by Janie Marie
“Of course not.” She crossed her arms, wondering all the while why Ryder and Logan sounded so much alike. “I didn’t use Trevor to get close to him. I only met him at their apartment. But that’s not why we’re dating.”
“Listen, honey,” he said—again, sounding an awful lot like Logan. “I’ll give you some advice. Although, I doubt you’ll be smart enough to use it.”
“Excuse me?” She put her hands on her hips.
“I’m going to give you advice,” Ryder said, not at all fazed by her anger. “Whether you use it or not matters little to me. But because I love my girlfriend, and she has a ridiculous attachment to that fucker, I’m going to be nice and help him out.”
“Babe, do you hear that?” Savaş nudged Monica. “Ryder’s going to be nice.”
“Shut up,” Monica said, slapping her huge boyfriend’s hands from her waist. “I want to look at Logan.”
Tonia and Elise giggled while Savaş glared at her.
Monica was practically drooling. “He’s like the sexiest thing to ever walk the Earth.”
“Monica,” said Ryder, glaring at the girl who was swooning over another man in front of her own boyfriend. “Will you shut the f—“
“Oh, shut it, Ryder,” she said, moving away from Savaş. “We all know God made you the ultimate eye-candy—I just want to look at one of the runners-up.”
“You’re cut off from any dick tonight,” Savaş said, walking away.
“Wait!” Monica ran after him. “Baby, don’t be mad.”
Ryder shook his head before focusing on Kylie. “I don’t know what game you two are playing. Obviously, Janie is hearing Logan’s side, and by the way she’s reacting, I’m going to say you and Logan have done something really stupid.”
“Uh.” She was silenced when he shook his head, glaring a bit as he did so.
“Don’t try to make up some lie to cover your tracks—I see them, and you’re not Logan’s real girlfriend.” Ryder’s expression darkened. “Now, whatever dumb idea you have concocted together, drop it. It won’t work, and everyone will get hurt. And if this is some dumb plan for him to get Janie back, I’ll kill him—and you for helping him.”
Now she understood his line of thought, and it was complete bullshit. “What I do has nothing to do with your girlfriend. There’s no game.”
Ryder snorted. “Yeah, and Logan looked at you and completely got over Janie.”
Tercero covered his eyes, sighing. “Brother, some sensitivity might be useful.”
Kylie’s eyes welled up with tears, and she hated it. She wasn’t sad—she was mad.
Ryder narrowed his eyes at Kylie. “Just tell Logan you want him and get over whatever it is that made you come up with your little plan. Maybe he’ll see a reason to let go and start something new.”
Kylie’s anger collapsed, and she let her sorrow show. “He doesn’t want me the way I want him. He’s just helping me out because I have my own problems. It has nothing to do with her.”
“Logan’s into you,” Tercero said, lowering his hand.
Archer spoke up next, “Our big brother just likes to find reasons to kill Logan. You’d be a distant memory for Logan if he didn’t like you. Definitely not some girl he’s letting rumor spread that he picked to replace Janie.”
Ouch.
She rubbed under her eyes. She wanted to tell them Logan wasn’t doing any of this to get Janie—that they were all assholes, but she was more consumed by the fact they were trying to help, even if they were mean. “Why do you care about me?”
Ryder frowned. “I don’t care about you.”
Archer snickered, which only made the importance she’d felt rising with them vanish. They were just mean, and they wanted to praise Janie instead of accepting she was the one Logan was with.
Tercero settled his black eyes on her. “Janie and Logan are friends—she wants Logan to be happy. We care about seeing her happy for him.”
“It’s not her business.” Kylie dropped her gaze when Ryder gave her a piss-inducing glare.
“Yes, it is,” Tercero said, grabbing his girlfriend’s hand. “Take Ryder’s advice and maybe he’ll stop looking at her like he is. And you have a lot to learn about him—he’s not who you think he is.”
