still reach you from here right?"

I'm sure he could and he'd tickle the hell out of me for that, but I think he knows I'm not a huge fan of tickling. He's cut way down on that.

"I know," I tell him, lifting my chin and taking a bit of my pizza.

He chuckles at my false bravado.

"What movie?" I ask Lex.

"
Jurassic World
," she states, her tone makes it possible for her to leave off the "duh".

"More Chris Pratt for Alexa," Bash teases.

"He is so fine," she purrs. "I'd do him seven ways till Sunday and come back for thirds."

I laugh. "What happened to seconds?"

"I'll seconds the hell out of him."

"Damn," Bash snickers.

"That's one serious crush," I say aloud.

Bash leans over to me as Lex gets ready to put the DVD in. "She does realize he's married, right?"

My eyes widen and I shake my head.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that because if you had said that, I'd have to cut out your tongue," Lex states flatly.

I think she'd really do it.

"I didn't say a thing," Bash tells her, then pulls me over to the sofa by him. "You can't see from there." He grabs my plate of pizza and hands it to me.

"Thanks. I'll just be your ragdoll you can whip around at your will," I mock.

"More like a porcelain doll he'd put on a pedestal," Lex murmurs so quietly I almost don't hear her—and because of what she's said, I pretend I don't.

"What was that?" Bash asks.

She shakes her head. "Nothing. Now be quiet. My lover's coming on screen."

I look at Bash out of the corner of my eye and see him doing the same to me. I elbow him softly in his side and he wraps his arm around me, kisses the top of my head, and we settle in to watch the movie.

I wake up in my bed
the next morning. I remember being lifted and carried to my bedroom and my shoes being removed before I curled into the softness of my bed. I think it was Cam. I hope it was Cam because whoever it is gave me the softest, most tender kiss on my lips that had me sighing.

I open my eyes and turn my head. He's not there, but the indent on the pillow tells me he was. I can only imagine how tired he is. He's been doing football practices and watching films every waking minute he's not in class. I understand—at least I'm trying to. It sucks when your boyfriend has no time for you.

I want this for him, for him to go pro. The fact that scouts are already looking at him, in his sophomore year, means he's for sure going to be drafted next year. Cam's wanted this his whole life—he told me that one night when he couldn't contain his anxiety. He's restless and excited and happy, and it'd be selfish of me to not be supportive of him… even if it leaves me alone.

I stretch and let out a loud yawn.

My bedroom door opens and Lex flops on my bed next to me.

"She lives!" she teases.

"I was tired."

"So am I but I'm not lucky enough to only have one class on a Friday—an afternoon class at that!" she grumbles.

"I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not."

She flips me off and I laugh.

"So," she begins, rolling over onto her side to face me.

"So…"

"I totally want a cuddle buddy like Bash. I'm jealous," she admits.

I smirk. "I'm sure he'd cuddle with you, too, if you wanted."

She shrugs.

"Not who you had in mind?" I tease.

"Not at all."

"Tell me about this football player you're forbidden to date," I poke.

Her eyes widen. "How did you know?"

I roll my eyes. "Please. You keep him a secret when we tell each other everything else, and if you could, you'd totally flaunt him around because my guess is he's all big and sexy like Cam."

"Ugh, don't say sexy and my brother's name in the same sentence."

I laugh. "He is to me."

"Did he wake you?" she asks.

"No," I answer, my disappointment evident. "I didn't want sex, I just wanted
him
. Just some Cam time. He didn't even spoon me." I pout.

Lex's eyes flare with anger. "What the hell?"

I sigh again. "He's probably exhausted and thought if he woke me I'd want to fuck."

"He should know better."

"Agreed. I don't know what's going on with him… with us, but it isn't good," I admit.

She grabs my hand. "I know. I see it happening, but it's just for the season, right?"

I nod but inside I don't agree at all. I know it's not just for the season. It's his life.

"It's probably best he didn't wake you last night. With breath like that, you'd probably have killed him," she jokes, laughing.

I lean forward and blow my morning breath in her face.

"Eww, gah. Stop!" she protests, still laughing, now with me.

"I need to get up and get moving. I've got a meeting with Raven Ruiz."

"
Cheerleader
Raven Ruiz?" she asks in disbelief.

I nod. "I want to try out for the basketball squad."

Lex's eyes are round saucers. "No shit."

"No shit."

"I should try out with you," she adds.

"Do it! It'd be fun! I just need something to fill the void…" I trail off, not saying what I want to…
now that Cam's barely got time for me.
Three weeks. That's how long our bliss lasted. Fucking pro scouts.

"I could." She pauses, thinking. "I should." Another pause. "I'm going to. Can I tag along?"

I shrug. "Sure. I'm sure Raven will be great about it."

"Cool! Go shower and get rid of that raunchy-ass breath you've got going on," she teases, shoving me out of the bed. I land on the floor with a thud and I can't stop laughing.

After showering
and beautifying myself, I slip on some leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, lace up my Chucks, and declare myself ready. Alexa gives me a look of disgust.

"Hideous outfit yet you look hot. How do you manage that?" she asks, then adds, "Bitch."

I smirk. "Not everyone finds it necessary to wear designer labels every second of the day."

"Fools," she retorts.

"Let's grab a coffee on the way. I hate cafeteria coffee. It's bitter and tastes burnt all the time," I tell Lex.

"It's nasty. One time, because I was pissed off at—" she stops herself.

"Almost slipped. You're
going
to tell me if I don't figure it out at the next party."

She scoffs. "There's no way you'll figure it out. But anyway, I was pissed at someone so I poured cafeteria coffee into my Starbucks cup. He sat down next to me and took a drink and came out the other side sputtering."

"You're so devious. It's both scary and entertaining."

"Live in fear."

"I shall."

We order our coffees and are waiting for our names to be called when in comes the walking bottle of perfume that is psycho bitch Alison.
Shit.

Lex leans over and whispers, "At least since she's
here
, she won't be
there
, you know?"

I nod, trying not to make it obvious I'm anxious. I can't even imagine what she has up her sleeve this time. I glance over out of the corner of my eye and see her glaring at me with that evil smirk on her face.

"Let's get our coffee and get out of here so she doesn't get a chance to pour her scalding hot drink on you."

"That sounds like an excellent idea." I pause. "I'm not afraid of her. She's just such a pain in the ass, you know? It seems like she's
everywhere.
And I'm tired of doing laundry."

Lex nods. "Oh, I know you're not and that's what keeps her coming back. Then again, she'd feed off your fear, too, so there's no winning with that psycho."

The barista calls our names, we grab our coffees, and head over to meet Raven.