Chapter 15
fifteen
. . .
LANE
When it came to exacting revenge on Ryan Boyd, I was content to play the long game.
Ryan had taken everything from me in the form of the one person who mattered more than all the rest. He had used her, violated her, forced demons into her life and mind that shouldn’t be there.
He had made her so afraid of her own goddamn shadow she pushed me away to spare us both. Sutton didn’t realize she wasn’t sparing me anything, that my heart remained with her.
I let her because I was unsure how to reach her beyond the thick concrete and barbed wire-topped walls she’d built between us. I loved her too much to force her into something she didn’t want—and these days, the thing she didn’t want was me.
But I would show her. As soon as I neutralized the threat that was Ryan Boyd.
With Sutton forcibly removing herself from my life, I suddenly had a lot of fucking time on my hands, and I spent several weeks in the aftermath of Sutton’s rape simply watching this guy, following him around at a distance, making sure to never tip him off that I was there.
I was, after all, getting my criminal justice degree so I could join the Dusk Valley Sheriff’s Department when I graduated. When you thought about it, this level of surveillance I was conducting could be considered an internship. A sort of fucked up on the job training.
In typical rich kid fashion, walking around with that air of superiority, it was damn near impossible to get near him. He was constantly surrounded by his equally disgusting rich kid friends.
Quickly, I learned Ryan was fond of his routine, which meant on this particular Tuesday morning, he’d be heading to the on-campus coffee shop for his morning espresso before going to his first class.
Did I sound like a creep? Absolutely. But ever since I walked into that hospital room and saw Sutton laying on the bed, curled in on herself, flinching anytime anyone came near, I hadn’t exactly been operating at full sanity.
Feigning nonchalance, I walked into the coffee shop, attention trained on Ryan in my periphery. Hands in my pockets and headphones in my ears, I hunched my shoulders and joined the queue to the counter. I pretended to be in my own little world, listening to my music while I waited for my turn.
Once Ryan received his coffee, he headed toward me. At the last second, right before he brushed past, I sidestepped into his path, causing a collision that ended with him wearing most of his coffee.
“Fuck!” he shouted, face turning red as he plucked his shirt, dampened with scalding hot liquid, away from his body. He turned rage-filled eyes on me, only for them to widen slightly in fear as he looked up—and up—at me.
At six five, I was goddamn intimidating.
“Shit, man,” I said, pulling on the cord to free one of my earbuds from my ear. “I am so sorry.”
Getting out of line, I headed for the bar that held straws, cream and sugar, stir sticks, and napkins, grabbed a stack, and handed them over to him. He blotted at his shirt, but unfortunately, the cream fabric of his henley was ruined.
Oops.
“I really am sorry,” I said again, putting on the show of my life.
“No biggie,” he assured me, then shot me a conspiratorial grin. “Gives me an excuse to skip class so I can go home and change.”
I laughed, and I thought it sounded pretty convincing. “That’s always a good thing. But hey, at least let me buy you a new one.”
“Shirt?”
“I mean, sure,” I said, “but I was thinking coffee.”
Ryan chuckled, eyes scanning my body up and down. “Yeah, man, that’d be great. An espresso please.”
I resisted the urge to squirm under his gaze. His shitty brown eyes, the same shade as dry dirt, disgusted me. Being in his presence made me feel like I needed to take a shower and scrub my skin raw to escape the oily sensation from this interaction.
It hadn’t taken me long to uncover some…
information that maybe, Ryan Boyd swung both ways, at least in private.
Mommy and Daddy would never allow their perfect little baby to be openly queer—yet another reason to fucking hate these people.
However, his bisexual tendencies worked in my favor, because clearly, he liked what he saw in me.
Ryan stepped off to the side while I got back in line. Thankfully, the rush had ebbed, and I only had to wait a few minutes before I ordered an espresso for him and an Americano for myself.
Once the barista handed them over, I passed Ryan’s off to him.
“Well, thanks,” he said, holding it up in cheers. I tapped my cup against the side. Ryan’s eyes remained on me as I lifted it to my mouth and sipped, lingering on my lips after I pulled it away.
He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead, he inclined his head, and I followed him back outside.
“Where are you headed?”
I named a building in the direction I knew he’d have to walk to get home, and he grinned widely, a smile I’m sure would’ve been comforting had I not known about the evil swirling beneath it. “Great, we can walk together.”
