Confidence Man

A Covenant One-Shot

Written by .writer

A/N: Because the idea of Sarah/Reid is kind of addictive. So forbidden, y'know? Anyway, I like the idea of Caleb being standoffish after killing Chase (or whatever). And a hot-and-cold Reid with a twisted sense of honor. Or whatever.

Please review, and let me know what you think about Reid and Sarah's actions. Justified or not? In-character or not? Entertaining or not? The voices in my head want to know.

If you didn't know, confidence man (or woman) is where we get the phrase con-man (or woman). Tricking people with your confident manner. Yep. Indeed. (Personally, I'd love to be conned by Reid. It would totally be worth it.)

P.S. W-R-I-T-I-N-G G-R-O-U-P. You know you want to. See my profile for info.

It had been too long since it happened to still be afraid, Sarah told herself sternly. Chase is dead. Stop jumping at shadows.

This pep talk didn't prevent her from nearly screaming when a figure stepped out of the shadows. Her sharp intake of breath cut off when she recognized him. The pale hair that framed his face was the biggest clue. Reid Garwin.

“What are you doing, Reid?” Sarah snapped. This wasn't the first time he had scared her like this, and it was beginning to become irritating.

He shrugged. One hand adjusted the glove on his other. Sarah scowled. That was the Reid equivalent of examining his fingernails.

“Have a nice date?” His voice was slow and quiet, which made Sarah pause. Reid was loud and fast, all temper and noise.

“It was lovely. Caleb took me to that restaurant in town, the one by the theater. It was excellent.”

He looked up for a moment, catching her eye, before returning his attention to his glove. “Sounds fascinating.” Dry sarcasm, that was more like him. “Anything else happen?”

Sarah was confused. “We walked down Main Street for a while, then he drove me back. Why?” This was weird. Why was she talking about her date to Reid, of all people?

The young man in question rolled his eyes. “Christ. Do I need to give him a manual or something?” There was more animation in his frame now; he straightened some and gestured with his glove-clad hands.

“What on earth are you talking about, Reid?” Thing was, Sarah had a feeling she knew what he meant, and that was not something she wanted to discuss.

“Caleb couldn't get to second base with a map complete with twenty paces and X marks the spot, that's what I'm talking about,” Reid snarled.

The slow burn of a blush was creeping up her cheeks. She was not going to discuss her sex life with Reid, she told herself, but then her mouth was opening and words were coming out.

“He still feels bad about what happened with Chase.” She could have slapped herself. Her defensive words had just confirmed Reid's accusation. She should have just blown him off, told him it was none of his business.

A strange glow had lit in Reid's eyes, but his expression was still scornful. “He's being a pussy. He did what he had to do, and crying over it won't change the facts. He needs to get over it.”

Again, Sarah lost control of herself. “He killed someone, Reid! You don't just get over something like that.”

He wasn't buying it. “Bullshit. If he hadn't killed Chase, the bastard would have killed him, and you, and possibly the rest of us. He did enough damage as it was.” Reid paused, then cocked his head to the side and gave her an eerie smile. “You agree with me, don't you?”

Sarah shook her head. “No. What happened was horrible, and if there had been another way, Caleb wouldn't have done it.”

Reid still had that smile on. He took a step closer, then another. They were still a yard apart, but the decreased distance made Sarah uneasy. “You're a liar,” he told her, then continued before she could argue. “You're still scared of Chase.” He took yet another step forward, then leaned forward so their eyes were level. “I think you're glad he's dead.”

This was the time to gasp in outrage and deny his words, but Sarah found herself frozen. For a moment she stared into Reid's blue eyes, then her gaze slowly slid away.

She didn't need to look to know Reid had a smug grin on his face. “I knew it.”

Spinning on her heel, Sarah turned away from him, but that didn't faze him. “I remember that first night. You were so freaked out by the showers.”

Finding her voice: “Shut up.”

“You need to hear it.” His hand landed on her shoulder and he jerked her around. Now she did gasp in outrage and shock. She looked up at him, wondering what he was thinking that made his eyes shine like that.

“Y'know, I think the real reason for Caleb's lack of action is that he's scared. Not grieving for the loss of his innocence or some shit like that, or he'd be all over you for 'comfort'.” Reid had a talent for audible quote-marks. “He's just too much of a pussy to make a move.”

This was beginning to make Sarah angry. “Is that right?”

He smirked. “Yep. Caleb's always been the cautious one. That's what he says, at least.”

“Well, we all know that you're the reckless one,” she replied in a sharp tone.

The smirk faded, and his gaze changed into something more frightening than simple arrogance. Sarah stepped back without thinking, but he just took two steps forward. They were close, now, much closer than they should be in a dark hallway after eleven o'clock.

“I have been,” he agreed with the strangely quiet voice from earlier. “Which explains what I'm about to do.”

“What?” Sarah asked, confused.

Then his lips landed on hers, and she got her answer.

