Wrecked

by Rachel Hanna

  I thought it over one more time, then smiled at him. I nodded. “Yeah, count me in.”

  He beamed. “Cool. I’ll see you at six.”

  Then he waved and jogged off. He probably was late for class, I realized.

  I mulled over the movie night a little more, wondering what movie it would be and grateful that I had something to keep my mind occupied.

  But my good mood didn’t last for long. My pocket buzzed again, reminding me that I had another message. I cringed, and shoved it into my pocket, unwilling to read any more of my mother’s texts.

  The past was the past, I reminded myself. There was nothing more I could do about it than I already was.

  Chapter 5

  I had my phone out and was fully prepared to text Mason to cancel on him. It was Friday night and what had seemed like an excellent plan two days ago now seemed like a terrible idea. The only thing that was preventing me from completing the call was Kass.

  She was standing in front of me with one hip cocked and her arms crossed over her chest. She looked tiny and fierce and not at all like someone I wanted to pick a fight with. Her strawberry blonde hair was hanging loosely about her in perfectly styled waves, her lip gloss was passion fruit pink¸ and her black lined eyes were narrowed in my direction.

  “Don’t. You. Touch. That. Phone.”

  Her tone was low and dangerous. Well, as low as a five foot nothing strawberry blonde girl could manage without being possessed by the devil.

  “But Kass,” I whined, still gripping my phone with the hope that I could wiggle my way out of this. “I have so much I need to get done this weekend!”

  She didn’t budge. “Yes. This weekend. Friday is technically still a weekday and reserved for the last classes of the week followed by some good old fun with your college friends. Danny would call it a necessary college experience.”

  I glared at her. Danny being an anthropology major had sparked more than a few jokes, but only Kass could manage to use it as a defense for why it was necessary to do something.

  “But—” I tried again, but this time she cut me right off.

  She snatched the phone out of my hand and grabbed my wrist with her other hand. “Come on,” she told me indignantly. “We’re going. You said you would and it’s important to stick to your promises. Especially since this is an important part of studying.”

  I rolled my eyes at her, but allowed my tiny roommate to pull me along behind her towards the door. “How does going to hang out with friends with the intent of watching a movie have anything to do with studying?”

  She glanced over her shoulder at me as we headed out the door and started the walk towards the twins’ house. As a frat, they were located right off campus, too. It was several blocks away from us, but the walk wasn’t bad.

  Her eyes glinted mischievously as she explained her ridiculous theory. “Because, it’s all about balance. If all you do is work, work, work, then it’s inevitable that you’ll have a mental malfunction! Then all your hard work will go down the drain and you’ll be left starting all over. Worse, you’ll do the exact same thing again because you haven’t learned yet that balancing fun and work is all that keeps you from going over the deep end.”

  I laughed, but didn’t protest anymore. It was a ridiculous explanation. I wasn’t in any danger of having a mental breakdown—at least, not from working too hard—but there was a kernel of truth to her story. I had to admit that working all the time was starting to get to me.

  How could I expect myself to devote all my time and attention to nothing but studying?

  Because you already had your fun, a voice whispered in the back of my mind.

  I pushed it away and promised myself that I would spend tonight with my phone off and my mind firmly focused on the here and now. My past wasn’t going to dictate every moment of my waking life.

  We got to the frat house late, nearly twenty after six, but when Kass knocked on the door it opened quickly to reveal Mark.

  “I told you they’d show!” he called over his shoulder back into the house. To us, he said, “C’mon in. ‘Bout time you got here. We’ve already started the movie. There’s popcorn and beer.” He gave me a wink. “But only if you want one.”

  Walking past him into the house, we spotted Mason sitting on the couch, looking over the back towards us and I could just make out Danny’s dark blonde hair. It looked like she was sitting on the floor, and when we came around the corner we saw her eating handfuls of popcorn and staring intently at the television.

  “Hey Mason,” I greeted with a smile.

  He grinned back at me. “Hey. We were beginning to worry that you weren’t going to come.”

