“This was as helpful and touching as ever, Mother,” I said dryly into the phone. “But I’ve got class in twenty. I’d better go.”
Before she could say good bye or anything else, I hung up the phone and put it on silent. I didn’t want to deal with anyone after that guilt trip.
Shoving my phone into my bag, I marched determinedly down the hall towards my class. It really was starting in about twenty minutes, and though it was still early to head that way, I didn’t want to risk running into Logan again.
I cringed a little as I walked. Like he would be waiting for me anywhere at this point. After what he heard me tell Miranda, there was a good chance he was never going to even look in my direction again, much less be interested in catching me before class.
My chest clenched in response to this knowledge. I tried to tell myself it was for the best, that whatever he felt about me now, whatever his opinion, it was for the best. The whole point was to get him out of my life, wasn’t it?
No reason to feel badly about it now…
I turned a corner and ended up running straight into Mason.
He looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him, his eyebrows high on his forehead and his eyes a little wide. Once he recovered, he smiled at me. “Hey, Addy. How’re you? I haven’t seen you in forever it seems like.”
Yeah, not since I hunted him down in class and dragged him out into the hall to yell at him about Logan. In retrospect, I was sort of right in giving him hell about introducing me to someone like Logan. It was for the wrong reasons, because Logan wasn’t the violence I had been expecting, but he was definitely trouble—and he was going to ruin all that I had worked so hard for.
“It’s been a while,” I admitted, forcing a smile. I actually was kind of happy to see him. Mason had become one of my better friends here at the university and I missed spending time with him. “What have you been up to?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “The usual. Class, hanging out, keeping Mark out of trouble.” He grinned and my smiled widened, turning genuine. Mark was known to be the more troublesome of the two twins, often dragging Mason into things that he’d just as soon not be a part of.
“Might as well be a full time job,” I told him.
Nodding, he said, “What about you? You were… intense the last time I saw you, and then you just disappeared.”
I blushed a little at the mention of my embarrassing performance that day in the hall. It was pretty dumb of me to have been so… reactive. “Oh, I just got a little busy. I was pretty crazy that day. All over the place.” I leaned in closer to him and whispered jokingly, “Probably that time of the month.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s such a girl excuse.”
I shoved at his shoulder. “Only because it’s true.”
Not bothering to argue the point further, he turned back the way he came so that he could walk with me as I continued on my way to class. “I’m actually glad I ran into you,” he told me. “I'm having another little get together at my place this weekend.” Quickly, he added, “No Logan—or Lexie. Just me, Mark, Danny, and Kass if she can pull herself away from that new guy of hers.”
I laughed. “Good luck on that one. They might as well be joined at the hip.”
Groaning, he threw up his hands in overly dramatic fashion. “I know. Crushes are overrated and make it so much harder on the rest of us.”
Smiling, I nodded. “Agreed. I think she definitely needs an intervention. I’ll talk to her about it.”
“Thanks,” he said, then nudged my shoulder. “And while you’re at it, you can just drag her there yourself.”
The implication was clear and I decided not to argue with him. “Alright then. You got it. When is it again?”
There was a moment of surprised silence as he just stared at me. He had clearly not been expecting me to accept so easily. Usually, I was all about putting up a fight. It was pure academics for me, but right now I knew better than to think I could just sit in my room and pretend to focus on papers or studying. I needed some time with friends—the good, non-partying kind of friends, and Mason fit the bill. And with the guarantee that there would be no Logan (or Lexie) there, I felt pretty good about saying yes.
“What?” I asked innocently.
He pulled himself together and smiled quickly. “Nothing, nothing at all. It’s Saturday at six. Only a couple of hours for a movie. Plenty of time to add in some studying.” He winked at me.
“You got it,” I said, smiling.
“Great,” he replied, still trying to shake off his obvious surprise.
We stopped outside my classroom, and I waved good bye. As I entered the class, I felt a little better about everything. Mason had managed to give me hope where everything else that day had been making me feel like there was little reason to keep trying.
Class was boring and saw more ups and downs from me than an elevator. For a while, Mason’s party idea distracted me from the mess that was my life. Hanging out with him and other friends promised to be a mostly stress free event. No one knew what had transpired between Logan and me, though Kass knew something was going on with me and him. Which meant that in all likelihood no one was going to bring up an awkward topic.
Especially since neither Logan nor Lexie would be there.
The idea calmed me, but as class progressed, my good mood faded. Every dark head of hair made me think of Miranda. Every whisper made me think that everyone in the class was talking about me. That they somehow knew what was going on.
I tried to focus on taking notes, pulling out my notebook and scribbling down a few key ideas. But as my interest waned, as it always inevitably did, I found myself thinking of the things that were troubling me once again.
Kids came through the door late after class already started and I imagined that it was Miranda appearing in my class.
Everything set me off, making my jump in nervous reaction. My paranoia had me chewing on my nails and biting on my lower lip until it bled.
I was freaked out by the time class was over. I packed up my things as quickly as I could, trying to only think about my next class. Worrying over academics was preferable to everything else that was going on.
