The Complete Box Set: Saving Her

by Bry Ann

  “I’ll tell you all my secrets when you tell me all yours ...and about your family.”

  Logan looked down solemnly, “My mom ….”

  “Wait you’re gonna tell me,” I asked mortified.

  He smiled. “Yes, I am.”

  “Can I take back my offer? I was kidding.”

  “Too late, but as you said in the car, I won’t judge you either.”

  “Fantastic.”

  My lips pursed involuntarily.

  Logan smiled and continued. “My parents have been obsessed with money and fame for as long as I can remember. I was doing commercials by the time I was two. I was blonde with blue eyes and a cute face, perfect for commercials. I was working by the time I was four. I was in lots of stuff. It’s where I, uh, got my start. My sister was born when I was almost two. She’s her own kind of cute. She’s a normal, average girl. Slightly chubby, but that’s always added to her beauty. I’m pretty sure Dana was born with anxiety. The world always seemed to scare her, while I always seemed to embrace it. Because of my sister’s lack of ‘commercial’ looks and anxiety my parents ostracized her. She was the only person who just loved me for me you know.”

  I watched Logan intently. His eyes were no longer on the shore but trapped in the memories of his past.

  “We’d sit on her bed and sneak cookies from the pantry. She’d always ask me to braid her hair, and I’d say yes because it meant she’d listen to me vent for a while. She’s my best friend.

  “Anyway, when I was 15 my sister was beaten and raped by her boyfriend, her first boyfriend I may add. She was 13. 13!” His voice cracked, and jaw twitched. “My parents blamed her and gave her the most basic of medical care, and we were well off. Beyond well off. I was making good money even then. My sister was a wreck after that happened. She hid away and cried herself to sleep every night. No one seemed to notice. No one seemed to notice the cuts on her arms, but I did. I begged them to help her, but they just kept throwing me in auditions. I was beginning to become famous. This was right around the time I booked my first TV show. I wanted to stay home and help Dana, but I didn’t feel I had a choice when it came to work, and I did like doing it. Between work, fame, and girls I didn’t make time for my sister. She slipped through the cracks, and my parents were just happy to have a good-looking son who was wracking in the money for them.

  “I was 17 when it happened. I had just come back from a trip to Ireland for a job I did. I walked a girl out of the house and went up to the bathroom we shared down the hall from our rooms. When I walked in my sister was hanging from the ceiling with a makeshift rope around her neck. Luckily, the tip of one foot was still on the chair. I think the rope was too tight and she ran out of air before she fully stepped off the chair or maybe she didn’t want to die. That’s what I like to tell myself. Anyway, I screamed bloody murder, and my dad rushed her to the hospital.”

  I gasped and a tear slipped from my eye.

  “She lived,” he said quickly, “but it was a journey. Our parents wouldn’t pay for her psychiatric treatment and sent her home immediately. I tried to talk to her, but I was extremely famous at that point, and we didn’t know each other anymore. She always had my back, but I never had hers. She had no reason to trust me, and she didn’t. She didn’t try to kill herself again, but only because I begged her not to. I manipulated and guilt-tripped her into her into not doing it. However, three months later the… the…” Logan’s voice cracked. For a moment he turned away.

  I set my hand on his shoulder.

  “It’s okay Logan. I got you. Keep going.”

  He nodded and cleared his voice.

  “Three months later a reporter got wind of the situation, and it was all over the tabloids. Luckily, they only knew of her suicide attempt and not the rape or my parents’ reaction or the toll it took on me, but still, it destroyed my sister. What little piece of her that was left broke. All the life left her eyes. I watched it leave Sam. I confronted my parents, told them I was using my money to get her treatment, to help her. They refused. They blamed her for being stupid and, I quote, ‘dating a rapist.’ She heard them and used a razor to cut a huge gash down her left arm to help ease the pain she felt inside. I rushed her to the hospital, and my parents refused to come. Downright refused. They fucking USED ME my whole life and refused to save the ONLY PERSON that mattered to me! I picked my sister up and vowed never to speak to my parents again…and I haven’t.”

