Page 56 of Reconcile
I don’t want to hurt Piper any more than I already have. I never meant for her to walk in and see it for herself. Never. I thought maybe her sister would blab to someone, but I didn’t want Piper to witness it.
I scrub a hand over my face, feeling sick from the alcohol, but mostly from the look on Piper’s face. She looked so broken.
I told Paisley everything. About Spencer. About my father. And about not being good enough for Piper. About wanting to protect her from me. Pushing her away. And then she kissed me and stripped naked, agreeing I wasn’t good enough for her sister.
Everything got out of control so fucking fast.
“Don’t you care that we just destroyed Piper?”
Paisley has a hint of human in her, revealing it briefly, but then she schools her features. “You’re right about my sister. She deserves better than a Ross.”
Pain hits me in my gut, and I feel like I might throw up. “What a good sister.”
She walks to the door, tossing me an evil look over her shoulder. “We all do what we have to in order to survive in this cruel world we were born into.”
I look away from her, and she leaves.
I lay back on the bed, the room spinning.
What the fuck did I just do?
34
PIPER
I’m gutted. Yet again. And I’m angry.I can’t sleep, no matter how hard I try. I’m not sure why this bothers me more than him just being a horny teenager and sleeping with my sister, but it’s eating away at me.
I throw back the covers and climb out of bed, checking on Audrey and finding her out cold in her bed before going downstairs. I search for Sawyer on the main floor, but he’s nowhere to be found. I go into the basement, which is where I find him.
Shirtless and in a pair of shorts, he’s pummeling a punching bag over and over with bare fists. Sweat is pouring from him, and my eyes are fixed on the tattoo on his muscular chest. “Sawyer.”
He continues his assault, ignoring me. I see the anger in his eyes. But I also see the drain of the past on him. The same I feel.
“Sawyer,” I say louder, and this time, he hears me and stops but doesn’t move. I approach him slowly, my hands trembling. “Is that really why you slept with her?”
He scoffs coldly as he lands another angry punch on the bag. “I didn’t.”
“What?”
He turns to face me. “I didn’t fuck her.”
Now it’s my turn to get angry. I fold my arms over my stomach and glare at him. “I saw you.”
“No. You saw her on me. Naked. And yeah... that’s just as bad, but I didn’t actually fuck her, and I was going to stop it. Everything got out of control.”
“What? Your plan to send Spencer a picture of you fucking Paisley?”
“What are you talking about?” He looks confused. But maybe it’s an act.
“Spencer said you sent him a picture.”
“Mother. Fucker.” He slides down to the floor, his back against the wall and his knees up. “She sent him that picture.”
“Paisley?” I slide down to the floor too, ignoring that my sleep shorts are pretty damn short and they slide up when I do.
“Yeah. She took a picture. I thought it was weird. I deleted it, but I guess she sent it before I did.”
My eyes flutter closed as I fight tears. “But... you were naked with her. It sure looked like sex.”
