by Tijan
He shifted on his seat. “Yeah.” He picked at a piece of invisible lint on his arm. “So?”
“Don’t do it.”
There it was. I’d meant it when I said I didn’t want him to do it anymore, but judging from the way his shoulders slumped and he looked away, I knew he was going to do it anyway.
“You were beat up for it in high school,” I added.
“Come on.” He jerked in his seat. His hands fell to his lap, but he still didn’t look at me.
“They threatened Claire,” I reminded him.
“That’s not fair.” His eyes lifted to mine, and they were heated. He held a finger up between us. “That’s so not fair, Taylor. It’s different now too. I’m not doing the betting this time.”
“You missed a payment, and they blackmailed me.”
He snorted, folding his arms over his chest. “Yeah, well, Claire told me what Kade did. You must be familiar with being blackmailed by now.” His eyes cut to the side again.
I’d never told him this next part. I waited. He had to be looking at me, and after a beat of silence, he did. “They were going to get their money no matter what—from you or from someone else.”
“What are you talking about?” His voice hitched now. He was uncertain.
“They said either you give them their money or they’d get it from my dad.”
His arms unfolded, and he leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”
“I never told you because you paid, but they were going to take me.” A big ball landed in my throat. Oh well. What was new? “They called me on the phone one day. They were going to make my dad pay. I mean, it was just a phone call, but—”
“Wh—” He choked. The blood drained from his face. I wasn’t the only pale one in the room now. “You never—I didn’t know that.”
“It didn’t happen.” So I hadn’t told anyone.
“Did Eric know?”
I snorted. “No way. He would’ve pissed his pants and run to the cops.”
Jason quieted, tugging at one of his shirtsleeves. He looked ridiculous. It was a short-sleeved pink shirt —shave off a few more inches and he would’ve been wearing a tank top. But he kept tugging at it. For what? It wasn’t going to cover his hand.
“Stop doing that.” I pulled his hand away. “You’re going to rip your shirt.”
A rueful laugh left him, but his hand went to his hair. He still wore a stupefied expression. “I—I mean... My God, Taylor. You never told me.”
“Why would I?” I needed something to do, something else to focus on. This was headed into territory I didn’t want to visit: what Eric would’ve done, what I had done. All of that would spiral into other topics I’d been able to avoid for months. No, thank you.
“You want something to eat?” I turned the heat under the pot back on. “I was making this for my dad.”
He glanced around. “I didn’t think your dad was here.”
“He’s not.”
“Oh...”
I had to ignore him. Ignore where this was going. That was my mantra.
“Uh, Taylor…”
“Do you want a beer?” I asked. “My dad has an entire fridge full. Trust me when I tell you he won’t miss any. I have to go out to the garage to grab something anyway. You want one?”
“No.” He watched me turn toward the garage, his mouth slightly open. “Thank you, though.”
When I got back, I handed him a beer and opened the sauce.
“Taylor.” Jason came over and took the jar from me. “Stop making food. Stop it.”
“No.” I pulled it back out of his hands and nudged him aside. A gentle nudge, but still firm. “I was going to make this anyway. If we don’t eat it, it’ll be here for my dad. He’ll be home any moment—”
Jason grabbed a note from the fridge and read aloud, “At Mike’s house. Be back late. Hope your first day was great.” He handed me the paper as he softened. “Signed, your dad.”
I stopped for a moment. I didn’t look at Jason. I didn’t do anything. I just stared straight ahead. He’d said we’d have dinner, that he wanted to hear about my first day at Cain University…Nope. No way. I wasn’t dealing with this.
I turned the burner off and took the note from Jason’s hand, ripping it in two. “Okay.” My chest was tight. “Let’s go out, shall we?”
Jason said nothing, trailing after me. We went and ate, but if someone had asked me later where we went or what we had, I wouldn’t have remembered. The storm was back. It’d been inside of me for nine months now. Jason knew what was going on, but he didn’t push me. Thank God. During dinner we were nearly silent, each in our own thoughts and when we went back to the house, he broke the silence when I didn’t move to leave the car. We sat in the driveway when he asked, “So did Kade call you yet?”
I frowned, but it was something else to talk about. “Why?” I wasn’t asking why he was asking about Kade.
“I need the cash.”
“We all need cash. Do something else.”
He made a disgruntled sound.
“I mean it, Jason.”
