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CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
- FLASHBACK -
5 months after Spring Fling
Sawyer woke up on an August morning to something she would never expect, a text from Bryce Walker.
'we need to talk.'
She thought about just ignoring it, she'd be in some deep shit if any of her friends found out she was talking to him. But he had to have a reason to reach out to her, right?
'what do you want?' she responded.
"it's about tyler. meet me outside of my house in 30 minutes.'
Sawyer thought about it, she didn't want to go but if it could help her progress with Tyler and find out the truth than it was worth it.
Maybe he was just bullshitting her but what's the point?
Around 25 minutes later, after she put on her makeup and put her hair in a ponytail, she threw on a red tank top with skinny jeans and her pair of brown birkenstocks before she headed to her car.
She sent a text to her group chat 'I got Tyler today.' Whatever happened with Bryce was gonna become a conversation between her and Tyler.
As she approached the house, Bryce was waiting in his driveway. Sawyer walked up to him, but saw Ani looking out her window. Ani had tried to get all up in their business, and Clay was letting her. But not on Sawyer's watch.
"Can we get in my car? I think this is important and I wouldn't want.." She starts and rolls her eyes pointing her face to the top floor "anyone to hear."
Bryce follows her to her car and gets into the passenger seat. She felt a little uneasy being with her best friends rapist, but she believed he was telling the truth. Maybe that was her first mistake.
"So what's this about?" Sawyer asks, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow and crossing her arms.
"Look, I know you hate me. But there's something big going on. Tyler showed up with a gun at my motel room the other day." Bryce tells her and her eyes widen.
"Why would he do that?" Sawyer shook her head. She couldn't believe it. But there's no reason he would lie about it.
"He accuses me of telling Monty to do something to him." Bryce tells her with a confused look on his face. "I know Monty used to mess with him but this, it has to be something else. You don't pull a gun at someone for shoving you against a locker a few times a week. I know what happened at Spring Fling." He says
Sawyer raises her eyebrows with a confused look, how come nothing never came out of it? Why wouldn't Bryce tell the police?
"I didn't tell anyone. And I'm not going too. But Sawyer, we need to get him help. Monty can be.." He starts "pretty brutal. And you can hate me all you want but I know you care."
Sawyer sighs and looks at him. "Why wouldn't you tell on us? We hate each other."
"Because Justin was with you. And I mean, we grew up together. All of us did." Bryce started but was cut off by Sawyer.
"Don't pull the 'I'm gonna change' card on me, Bryce. Jess is my best friend. I'm being a terrible friend by just talking to you right now." Sawyer shakes her head and her voice raises in anger.
"I'm not, I just put Justin through the ringer too much. And I knew it would hurt him if you went down for this and trust me, you would have." He responds.
She was terrible. Terrible for believing him. Terrible for talking to him. But Tyler had become number one priority in her life and if dancing with the devil got him to safety, it was worth it.
"You're right." Sawyer takes a breath and looks down. "But what are we gonna do, Bryce? He won't even tell me what happened and Monty's gonna keep messing with him if we don't find out what happened."
"I think you should handle it. You're persistent. But I have one request. I want you to tell me what happens, I know it's stupid but I think a part of me can help him. I want to stop Monty from hurting anyone like this." Bryce tells her.
Sawyer shook her head, how was this possible? Bryce was the worst of the worst, how could he look down on anyone? But if there was one good thing he could do, it was telling Sawyer so she could fix it. So she nodded her head. She owed it to him to tell him whatever she find out.
"Okay. But we need to keep it between us. A lot of people could get in a lot of trouble right now." Sawyer says and Bryce nods before leaving the car. She sat in the drivers seat for a few minutes, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel and kept shaking her head. How did she get to this place? And now she kept a secret with a terrible person.
-
Sawyer pulled up to Tyler's house around 11 am, usually on a weekend they would take him out to a lunch or some sort of social event. But after her conversation with Bryce this morning, she just wanted to be with him alone.
She knocked on the door and Mrs. Down answered ; throughout the past few months, they became very close. It was like a second family to her.
"Sawyer, hi honey." She says as she lets Sawyer in. "I'm just so glad you're apart of Tyler's life, you've been so great to him."
Those words just made Sawyer smile. "There's no one I'd rather be around." She says as Mrs. Down gives her a sweet tea, her usual drink of choice. Sawyer smiled with a slight thanks as she headed back to Tyler's room.
"Hey hun." Sawyer said as she entered the room and sat on the window seal. She saw Tyler's face light up.
"Hey, S. Where are we going today?" He asked and she smiled as she looked down at the ground.
"I actually thought we could stay here today and just talk." Sawyer says emphasizing on 'talk.'
"And I think there's something we need to talk about." She said and took a deep breath, looking over at him.
// omg guys next chapter, it's it babies. i love you all and i love this story and remember to always leave feedback and vote and follow. and check out my stranger things fanfic 'Trainwreck'. The next chapter should be out today or tomorrow!!