“Good luck, Red,” Archer muttered, grabbing his girlfriend’s hand too.
They walked away, leaving Kylie with Ryder. He just kept watching her before holding out his hand behind him.
Kylie wondered what he was doing until Janie appeared and grabbed his hand.
“Sorry. We had to talk about something private,” Janie said softly. Her eyes were a little red, like she’d been about to cry.
There shouldn’t be anything private between them.
Janie smiled sadly at her. “He’s a good guy. He just needs to remember that.”
Kylie wasn’t ready to see the way Logan was looking at his ex, because his ex wasn’t looking at him like an ex-girlfriend with a boyfriend of her own should.
Ryder wrapped an arm around Janie’s shoulders. “Come on, baby girl. I’ll buy you a shake and fries, and you can show me if you’re wearing panties or not.”
Janie chuckled, looking away from Logan. “Bye, Kylie.”
Good riddance. Kylie was torn between rage and sorrow. She could only nod.
“And don’t hurt him”—Janie gave her a big smile—“or I’ll kill you.”
Ryder chuckled and started dragging her away to where the group waited.
Kylie stared after them, watching Ryder kiss her head. Nothing was sweet about it now.
Janie suddenly jerked out of Ryder’s hold and shouted, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you spying over there.”
Everyone looked at where Janie was yelling. Gloria.
“Stay away from Logan,” Janie went on.
Gloria looked frightened as Ryder kept a hold on Janie, keeping her from walking over.
“Yeah, I know your skanky ass is still chasing him,” Janie hollered. “Go learn how to give a proper blow job, then maybe you’ll find some poor fool who wants you. Stupid cunt.”
“Come on, babe,” Ryder told her, pulling her back to him.
Janie grabbed a towel off the ground and chucked it. It landed nowhere near Gloria, but it was obvious Janie had a lot of hate for Gloria. Kylie felt the same rage when she saw the pretty woman walking away, but she didn’t like Janie acting like she had any say in Logan’s life.
“Kylie, you better kick this bitch’s ass if she tries anything. Or I’m fucking both you hoes up!”
Ryder pulled her to the door as the others laughed.
A low chuckle behind Kylie made her jump.
Logan gave her a soft smile. “She’s really not that mean.”
Kylie took a deep breath. “But she’s the girl you said you never had.”
Logan sighed, running his hand through his sweaty hair. “Yeah . . . She told me what happened at school,” he said, smoothly changing the subject. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Janie started the fight before anything more could happen.”
“But they still hurt you.” He moved closer as he trailed his eyes over her. “She told me what they were saying all day, and what those girls said about you.”
Kylie looked down, not wanting him to see how pathetic she had been.
“I know none of that’s true, if you’re worried.”
“I’m not,” she snapped. None of that crap would be true.
“I should have thought about how people would react.” He got even closer. “Girls did the same shit with Janie when we got together. And again when she took up with Ryder.”
“I really don’t want to talk about your ex, Logan.” She gave him a dark stare, hoping he would back off. “It was bad enough hearing all this from her fan club.”
Something sparked in his eye when she looked up at him. Whatever it was, he seemed pleased and nodded. “Right. Well, we have other stuff to talk about anyway. Those girls aren’t going to let this g
o.” He held out his hand. “Come on, Hood. We have shit to do.”
“You’re not even going to apologize for lying?”
He lowered his hand. “Sorry I lied. I had a girlfriend when I was seventeen. We were together until just before my graduation.” He shrugged. “I don’t like to talk about her with people I don’t know, and we don’t know each other. I figured you knew about us since you go to the same school.”
“I only started there last year.” Kylie sighed, drifting her eyes over him as she thought over everything that had happened today. She feared retaliation from Maura. She felt pathetic because she felt inferior to a girl who had once held Logan’s heart in the palm of her hand, and she was sad because he probably still loved that girl too much to ever consider having more with her.
“Baby,” Logan whispered, sliding his hand into hers.
