Collide (Off-Limits Book 2) Read online

  Collide

  Off-Limits #2

  Piper Lawson

  Contents

  Collide

  Collide

  1. Olivia

  2. Sawyer

  3. Olivia

  4. Sawyer

  5. Sawyer

  6. Olivia

  7. Sawyer

  8. Olivia

  9. Olivia

  10. Olivia

  11. Olivia

  12. Olivia

  13. Olivia

  14. Olivia

  15. Sawyer

  16. Olivia

  17. Sawyer

  18. Sawyer

  19. Olivia

  20. Olivia

  21. Sawyer

  22. Olivia

  23. Olivia

  24. Sawyer

  25. Olivia

  26. Olivia

  27. Sawyer

  Books by Piper Lawson

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Collide

  Off-Limits #2

  I fell fast and hard for Sawyer.

  But my professor’s past tore us apart.

  Olivia thought she knew who Sawyer Redmond was. She was wrong.

  But he’s fiercely determined to keep her, and she can’t avoid him. He’s everywhere—in class, at events, in her head.

  Even as she vows to forget him, he stops her.

  He forces her to discover a side of herself she never knew. One that terrifies her almost as much as it excites her.

  But there’s no way she can love the man she’s discovered…

  Is there?

  COLLIDE is an illicit, forbidden full-length novel and book 2 in the OFF-LIMITS trilogy. Sawyer and Olivia’s story begins in CRAVE and concludes in CLAIM.

  Collide (verb):

  Come into conflict or opposition.

  1

  Olivia

  It’s easy to look at someone’s life and think, they’ve got it all together.

  They’ve never had their heart broken, or gone without, or been told they’re not enough.

  All I wanted was to be closer to this man who makes me feel things I’ve never felt before, want things I’ve never let myself want.

  And I got my wish.

  Until yesterday.

  The train ride back to campus is a blur. Adam and Royce talk about sports and the competition and other things I tune out. Madison sits silent, her face buried in a textbook.

  Last night keeps replaying in my mind.

  Sawyer’s frustration and anger. Madison’s shock exiting the elevator.

  Putting together whatever she heard, plus my tear-stained face and Sawyer’s posture, it took all of two seconds for her to size up the situation and cross the hall.

  “You need to leave, Professor Redmond.”

  I expected him to tell her to stay out of it, but with a last look of agitation, he complied.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked me.

  “No.” Not how she meant. “Thank you,” I started, but she stalked past me for the bathroom.

  “Don’t talk to me and go the fuck to sleep.”

  Today when the train arrives at Elmwood, I get in a cab without looking back.

  Now, every step, my legs feel heavy. Like ballet practice the morning after I went drinking for the first time with some classmates from school.

  He didn’t care about me—I was a type to him. A challenge for his reckless soul, a way to say fuck you to the world that did him wrong.

  I want to curl up in a ball, but I’ll settle for a shower and a coffee in private before I have to figure out what to do about Madison.

  When I drag myself up the stairs of our building and unlock the door of my apartment, Jules sits on the arm of the couch. Kat leans over the back of a chair. Planted in the center of the couch is my sister.

  “Emma. What are you doing here?” I blink. I’m probably seeing things after a hellish twelve hours.

  “I had a fight with Trey. My boyfriend,” she adds for Kat and Jules’ benefit. “We were supposed to go out this weekend and I had it all planned but he bailed. Mom told me she talked to him and that’s why.” She bursts into tears.

  I set my bag down by the door and cross to her, folding her in my arms. “Hey, it’s okay.”

  The couch creaks as I sink onto it, and I stroke her hair like when we were kids.

  “Mom said he was a psychopath.”

  “That’s dramatic.” Sure, he’s older and has a bike, but psychopath might be a stretch.

  “Where were you last night?” she mumbles against my shoulder.

  “In the city for a school thing.”

  Kat and Jules exchange a look.

  I shift on the couch to get more comfortable, only something lumpy prods at my butt.

  “Ahhh!”

  I reach under the cushion and spot a purple vibrator the size of a large vegetable. I pinch it gingerly between my fingers before tossing it at Kat.

  “Oh, that one’s mine,” Jules says, reaching for it.

  “For future reference, Emma, all problems can be solved by vibrators,” Kat says breezily.

  “Or not dating guys in the first place.” Jules shrugs.

  Emma sniffs from the couch, looking between them wide-eyed, then back at me.

  “Does Mom know you’re here?”

  A defiant head toss. “No. Don’t try to make me go home,” Emma warns. “I won’t do it.”

  I want to be alone. But if I can’t be, then I have to get out of here.

  Out of this room. Out of this school. Out of this neighborhood.

  “I have an idea,” I start.

  The four of us spend the day exploring town, going to Some Like It Hot for coffee and pastries, taking bikes around campus and hitting Jules’ favorite vintage store.

