Ruthless knight

Cole

The pounding in my head feels like a hammer.

If the hammer was an icepick. 

I look at my surroundings in confusion. 

Why am I sleeping on Oakley’s couch?

I glance down at the floor. Bianca’s huddled up with a blanket and pillow. 

I have no idea what time it is, and for the life of me, I can’t string together the pieces of how I ended up here. 

“Have a good nap?” Oakley questions. 

I turn my head toward the kitchen. “What time is it?” 

Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, he says, “Just after three a.m.” He walks over and hands it to me. “Here.” 

“Thanks.” I crack the top open and take a long swig. My throat feels like sandpaper. “What happened tonight?” 

He plops down on the chair across from me. “You know the K-T event that wiped out all the dinosaurs?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Well, what happened tonight was like that…only worse.” 

Well, shit. “That bad, huh?”

Oakley doesn’t look amused. “Yeah.” 

I sit up. “All right, Oak. The suspense is killing me. Hit me with it.”

His expression turns hard. “Oak? Or lame pothead who likes to fuck MILFs?”

I have no idea what he’s talking about. Well, I mean I kind of do because he is a pothead and he did screw his stepmom…but…

I wince as a flashback of me shouting those very words in Christian’s living room zips through my head. 

“Fuck. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t—” 

“It’s fine. I’ll get over it.” He gives me a pointed look. “I can’t say the same for Sawyer, though.” 

He has a point. “Yeah, I figured she’d be pissed I beat up her boss.” 

But once I tell her Bianca lied—and because she lied too, I thought the worst and went postal on him, I’m sure she’ll forgive me. 

Eventually.

Oak laughs, but there’s not an ounce of humor. “Brother, you punching Mr. Gonzales is the least of the shitstorm you caused.” 

My stomach rolls. “What do you mean?” 

Standing up, he blows out a breath. “Let’s see…where should I start?” He scratches his chin. “How about Sawyer walking into Christian’s back yard and finding you and Casey in the hot tub? Granted you were passed out, so you probably had no idea what was going on and that snake took advantage of the situation—but it still didn’t stop you from inviting Sawyer to join you two in there.” 

I can practically feel my world crumbling piece by piece. No matter how mad I am at Sawyer for lying or how fucked up I was over the shit Stone said about Liam, I’d never touch Casey. 

Not willingly anyway. 

 “I wouldn’t…” I scrub a hand down my face. I’m having a hard time believing I’d ever hurt Sawyer like that…again. “I wouldn’t do that to Sawyer. I care about her too much.” 

Dread fills my chest. 

Which is how I know he’s telling the truth. 

I hurt the people I care about the most. 

Always have. Always will. 

Christ. I fucked this shit up so bad.

 “Normally I’d agree, but I saw it with my own eyes, man.” He shrugs. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you fucked her—most likely because you were so drunk you couldn’t get it up—but, hey, it’s one small blessing, right?” 

Nothing about Casey is a blessing. 

“I have to apologize.” 

For someone who doesn’t do it very often, it seems like it’s all I do when it comes to Sawyer. 

Oakley makes a face. “Yeah, I don’t think an apology is going to cut it. I mean, if that was the only thing you did…maybe.” His eyes turn somber. “But it wasn’t.” 

My mouth goes dry again, so I down the rest of my water. 

“Tell me everything.” 

I need to hear it…this way I can figure out how I can make it right. 

How to fix it. 

“Well, after she found you with Casey, you chased her into the house and accused her of dating you for attention.” 

A groan lodges in my throat. “Sawyer isn’t an attention whore.” 

He snaps his fingers. “Fu

It’s becoming a struggle to breathe.

I might have said it to Sawyer…but I most definitely was not talking about her. 

The muscles in my chest tighten. “Liam.” 

Oakley frowns. “That’s what Bianca said.” 

“Stone started talking about him and I lost my shit.” 

“Well, that Stone dude is a real douchebag.” He plops down in the chair again. “And so are you, because after all that…you told everyone how great her tits were.” He sucks in a breath. “I mean, it wasn’t an insult, but you know how Sawyer is.” 

She probably felt humiliated. Not only does she hate when people talk about her body…the fact that I talked about her like a piece of meat in front of everyone…

“Jesus fucking Christ. Please tell me I shut up after that.” 

“Man, I wish you did, because the shit you did after was definitely the nail in your coffin.”  

“What did I do?”

“You decided to have a little contest between you and Sawyer.”

Safe to say I’m confused. “Contest?”

He slaps his leg. “Yeehaw. Ring a bell?”

Can’t say it does. “No.”

“Well, it should because that’s exactly what you said…before your egotistical ass asked everyone in the room if they wanted to fuck you.” His nostrils flare. “The girls went crazy, by the way. But the same can’t be said for poor Sawyer when you flipped the tables and asked the guys about her.” 

Just when I think it can’t get any worse…it does. 

“I—”

His eyes narrow. “And that’s when I kissed her.”

My guilt quickly turns to rage, and I stand up. “You did what, motherfucker?”

He matches my stance. “I kissed Sawyer.” 

“Why the fuck—”

“Because the guy she was excited to go on a date with turned around and publicly massacred her…again.” He points to his chest. “No way in hell was I going to let that girl believe she was worthless, because her drunk boyfriend was going through some shit and decided to use her as his proverbial punching bag for the night, you ruthless prick.” Making a face, he shrugs. “I also knew it would make you want to punch me, and when you tried to take a swing, I moved out of the way and you hit the floor. That’s when it was over.”  

Remorse ripples inside me…the kind I’ve only experienced one time in my life. 

“I have to see her.”

Oakley shakes his head. “You need to do that girl a favor and let her cool off for a little while.” 

“I can’t.” 

Staying away from Sawyer isn’t an option…ever. 

I fish around in my pocket for my keys, but come up empty. “Does Bianca still have them?”

“Probably, but your car is at Christian’s.” 

Doesn’t matter. I’ll walk there if I have to. 

However, it won’t get me there fast enough. “I need a ride.”

“Where to?”

“Her house.” 

Oakley looks at me like I’ve sprouted another head. “You’re definitely still drunk. It’s three thirty in the morning.”

“I don’t care.” 

Oakley starts to protest, but I cut him off. “Stop acting like you’ve never fucked up before.”