Kylie got lost in his eyes as his other hand came up to hold her cheek.
“I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe, okay?”
She didn’t say anything and closed her eyes when his lips touched her forehead.
“And I’m sorry I sort of lied about not having anyone before. It’s all in the past.”
“It’s fine, Logan. It’s not a big deal.” It was a huge deal. She leaned away from his lips to stare up at him. She had to build up her walls again. “I was just embarrassed, I guess. Meeting the ex when I’m supposedly dating you is a little shocking, you know? And it’s not like you really had to tell me about your past. I’m not your girlfriend.”
“Right. Come on, Hood,” he muttered, grabbing her hand. “I need to change, and you’re not standing out here for all these guys to stare at.” He dragged her away, down the halls she was growing familiar with.
A tiny smile made its way onto her lips because he was holding her hand in front of people. It was a small thing, but after her day, having him just acknowledge her at all was nice. He wasn’t interested in talking about Janie, so that had to be a good sign.
Fourteen
PLAYING
It should be a crime to look that good.
Kylie shook her head and looked away from Logan as he pulled a shirt on.
“Did you get a chance to have lunch, Hood?”
She returned her attention to him. “I kinda didn’t go to the lunchroom today.”
“Why?” He started gathering his things.
“Because everyone was laughing at me.”
He glanced up, his expression unreadable as he studied her face. “Because of me? Or because Trevor was all over you this morning?”
Her mouth fell open. “All over me?”
“Janie told me what everyone was doing and saying at school.” He went back to packing some of his things. “And she mentioned he walked you to class, which I guess started everything. Why was he walking you?”
“Can I not get walked to class?” Her heart pounded away. Why was he asking her about Trevor and caring so much about what Janie had said?
“You can.” He sighed, not giving her a single glance. “Let’s go eat, and then we’ll get you a phone.”
“Are you mad at me?” She didn’t know why she blurted out that question, but she felt like he was mad she’d found out about his lie.
“Mad at you?” He snatched up his bag, heading toward her.
“Yeah.” She watched him, her hands shaking because he probably wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. “Because I found out about Janie. And because I came here with her? I didn’t know they were bringing me here, and I didn’t know she was your ex until we were almost here.”
Logan exhaled as he sat beside her. “I’m not mad you came here with her. I’ve actually been thinking about how to introduce you to her, but I haven’t talked to her for a few weeks.”
Her chest ached, but she didn’t know what she was really feeling. It was true, then—he and Janie were still close. That could either mean he intended on lying all this time, or he hadn’t planned on keeping her around long enough for her to find out.
He took her hand. “I’m sorry you had a bad day. I know exactly what you went through, and if there was something I could’ve done to protect you from those fuckers, I would have. Which is why I’m glad she stepped in. She’s going to be fine but she got hurt, and that bothers me because I hate seeing her hurt. But I’m glad you had someone there.”
Everything he said was hard to swallow. A part of her had been so happy to have someone helping her, but she wasn’t thrilled about it being Janie anymore. She didn’t give a crap that Janie was dumb enough to fight and get hurt.
Kylie found herself getting angrier. “They were pretty brutal with those girls,” she told him, curious about his reaction to his ex-girlfriend beating someone.
He leaned away. “You’re worried about them fighting the girls who would’ve beaten you up?”
“They wouldn’t have hit me.”
“Hood, your stepsister beats you—of course they would’ve hit you.”
“No, they wouldn’t have.” She pressed her lips together as he turned his head away.
His tone became harsher. “What did you want to happen then? Do you want to get beat up in private and then made fun of with no one stepping in? Does verbal abuse not bother you? I don’t say this to be mean given what you’ve been through, but, for me at least, words are a lot more painful than any punch. For Janie, seeing you get talked to like that is horrible.”