  I send a text to Madison in between, as I pause flipping through a rack of summer dresses and shorts.

  Liv: I get that you don’t want to talk, but we need to.

  There’s no answer, but I can’t help looking at another chain of texts.

  Unknown: Olivia. Please talk to me.

  Unknown: Come on.

  “Enough phone.” Emma swipes it out of my hand before I can stop her.

  “Emma, give that back!”

  “Why? What’s so important?” She looks down at the screen, and my pulse accelerates. She swipes through the text messages. “Oh my God. Who is this guy?”

  Shit.

  “No one.” I manage to get the phone back, but she looks hurt.

  “It’s not Adam. Adam wouldn’t talk like that.”

  “It’s some guy I’ve been hanging out with.” It sounds totally inadequate.

  “But now you’re fighting.”

  “Yeah.”

  He lied to me. About who he is. What we are.

  “That reminds me… Are you and Trey hooking up?”

  “That’s why Mom lost her shit. She found my condoms. But we haven’t had a chance.” Emma pulls out a hanger without looking at me, holding up the dark purple skirt against her body. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Sex is always a big deal.”

  “So you’re supposed to be in love? You made Adam follow you around to fundraisers and parties for years before you let him in your pants and look how that turned out.”

  “That’s not what I mean. Even if it’s casual, you need to trust the other person.”

  She slings the skirt over one shoulder. “The new guy. Is he in your class?”

  “He’s from school.” I flip through more clothes on the rack.

  “And with this mystery guy, it’s different. Better.”

  “Yes, it’s better.” At her curious look, I force myself to go on. “With Adam, I felt like I w
as going through the motions. Performing some routine, and my heart wasn’t in it.”

  Her sigh is half groan. “The fucked-up thing about Mom is I’m being responsible. He doesn’t want anything to do with condoms. I’m the one who told him I won’t do it without. Because that’s some shit I’m not asking for.” She slides a look at me. “You’ve never…”

  “Gone without? No.”

  It always felt as if Sawyer was touching the deepest parts of me with a look, a kiss, a smile. Him inside me with nothing between us would be devastating.

  “Listen, Ems. Don’t accept less than you deserve. You want a guy who treats you well. Who’s honest with you and wants you for who you are.”

  “I get that.” Her lips curve. “But Trey’s also super hot.”

  The karaoke place is a basement dive on the same side of town as Velvet, though not as far out.

  “Have you ever done karaoke?” Jules asks Emma as we head down the stairs.

  “No.”

  I raise an eyebrow at the short purple skirt. There seemed to be more fabric when my sister pulled it off the rack at the store.

  She catches me. “Like you can talk, Sister Stripper.”

  I flip her off and she gasps. “Wow, first you ditch the cashmere”—she nods to my dark jeans and black heeled boots—“and now this.” She studies me hard. “Where’s your necklace?”

  “I guess I outgrew it.” My hand itches to reach for the pendant that’s sat near my collarbone for five years. “You’re in the presence of karaoke royalty,” I say to change the subject.

  Kat grins. “Nice to meet you. I can slay any song.”

  “I thought you were the one in performing arts?” Emma asks Jules, confused.

  “I am. She’s the one with the attention crisis.”

  We find a table in the back of the bar and order beers. The room is dark and packed.

  I sneak another look at my phone—nothing new from Sawyer, or from Madison.

  It’s the weekend, so I doubt she’s reporting us today, but next week is fall reading week which means plenty of time to turn us in.

  “I’m not sure I want to do this,” Emma says, looking around.

  “It’s karaoke, not a death sentence. You’ve been thrown twenty feet in the air for cheerleading stunts,” I remind her. “It’s about believing in yourself and trying new things. So let’s have fun.”

  “Give it a shot,” Kat tells Emma.

  My sister does.

  Taylor Swift’s song, “All Too Well,” comes over the speakers.

  While Emma’s up there singing a breakup song that hits a little too close to home, Jules leans over. “What happened this weekend?”

  I drum my fingers on the tabletop, not quite hitting the beat. “I learned Sawyer has a type, and apparently I’m it.”

  Emma hits a high note. It’s not close to being on key, but she goes for it.

  “Before he left New York, that got him in trouble. It’s the reason he walked away from his company.”

  “And when you asked him about it, he said…” Jules trails off and I reach for my drink.

  The beer is cool on my tongue, the sweetness cutting into the hops.

  “It’s obvious, isn’t it? He likes wanting what he shouldn’t.”

  I down the rest of the beer then shift out of my seat and head to the bar for a refill.

  We never talked about an exclusive relationship, and whatever went down is in the past. But it bothers the hell out of me because I thought what we had was special.

  The bartender fulfills my order and I’m turning back when another figure heading for the exit runs into me.