  From the kitchen, I heard Mark call over, “You worried. And when I say worried, I mean whined and complained the whole time.”

  Mason grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl sitting on Danny’s lap and threw it across the room at his brother. For all the good it did. Mark just ducked back inside the kitchen, waving off his brother’s attempts at retaliation.

  Kass walked past me to plop down on the couch near Danny. “What are we watching?” she asked.

  Eyes still glued to the screen, Danny replied, “It’s called Death by Sorority House.”

  Pulling my eyebrows together, I looked over at Mason. “Death by Sorority House?” I repeated with skepticism. “That’s what we’re watching?”

  He got up off the couch, moving to stand in front of me and shrugged his shoulders. He was about to answer when the door opened again. I thought it might be Lexie and turned to greet her, but froze when I saw that it most definitely was not Lexie.

  His blonde hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and I could see a silver hoop earring hanging from one lobe. The stubble on his chin was a little thicker than before, his blonde lashes seemed a little darker, and his broad shoulders sported a black leather jacket.

  But his eyes were the same stormy blue gray that I had found myself lost in earlier.

  “You?” I said in a startled voice.

  His gaze landed on me and a smile turned up his full lips. “Me,” he answered with a wink.

  Mason, who was still standing beside me, glanced between us. “You two know each other?” he asked uncertainly. He was giving me a funny look and the look he gave to the blonde guy was just shy of a full on angry glare.

  “We haven’t been formally introduced,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “Which means you lied,” I said pointedly to Mason. “You said I’d know everyone here and that your frat brothers were out.”

  Mason held up his hands placatingly, opening his mouth and clearly intending to explain himself—or apologize—but he didn’t get the chance. It seemed like he wasn’t going to get a lot of chances to speak tonight.

  “Well, technically, we do know each other,” the blonde interrupted, walking down the hall to join us. “My name’s Logan, by the way,” he told me with a cheeky grin.

  Logan. Why did that name sound so damn familiar?

  He placed a large hand on Mason’s shoulder and I flashed to our collision days ago, his hand at my hip, fingertips grazing bare skin…

  “And,” he continued, oblivious to my thoughts. “I’m not a frat brother. Just a brother.”

  Just as his words left his mouth, Mark came back from the kitchen a beer in hand. When he saw Logan, his face split into a wide grin and he put his arm around Logan’s neck, pulling at him. “You made it!”

  The two fooled around, pushing and shoving each other, laughing all the while. I rolled my eyes at their antics, still a little miffed by the fact that he was here. He hadn’t made the best impression on me the other day and I was left with a strong desire to turn around a leave right then.

  Mason must have sensed it, too, because he put his hands on my shoulders and made me look at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know until tonight that he was coming.”

  I softened ever so slightly, but kept my arms crossed. “You could have texted me and let me know that. May
be see if I was comfortable with it?”

  He let out a sigh, shaking his head. “I thought about it, but…”

  “But what?” I demanded, taking out my frustrations with Logan out on Mason.

  “I thought you wouldn’t come.”

  I wanted to yell at him. To tell him that, duh I wouldn’t have come! But the soft, half-hopeful expression on his face stopped me. I sighed. I didn’t want to pick a fight with Mason and I wasn’t really angry with him. “I just don’t like to be blindsided is all,” I finally told him. “And it feels like that’s all I get with him.” I nodded my head in his direction.

  Mason nodded. “Yeah, he, uh, he does that to people sometimes.” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “But he’s really not as bad as he comes off. He’s just a little rough around the edges. Give him a chance. You might be surprised.”

  I thought it over for a long moment. Every instinct I had screamed at me to leave, but Mason was right. I had no real reason to hate Logan—even if it was clear what type of guy he was; I’d seen them before—and if I left now, I would have to explain myself. If not to Mason, then to Kass.

  And I couldn’t do that.

  Reluctantly, I nodded my head. I would stay.

  Grinning, Mason said, “Good. Now let’s get some popcorn before Danny eats it all.”