She wanted to push him away, but his lips were warm and soft as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. Her eyes closed, then her lips parted. Reid angled his mouth and deepened the kiss.

Sarah didn't know how long they stood there, tongues and limbs intertwined, but eventually the clock tolled the quarter hour and she remembered who she was and who he was and why kissing him was so wrong.

Pushing him away was harder than it should have been, but she managed it. When his eyes opened he had a look that was one part satisfaction and one part mystery. Their eyes met and Sarah swallowed, mentally preparing for the “what the hell was that?” speech.

She didn't get a chance to give it. Reid gave her another one of his odd smiles, then turned around and walked off, hands shoved in his pockets.

Sarah knew her eyes were as big as saucers. She wanted to call after him, but there were dorm rooms all along the hall, and the last thing she wanted was some gossip finding out what she was doing in the hallway with one of her boyfriend's best friends. So she watched him walk away in silence, her lips swollen and her mind racing as she tried to figure out what that kiss had meant.

By the next morning, Sarah had about sworn to herself about fifty times that it would never happen again. Her withdrawn behavior had earned her a few questions from Kate, but she had brushed her roommate off with a hasty excuse about not sleeping well. Kate had laughed.

“Dreaming about Caleb, were you?”

Sarah flushed cherry red, but not for the reason Kate thought.

English Lit, usually one of Sarah's favorite classes, was now hell. Her eyes kept drifting off the professor and onto the blond head a few rows down. When it happened for the fourth time, Sarah bit her lip and muttered to herself. “Stupid!”

“Hmm?” Caleb murmured in question from his seat next to her. “What was that?”

Sarah shook her head. “Nothing,” she answered quickly, but it sounded fake even to her ears. Caleb let it go, though, with nothing more than a slight frown.

Sarah spent the rest of class hating herself, and wondering what had happened to her life. She was a good girl, a nice person. She was dating a handsome, sweet, considerate boy who had saved her life. But what had happened last night was wrong, very wrong...and it was at least partly her fault.

It took her until after dinner to find him. He was in the library, of all places, slouched against the wall in the fiction section. It was the least populated area of the library; Spenser students did not read for pleasure, and they certainly did not linger in the shelves for any longer than it took to find a copy of Beowulf or Oliver Twist.

Reid was doing something on his phone. Sarah paused a few feet away and waited for him to respond to her presence. He didn't. A minute later, she gave up waiting and spoke. “Reid? We have to talk.”

His thumb paused its button-pressing. He turned his head a fraction to look at her knees, then slid up her body slowly, finally meeting her eyes a few moments later. Sarah was torn between embarrassment at his appraisal, annoyance at his condescending manner, and a third emotion that caused her skin to prickle—an emotion she refused to think about.

“We have to talk,” she repeated, a slight tremble to her voice.

“What about?” His voice was as smooth as ever.

His nonchalance irritated her, like most of his attitudes did. “You know, Reid. Don't pretend you don't.”

“Who says I'm playing?”

This was too much. She crossed her arms and glared down at him. “Dammit, Reid! This is important.”

He sighed. “If you say so.” Then he stood with a fluid motion that was fast enough to surprise her.

Damn boys with their superpowers and eerie speed.

“What are we supposed to be talking about?”

Sarah swallowed. She had spent all her afternoon looking for him, and she was not going to chicken out now. “What happened.” She looked around anxiously, but didn't see anyone. “Last night,” she continued, lowering her voice.

He still hadn't shown any real reaction. “Yeah? What about it?”

She straightened her spine and looked him in the eye. “It can't happen again. It won't happen again.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Because it was wrong!” she hissed.

He smiled. “So?”

Sarah growled in frustration and spun on her heel, intending to stalk away. Instead, she felt his grip on her elbow, and then he spun her back around and pushed her against the wall before she even had time to breathe.

Though, now, it hardly mattered, because she didn't think she could breathe while he was looking at her like that. Finally, she thought, an emotional reaction.

She wasn't surprised when he kissed her. He pressed close to her, and she lifted her arms to wrap around his neck, one hand twining into his hair. It was softer than she expected.

Sarah could feel the thought forming in her mind, and she tried to stop it, but then Reid's hand slipped under her shirt and she forgot why it was wrong to think that Reid's kisses were hotter than Caleb's.

After this, she decided to stop thinking, and when voices were heard a few rows over, it was Reid who pulled away first. Sarah stood there in a daze, breathing heavily, as he straightened her shirt and redid the buttons that had somehow come undone. She was surprised when he leaned in close and whispered in her ear.

“The 'wrong' things are the most fun.”

And then he left her standing alone for the second time, and for the second time she stared after him and wondered why.

If she had been smarter, she might have seen this coming. It was Friday night, and Kate was leaving to go 'watch a movie' at Pogue's apartment.

“Do you have to go?” Sarah blurted before she could stop herself.

