out. Who you were doesn’t have to be who you are forever.”
A heavy silence descended between us as we watched each other like the enemies that we were born to be. I didn’t think he was going to give in. He’s been so hung up on his obsession for so long, asking him to stop fixating on Ollie was like asking him to give up a fundamental part of who he was as a person. There was a good chance Sawyer didn’t know how to be any other way. He needed help long before he’d finally been forced to accept it.
Suddenly he heaved a deep sigh and threw his head back. I could see all the veins under his pale skin on the side of his neck, and even the bony protrusion of his Adam’s apple was a bit freaky in its prominence.
“I don’t suppose I could talk you into letting me see Olivia one last time?” He asked it in such a way that I knew he already knew my answer.
“Not a chance in hell. You’re never getting anywhere near her again as long as I live.”
He laughed again, but this time it sounded slightly less unhinged. “That’s the right answer, as much as I hate to admit it.” He leaned forward in his chair a bit, eyes the exact same color as mine suddenly blazing with emotion. “What about the guy she hooked up with when she went to college? You do know you aren’t her first, right? She may have worshiped you like you were some kind of god, but she threw her first time away on a cheap imitation of me.”
I grunted and pushed out of my chair. The air in the small room felt thick, and I was close to suffocating on all the tension I was trying to swallow down.
“That’s your entire problem, Sawyer. Her first, or her fiftieth, you get no say in who she chooses to be with. Or who she decides to love. She’s her own person, and the choices she makes are hers and hers alone. They don’t belong to you or me. I can only do my very best to be the person she picks as her favorite time and time again. If she ever decides she wants someone else, I’ll let her go.” But not without putting up one hell of a fight. “As for that guy, he’s been taken care of. Not because he was her first, but because he was stupid and thought he could threaten her on my watch.”
Like I said, the only way to win against a monster was to become an even bigger, more vicious one. When it came to protecting Ollie, there was never going to be anyone or anything more dangerous than me.
I left the room without saying goodbye, knowing that it was the last time I would ever have a conversation with my half brother. He didn’t agree or disagree to come clean about his part in the accident, so I was going to have to force his hand. I hoped I changed his mind. I really didn’t want to follow through on my threats.
But I would.
The reality was, Sawyer and I ended up a lot more alike than I think either of us wanted to admit.
We loved the same girl. We were willing to do whatever it took to have her. We both had mothers who only saw us as a means to an end, even if his was slightly more maternal. We both viewed our father as little more than a walking ATM and sperm donor. The biggest difference between the two of us was I had learned I needed to work for what I wanted and knew enough not to take anything for granted. Sawyer was handed everything without question, and that easy entitlement poisoned him.
As I was climbing into my sporty rental car I’d picked up for the weekend, my phone rang. I wasn’t surprised to see that the caller was Ollie.
I told her I was going out of town for the weekend to visit Fisher. I felt bad lying to her, but I didn’t want to fight with her over Sawyer ever again. I wanted the Richmans out of her life once and for all. Just like when we were little, I planned to stand between her and whomever tried to hurt her.
“Hey. Miss me already?” I’d only left earlier that morning after I made sure she was satisfied and would feel me every time