  We headed to the couch. Kass was leaning forward, thoroughly enthralled by what looked like an absolutely terrible movie, and Danny was still shoveling popcorn into her mouth. Mark and Logan had disappeared somewhere, probably into the kitchen for a beer. Mason dropped down back into his seat and patted the cushion beside me to encourage me to sit.

  I did so, telling myself that I was between Mason and Kass and that there was definitely no more room for Logan.

  Looking at the screen, I frowned. Death by Sorority House looked awful. Three girls with large breasts were half naked and running around terrified. It was raining and their shirts had become see-through. Between the obvious tacky attempt at sex appeal and the god awful dialogue, I couldn’t figure out how Kass and Danny could be so taken in by the movie.

  “Jeez,” I muttered, making a face. “Don’t you guys have any standards?”

  Danny’s only response was to offer me popcorn, still focused on the movie screen. She really was dedicated no matter what she threw herself into.

  I took a couple of pieces and popped them into my mouth, licking my lips against the butter and popcorn.

  “I don’t know,” came the growingly familiar voice of Logan as he walked into the room from the kitchen. He had one beer in hand and Mark in a choke hold with the other. Mark was slapping at him half-heartedly to get out of the hold, but it was clear the boys were only playing. “A bunch of easy girls running around half-dressed? Sounds like my kind of movie.”

  He let Mark get out of his grip and leaned over the back of the couch so that he was between Kass and I. His blue eyes went to me—from my eyes and face, then down to my cleavage which was at least happily restrained by a proper bra this time.

  I made a disgusted sound, crossing my arms over my chest. Seeing that Danny was all but out of popcorn, I gestured for the bowl and got up. “I’ll get more popcorn.”

  She raised her eyes in surprise at me, but shrugged and gave me the bowl. “Thanks,” she said with a smile, then turned her attention back to the movie just as a girl screamed and died.

  I walked into the kitchen—and away from Logan’s appraising gaze—opening several of the cupboards until I found the popcorn bags. I was trying to keep myself busy so that I could ignore the feeling of irritation that was swelling inside me, but it was difficult. He seemed like such an… ass. I knew his type. Gorgeous, a little on the dark side, the bad boy with the piercing eyes who had absolutely no respect for women.

  Bang ‘em and leave ‘em, was his motto. I didn’t need him to tell me that to know it.

  I’d dealt with his kind enough before to spot them a mile away.

  When the popcorn finished popping, I dumped the bag into the bowl. Taking a deep breath, I carried the bowl back towards the living room. As I approached there was another knock at the door. I frowned, and wondered who else was supposed to be here.

  Mark answered it this time, greeting whoever it was and gesturing for them to come in.

  It was Lexie, her bleached hair made deliberately wavy and her face made-up heavily. She was in heels—even though we were just having a night in—and her shirt was cut so low that I could see a bit of her bra peeking out.

  She smiled flirtatiously at Mark, but he was immune to her charms. He wasn’t rude to her, but made it pretty clear that their boundary was friendship. But it wasn’t Lexie’s fault. She was a perpetual flirter. It was some kind of addiction for her.

  We met as I carried the popcorn back to the room. “Hey, Lexie,” I greeted with a smile.

  She smiled back and waved.

  I went around the couch, which was now occupied by both of the twins, Logan and Kass, leaving no room for me now. I gave the bowl back to Danny who gave me a grateful smile before focusing once more on the screen.

  I glanced at the couch again, contemplating where to sit. Logan caught my eye and grinned. Winking, he patted his thigh, indicating that I had a seat on his lap. A momentary rush of heat flashed through my body before I forcibly shoved it away.

  Making a face, I choose to sit down on the floor next to Danny instead. If he was offended, he didn’t say anything. A moment later, I heard some giggling that definitely belonged to Lexie. Frowning, I glanced over at her—to find her sitting on Logan’s lap. She was drawing lazy circles along his chest, batting her heavily mascara-d eyes at him, and talking in a high pitched tone.