  My jaw was dropped, and tears rolled down my face.

  “What’s her name?”

  He smiled softly, “Dana… Dana Prescott.”

  “Lovely name. Where is she now?”

  “She lives in an apartment here in Nashville, as part of a group home that helps people with depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. The press has no idea she’s here or honestly that she’s even alive. My constant trouble has kept them occupied and away from my family.”

  “So that’s why you always come to Nashville for your breaks?”

  “Yeah, that’s why.”

  “My heart breaks for her.”

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Genuinely caring about what happened to her. I knew I liked you.”

  I gave him a soft smile. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure…”

  “How do you deal with it? The fame and all that. It seems like an absolute nightmare.”

  “You know you are the only person I know who would say that.”

  “Yeah well, it’s gotta be hard.”

  “No, it is. It’s hard. I’m lucky I was young when I got started in all this. Not to mention I didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t until I got older and my fame started getting out of control, that I started to recognize how seriously fame was affecting my life. It’s hard to maintain friendships, relationships, really anything normal and I miss it. Honestly, despite everything, I’m just a normal guy, and I’m constantly treated like I’m something special. It’s annoying and…isolating.”

  “How do you deal with it?”

  “Well, I have my sister. She grounds me. Not even intentionally either. She just doesn’t let me act like act like an idiot. If I act differently, she calls me out regardless of my mood. I need that, and I owe her so much. Also, I just try to be grateful for the life I have. I mean I’m lucky. I get to do what I love, and I do love acting and music. Financially, I am very lucky. I focus on the positives because it’s all worth it if it means I can act and do what I love. Besides fame can be fun sometimes.”

  “I see. Well, you aren’t at all what I thought you’d be. We can be friends.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, you can’t change your mind after what I say next.”

  “What?” I asked with a flushed face.

  He smiled. “Your turn.”

  “Oh fuck!”

  “Wow, fuck, must be a good secret then.”

  “I’m pretty sure you know the worst of it. I don’t think I can be humiliated any more than the night my mom yelled out in front of you I was fucking a sleazy bartender. I mean what else do you want to know?”

  “I won’t overwhelm you,” he said seriously, “We will start with just one thing…. Why did you hate me so much…? Other than the playboy sleeping around, having a history of pot thing.”

  I dropped my head. “My mom, the woman you met, isn’t my actual mother. I was adopted. I don’t know who my actual mother is, but I do know who my father is. He’s… Rogan Sallus, the famous producer.”

  Logan’s jaw hit his chest.

  “Yeah, I wrote to him when my mom’s cancer hit stage 3. I begged him for money, for help, for anything. You know I’m not the type to ask for help, but I was desperate. You know what he said back. He said he didn’t even know what kid I was and not to bother writing to him again. I was no longer his business.” I felt my jaw clench. “I hated you because your fame, status, reputation reminded me of him and because…”

  �
��Because I just signed a multi-million-dollar record deal...with him.”

  Logan’s eyes sharpened and there was an unmistakable look of disappointment in his eyes.

  “Yeah.”

  He looked down at his chest. I set my arm on his shoulder and stood up.

  “Don’t worry about it. I … you’re my friend now. You didn’t know. It’s fine.”

  Logan mumbled something but I didn’t hear him. I was too busy placing my hands in the water, feeling the cold-water wash over them. I felt Logan watching me.

  “Now to lighten things up,” he threw the backpack at me.

  I caught it quickly. “Woah! What the hell?”

  I started to unzip it when I heard shuffling behind me. I turned around and realized Logan was taking off his shirt.

  “W

  “Woah, what are you doing?”

  He laughed. “Open the backpack.”

  I hesitantly did and found six bathing suits.

  “What is this?”

  “We are going swimming. My bottoms are swimsuit trunks, but they double as shorts. Perks of being able to buy expensive brands.”

