"Wait?" I didn't recognize my sharp, dry voice as it hung in the inches of airspace between Logan and me. "What could you possibly have left to say? Should I tell you my second favorite book so you can rip that to shreds too?"
A microscopic crack in his confident exterior appeared. His free hand dragged through his hair, and his eyes dropped to the tip of my nose. With a gentle brush of rough skin, the pad of his thumb rubbed an arc over the inside of my wrist.
"I'm sorry."
My jaw dropped, and my forehead raised. I sucked my lungs full and dropped my eyes to the racing beats in my pulse. "For... being an ass about the book?"
A hearty laugh bobbed his throat and bounced his shoulders. The fluorescent light etched shadows under his cheekbones and jawline, a sharp line to his rounded chin. Amusement enhanced the blue in a soft compliment to his light brown lashes. "That's you making me nervous."
My mouth dropped so fast that my jaw felt unhinged. I... made him nervous? He oozed confidence and arrogance, I assumed he couldn't be capable of being nervous. Could he? Unless... no. No fucking way. It was a front? A downward pressure tugged in my heart at the possibility he was being honest.
Logan's warm laugh tempted me to smile. His T-shirt draped loosely over his waist but pulled snugly over his broad chest. His biceps flexed as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. My arms were spaghetti noodles compared to his cut.
"No." His voice lowered to a soft rumble as if he apologized for a more serious offense. If I didn't know better, his feelings were hurt. "I'm sorry about what happened to you at work. It shouldn't have happened, and it won't again."
"Oh." My voice flattened. "That." Other than ranting to Harper, I'd pushed that incident aside. Its recall was enough to withdraw my hand. Tucked in my armpit was cooler than in Logan's grasp.
Was that why he was here? An apology, in particular in person, was commendable. "Thank you. Excuse me, I need to go bleach your literary critique out of my-"
"That's not all."
The determination in his voice wasn't his usual 'because I get what I want' projection. His normal hardened edge smoothed into an even, simple request. A plea radiated from his gaze, and he gave my wrist a gentle squeeze.
"Give me a chance, Ellie."
The words 'for what?' crept up my throat, but the crack in his voice held them back. Gone was his usual cocky exterior. Encouragement warmed his eyes, and an open, genuine smile played on his lips. It made me want to smile in return if my pulse wasn't pounding in my ears.
His throat tightened as he swallowed. An inward tuck of his lips drew my eyes to where the tip of his tongue wet the seam. "To show you I'm not who you think."
It wasn't as if I didn't know him well. I didn't know anything about him. Being annoying, persistent, my brother's rival, hot, and didn't freak out when I puked on his feet was not a character profile.
Jake claimed he was a player who held no value to girls other than scoring points, but Logan only looked like a guy who was sorry. Who wanted... I needed to know what he wanted. "What are you asking me for?"
I braced for his autoresponse, 'date,' but his request was a low hum. "Unblock my number."
"Will you drop the teasing?"
The corner of his lips lifted into a wry smile. "I can't promise that."
"What will you promise?"
Unlike my rushed question, Logan took his time to respond. His hand raised and stroked a line through my hair. His gaze followed the path his fingertips traced down my left cheek, warming the skin under his touch. Weakness swayed me closer, and my lips parted.
His voice thickened, "That you'll see me again."
Did I want to? The pressure from his gaze suffocated the question. I took a sharp breath and a playful challenge rose. "You say that like it's a good thing."
My feet moved on their own. With a short leap, I flung my foot over Logan's legs and climbed over. Halfway across, my thighs straddled his and... I couldn't touch down. Mid-air and knees splayed wide, my feet dangled heavy but useless.
Stupid tree stumps. Why did I do this?
Awareness pricked the back of my neck and short-circuited my thoughts. My weight pitched back, and the hairs on my forearms lifted with my hands. Soft, thin cotton separated my fingers from layers of stiff shoulder muscles. Those shoulders tensed into rocks, and Logan stilled. The column of his neck elongated as he pulled back. His eyes sparkled with a joke at my expense, coupled with the uplifted corners of his mouth.