“And I mean it, too. Nothing will come back on you. Life’s different now that we’re in college. It’s bigger.” He held his hands in the air. “Grander. More freedom. More…I don’t know. We’re not so confined. I’m not tied to you and Claire. My problems won’t come back to haunt you. I promise. And it’s not the same either because I’m not doing the betting. I’m taking the bets.”
I stared at him, unmoving.
“Kade is rich. His friends are rich. I will lose out on a ton of money if I don’t.”
“Because you’ll cheat them?”
“No, because most of Kade’s friends are idiots. I mean, yeah, some of them aren’t, and Kade usually isn’t, but they don’t care. This is their fun. They can afford to lose some bets. I couldn’t in high school. That’s the difference.” He looked at me, pleading. “Just tell him I’ll do it, and give him my number when he calls you.”
“Maybe.” I was mean.
“Taylor, come on!”
I rolled my eyes. I’d do it. I’d be the good friend to him.
Jason relaxed, sensing my surrender. He gave me a small smile. “Thanks, Taylor.”
I nodded as he waved and climbed out to head for his car. When I went inside, I could feel that the house was still empty, but I checked the garage anyway. No car. No dad. I went to my room and read the two chapters for sociology class. They were due in two days, but good for me. I was being ambitious. When I’d finished, I watched the news.
No dad.
I was stupid for being worried. I mean, I moved back to be here for him. That was the plan, but it was obvious, and had been for so long, that he didn’t want me here. Maybe I moved back for me? Maybe it would be too hard to go back to my old school. It’d be like I was leaving her behind, or maybe I still needed Jason and Claire? Or maybe I was here, hoping to be here for him because that was what she would’ve wanted me to do.
I sighed. I needed to let it go, let him go, but something was nagging me. I couldn’t sleep so I checked my email and double-checked my class schedule for the next day. It was close to midnight.
No dad.
I read a book for another hour.
Still no dad.
That normal thing to do was to go to bed. My class was at nine in the morning. That’d be the responsible thing to do, but even when the clock told me it was after two in the morning, I was still wide awake.
My phone buzzed. It was on silent except for the alarm, but the screen lit up the entire room. My heart leaped to my chest as I rolled over, but no. Not dad. Instead I read, Hey, hot girl. Forgot to call. This is Kade. You got an answer for me?
I typed back, Come pick me up. I’ll give you your answer.
My head fell back against my pillow once I’d hit send. I needed a ride. That was it. Kade could handle himself in a fight, and my dad was still gone. I needed to find out where he was—make sure he was fine and not at some st
rip club. That was all I was doing. That was it.
The next second my phone buzzed again. Be there in twenty.
STRANGER PITY
TAYLOR
I was waiting in the living room with the lights off when his headlights swept across me. Everything lit up for a split second before his car faced the garage. Though it was the middle of the night—closer to early morning, actually—it was still humid. A small breeze wafted across my neck as I shut the door to the house behind me and hurried over to his car. Once inside, I didn’t look at him.
Why I was here? Why had I texted? My dad, I reminded myself. His note had told me he’d be at Mike’s house late, but this was ungodly late.
“Hot girl.”
I looked up and immediately wished I hadn’t. Logan hadn’t gotten any less gorgeous since the day before. His dark eyes watched me, a hint of amusement still there—along with a hint of something darker. The darker element sent a rush through my veins. I ignored it, taking in the dark shirt he wore over jeans. The whites of his eyes stood out from his tanned complexion, and when he grinned, they matched his perfect white teeth.
He added, “Where to? I’m your personal driver for the night.” He tapped the steering wheel. “I can be another type of driver for you, too, if you know what I mean.”
I flushed, then scowled, regretting it. I ignored the fluttering in my stomach. “I have to run an errand.”
A smooth chuckle came as he reversed the car. “Whatever you say. For real. Where we going? I didn’t figure you really had to give me the answer in person.” He started down the street, but slowed as we drew to the first intersection.
I pulled up my dad’s GPS coordinates. “Turn right.”
He nodded. “On it.”
Thirty minutes later, we stopped outside Coach Mike’s house. With one arm resting on the steering wheel, Logan faced me. “Want to tell me why we’re outside my brother’s head coach’s house?”
“You know who lives here?”
His eyes seemed to be laughing at me. They always looked like that. “I do. I’ve spent time here with my brother. Been to your house, too, by the way. That’s how I knew where to go tonight.”
Oh, yeah. He never asked for my address. “You have?”
