7. Logan
7
LOGAN
I exhale slowly at the troubling details of the last eight hours, trying not to disturb Rya. My gaze roams over her in the scrubs the nurse had given her to wear home as she sits wedged between Jaxon and me in the back seat of an Uber, and my heart cracks open a fraction wider than it had back in the hospital. When the nurse asked Rya if she wanted to wear the skirt and top she’d arrived in, Rya’s voice had been shaky, but she’d defiantly stated that she never wanted to see those clothes ever again. I can’t blame her.
Letting out a small sigh, she rests her head against my bicep at the same time she threads her fingers through Jaxon’s and clutches onto him. Working my jaw to the side, I cast a wary glance at the third member of our party. He hasn’t said much of anything to me since I let him in on the truth of my very complicated relationship with Rya. It probably wasn’t the brightest thing I’ve ever done, but I can only take so much of his shit before putting him in his place. And even then, that only ever happens when I see a suitable opening. From his outraged shout after I walked out, I assume he figured it the fuck out. I never outright told him Rya and I have carnal knowledge of each other, but I sure as fuck implied that we do. It’s the truth, but I probably shouldn’t have fucking done that. Hopefully, it doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass at a later date.
I study his brooding profile. He’s either really tired or really pissed off. There’s no telling with him. I don’t read him well, and most of the time lately, I wonder if it isn’t because he’s constantly changing things up just to fuck with me. We were fucking fine, for the most part until we had to leave Rya’s side. Then, all hell had broken loose. How the ever-loving fuck had I ended up in yet another closet situation with that asshat? Twice in one goddamn night. Jesus, Logan. What the fuck. You’re a freaking idiot to have not seen it coming.
I’d avoided him until Nurse Charlie came to find me because Rya was asking for me after her exam. An agonized breath shudders from me as I tip my head toward the top of hers, inhaling the scent I know so well. She’s here with me. She’s going to be okay.
My entire body sags with relief. Not only are we finally on our way home, but there’s no conclusive evidence she was raped. Thank fuck for that. But the unfortunate truth is there’s still a chance she was touched. No test is going to show if she was groped or worse, and there will certainly be doubt lingering in her head for a long time to come. That saddens me for her. We can pretend nothing happened since she can’t remember, but I don’t know if that’s the healthiest way to approach this. The fact is someone did drug her. Whether there was an altercation of some sort that led to the cut on her scalp or if she simply passed out and hit her head on the way down, we may never know.
The bubbling simmer in my blood tells me I won’t simply let it go. I can’t. I intend to find out who was responsible and make sure there’s no way they ever do that to another girl again.
Something Trip mentioned has been tugging at the outer edges of my thoughts since I went off on my own after Jaxon decided to be a dick again—and I don’t even want to think about the erratic shifts in his behavior tonight. A growl threatens to rip from my throat over how fast he can flip on me, but I shove all that aside to turn over what Trip admitted during the first party of the semester. There are cameras in the basement of Tri-Beta house. He said they’d be watching, and, true to his word, they’d burst down the stairs only moments after I opened my mouth during Friend and a Fifth. I wonder if he shared that information with the cops or if he kept that little tidbit on the down low. Dude is sketchy as fuck. I don’t trust him. He’ll be lucky if I don’t nail him in the face the first chance I get, without so much as asking him a damn thing.
Our driver pulls up to the dorm a few minutes later. I meet Jaxon’s gaze as we both hesitate to exit the sedan. My voice low, I grit out, “I’ll take her to my room so I can keep an eye on her. Levi won’t mind, and I kinda doubt we want to deal with Hazel’s antics.”
“Agreed on the Hazel bit, based on the text Rya got. She’s bound to be feeling the ill-effects of the quantity of alcohol she consumed. But—” He shakes his head, grimacing.
“But what?”
“I can take care of her. I don’t have a roommate to bother, and she’ll be more comfortable in the bigger bed.”
“You just didn’t like what you found out earlier.”
“Or maybe I have her best interests at heart, unlike someone else who seems more concerned with keeping her to himself.” Jaxon aims a withering look at me.