  It was clear he wasn’t listening though. His gaze was locked on her cleavage and the bra peeking out from her shirt. He wasn’t even pretending to pay attention to her.

  I looked over to Kass. She had spotted them, too, and when our eyes met she pointed a finger at her open mouth, pretending to gag.

  I stifled a laugh and turned my attention to the screen.

  Before the movie was over, Logan had managed to stick his tongue down Lexie’s mouth and his hand high enough up her shirt to get a good handful of breast. The rest of us pretended like we didn’t see or notice anything, but there was obvious tension in the room.

  No one wanted to be around when they went at it.

  Thankfully, the movie finished—all but one of the girls, the pure, innocent one, survived and caught the killer in his own trap—before either of them could get too graphic with their affections. We all got up and stretched, Danny and Kass talking animatedly about the movie; Danny was all for the horror movies, but Kass would probably be freaked out for the rest of the night.

  I had thought the whole thing had been ridiculous and was unimpressed.

  Though not near as ridiculous or unimpressive as Lexie draping herself over Logan and batting her eyelashes at him throughout the entire night. They were still practically fused together as Logan talked with Mark about something.

  Mason, noticing my gaze, cleared his throat to get my attention. “Hey, I’m really sorry about Logan,” he apologized, sounding sincere. “He really isn’t so bad, but he can be a little…” he searched for the right word.

  I crossed my arms and offered, “Rowdy? Stupid? Sexist? Womanizing?”

  Mason shrugged not really denying any of my proffered adjectives. “Devil may care,” he supplied as an alternative.

  I couldn’t help it, I cracked a smile. “Okay, okay. So he’s basically like most college age boys?”

  “Yeah, pretty much,” Mason agreed, grinning and giving me a soft nudge. “But not all of us, you know?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I know. We’d better go,” I said, gesturing to Kass.

  “Sure, I’ll see you at school,” he said. “Let me know if you need help with Marketing.”

  “Maybe sometime next week?” I asked.

  Mason agreed and waved us off. Kass joined me, after sayi
ng goodnight to Mark and Danny. I turned towards the door and froze. Logan had his arm wrapped around Lexie’s shoulder and she had her hand shoved into one of his pockets, but that wasn’t what made me freeze. No, it was that despite being so wrapped up in Lexie, he glanced right over her head and back towards me.

  His eyes bored into mine, making something warm sweep through my body. A slow, sensuous smile slid across his features. He winked at me before turning back to Lexie. The two of them walked out the door.

  “Do you think James will call me?” Kass asked me, staring down at her phone and completely oblivious to the intensity that Logan had just caused to rush through me.

  “Sure,” I answered, in a slightly high voice. “Of course.”

  Chapter 6

  I sat down at our usual table. I had given up on the dining hall food after the rumor went around that some kid got sick on Thursday after eating here. Instead, I brought my own lunch. It was only a sandwich and a cup of fruit, but at least I knew it wouldn’t make me sick.

  I took a seat next to Kass. Danny sat across from us, chomping on an apple. She could eat like a horse, I knew, but it seemed like all I ever saw her eat was apples—well, and popcorn. Beside her was Lexie, looking sour-faced and generally miserable. She dragged a fork through her food, not actually eating any of it.

  Nudging Kass to get her attention, I motioned with my chin towards Lexie, a silent question as to what her damn problem was.

  Kass rolled her eyes, before giving me a meaningful look. I wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at until I saw the twins stroll into the dining hall—followed by Logan. He looked like he had on Friday, wearing jeans and a tight black t-shirt, his blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail. It seemed like his standard go-to look.

  And whether I wanted to admit it or not, I could see why. Beneath the dark shirt, I could see his muscles move in a fluid, graceful way as he walked. The jeans accentuated his trim waist and I knew from our movie night that his ass looked great in them, too.

  With a concentrated effort, I tore my eyes away from him, pulling myself back to the table at hand just in time to see Lexie’s eyes narrow in the same direction I had been looking. She slammed her hands down on the table and made a strangled noise, jerking her chair back and standing so quickly that it nearly toppled over.