I listened as he went over the rules in the building. Most were pretty basic—no pets, no crazy parties, no loud noises after nine, and other things like that. Once he finished explaining everything, I looked over the lease and then signed. Just like that, Logan and I had a place of our own.
I was still grinning when I walked back up to our apartment. When I saw Logan lying on the couch, watching TV, my face nearly split in two. He looked so comfortable and at ease.
He looked up when I closed the door behind me. “Everything set?”
“Yep.” I held up our new keys. “We’re officially living in sin together.”
He laughed as he stood up and walked over to me. I giggled as he lifted me up and spun me around.
“I’m living in sin with a rock star, smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. I think I just lost Christian points.”
“You make it seem like I’m a bad influence!” I said innocently as he set me back down on my feet.
“Not you. You’re an angel.” He leaned down and kissed me softly.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He pushed me back until I was pressed up against the wall beside the door. His hands gripped my hips before sliding under my shirt. I shuddered as he caressed my stomach and ribs before stopping just below my breasts.
“I don’t feel like an angel right now,” I whispered against his lips.
He pressed tighter against me, and I felt him growing hard against my thigh. “I think we should christen the new place, don’t you?”
I nodded as I ran my hands through his shaggy hair. I loved it longer like this. I hoped that he never cut it. He reached between us and unbuttoned my jeans. I kicked off my shoes and then my jeans and underwear. I pulled off my shirt next and then my bra. I watched as he undressed quickly. He pulled his wallet from his pants and grabbed a condom.
The sight of him standing naked and ready in front of me took my breath away. I ran my hands down his chest and stomach, tracing the lines of muscles under his soft skin. I continued down, following his happy trail, until I reached his cock. He sucked in a breath as I grabbed him and started running my hand across his shaft.
I kept my eyes on his as I knelt down in front of him. He watched me intently, seemingly frozen, as I leaned forward. I ran my tongue along his shaft, and he shuddered in response. I smiled wickedly. I loved how I held so much power over him like this. It made me feel like a goddess. I pulled him into my mouth and rolled my tongue over his head before sucking on him gently.
“Shit, babe,” Logan said as he grabbed my hair and tugged gently, egging me on.
I sucked harder, and he moaned out loud. He released my hair and pressed his hands against the wall to steady himself. I bit down gently, and his hips thrust forward involuntarily. I kept up a steady suction as I reached up and started massaging his balls. He gasped as his hips started moving faster.
“Stop!” He tried to pull away.
I ignored him as I continued to suck on him.
“Jade, stop, or I’m going to come.”
I finally released him, and he grabbed me, pulling me back up until I was standing again. He ripped the packet and pulled out the condom. After rolling it on faster than I’d thought possible, he grabbed my legs and lifted me off the ground. My back was against the wall, and he plunged into me a second later. I gasped as he filled me completely. He started out slow, torturing me in the best possible way. I wrapped my legs around him, allowing him to go deeper.
“Please, Logan, I need it faster,” I said breathlessly. I was going to explode with need if he didn’t stop torturing me.
“Shh…I want to savor this,” he whispered. “I love the way you look when I’m fucking you. You’re so goddamn beautiful that it hurts…but in the best possible way. When I bury myself deep inside you, I don’t ever want to stop.”
He leaned forward and kissed me, his tongue exploring every crevice of my mouth. Our tongues tangled together as he increased his thrusts. I clung to him as I felt myself building. He plunged into me over and over again, knocking me back into the wall each time. My body exploded as my orgasm rocked through me. I shouted his name as I felt him release with me.
When our breathing returned to normal, he slipped out of me and set me back on the ground. I still clung to him, unwilling to let him go just yet. What I felt with him blew my mind. I wasn’t sure that I ever wanted to let him go. It dawned on me that I was more invested in Logan than I’d realized, and that scared the shit out of me. He could hurt me if he wanted to. I just hoped I wasn’t a fool for trusting him completely.
“I can’t believe you dragged me here,” Logan grumbled as he grabbed a shopping cart and pushed it into the store.
I grinned. He’d whined the whole way here. For some unknown reason, he hated to shop, even when it was for food.
It must be a guy thing, I thought to myself, remembering how Eric would refuse to go shopping.
Instead, Eric would shove cash into my hand every week and tell me to get whatever we needed. Even after we’d moved to California, I would still pick up his shit for him and drop it off at his house. Now that I was away, he was paying some chick to do it.
Men.
“Quit whining. We need stuff for the apartment,” I said as I walked toward the personal care items. I grabbed a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and toothpaste. After I tossed them into the cart, I moved on to the next aisle.
“I don’t see why you couldn’t come by yourself. I hate shopping. Hate it. People are rude as fuck.”
“Well, you could have stayed home, but then the next time you needed something like body wash or toilet paper, I would make you beg for it,” I teased. “If I shop on my own, everything I buy is mine.”
He grumbled under his breath as he threw stuff into the cart. I couldn’t help but smile at him. Sure, I could have come on my own, but I wanted him with me. Watching him push around a cart while we shopped made me feel like we were just a normal couple. With everything going on in my life I knew we were anything but, but I ignored that. I just wanted some normalcy after so many months on the road, and Logan was my safe haven.