As I walked down the hall, there was a buzzing in my pocket. I cringed as I pulled it out, dreading the text that would be there. Every text I received, I imagined was from my mother or from Miranda trying to torture me for my sins. I’d had to turn it back onto vibrate after my first class, because there was a study group that I was running after school and people were trying to reach me.
None of the texts were actually from my mother or Miranda or Logan or anyone that was putting me on edge. They were all about the study group and one from Mason about the party, and finally one from Kass reminding me to bring my notes to lunch.
She’d missed our English Lit class the other day and I was going to let her copy down notes for it. Not that I had a lot to offer, but at least I was actually there.
I texted her back, Of course. And after my last morning class got out, I headed in that direction. My mind was full of thoughts of Miranda and Beck, of the tides that tore my life apart years ago. I was so distracted that I almost didn’t see him.
I wish I hadn’t.
Logan was standing down the hall from me on the other side of the cafeteria doors. I wouldn’t have to pass him to reach the lunch room. In fact, I could easily just pretend he didn’t exist and call it a day. That’s what I should have done… but I had always had trouble pulling away from him.
His muscled body leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, emphasizing his strong biceps and the trim line of his waist. He had a lazy smile on his face, one that suggested that he was being sly… and that whatever he was doing, he already had this in the bag.
When I spotted the girl standing beside him, a cute, petite blonde with too much eye make-up and pale pink lipstick, I knew what that smile was about.
He was flirting with her and she was flirting right back, complete with twirlin
g of her hair and that obnoxious popping of her bubble gum. What was she, twelve?
Hurt swelled inside me, and then it changed to anger. I felt it surge within me and before I could make the rational decision—to walk into the lunch room and forget all about him and the stupid girl—my feet were propelling me forward towards them.
She saw me coming before he did. Her expression was snide at first, but then she saw something in mine that had her worried. She frowned and straightened up, looking right past Logan at me.
I was on the war path, I realized, and she would likely be a casualty.
Her sudden change in demeanor caused Logan to look over his shoulder. He saw me and his stormy eyes flashed momentarily between emotions that I couldn’t quite decipher quick enough. They were all running through so quickly.
I reached the two of them, and the atmosphere between them had shifted dramatically. The girl was no longer flirty, but instead defensive and a little scared, I thought. Logan, too, had lost his flirtatious edge and shifted into something that was a lot like stilted anger.
But they didn’t stop talking. Even when I cleared my throat and tapped my foot on the floor as I stood right beside him.
“How about Friday night?” he asked her. His voice was smooth and probably very seductive, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she could hear the chill and anger beneath it.
I couldn’t help but wonder if it meant that he was doing this to get back at me…
“That sounds great,” she said, beaming at him. Her bright smile dimmed noticeably when her eyes inadvertently darted over to me. “Um, do you have a piece of paper? I’ll give you my number.” She clicked her pen and I noticed that it was a sparkly pink shade.
I clenched my hands around my arms, seething despite myself.
Logan’s eyes darted over to me and then back to the little blonde tart. He grinned, offering the palm of his hand. “No. But you can write it on me.” He winked at her and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
This was dumb. Why didn’t they just put her number or vice versa into their contacts list on their phones? No one needed this paper and pen nonsense.
And she definitely didn’t need to be curling her delicate, bony fingers around his strong hand, giggling as she wrote—in bright, sparkly pink—her digits.
Really, what got to me was how he had spent so long avoiding touching me with his hands. All that bullshit about him feeling like he was dangerous and would hurt me if he touched me because of his family… As I stared at their hands now, I realized just how much I’d let him play me.
I felt like an idiot. What had I been thinking?
“Call me Friday.” She batted her heavily mascaraed eyes at him. “Or anytime.”
With that, she turned away and sauntered off, shaking what ass she had at him as she went.
If I could have shot daggers at her with my eyes, I would have.
Not that it was supposed to matter to me. Him finding some other girl to fixate on was the whole point. I needed to distance myself from him and keep away from all these bad boy things. But I couldn’t deny that I didn’t like seeing him with her. It hurt. My chest ached a little to think that he so easily moved on from me.
A big part of me had been hoping that he was going to be hooked and try fighting for me like one of those crazy romance novels. Like nothing would stop him until he got what he wanted—me.
All of which was very stupid. After all, I had told him first that our… tryst was nothing more than a fling.
I expected Logan to turn and walk away now that he was done flirting with that walking disaster of a freshman, but instead he turned to face me. He folded his arms again and his stormy eyes were cool as they stared into mine.
“Well, that didn’t take you long,” I told him, my tone biting.
His eyes flashed, but he barked out a sharp laugh to try to defuse whatever he was actually feeling. “Look who’s talking. Last I heard we weren’t anything to each other, so there’s not much to get over, right?”
His words cut and I had to fight not to wince against them. “At least I’m not sleazing it up with the first flirt I could find.”
He lifted his shoulders in a shrug, making my eyes focus on his rippling muscles. “It’s easier for some of us than others, but don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find someone to take you. Eventually.”