  “Okay, I am not wearing a bathsuit with you here.”

  Yeah, that was a no. Especially with him standing behind me with his perfect six pack.

  “I thought you’d say that. Hence the six bathsuits. All different styles. I’m sure you will find one you are comfortable in.”

  “Logan,” I groaned.

  “Oh, you’ll be fine. The waters are beautiful. Deal with it. Oh, and Sam?”

  I looked up from the backpack.

  “Yes?”

  “You don’t have to avoid looking at me. I’m shirtless, not naked.”

  I quickly glanced up at him mortified.

  “I … I wasn’t…. I…”

  “Just get your bathing suit on,” he said laughing. “There are some trees over there you can change behind. This place is private. I promise no one will see you. Despite my lapse that first day we were in public I'm careful and experienced, I’ve checked this place out numerous times for ways press or people could get in. There isn’t one.”

  I nodded and grabbed a black surfer swimsuit. It had a short sleeve tight swim shirt and shorts. It was the second most modest swimsuit there. The other swimsuit was literally for 80-year-olds. I had to avoid being that shy. Logan was still hot, and I couldn’t help but care a little if he thought I was a total granny. I knew I wasn’t pretty, but I wasn’t a grandma.

  I went behind the trees and changed real quick. When I walked out, Logan was still in the water. I felt so shy about showing off my average body. My body shook. I had my hand wrapped around my waist and walked out slowly. Logan smiled at me from inside the water. It was hard to believe just a few minutes ago he shared so much of himself with me. He’d been through more than I thought, and I admired him for cutting it off with his parents and supporting his sister.

  “You know if you come in the water you won’t feel so embarrassed about your swimsuit,” Logan said laughing. “I knew you’d pick that one by the way.”

  I ran into the water at full speed going waist deep, and he laughed.

  “I hate swimsuits,” I grumbled.

  “Why? You look cute.”

  “Cute?”

  “Hot? Sexy? I figured you’d get all nervous if I said those words.”

  I laughed and splashed water on him.

  “You are so freaking blunt!” I squealed.

  He laughed and splashed me back.

  “And did you honestly think I’d pick that tiny ass freaking bikini.”

  “A man can hope.”

  “Oh, trust me. You don’t want to see this body in a bikini. You’ve been with like 20 models. You can go to them for bikini frolicking.”

  Logan laughed and swam over to me getting very close to my body, once again lighting it up.

  “What?” I mumbled trying not to acknowledge the desire coursing through me. Friends. We are friends.

  “You have a tattoo?” he said. “I saw it when you were walking over.”

  “Shit! That’s a secret.”

  “Not anymore. What’s it of?”

  “Ugh, just drop it, Logan.”

  Logan placed a hand on my hip where the tattoo was.

  “Tell me something about yourself. Something nobody else knows.”

  “I think I just did. You know about my mom, my dad, my tattoo. What else is there?”

  Logan smiled and took a step back. “I’ll correct what I said. Tell me something silly about you. Some stupid quirk you have or a guilty pleasure no one knows about.”

  Thump. Thump. Thump. My heart was hammering away in my chest. I couldn’t fight how he made me feel.

  “Why would I tell you that? Why would you even want to know that?”

  “Because I do. Not everything needs long drawn out explanations. It’s what friends do.”

  “That feels like more than friends.”

  Logan shrugged. I sighed and turned away from him slightly.

  “Fine. I write in a journal every night. It’s my way of coping. It’s always been there for me.”

  Logan’s stared at me intently. “I have never made it through one of my crazy movie diets without cheating. Not once.”

  That made me smile. “That makes me like you more.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “Does it?”

  “Yes. I like food. It’s good to know you like it too once in a while. This is fun. Okay, I’m a huge female cliché. I eat a piece of chocolate every single day. Twice when I need it.”

  He smirked at me. His eyes were so light. “I’m a huge Star Wars fan. I’m a mega fun.”

  “I knew you were a secret nerd! Oh my gosh.” I laughed. “This is stellar. Do you like Marvel too?”