After we finished in the personal care section of the store, we headed back to where the food was. As we walked from aisle to aisle, I threw food into the cart, not paying attention to whether or not he was doing the same.
“Please tell me you’re buying more than this crap.” He pointed down to the vegetables I’d just thrown into the cart.
“Why?” I asked, confused.
“Because I need real food—meat, snack cakes, pasta, soda. I can’t live off of that green shit.”
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at the muscles that were clearly visible under his tight black shirt. Over the past two years, Logan had changed dramatically. He’d always been fit, but he was nothing but pure muscle now.
“There’s no way you look like that by eating junk food.”
He smirked as he walked up beside me. “I’m good at working off calories.”
I sucked in a breath as he ran his hand down my ribs and stopped at my hip. His touch felt like fire against my skin.
“In fact, we should probably get more junk food. That way, I have an excuse to work off more calories.”
He released me and stepped back, but he was still staring at me like he wanted to take me right then and there.
I spun on my heel and started walking. “I’ll get the cakes!”
I could hear his laughter following me as I turned the corner. Asshole.
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Yeah, I really fucking like normal.
Two Months Later
Two months had passed, and it had been two months of pure fucking bliss. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this happy. Even with the band, I hadn’t felt the way I did now. Whether he realized it or not, Logan was changing me. He made me so happy that it scared me. Anytime I’d ever come close to happiness in the past, it had been blown to hell and back.
Living with Logan wasn’t at all what I’d expected it to be. I’d expected it to be the same as living with Eric had been back in West Virginia. I had been prepared for all the things that came with living with a man—the mess, forgetting to put the toilet seat down, and other normal things like that. What I hadn’t been prepared for was how it felt to wake up with Logan in my bed every damn morning. Not one day had passed when I didn’t wake up with my body pressed up against his as his arms were wrapped around my tiny frame. It was like our bodies were drawn to each other as we slept.
The sex was unbelievable. I’d thought we would slow down after the first few weeks, but so far, that hadn’t happened. We would be together every chance we got. Just thinking about the way he’d looked this morning as he’d taken me hard and fast had me rubbing my legs together in anticipation of the next time we would be alone. I’d explored every inch of his body, and I still wanted more of him.
My relationship with Bethaney had started out rocky when we first showed up, but after two months of spending nearly every day together, we were best friends once again. It was like the last six years had never happened. Bethaney and Logan had been getting along great. Maybe that was because she was a younger version of me—hotheaded, opinionated, sarcastic, and funny. Well, I thought I was funny at least. It was obvious that she had missed me just as much as I’d missed her. Logan had told me that both of us would smile constantly when we were around each other. Bethaney and I were making up for lost time and making each other’s lives better in the process.
Crossville was starting to feel like home again, but the fact that Logan and I would be leaving soon never left my mind. Logan wouldn’t mention it, and me, being the fucking coward that I was, wouldn’t be the one to bring it up. We had a week left here before we planned to head back to West Virginia. Once we got there, I had no clue what would happen.
I would have to go back to California to work on the new album. Even though I wanted to stay with Logan, I couldn’t. I had responsibilities. I just wasn’t sure where that separation would leave us. Logan would be starting classes again in a little less than a month, so it wasn’t like he could stay with me in L.A. I had my life, and he had his. I had no clue how we were going to make it work.
A long-distance relationship was the obvious decision, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I didn’t think I could handle being thousands of miles away from Logan—that was, if he even wanted something more than this summer with me. I had no fucking clue what he wanted, and I wasn’t going to ruin what we had right now by asking.
“That was the bloodiest movie ever!” Bethaney said as we walked out of the movie theater together.
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad, you big baby,” I shot back.
Logan stayed quiet, grinning, as Beth and I bickered. He knew there was no point in trying to make us stop fighting. Once we had gotten started, nothing short of duct tape would make us shut up.
“Logan, tell her it was scary!” Bethaney said as she gave him a pleading look.
“Oh no, my happy ass is staying out of this one. I like you, Bethaney, but I’m not about to piss off Jade.”
I smirked until Bethaney muttered, “If she wasn’t banging you, you’d totally agree with me.”
He full-out laughed as I jabbed Beth in the ribs. The two of us were like little kids when we were together.
“Don’t talk like that! You’re my baby sister!”
“Oh, whatever. I might be younger, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t fu—”
I put my hands over my ears. “La-la-la! I can’t hear you!” Once her mouth stopped moving, I slowly lowered my hands. “Are you done now?”
She laughed. “I’m done. I promise not to talk about the guys I’ve fucked.”
“Ugh! Bethaney! Damn it. I don’t need to know!” I grumbled.
I glanced at Logan, but he was laughing too hard to say anything. No back up there.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said as we walked toward the exit.
“Jade?” someone called out from behind me.
I froze, and Logan bumped into me.
Oh no…please no. Anyone but him.
“Jade?” The voice was louder now.
I turned slowly to see him approaching us.