That look stole my breath. I couldn't hear over the thundered beats of my heart. In slow motion, my heavy eyes closed. His clean, masculine scent didn't help. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. I was a kid on a pony ride. A warm, muscular ride that rubbed friction in an inappropriate place. Faint throbs erupted between my thighs.
Mind out of the gutter, Ellie.
A secure weight grounded my hip. Logan's steady hand opened my eyes. Heat radiated from his contact point and numbed the bones in my legs. My eyelids were lead. I couldn't lift them higher than his shoulder when a sharp breath expanded his chest. A light freckle offered a focal point. I stared hard enough to burn it off, jolting out of my skin when a soft touch graced my lower lip.
Logan's thumb drew an arc of tingles. "I think it's a good thing." His mouth parted and expelled the breaths I took in. They were warm and addictive, teasing me for a taste. One look dragged my thoughts down with my gaze-
The door flung open, and I stiffened at Alex and Anne's return. I sagged with an exhale. Thank fuck it wasn't Jake. My cheeks warmed under their scrutiny before my eyes widened. Jake! How did Logan keep making me forget my senses?
"Umm, we could come back?" Anne asked.
Alex hid his reaction behind his lowered eyes. Probably from - Oh, fuck! I'm straddling his lap.
Soft hands pinched my armpits, followed by weightlessness under my ass. Logan lifted me off in a fluid sweep. The floor wobbled under my feet, so I steadied a hand on the wall.
Alex lingered by the door, along with his frown at the floor. "I guess we're, uhh, done? Anne and I were talking about getting some coffee, so..."
So they could finish the conversation, alone by his flat tone. I couldn't read what it meant other than it wasn't a warm, welcome invitation to join them.
Hot tears pricked my eyes. I blinked over and over, willing them not to fall. I grabbed my purse and books, keeping my gaze on the floor from the heat spreading over my face. "I have some upcoming school stuff for the next few weekends. I'm sorry, Alex."
I would've told him if he hadn't avoided me, but I snuck a look up from under my lashes. He gave me a somber smile. "We'll be in touch."
"Thanks." My eyes swept between him and Anne. "This was... different. Thanks."
I didn't dare steal a look at Logan. Instead, I tucked my chin down and shuffled out. My phone buzzed when I reached the stairs.
Jake: outside
I sucked in a sharp breath and my throat squeezed itself tight. No, no, no. As fast as my fingers moved, I hoped I wasn't too late.
Me: It's over. On my way.
Jake: cool
Oh, thank fuck. I exhaled and sagged into the stair railing, then gripped it on my way down. At this point, I couldn't have gotten any luckier that he was late doing whatever the fuck he was doing.
The sun warmed my scalp. Footsteps exited behind me, along with a reopening of the doors. A glance over my shoulder showed Alex and Anne smiling at each other. The sight pulled a line of tension in my chest. Were they into each other? Her head tipped back with a laugh that he echoed.
Jake parked on the curb in front of a senior center shuttle. With a quick door slam, he stepped around his car. One look behind me lengthened his stride. Veins appeared on the back of his hands, and his fists stretched the skin tight. "Hightower!?" Jake tensed from heel to head and his voice dropped an octave. "What the fuck are you doing here!?"
"Book club," was the smug response.
Jake's face flushed deeper red the more he took in the proximity of Logan's behemoth frame behind mine. I moved to put more distance between us, but my heart raced, and a falling sensation rushed through me.
For once, please be chill, Jake.
Don't make a scene, don't make a - too late.
Jake's hands grabbed Logan's shirt color before my next breath. He pushed Logan into the brick wall of the library, next to the silver book return slot. I set down my stack to Logan's low grunt and Jake's sharp warning.
Two gasps behind us made me turn back to Alex and Anne's identical round eyes and mouths like they witnessed a crime scene. Fuck, it would be one, if I didn't do damage control.
