the calf and she yelps, “Ouch.” Changing the subject she says, “Nice fight last night. Haven’t seen you hit that hard in quite awhile. It was like you had something different on your mind. Something pushing you. Something more worth fighting for…” Her eyes flick to me briefly. “Did you?”
“Not subtle,” Luke mumbles as he hops off the stool, his phone alerting him that it’s time for him to go.
I look at Logan not sure I can stomach the answer either way. Thankfully, I don’t have to because Erin’s cellphone starts singing an obnoxious song. She pulls it out and snaps, “Shit! It’s my boss.” Flipping it open she answers in her professional voice, “This is Erin.”
She dismisses herself, leaving her dish on the counter, and quickly heads for her master bedroom downstairs, my guess is to change. Looks like Bridezilla is demanding her even earlier than expected.
“Did you stick around to see me fight?”
“Don’t I always?”
With a cocky smirk he sighs, “That you do.”
Between the smirk and the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he’d fought better after what he said to me on stage, the temperature in the kitchen seems to be reaching Hades levels, and if I don’t get out of it soon, there’s a real good chance I might pass out from a lack of oxygen.
If I do, maybe the hot firemen will come and rescue me. Maybe make him a little jealous? Sounds like a good plan huh? No? Fine. Be the reasonable one.
“Nap?” I ask. I take the hair tie off my wrist and pull my hair into a messy bun. Logan simply nods and follows me out of the kitchen back towards the carpeted stairs, back towards the very bed that I know he’ll only fall asleep with me in.
Look, I know there’s a saying that it’s better to have a piece of someone’s heart than none of it all, but I beg to fucking differ. Especially when the piece of someone’s heart is one of your best friends. And especially when the piece of someone’s heart is a guy who is as untouchable as he is unbreakable.
Chapter 5
Logan
I’ll never forget the first time I slept in the same bed with Maxx. She’d just moved into town and into her aunt’s place. She’d sat with Erin at lunch, and I remember wondering how long Erin was going to give to this new pet project. Baggy jeans. An old video game t-shirt, Mario Brothers. How can you not love Mario Brothers?
Oversized glasses with her hair all over her head. I knew what Erin saw, and that was a disaster project she could play with. She loved having life sized dolls to play with. And what did I see? A girl who probably had her own fucked up past to hide from. You know what they say, trouble recognizes trouble. Only difference was she was looking to find solid ground, which Erin and Luke were golden for. With parents like theirs who had a firm open door policy for their friends, it was a no brainer that Maxx ended up getting sucked in.
After school that day, Erin demanded I walk Maxx home because she had a dance lesson and Luke had soccer.
You’ve met Erin by now. When she says to do something you just kind of fucking do it. She’s like me. We don’t really do ‘no’ very well, if at all.
So I did. And when the old man stumbled in later that night after he had clearly been at the bar drinking, I snuck out my window and into hers. Without question, she invited me to sleep beside her and without question she kept her window unlocked for me from that night on. I didn’t always find myself in her bed, but over the years I can honestly say the chances were higher for me going to be beside her versus anywhere else. Even after I’d bang a girl’s brains out and she’d beg me to stay, I wouldn’t. I told them upfront it wasn’t in the deal.
Look. Get this now. I can’t give Maxx what she wants most. I just can’t. But I can give her that.
She wiggles beside me and stretches her mocha colored arm across my lower abs pulling me into her with a heavy sigh.
Fuck. You know, if I