Mikey.
My eyes widened as I took him in. He still looked exactly the same as he had six years ago. His blond hair brushed his shoulders. His bright blue eyes stared straight at me. When I’d left, he’d only had a nose ring. Now, his lip and eyebrow were pierced as well.
“Holy fuck! It is you!” he said as he reached us.
He grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug. I let myself relax into him for a split second before I pulled away.
“Mikey,” I said, still in shock.
I couldn’t believe that he was here. After two months of hiding from everyone, I was running into him right before I would be leaving. My luck was shit.
“I can’t believe you’re really here. It’s been so long, Jade. How have you been?” He laughed. “Never mind. I’ve watched you on TV, and I’ve heard you on the radio enough times to know you’re doing just fine. Damn, Jade. I never would have guessed you’d end up being in one of the biggest breakout bands in a decade. It’s hard to believe my Jade is a big rock star now.”
I shrugged and looked away. All I wanted to do was turn and run as far as I could from Mikey. Being around him wasn’t something that I’d anticipated, and truthfully, it sucked. I didn’t want anything to do with him. He was a nice guy overall, but there was just too much shit between us. That was why I’d left without even so much as a good-bye.
“Well, it was good to see you, Mikey, but we were just leaving,” I said as I grabbed Logan’s arm and started to turn away.
“What? You’re leaving already? I thought you’d want to catch up with me. Don’t you want to know how Ryan is?”
That stopped me, just like he had known it would. Ryan was Mikey’s little brother, and I loved that little shit to death. He’d followed Mikey and me around as much as he could. The last time I’d seen him, he was twelve.
“How is he?” I asked as I turned back around to face him.
“He’s good. Just got out of juvie a few months ago.”
“Wait, what? Why the hell was he in juvie?”
That didn’t sound like Ryan at all. While he could be a little pain in the ass, he’d seldom gotten in trouble. At least, he never used to get in trouble. A person could change a lot in six years.
Mikey frowned and glanced away. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he’s out now. He took your old spot in the band.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Ryan plays drums now? What happened to singing and wanting to be like his big brother?”
Mikey laughed. “He decided that I wasn’t cool once he hit sixteen. He can’t sing for shit anyway. Listen, we’re playing a show out at Vince’s bar on Friday night. Why don’t you stop by and watch us? All of your old friends will be there. I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you.”
I shook my head. There was no way I was going to go see my old friends. They would want to know why I’d left, and I had no intention of telling them.
“No, thanks. We’re leaving Saturday anyway.”
“We?” Mikey asked as he glanced at Logan.
I glanced over at Logan and gave him a brief smile, one that he didn’t return. Actually, he didn’t look happy—at all.
“Mikey, this is my boyfriend, Logan.”
Mikey and Logan stared at each other, neither bothering to say hi. They were sizing each other up like they were debating on who would win in a fight.
I wanted to roll my eyes. Men.
“Boyfriend, huh? I’m surprised, J. He isn’t your normal type,” Mikey said as he smirked at Logan.
“And what would her normal type be?” Logan asked, his voice and body both tense.
“Oh, you know, the wild guys, the ones who like to have some fun. You look a little…stiff to me.”
&n
bsp; Logan grinned. “I haven’t heard her complain yet, especially when I’m stiff.”
Bethaney busted out laughing behind me. She quickly covered it with a cough. My mouth was hanging open in shock. Logan wasn’t the type of guy to say things like that. He was usually laid-back, shy even.
A small smile tipped the corner of my mouth. He’s fighting for me.
Mikey’s nostrils flared in anger as he clenched his hands into fists. I expected him to hit Logan.
Instead, he took a deep breath and turned to me. “So, will you come see us on Friday night? I won’t tell anyone that you’re there, if that’s what you’re worried about. I know Ryan would love to see you before you leave again though.”
I hesitated. I did not want to go to that bar, but I really did want to see Ryan again. It’d been so long, and after Mikey telling me that the little shit had ended up in juvie, I felt the need to check on him. It’d been a long time since I’d even thought of him, and for that, I felt guilt trickling in over me. The kid had worshiped Mikey and me when he was younger.
“Alright, I’ll go. But no one needs to know I’m there. I’ll watch you guys and talk to Ryan, and then I’m leaving.”
Mikey grinned. “Ryan will love that, Jade.” He glanced down at his phone before turning his attention back to me. “I gotta go, but I’ll see you on Friday night.”
I nodded as he stepped forward and hugged me again.
“We still have a lot to talk about, Jade. I’ll see you Friday,” he whispered before pulling away.
Bethaney, Logan, and I watched in silence as Mikey disappeared through the doors. My stomach churned as I thought about what he might want to talk about. After all these years, I had nothing to say to him, but he obviously didn’t agree with me on that. Once he was out of sight, I glanced up at Logan. He was obviously pissed, but he was trying to hide it.
“Why did you agree to go watch them play, you idiot?” Bethaney finally asked.
“Because I’d really like to see Ryan. I loved that kid when he was younger.”
Toxic: Logan's Story Page 15