"I told you to leave her alone, bitch boy! Don't you ever fucking come near my sister! Don't touch her, don't even fucking breathe the same air, you pathetic Salesian scum! You have shit with me, be a fucking man and deal with me!"
Fuck of all fucks, that escalated fast. Him? Why would Jake think - I didn't know what he thought. "Jake," I warned with my hand on his strained knuckles and stepped in between before he pulled it back for a face smash. Heat rose in my cheeks as I whispered, "We're at a library, for fuck's sake. With a security camera aimed right at you. Stop scaring the bus of seniors being dropped off."
Logan blinked a few times, as if Jake's words didn't register, then had the balls to smirk at me. "Ellie's capable of making her own decisions."
Why were they talking like I wasn't sandwiched between their stupidity? Did Logan want me to punch him!? This was not the time to remind him of his abysmal impression today. A somber look filled Alex's eyes, and he steered Anne into the parking lot, around a queue of elderly people who clutched their chests and gaped.
I clamped my other hand around Jake's wrist, pinching my fingers to close their two-inch gap and wrinkling his skin. Breathing wasn't an option, and my lungs burned as I waited for Jake's move. For once, my words settled into inaction, and he dropped his grip.
Logan rubbed his chest with his hand. If he appreciated my intervention, it didn't show. His cold glare at Jake twisted my heart. He wouldn't reciprocate, would he? His gaze shifted and locked on mine with enough force to make me shrink back. In stark contrast to his earlier soft smile, Logan eyed me as if I was his enemy. Distrust swam in those blue depths. It wasn't a threatening look, but cold and intense enough to run a shiver across my shoulders.
He didn't know anything about me either, but I wasn't Jake.
Logan's face froze at my recoiling as if he hadn't expected that reaction from me, and the tension in his face softened. A need to prove my temper was under control took over, and I yanked Jake's arm. Logan's gaze burned the back of my head but chilled compared to the heat in my cheeks. I dragged Jake past the library patrons' curious eyes to a few questions about whether we were alright. How humiliating.
Jake ripped his hand free and stepped aside, but I intercepted his second charge and palmed his chest. His muscles clenched into rocks. "Ellie, what the fuck are you doing with this - this -?"
"Keeping you from doing something regretful," I whispered and pointed to the security camera.
"Not until I figure out why the fuck he's here," he grumbled and clenched his fists. "I don't trust him, or the way he looks at you like a fucking piece of meat."
Charming. I flattened my palms over the wild beats in his chest. "We both know what will happen if you go back over there. Please, Jake. Don't ruin the library for me."
The strain in my voice, an admission of weakness that I hated, brought his eyes to mine. "Ellie. Did he hurt you?"
"No. He didn't. Punch him later, just... please," I stalled with the hopes Logan left. "Let's go. You can cool off somewhere. Anywhere. I don't care. Preferably not the beach, but please."
My eyes pleaded with the doubt filling his. Don't ruin this for me.
Dramatic? Yes, but this was a public space. A public place with surveillance and witnesses.
"You're okay," he phrased a statement, but the question hung in his gaze.
My shoulders relaxed when he exhaled. I nodded and pointed to the car. "I am. Let's go."
Logan didn't speak, but he didn't need to. A flamethrower kissed my cheeks, and I tracked the ground until I sat in Jake's car. My damp hands cupped my elbows, and the dashboard blurred from my shaky breath.
Crisis averted. Until Logan walked right in front of Jake's hood.
Golden highlights shifted with his long steps. His arms swung in exaggerated arcs, and he shot me a radiant smile that made me lean against the seat. He was so fucking reckless and confident.
"Don't even think about it," I warned when Jake buckled his seatbelt. "USC isn't looking for vehicular manslaughter on anyone's application."
"He'd probably bounce," Jake mumbled with a crooked grin. "How about a light tap?"
"No!" My hand cupped my forehead. "No taps. And where were you today?" I lifted my fingers off my face, then curled them in. Logan climbed into a red truck. What was with football players and trucks?