“Lead the way.”
My strides were longer than his, so I shortened them to match his shorter ones.
“Do you play football or something?” he blurted. “You look familiar.”
“Nah,” I said, barely biting back a grin. Owen was about to earn me another point. “I played in high school, but that’s as far as I went. You might know of my brother, though. We look a lot alike, and he’s a pro QB.”
One of his dark brows raised. “Who’s your brother?”
“Owen Lawless.”
“Hoooooooly shit. Your brother is Zero?” he said, using the nickname Owen’s teammates had given him in deference to his jersey number and the fact that he was goddamn ice cold on the field.
I nodded, cheeks flushing with pride that wasn’t forced or faked.
I was goddamn proud of my oldest brother.
I’d be proud of him regardless. Owen was one of the good ones, the best one if you asked anyone in my family.
He’d only been in the league for three years, but after earning Rookie of the Year honors in his first season, he’d continued to improve and impress.
It wouldn’t be long before he led Detroit to a championship.
“Yeah,” I said in answer to Ryan’s question. “That’s my brother.”
“Shit, man. That’s amazing.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” I said noncommittally. In truth, none of us had ever really bought into Owen’s overnight star power. To us, he was just our big brother, the oldest of the Lawless clan.
The one who’d kept us together when Dad died.
“Well hey,” Ryan said, stopping on the sidewalk. We’d come to a crossroads, and I knew he’d head left. The building I’d named earlier was to the right, so this was where we’d part ways. I couldn’t blow my cover quite yet.
“We should party sometime. You can come by the frat house, or we can go out for drinks.”
“That’d be great!” I replied enthusiastically, grinning at him. I had a damn good smile, and I turned it up to a thousand. “Give me your number and we’ll set something up.”
Ryan took out his phone and clicked around, then passed it to me with a new contact page open. I entered my info, texted myself so I’d have his, and passed it back.
He hooked a thumb behind him and said, “I’m headed this way, but I’ll see you around.”
And then the fucker winked as he backtracked a few steps before turning his back to me.
Hook, line, and sinker.
“Storytime is great and everything, Lane, but could you get to the fucking point?”
I chuckled at Trey’s impatience. “Sorry. Had to set the scene.”
“He obviously thought you wanted to fuck him,” Trey said, shaking his head. “Was that what you were going for?”
“Not even close,” I replied, and we both devolved into a fit of laughter.
Fuck, it felt good to get this off my chest, like the two-ton weight had been lifted, and I could take my first full breath in years.
Once we collected ourselves, Trey asked, “Then what happened?”
“Well, before we could plan to hang out, the press got wind of Sutton pressing charges, and the media shitstorm blew up in my face. Or so I thought.”
In the wake of the story breaking, Ryan went underground, and I thought I’d missed my chance. But then I realized his disappearance from the public eye—not even his family, according to them, knew where he’d gone—could work to my advantage.
So I’d texted him, telling him if he needed anything at all, I’d be more than happy to help. Likely desperate for some sort of human interaction after nearly a week off the grid at that point, Ryan had taken me up on my offer.
“He said he hadn’t told his parents where he was going because he didn’t want them to have to lie to the police.”
“I’m confused,” Trey said. “How did he even know he needed to go underground?”
“Someone in the police department tipped off his dad, I guess.” I rolled my eyes. “Rich people shit, you know.”
Trey snorted. “Do I ever.”
“Anyway, he sent me the address for this super remote cabin, and I genuinely couldn’t believe my luck.”
“I have to ask, Lane…did you go out there with the intention of killing him?”
“Of course not!”
I truly hadn’t. I’d merely wanted to beat the shit out of him, to make sure he’d think of my fist smashing in his face every time he thought about harming anyone else again. I told Trey that.
“He sent me this giant list of supplies. Food and beer and shit.”
“Condoms and lube,” he smirked.
“Fuck you,” I said with an eye roll.
“What happened?”
“I fucking lost it,” I said with a snort, shaking my head.
When I’d seen that fucker’s face, I’d barely been able to control my rage. But I’d played nice for the sake of appearances, not wanting him to run or spook and call in reinforcements.
After I’d finished unloading his supplies, I searched for a way to get him out of the house. The last thing I wanted was any evidence of my having been there. We were deep enough into the mountains that I could rely on snowfall to cover my tire tracks.