I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping open slightly. I couldn’t believe he had just said that. “I can get any guy I want,” I told him, though it was a bluff. I wasn’t bad looking and I had a rather large chest that appealed to a lot of the male persuasion, but I was also considered a stiff, nerdy girl. It was a turn off to a lot of guys, and it didn’t help that I was trying so hard to avoid most of the guys I was attracted to. “I just have standards,” I slung at him.
He raised a single eyebrow. “Right. Standards. Whatever you have to keep telling yourself.”
Before I could respond, he turned away and stalked off. I thought about going after him, about yelling at him that he was just a big jerk and that he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. But the moment was gone and I let it go.
Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. There was no point in trying to win this fight. Angrily, I stomped towards the lunch room and told myself that I was done with him. For good.
Chapter 3
Miranda was only a freshman and even with the honors classes and advanced placements she had, she wasn’t in any of mine. Fact was, I didn’t really see her at all.
Except when she wanted me to.
It was never in the library I ran into her, or at a coffee lounge. It wasn’t at study groups or tutoring sessions. None of that. Those were all good girl things that she didn’t care about.
It took me a little longer than it maybe should have for me to realize what she was doing. She was waiting for me to slip up. She was looking for the same hellion I had been years ago and that’s why I saw her at the frat parties and the bars.
She was looking for me in all of the bad girl places that I would have once upon attended.
That being the case, I wouldn’t have seen her at all. I had done such a good job of reforming myself that I didn’t even get invited to parties anymore. Unless someone needed help studying for a test or something else academic, I was deliberately excluded from the party phone tree.
But there were exceptions.
I occasionally was at a frat house. The twins lived in one and even though things had been strained between me and Mason after the whole accusing Logan of being a dangerous prick, I still went over there to hang out. He’d invited me to his little get together with friends that weekend, and I didn’t turn him down. And just because the twins were decent human beings, that didn’t mean that their brothers were, too. The result was a bunch of rowdy guys playing drinking games while we hung out in the living room.
And that’s where I saw Miranda first.
I walked by myself to the twins’ frat house. Kass was coming, too, but she’d gotten held up by James. Things were getting pretty serious between the two of them and the result was me seeing less and less of her. Right now that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. If she wasn’t around too much there was less chance that she wouldn’t catch on to what was really going on.
The downside was that I just missed her. Kass had become a pretty important part of my life lately. I shoved my hands into my pockets, shrugging my shoulders to push my scarf and collar higher up on my neck to keep warm. Kass being so important to me… well, it made me feel a little funny.
Was that betraying Beck by finding someone else to take her place? In my heart, that’s what it felt like.
The frat house came into view and I went quickly up the steps. The lights were on and I could hear voices inside letting me know that other people had already arrived. I lifted my hand and knocked, waiting in the cold for only a little bit before the door opened.
Mason stood on the other side, grinning when he saw me. “Hey. You made it.” He ope
ned the door further, stepping aside so that I could come inside.
I smiled and nodded, heading into the warmth of the hall. “Sure did. Am I late?”
Mason shook his head, closing the door behind me. “Nah. Mark hasn’t even shown up yet and Danny’s still arguing over movies. I keep telling her that Don’t Die Again is a terrible movie, but she’s adamant about it.”
I laugh. Danny’s been obsessed with horror movies for as long as any of us have known her, and a lot longer than that. “Didn’t she pick last time?” I offered as a means of getting out of another horror movie disaster.
Thinking it over, he smiled slyly and nodded. “You know what? You’re right. She definitely doesn’t get to pick again.”
As it turned out, she did get to pick again. Mason wanted some action movie with lots of guns and sex, while I wanted a documentary on the Amazon Rainforest. The result was letting Danny pick because we could at least all enjoy it—even if it was only through enjoying hating it.
Mason was in the kitchen making popcorn when the next knock on the door came. I looked at Danny who waved at me to go ahead and get it. We were expecting people and we were close enough to the twins that no one was going to say boo about it if I answered the door.
I did and it was Kass on the other side. She had that glow on her face that she always got after spending time with James.
I rolled my eyes at her. “Have a good time?” I asked, smiling a little.
She nodded her head, coming inside. I closed the door behind her and we walked to the living room. “Oh, he’s so great, Addy,” she gushed. There would have been stars and hearts in her eyes if she were a cartoon character. “We just curled up on the couch and talked for hours. About nothing! And everything.”
Shaking my head, I laughed at her. “Sounds… stimulating.”
She nodded again, vigorously. As we reached the living room the smell of fresh popcorn hit my nostrils and I spotted Mason joining us from the kitchen. “That smells awesome,” I told him.
He smiled and offered me the bowl. I grabbed a handful before passing it on to Danny. She put it in her lap, once more taking up her seat on the floor, her back against the couch. Kass and I sat on the couch while Mason took a chair adjacent from where I was sitting. Danny put in the movie, starting it up and pressing play.
Wrecked Book 3 Page 2