  The three glasses I’m carrying spill, beer splashing up my arms and onto my clothes before the glasses tumble to the dirty carpet.

  “Shit, I’m…” Madison starts, before taking me in. “Oh, it’s you.”

  For a moment I think she’s going to keep walking, but she grabs one of the empty beer glasses and carries it to the bar, returning with a wad of napkins.

  What is it with me getting soaked with alcohol lately?

  I take some napkins from her, wiping at my shirt. “You look good.”

  The girl in question’s hair is curled, and she’s wearing heels.

  “I’m on a date with a guy I met online. It’s not going to work out.”

  The damp fabric sticks to my skin when I release it. “Sorry.”

  “Whatever. Are you stalking me?” she demands as I collect the remaining glasses and carry them to the bar.

  “I’m here with my roommates and my sister.”

  “She’s the one waking every cat in town?” Madison nods to the stage. “She better not be doing Taylor’s Version. Not sure I can handle ten minutes of this.”

  My lips twitch. “I had no idea you were here. Have you told anyone about Professor Redmond?”

  She makes a face. “Haven’t had a chance.”

  The bartender pushes new drinks toward us. I pull out a twenty, but he waves me off. I stuff the cash in the tip jar instead while Madison watches.

  “If you talk, they’ll keep him from supervising. Which would mean we’d have to forfeit, right after we got through regionals.”

  “We barely got through regionals. We still have to pass the project justification before winter break.”

  “I thought that was pretty much guaranteed.”

  Madison shakes her head. “I heard this year, they’re cracking down. They want to filter out even more teams so the top few get more attention in California. If we can’t prove our idea will change the world in a real way, we won’t get to compete at finals.”

  This is big. I thought we had a clear path to the finals of Stars, but this is a new roadblock.

  “Whatever shit you and Redmond have going on hanging over our heads…” she goes on, “it’s not fair, but more than that if what I saw in New York is any indication? It’s volatile.”

  Emma finishes her song and jumps off stage. My roommates clap, and I do too.

  “But if you tell,” I say under my breath, “don’t you think that will screw things up more?”

  Madison steps in front of me, expression dark. “Yes. Me telling will mess up everything.”

  The twisting feeling in my stomach hardens into resolve. “You’re right. I put our team at risk by what happened with Professor Redmond. But we can’t give up on the Stars competition. We need this.”

  Her gaze drops to my throat, as if she’s remembering what I gave up so we could get through regionals.

  “Tell me it’s over between you.”

  Sawyer’s grin flashes before my eyes.

  His voice, a low murmur for my ears alone.

  His thumb stroking under my shirt when he kisses me like everything is right in the world as long as I’m in his arms.

  My phone feels hot in my pocket, his unanswered texts burning into my skin as I fight the tightness in my chest.

  “We’re over.”

  2

  Sawyer

  “If this is you fixing up the place, you’re watching the wrong YouTube videos.”

  I look up at Daniel, who’s standing over me while I rip boards off the porch.

  “I figured fuck the flower beds. Time to work on the big things and get this house sold.”

  The sun beats down, sweat rolling into my eyes.

  It’s Monday, and for the first time in weeks, I haven’t been at the front of a lecture hall, stealing looks at the student who’s stolen a piece of me.

  I yank the final board off the top, tossing it toward the pile at the end. The nail still embedded in it catches the corner of the house, scratching the woodwork on the windowsill and barely missing the glass.

  Daniel coughs and I ignore him.

  “Need a saw to get started on the new boards.”

  He hesitates but then jerks his head across the road.

  I follow him that way and into the house.

  “You keep your saw in your sunroom?”

  “I’m not givin
g you a saw in this state. You were working on that last night, and you’re still there. What’s up?”

  The room is too small, and I pace the well-worn floors. I’m not a “spill my guts” guy, but he’s always been there for me like I’ve been there for him. And I need to tell someone.

  “Olivia’s a student.”

  He rubs a hand over his face. “Shit, Sawyer. I kind of figured, but…shit.”

  “That’s not the problem. She found out what happened in New York this summer.”

  “All of it?”

  “The part where Christina told everyone we were sleeping together.”

  I was worried sick about Olivia when she didn’t meet me, but when she opened the door of her room at the hotel, face twisted with pain and accusation, I knew something was horribly wrong.

  When I realized what had happened, that she wouldn’t give me the benefit of the doubt, an awful numbness seeped in.

  No one ever gave me the benefit of the doubt. Why would she?

  Because she was different.

  Didn’t help that another student walked in on us. But there’s no way Madison knows what she saw. If she thinks she does, she’s wrong.

  “You going to tell her the rest of what happened?”

  “I haven’t decided.”

  He grimaces. “Then go. Sell the house and walk away.”