The Vincent Boys 01 - The Vincent Boys

shape.”
    “Sure, see ya then.”
    I dropped the broken pieces of my phone onto the coffee table. I needed to make a plan. I needed to think about this. Had I screwed up by letting her go? Had she wanted me to stop her? Ashton Gray was going to drive me mad.

    Ashton
    “You told Sawyer he was welcome to come eat with us tonight, didn’t you?”
    Dad stood at the door of my bedroom. I’d come home from the funeral and went straight to the shower so I could cry in private. Once the water ran cold, I’d dried up my tears and forced myself to get a grip. What would Grana have told me to do? Would she have told me to go with my heart? Or would she have seen the wisdom in my decision? I thought back to the way Beau had reacted to my words. What had I expected him to do? Fall at my feet in tears? I should be happy he’d handled it so well. I didn’t have hurting him to add to my guilt.
    “Yes. He’ll be here at six.” I sat up from my reclined position on my bed. Dad seemed pleased with that answer.
    “You’ve been so closed off from the world this summer. I’m really relieved Sawyer’s home.”
    I forced a smile so Dad wouldn’t guess anything was amiss. He walked away and closed my door behind him. I laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering how I was going to face Sawyer with the guilt of what I’d done weighing on me so heavily.
    I loved Sawyer. My actions didn’t appear as if I did, but I did love him. The problem was, I wasn’t in love with him. I hadn’t realized there were different kinds of love you could feel for a boy. Sawyer was everything I respected. He was sweet and caring. I never had to worry he would leave me or hurt me. He was impossible not to love. Unfortunately, he had a girlfriend who was a big huge fake. He deserved to know what a fake I was, but how did I go about explaining to him I put on a show for him, for my parents, for the whole dang town? I couldn’t tell Sawyer anything. Word got around fast in a small town. My mother would be devastated. My dad would be furious. I’d hurt them both and for what? A guy who didn’t even care enough to respond to me when I broke things off with him? My heart had been breaking and he had been texting someone. Probably Nicole. The thought of Beau with Nicole made me nauseous.
    Picking up my phone for the thousandth time since I’d left Beau’s, I checked to see if he had texted me. It was pointless. He wasn’t going to. I’d seen the look in his eyes. He hadn’t fought me. It didn’t make sense. Before I’d pushed him away he was ready to tell Sawyer himself, and he knew how Sawyer was going to react. Had he just been trying to ease my guilt? Had I just given him an easy out? Had he realized he wasn’t really in love with me but the idea of me? Tears welled up in my eyes. Pulling my knees up to my chest I buried my head against them and cried silently. Nothing would ever be the same. I’d ruined myself. My heart would always belong to someone who didn’t want it and Sawyer would be wasting his love on someone who didn’t deserve it. He deserved so much more than a girlfriend who wanted someone else.
    The doorbell rang and I sat there listening as Sawyer came inside and talked to my father. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I headed to the bathroom to clean myself up before I went downstairs to greet him and pretend like I was okay.
    “Here, let me clean this up. You haven’t seen Sawyer in weeks. Go on ahead and go. I know you want to spend some time together.” This wasn’t my dad. He normally wanted us to stay right here under them or at least out on the front porch. Rarely did he encourage us to go off and spend time together. Apparently he was more worried about Beau than I’d thought. But then he had reasons to be worried about Beau. Maybe it was parents’ intuition.
    Sawyer stood up with his plate and cup in hand, always the gentleman. Not only does he clean up his spot at the table, he also loads his used dishes in the sink. Samantha Vincent had trained her son well. Or at least that was what Mom always said.
    “Thank you both for dinner. It was delicious.” Sawyer smiled at both my parents then turned to me and winked before taking his dishes to the dishwasher. He wasn’t as tall as Beau. I’d never really paid attention to that before. They had so many similarities in their appearance but then they were so different. Sawyer’s dark brown hair was long enough that it brushed his collar and curled