“I’m not asleep,” Rya whispers, slowly sitting up and blinking as she looks around. “Are we back?”
Shit . I close my eyes, taking a deep breath before pressing my lips to her temple. “Yeah, baby. You ready to get some rest?”
She turns to look at me, her green eyes searching my features for a few seconds. “I guess so.” At her answer, faster than a snake, Jaxon is out of the car on his side and holding his hands out to help Rya slide over to him.
Drawing in a breath, I reluctantly crack open the door on my side and climb out, waving at the driver as I go. My jaw grinds as I see Jaxon’s already got an arm looped around Rya’s waist and has tucked her under his arm. He whispers softly to her, and that’s his saving grace because I can hear him. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Don’t leave me.” She glances over her shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief when I join them.
“Don’t worry. We’re not abandoning you. We’re going to make sure you have a quiet, comfortable place to rest.” His gaze finds mine over her head.
Did he just include me? I narrow my eyes on him, unsure what he’s up to now. Hurrying in front of them, I use my key card to let us into the building and haul the heavy old door open. Rya scrapes her teeth over her bottom lip, her eyes connecting with mine for a moment as they pass. Once they’re inside, though, she visibly slows, her neck craning to find me. I let the door shut behind us with a hollow thud, then reach out to grab the hand she’s holding out for me. I take it in mine as Jaxon hits the button for the elevator. The car is right there, and the rickety door opens in fits and starts.
We stand quietly together as it shudders shut again and we ascend to the third floor. As the motherfucking thing jerks to a stop, Rya’s grip on me tightens until the elevator finally decides we’re allowed to go on our way.
Rya lets out an uncertain breath, first turning to Jaxon, then to me. We either have to go left to get to her room or mine, or proceed to the right toward Jaxon’s.
With a tired roll of his eyes, Jaxon grinds out, “Come on. Both of you.” I shoot him an I-don’t-know-what-you’re-trying-to-pull stare, but he shrugs it off, steering us down the hall.
We stop briefly at the door, and I look over my shoulder as Jaxon lets us in, sure I heard someone behind us, but after a quick scan, I figure I must have been mistaken. There’s no one there. In fact, the entire dorm is deathly silent, which probably has to do with the fact that the clock on my phone shows it’s five thirty in the morning. And to add to that, it’s Saturday, so who the hell would be up and about at this hour, anyway? I must be fucking hearing things, which isn’t surprising considering I’m ready to pass out.
In fact, I’m so damn exhausted I can’t bring myself to question Jaxon further when he waves us into his room and shuts the door behind us. He moves directly to the bed to pull back the comforter. I take a second to glance around his room, finding myself insanely curious to have a look to see the sorts of things my stepbrother surrounds himself with. It’ll have to wait. The small space is cloaked in shadow, and the idea of turning on the light right now isn’t appealing. Some sort of cologne, the notes of which I can’t quite figure out, floats on the air. I inhale raggedly, letting the heady scent fill my head. I’m so fucked that the simple act of being here in his room sets off an intense response within me. It has my brain bending in ways I desperately don’t want it to—yet, also in ways I clearly can’t control.
I’ve gotta focus on Rya. She’s why I’m here. And maybe it’s that need that compels me to tug her into an embrace. In doing so, I get an instantaneous hit of her very delicate, feminine blend of citrus, vanilla, and lemon blossom perfume. It nearly sends me to my knees… and for a second, it curbs the Jaxon effect on my brain.
But who am I fucking kidding? I’m drawn to his rough edges and her soft curves. Her gentle laughter but also his sharp wit—even when he’s using it against me. His disarming gaze makes me sweat, and her sweet-as-fuck kisses take my breath away. Her pussy. His cock. Fuck . There’s something wrong with me. This is not the time to be thinking about this. My groan is audible—or I think it must be, because in my head, it’s like a rumble of thunder—but no one comments on it.
Rya turns to me. “What now?”
