Chapter 19
nineteen
DAVIS
Lucas pulls Claire behind him, “you aren’t talking to anybody. She made it pretty clear she didn’t want anything from you.”
The last time he tried to approach her was back in November, she slapped the shit out of him in a grocery store and put him in his place. I’m surprised he’s coming back for round two.
Nathan glares at Lucas. “Don’t worry, I’m not here for your girlfriend.”
The tension between the two of them is palpable.
Sasha takes a step forward, and I feel my heart sink. Her head is turned away from him, but I can see enough of her face through her hair to see that she’s eyeing my friends.
She won’t look at me though.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she says quietly.
His face drops, “Sash-“
“You two know each other?” Blair interrupts. His eyes dart between her and Nathan with a furious look on his face.
August, Miller and Lucas creep towards her, cornering her like a wild animal, and they’re the hunters.
Me? I’m frozen in place.
I can’t think, speak or breathe.
Sasha looks up at all of them, tears filling her eyes as she struggles to find her words.
“She’s my best friend,” Nathan offers, “of course we know each other.”
That snaps Sasha out of whatever she was just in, “we are not best friends,” she yells. “You lost that the second you touched Claire without her consent.”
Holy fucking shit. This is the person who was ripped from the walls of her childhood home. Nathan Thomas and Sasha Price were best friends.
Something sick twists my stomach into knots, something not unlike jealousy and anger.
He knows Sasha —my Sasha— better than any of us do. He got to watch her grow up, learn things about her and see her become the person she is today.
How many times had they laughed together? How many times has he gotten to see the smile I can’t wait to see every day? Was he there when she got her tattoos? Does he know the story behind them? Does he know secrets about her that I don’t?
Her hands shake and tears pour down her cheeks as she breathes out her next words. “You lost that the second you used my grief to do it.”
Steph and Claire run to her side, pushing the guys away and wrap their arms around her.
“I didn’t do that,” he responds, voice tight.
Sasha laughs dryly, holding onto Claire and Steph like they’re a life raft. “You didn’t? Because that’s not how I remember it.”
“Let’s just go,” Steph offers, “you don’t owe him an explanation.”
“How can you just throw away years of friendship?” Nathan asks.
“How could you?” Sasha throws back, “The best part is that I would have never done that to you. You were my best friend and you took that away from me. You did something you can’t take back, didn’t think I’d find out, and now we’re here.
You may want a friendship with me again, but I sure as shit don’t want one with you. ”
Lucas steps between the two, but rather than trying to protect the girls, he turns his back on Nathan and stares Sasha down. “What do you mean he used your grief to do it?” His voice is calm, calculated.
He’s pissed.
“I was there,” she admits. “I was there that night.”
That’s when all hell breaks loose.
“You were there?” Lucas roars.
“Lucas please.”
Blair and August both grab Lucas by his arms, holding him back from getting any closer to the girls, while he tries to fight to get out of their grasp.
He’d never hit a girl, we all know that, but he’s angry. He’s going to say something he can’t take back because right now, all he can see is a girl who let his girlfriend get hurt.
“You were there and you didn’t do anything? You’re just as bad as he is.”
And there it is.
The thing he’ll never be able to take back.
Sasha looks like he just slapped her, her face crumbles before her head falls into her hands and her body wracks with sobs.
“Lucas,” Claire shrieks, “that’s enough!”
Before I know it, I’m standing between Lucas and Sasha, chest heaving with angry breaths. “You know her, she would never do anything to hurt anyone,” I tell him.
I don’t even recognize one of my best friends right now, he’s like a rabid animal, filled with aggression that’s pointed in the wrong direction.
Nathan stands behind him, watching all of this go down as if he isn’t the one who caused it in the first place.
None of this would be happening right now if he hadn’t raped Claire all those months ago.
“No,” Lucas spits, “I don’t think I know her at all actually.”
He’s not thinking straight, he’s not thinking of how hurtful his words are.
All he can think of right now is how Claire was hurt, and maybe all this anger isn’t just because of Nathan.
Secretly, I think he’s still angry at himself for letting all of this happen to her in the first place… and he’s taking it out on Sasha.
“I didn’t know,” Sasha says, repeating it over and over again while Steph and Claire continue to comfort her.
Everyone in the lobby is staring at this point. All eyes are on us while they try to figure out what the hell is going on.
Although I don’t know how well they’re following because we’re all yelling over one another. No one’s listening, no one’s trying to figure out what actually happened, we’re all just pointing fingers and losing sight of who we’re really angry with.
“Did you really let that happen?” Miller asks Sasha, cutting through the noise.
Everyone stops at that. It goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Sasha pulls her hands away and looks at Claire, tears pouring from her eyes. “I didn’t. I had no idea what he was going to do.”
“I know,” she responds.
Wait? Claire knew?
Lucas rips away from August and Blair, running towards Sasha at full speed before grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her away from the rest of us, towards the doors of the arena.
“Lucas, what are you doing?” Claire yells, chasing after them.
The rest of us follow suit, leaving Nathan and his bullshit behind us.
It takes roughly thirty seconds for me to realize what he’s doing, and about the same time for Sasha because the second she sees his car —and the fact that their heading straight towards it— she goes wild.
“Stop, please. Lu, please just stop for a second.” She’s ripping at his hand, clawing at it in hopes of getting him to let her go.
But he doesn’t.
“Lucas stop!” I yell, running full speed at this point. “Lucas, she doesn’t like cars!”
But he doesn’t hear me.
He throws a screaming Sasha into his passenger seat before getting in the driver’s side and ripping out of the parking lot.