Fire burned in her lungs. “Verbal abuse is wrong, and I don’t want to get beat up anywhere. I’m just saying Janie punched Maura just for calling her a cheater, and because she bragged about Ryder cheating too. That’s no reason to punch her—or anyone.”
He let out a dark laugh as he focused on the floor instead of her. “You think she’s okay with being called a cheater? Or being told her boyfriend is cheating? You expect her to just take that in silence?”
“This was about me, not her.” Kylie didn’t know what she was saying anymore, but she couldn’t stop.
Logan let go of her hand. “How do you figure her being called a cheater is about you?”
She glared at him, hating that she already missed his touch. “Those girls surrounded me. I’m not mad someone helped me—I’m just saying beating up a group of girls for talking mean is wrong. They ripped their clothes off and Janie kicked Maura in the vagina. That’s too much. I’m probably in trouble now.”
“So being verbally attacked is fine? Having girls say you were pregnant with your dad’s baby is fine?” He let out a sarcastic laugh as her heart thundered in her chest. “Do you know Janie and Melody used to be best friends until Melody turned every bitch in school on her? All because Janie became my girlfriend.” He shook his head like he couldn’t understand how wrong Janie’s behavior was. “You have no idea what they put her through. Maybe she wanted to stop that from happening to someone else. Damn, why are you focusing on her fighting and not that your sister almost stabbed her?”
“I yelled out when I saw it,” she retorted, frustrated that he was so protective of Janie and angry with her for being logical. “Why don’t you care about me? You’re only worried about Janie getting hurt.”
“I am not.” He stood and glared down at her. “Fuck, Kylie. I don’t even know why we’re fighting about this. Would you rather she’d walked away when she saw them bullying you?”
Honestly, she wished Janie hadn’t butted in, because now Logan was only concerned about his ex. It was almost like if Janie hadn’t interfered, she never would’ve been the ex-girlfriend Logan was still in love with.
He grabbed his bag. “Would you be like this if another girl had taken up for you?”
“Another girl wouldn’t have taken up for me.”
“Then what’s your fucking problem with the one who did?” He wasn’t looking at her like a girl he cared about now. It was almost disgust. “Would it have been fine if it was Trevor who stopped them?”
The problem is she’s your ex! Her eyes were stinging, but she refused to cry or
yell out her jealous thoughts. “I doubt he would beat up a group of girls just for talking crap. You’re missing the point. They would’ve eventually left me alone, but now all this has happened.”
“No, the point is you’re mad I had a girlfriend before I ever knew you,” he said bluntly. “They were harassing you, and she protected you. Trevor used you, and you’re fine with his help but not hers. And lay off her. They shouldn’t have said shit to her.”
“She shouldn’t have used her fists.” She breathed heavily. “And it’s not that you had a girlfriend—it’s that you lied.”
He searched her face for what felt like a long time before finally talking, his tone gentle but still laced with annoyance. “I’m sorry I lied. But what do you want? You want me to lie to you and tell you I never dated her, never loved her?”
The air left her lungs, but by some miracle, she managed to look him dead in the eyes. How could he say that to her?
“I get omitting I’d had a girlfriend was a shitty thing to do,” he said like he was trying to explain something to a child, “but I don’t like talking about losing her. I just don’t understand why any of this even matters to you. You said it yourself—we’re not really together.”
If it was possible to get stabbed in the heart with words, she’d be dead.
“We both know what this is,” he muttered, “and it’s not like this changes anything. I’m still gonna help you, and it’s not like I’m going to treat you like you’re just an extra fuck.”
“Aren’t I?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve told you what you are. I don’t know why you’re so upset with me over this.” He was staring at her like she was the one in the wrong—like she was the liar.
She felt so pathetic, and she absolutely hated it.
“Let’s just go.” Logan shook his head like he couldn’t believe he was still there with her. “I’m not in the mood to fight about this. Janie is my ex, but she’s my best friend too.”
“You said girls are never just friends.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “She’s not just a girl to me—never has been. She’s her own category.”