"I overslept," he muttered. "Then got sidetracked."
Sidetracked. There was only one possibility. "You ditched me for a girl." I wasn't even surprised. A glance over my shoulder showed an untouched back seat and no nasty smells, so I teased, "Struck out?"
His eyes rolled. "I'm not as much of an ass as you and Harper claim. I asked her on a date. Her dad doesn't let her, but she'll be at the party tonight."
"You didn't go to the book club meeting." In hindsight, I was grateful for that. "So, I don't have to go to the party."
"Please, Ellie."
Jake never went on dates –unless Camille's staged social media evidence counted– or used the word, please. I pulled my lips to one side. "Is this a genuine liking thing?"
"I'd like it to be."
My shoulders slumped, but I couldn't help teasing, "Guess you'll have to work a little harder, for once."
"Right." He snorted. "What did Hightower want? Don't tell me the fucking book club."
A thick lump formed in my throat. "He wanted to apologize."
It was the partial truth, but Jake's head swiveled like I dropped a truth bomb in the car. "For what?"
"Some of his JV teammates came to my work." I looked away. The car stopped with a screech and a jolt snapped my head. "The hell, Jake?"
"Ellie!" His eyes burned by the time I lifted my heavy gaze. "You didn't tell me!"
"You were gone in camp." Lame, but obvious. "They were jerks."
"Fuck." He wrenched the steering wheel and resumed driving. "He probably sent them."
"He didn't do anything," I admitted. "And he sounded genuinely sorry."
"Because he's fucking playing you!" Jake's voice dropped so low, I strained to hear. "He will be sorry. It's bad enough I had to talk to Stringbean Henderson-"
My neck pinched from how fast I turned my head. "Alex!? What the fuck did you say to him?"
No wonder Alex was acting off. Argh! How could he? These were my relationships, not his. No wonder I only had Harper for a friend. He overstepped a major boundary. The tension in Jake's jaw slacked, but his gaze burned dark. "I talked to him after you asked me about him. Nothing I didn't say to the rest of my team."
Oh, gosh. Jake's warnings were as subtle as a brick thrown through a window. He earned himself a hard nipple pinch. "What?" I cranked a quarter turn with each word. "Alex was my friend! Jake, you have no right!"
"Ellie," he cut me off with a vehement look and pushed my hand away. His nostrils flared, and a flush of red spread across his cheeks. A giant finger jabbed the air near my nose. "No guy, nerd or jock, but especially Hightower and his fucking teammates, will treat you like shit! Not as long as I have breath in my lungs, Ellie."
I wanted to pull my hair out or claw my eyes until they bled. He was so entrenched in stubborn guilt that I couldn't talk sense into him. "Stop butting into my relationships!"
"Relationship? Relationship!?" Jake's roaring voice bounced around the interior. "Now you're in a fucking relationship with Hightower?"
"What?" My gasp swallowed my whisper. "No. I didn't know why he was here, but he apologized for the shit his teammates did. Why can't you accept that's it?"
"Because it can't be," he snapped. "There has to be another reason."
He clenched his teeth, trapping whatever crazy assumptions he had behind them. I closed my eyes with a frustrated exhale and cupped my forehead. Why did it feel like we dodged a small bullet by loading a larger one? "I know you think you're protecting me, but whatever insane misdirection you're spiraling down? Stop it, Jake."
I reached over and pinched his arm. Jake squirmed and shook my fingers off. "You stop it. Ellie, I mean it. Stay away from that asshole."
Fuck, I was trying to! I wanted to yell those words, but instead bit my lip and closed my eyes to steady the beats pounding in my chest. Once calmer, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my history to Logan's tired lines. I felt trapped inside a game where I didn't know the rules, pausing my finger over my screen.
Was I making a mistake? With a side glance at Jake, curiosity over the real story going on rose in me. There was more here than Logan having simple interest and Jake being stupidly overprotective. I'd never seen someone unhinge him so easily.
So, for that reason alone, I unblocked Logan's number.
Not a single other reason. Nope.