“There was a thing for your dad once, after your mom died. We all showed up with food. Sam made us make it ourselves. She wouldn’t let us buy something, and she wouldn’t listen to me when I said your dad wouldn’t care.”
He knew about my mom, but that shouldn’t have surprised me. Of course, everyone on campus would know one of their beloved coaches had lost his wife. The corner of my mouth twitched. “That’s funny.”
“What is?”
I glanced up, holding his gaze. “Hearing that you knew about her. Usually it feels like having my insides ripped out with a spoon. This was…nice...” That was an odd sensation to me.
“Well, hey there, Hot Girl.” His voice dropped low and sensual. He laughed under his breath. “If you’re all about feeling nice, I’m chock-full of ideas.” He waved his fingers at me. “You have my phone digits now, so anytime you want the use of my other digits, I’m just a button away.” He lifted an eyebrow.
“I feel cheated, though,” I told him, the edges of my mouth curving up. “I got the finger offer. I mean, seriously. Come on. If I’m going to take you up on this, I want the full deal. I want to be tied up, stuffed from behind, and throw in a butt plug for you. How about that instead? I don’t want a finger job. Not from the legendary Logan Kade.”
I could have sworn I was joking, but as I sat back, a part of me was serious. Well, not about the butt plug. That was a joke...I think.
Logan flashed me a smirk. “Only if I’m the submissive. I like to be dominant outside the sheets, but every guy likes to have his softer side nursed.” He winked. “Or whipped.” He was damn near charming. “When do we start?”
I shook my head. It felt good to laugh. I sighed. “Thank you for that.”
“For what? I was serious.”
I gave him a look.
He cracked a grin. “I’m kidding, but I’m kinda serious about my first question. What are we doing here?”
“Oh.” Craning my neck, I counted the cars. Four cars. Four coaches. And I lingered on the last Civic. “My dad.”
“Your dad?”
“He’s here.” I pointed to the last car. “I just wanted to make sure.”
“Ah, the old, ‘I’m at my buddy’s, but I’m really with my secret mistress’—or something worse…” Logan trailed off, watching me. “For what it’s worth, Mason’s never mentioned your dad having a proclivity for hookers or strippers, if that’s where you thought we’d end up tonight.”
The humor was gone, and I chewed the inside of my lip. What he didn’t know… “Yeah, well, since my mom died, he’s not really the same guy.” My voice softened as I looked back at his car. “She wouldn’t want him somewhere like that.”
I expected Logan to defend him, but nothing came. I glanced over and saw him watching me, only watching me. No judgment. Nothing except mild curiosity.
“What? No comeback there?” I asked.
“I thought we were being serious.” He lifted a shoulder. “Didn’t seem in good taste.” A wicked grin curled over his lips. “But if you want a comeback, speaking of good taste—”
“Stop.” I held my hand up. “I already got the finger offer. I don’t want to hear the next one.”
“Okay, but I have to ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“Why’d you want me for this? I asked around. You’ve been friends with that girl and Delray since high school, right? That means you must be tight with them.”
“I am…or I was.”
“Which is it?”
“I am.” One breath. Take one breath. “A lot happened last year, but I’m still tight with them. They’ve been there for me.”
He nodded. “So, why not them tonight? Why me? I know this wasn’t about Delray’s response.”
“I—” I was going to lie, but no. He deserved the truth. “I didn’t want to deal with their pity. It’s worse than stranger pity.” I gestured to him. My gut shifted, thinking about the other reason, which I shoved aside. “I didn’t want to deal with their questions.”
“Then you got the right guy. No pity here. Trust me. I get screwed-up parents.”
I eyed him. “Yeah?”
He nodded.
Jason and Claire never pushed for answers, but the questions were there. I felt them. Every day. They wanted to know, and I couldn’t blame them. They were concerned. I waited to see if he would ask more, but I didn’t grit my teeth. My stomach wasn’t clenched in knots. He didn’t strike me as someone who would care. He wouldn’t ask the invasive questions. He was easygoing with a joke at the ready all the time. There was also a darker side, but I don’t know…maybe I was just lonely, and he was the only other person I knew.
That was it.
I was lonely. Good God. How pathetic.
Logan pulled back into the street and headed to the next intersection. “Now that I feel all close to you, you’re stuck with me,” he announced. “I’m hungry. You’re going to keep me company.” He rubbed his flat stomach. “The taco place by my house doesn’t close for another half hour.”
LOGAN
I whistled as I locked my car and headed for the house, bag of food in one hand and keys tossed in the air with the other.