Why can’t I get a hold of myself? My heart jumps and skips all over the place as I try like fuck to figure out an answer to what should be a simple question. With an exaggerated inhale, followed by a hard exhale, I mumble, “We sleep.”
The taste of toothpaste is still fresh in my mouth, thanks to a kind nurse at the hospital, so there’s literally nothing we need to do except climb into the damn bed. Together.
Jaxon’s raspy voice pulls me from my thoughts. “You want a shirt to wear, Rya?” He’s paused in front of his armoire looking toward the two of us over his shoulder.
“Please. And, um. A pair of joggers or something? The underwear they gave me is weirdly scratchy.”
My eyes crash shut as a replay of finding her unconscious on the bathroom floor careens through my mind. I put my hands on her shoulders, pulling her back against my chest and planting a lingering kiss at the crown of her skull. As much as I’d prefer her to wear my clothes, her comfort is more important than anything else.
“You got it, pretty girl.” Jaxon turns around, scanning over us as he holds out a T-shirt and joggers for her. “You need anything?” he asks me, his voice strangely rough as his eyes seek mine out in the dark.
“Some joggers would be good.” My thumbs make small circles at the top of her back on either side of her spine, and Rya lets a sigh loose.
“Thank you,” she whispers, taking the clothes from him, then also shifting slightly to catch my eye. “Both of you.”
“You know I’d do anything—” For you . The rest of my thought refuses to dislodge from my throat.
There’s a moment of silence, then Jaxon gestures to the bed. “So would I. And right now, I think the best thing for you is to get some rest.” Jaxon tosses a pair of his joggers at me. “We have to be at the field at one. I’ll set an alarm.”
Right . I clear my throat, unsure about the upcoming audition, but needing to know what’s in her head. “Rya, were you still going to run through your audition piece this afternoon?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“It’s okay.” I duck my head near her ear. “You can decide later.”
“We’ll try not to wake you up.” Jaxon reaches out, softly touching the tip of her nose with his finger.
“Okay. Yeah. That’d be good.” Her soft voice holds a note of strain that I wish wasn’t there, but there’s not a whole lot to be done about it.
Pointing back toward the door, Jaxon murmurs, “I have a small bathroom. Just a toilet and sink, if anyone needs to use it.”
Rya gasps, and I’m confused as to why until she comes back. “How have I been in here before and never knew that was there? I thought it was a closet.”
Jaxon shrugs. “No idea, pretty girl.” Then, too tired to care, we bite the bullet at the same time and begin to undress. Rya slips Jaxon’s T-shirt over her head, then works some Houdini magic to pull her arms from the scrub top before tugging it off through the neckhole.
I yank my shirt off, and Jaxon does the same while Rya wriggles free of the scrub bottoms and generic panties they’d given her, then into the joggers.
Realizing I’m staring as she pulls the joggers up her legs, I look away only to find Jaxon watching, too. He meets my eyes, and I wonder what I’d be able to see there if it weren’t so dark in here.
The clank of Jaxon’s belt buckle has me glancing downward, and he drops his pants. My jaw clenches, but I lose mine, too, because I’ll be damned if I’m sleeping in jeans if he’s not. While I step out of them, Jaxon ushers Rya into the center of his bed, then follows behind her. He immediately drags her against his body. Fucking spoons her, then delivers a tiny smirk. Maybe he thought I wouldn’t see it, but it’s more likely he figured I would. Dick .
But then, Rya holds her hand out, and I can’t do anything but take it in mine. I’d never deny her. With a sigh, I climb in, facing her. Jaxon’s bed is bigger than either of ours, but with three of us, there’s really not that much room. It wouldn’t matter if there was more, though, because Rya grasps my waist and tugs me toward her.
I’ve slept in a bed with Rya before, fallen asleep watching movies, held her when she cried over bad breakups… And then there was that disastrous night when I hadn’t even known she was there until it was too late to stop myself from destroying our friendship.
None of that compares to this, though. Not when so much has happened tonight. Not with everything that’s transpired between us. And definitely not with what Rya doesn’t know has gone down between Jaxon and me.