  “I can’t reveal all my secrets.” He winked.

  “Yes! I knew there was a reason I got along with you. Don’t worry I won’t tell the press that behind your suave hair and sexy black attire you probably have a star wars t-shirt hidden in your hotel.”

  “You think my clothes are sexy.”

  “I don’t. The world does.” Eeeek. Exit this conversation. Exit this conversation.

  Logan smiled and shook his head, but he didn’t give me too much crap about it. Fear started to creep up in my body like a snake strangling out all of my hope.

  He’ll leave me when his time in Nashville is up. This will end, and it will be harder to adjust to my life if I let this kind of happiness in now. I swam away and kicked my feet up, so I was floating, looking up at the sky. It was so calm. I wished life was always like that. I wished I didn’t constantly have the pressure of life and death hanging over my head, but I did. and that train for that was dangerous.

  I felt Logan swim up closer to me.

  “What just happened?”

  “Nothing.”

  I heard him sigh, he knew I’d closed off from him, and he knew not to push. He ran his hand down my arm and swam away. For the next hour or so we made small talk, swam, splashed each other and gazed at the sky. It was honestly a perfect day. As the sky started to go dark, I heard the sound of water splashing. I looked up and saw Logan toweling off. I followed him out of the water. He handed me a towel and smiled. I took it and started to dry off. When we were both toweled off and changed, Logan took something out of his pocket and handed it to me. I took the plastic white card out of his hand.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a key card to this place. I got you a copy. You can come here anytime.”

  “Oh my gosh. Thank you!” I threw my arms around him. I think the genuine act of gratefulness threw him off guard because it took him a few seconds to return the hug, but when he did it was warm and friendly.

  “You know, you are a lot more pleasant when you get a little piece and quiet. I need to get you away from the world more often.” The sound of his laughter was the only thing keeping me from actually being offended.

  “Logan!” I slapped him hard on t
he arm. “Fuck you.”

  “No, but I’d fuck you, babe,” he whispered in my ear with a wink before trudging off ahead of me and leaving my jaw open.

  “You’re so dirty,” I mumbled, “But you are pretty hot Logan Prescott.”

  I knew he couldn’t hear me. I wouldn’t have said it near that dude’s large ego. We rode in the car to my house, and it was a nice conversation. Nothing was weird. In fact, for someone who was so adamant about not having friends, I sure was taking to being friends with him easily. It was peaceful to be with him and talk to him, and he genuinely seemed to enjoy my company, which I’ll be honest, that was rare. Most people could only handle me in small doses. Logan, however, just seemed to get me. When we pulled up to my house I went to grab the door handle, but Logan reached for my arm pulling me back a bit.

  “Yeah?”

  “I wanna go see my sister tomorrow. I was wondering,” Logan began running his hands through his shaggy blonde hair, “if you…. wanted to come.”

  I smiled in a comforting way, sensing his nerves. I was noticing he always ran his hand through his hair when he was nervous.

  “I’d love to Logan. It’ll be fun. We can grab lunch or something.”

  Logan looked down.

  “What is it Logan?”

  “Sam, my manager called me. There is more press in town than usual. They know I'm here. Yes, Nashville is not as bad as LA, but I am nervous that they are gonna find out we’ve been hanging out. If they do, pictures will go up, rumors will fly, you will be bugged, blah blah blah. I don’t care, but I know you do. We are gonna be beyond careful, but also you are going to have to be aware that there is a risk involved with being my friend. It’s your choice. I won’t be able to stop it this time if something gets out.”

  I looked down at my hands and then back up at him. He looked incredibly nervous.

  “I’m coming to enjoy being your friend Logan. Just give me a day to think.”

  “Okay. That’s fair. Have a great night Sam.”

  “I will. And Logan...thanks for everything.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Once I was out of the car, I poked my head back in for a second. “I’m just referring to the key card for the lake by the way. Nothing else.”

  I winked and walked away to the sound of his laughter.