Kate looked at her in confusion. “Why? Do you want me to stay?”

“No,” Sarah said. “I just wasn't planning on being alone.”

Kate grinned. “Then call Caleb! You two should hang out or something. Go to Nicky's.”

Sarah shook her head. “No. He has to study for a test.” This was really a lie. Sarah didn't know what Caleb was doing. Whatever it was, he wasn't doing it with her.

“Oh.” Kate frowned. “Well, if you get lonely, I'll have my cell. No guarantee I'll answer, though,” she added with a wink.

Sarah laughed and watched her leave with a growing sense of uneasy anticipation. She tried to dismiss the feeling.

Half an hour later, she was pacing back and forth across the dorm room, unable to focus on anything. She had tried reading, but it was too hard to concentrate and she couldn't get past the first page.

Sarah sighed and wondered if she should call somebody. Maybe her mom...

Then she heard the knock on the door, and her stomach dropped to her feet. She stared at the door. Who would come by her room without calling first? She hadn't invited anyone over.

When the knock came again, she began to panic. If it was who she thought it was, there was no way in hell she should open the door. Except for the tiny voice telling her she ought to.

In the end, she didn't need to decide. The choice was made for her when the lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing a black-eyed Reid Garwin.

It was a standoff. Reid had entered the room and shut the door behind him, then leaned against it and crossed his arms. His eyes had reverted back to blue, and he watched her with a patient silence she didn't know he was capable of.

She stood across the room, dressed in pajama shorts and a T-shirt, half of her mind shrieking in panic while the other half thanked whoever was up there that she wasn't wearing her other, skimpier sleepwear.

Sarah was the first to break. “So,” she began. “What are you doing here?”

He smirked. “Don't pretend you don't know,” he said in a mocking repeat of her own words.

Her mouth and forehead creased into a scowl. “I'm serious!”

“So am I.”

Suddenly her scowl disappeared. Sarah bit her lip in confusion, then stopped when she saw how Reid's eyes were drawn to the action. “What are you doing, Reid?”

“Right now I'm watching you.”

Sarah sighed. “I mean all of this, Reid. What we've been doing. Why? I need to know.”

His reply was immediate, which surprised her. She'd expected more evasion and teasing. “Because we both want it.”

Sarah tried to deny his accusation (though it didn't sound accusing), but her words faded on her lips when she saw the look in his eyes. Instead she squared her shoulders. “That doesn't matter. It isn't going to continue. We're stopping this, right now.” Before it gets out of control, she added in her head.

It already is, whispered a snide little voice. Sarah told it to shut up.

Reid spoke. “Sarah, you have two choices in front of you. Either you spend the rest of the night alone, wondering what could have happened, or you experience it.”

Sarah turned away from him. Staring at the wall, she thought out loud. “I couldn't hurt Caleb like that.”

“He'd never know.” There was a weight to Reid's words that made her believe him. Besides, he had as much to lose, maybe more.

Sarah continued thinking, now silently. She thought about Caleb, who was so distant lately, who hadn't kissed her in more than a week. She thought of Kate, who was no doubt being kissed—and more—by Pogue, right now. Kate always looked so happy when she and Pogue weren't fighting. She thought about Reid, who could kiss her into forgetting her own name.

Finally, she thought about herself, and how much it hurt that even though she was dating the most sought-after boy in the school, she was still dateless on Friday night.

“Sarah?” Reid murmured behind her in that sinfully smooth voice. “Take what you want, for once.”

Before she knew what she was doing, she was across the room and grabbing onto his collar to drag him down to meet her lips. She felt him smile, and heard him reach behind them to lock the door.

This is wrong, she thought as they stumbled over to the bed, clothing falling to the floor like discarded candy wrappers. But it was fun, and she really, really wanted to have some fun.

And so she did.

Early the next morning, Sarah awoke to a cold bed. She could hear someone moving. “Reid?” she mumbled.

“Go back to sleep.”

Sarah ignored him and sat up, one hand catching the sheet before it fell down while the other rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Why are you leaving?”

“Don't know when Kate will be back.”

Sarah watched as he pulled his T-shirt on, his skin turned silver by the moonlight. “She always stays over at Pogue's. They go to breakfast together.”

Reid paused as he shrugged into his jacket. Then he continued like he hadn't heard her. When he began moving to the door, Sarah spoke again.

“Reid? You don't have to leave.”

He spoke without turning around. “Yeah. I do.”

When she woke up for the second time, Sarah had a message from Caleb on her phone. He wanted to meet for lunch. Sarah stared at the wall, then picked up the phone and called him.

“Hey, Caleb. Yeah, lunch sounds good. I need to talk to you, anyway. Alright, see you then.” Then she hung up, and started looking for something to wear.

THE END

A/N: Tell me what you think. And yes, I kept the ending deliberately vague on purpose. WHAT does Sarah need to tell Caleb? I'll leave that up to you, dear readers. Thanks for reading!