This Is Love (Evermore University #2)

30. Logan

30

LOGAN

Hurrying back to the dorm, I smile inwardly, every moment of last night playing through my head in dizzying, fantastic detail—both the physical activities and the proclamations of love. We wore each other the fuck out. And then we’d stunned the shit out of ourselves. Where I’m concerned, I’ve loved Rya forever… but it’d felt right to admit to Jaxon that I had those feelings for him, too. Because I do. There’s something tethering us together, and it’s not just the heat between us. And definitely not the pseudo-familial bond. I’ve come to depend on him. To care what he thinks.

And, poor guy, he’d truly thought for a few moments I was shooting him down.

I’ve never seen such relief on anyone’s face before when I finally admitted how I felt. Kinda makes my head spin to think he was the first to say it, but that one simple confession had solidified everything I’ve carried inside me.

I huff out a laugh as I walk along, my hands full with a cardboard to-go container of coffees and a bag of breakfast sandwiches. I woke up early to go get us fuel from the Latte Spot. Jaxon and I have a light schedule the rest of the week… classes today and tomorrow and practice as well. We have a series of home games this weekend, which allows us to attend Rya’s ballet performance on Saturday.

Speaking of our girl, I have a feeling she’ll be chomping at the bit to get in some extra practice before then. And she’ll definitely be faced with stress in the form of showing up to her classes and holding her head high. Hopefully, people will take it at face value. Dancer forgot to eat. Faints in class. And we’ll have to help her work on making healthy choices as much as we possibly can.

The scary part, though, is that she’s the one who is ultimately in control. We can assist. We can remind. But it’s up to her to make the changes that will help her in the long run.

Now, what the hell she’s going to do about Hazel, I really have no idea. A disturbed sigh blows from between my lips. If I know Rya at all, avoidance will be the word of the day. And that means she’s probably staying in Jaxon’s room for the time being. Hopefully, that won’t be an issue, but at this point, it’d be less problematic to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Rya could request a new roommate, but who knows how that would go. The other thing that’s been at the back of my mind is there’s gotta be some rule Jaxon is breaking by being involved with his residents. But fuck it. Hopefully, it doesn’t blow up in our faces.

Approaching the dorm, I slow, sure I must be seeing things. There’s a woman standing with her back to me, staring alternately up at the building, then down at her phone. I frown, squinting because she looks like— “Mom?”

The woman whirls around on her heel. Sure enough. My mother is here on campus. On a Thursday morning. Alone. I cock my head to the side, asking her what she’s doing without words. She wrings her gloved hands in front of her as she gives me a cautious smile. “Logan, I’m so glad you’re here. I tried texting, but you didn’t answer. I didn’t know how to get into the building or I would have gone upstairs to find you.”

I chuckle anxiously. That would have been bad. I would assume Levi would know better than to point her to Jaxon’s room—because let’s face it, that cheeky bastard watches everything like a hawk. There’s no doubt he knows where I’ve been spending my nights. I traverse the space between us in a few quick steps, then awkwardly fold her in my embrace with the coffee and bag of breakfast food still in my hands before stepping back to study her. What in the ever-loving fuck is going on here? She’s got this fake smile plastered on her face and is fidgeting where she stands.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

She shoves her hands into the pockets of her warm wool coat, and shrugs. “I need to talk to you for a few minutes. And Jaxon, too, if you know where he is this morning.”

“I tell you what, let’s get out of the cold. We can use one of the lounges to talk.” I gesture to the coffee and sack of food. “I actually brought this stuff back for Jaxon and Rya. I’ll take it upstairs and bring him back down with me.”

She nods, her eyes slowly moving from my face to the food items and back. Her brow furrows. “Yeah, that works.”

If she was going to say something else, she decides against it, following as I lead her inside and point out the study lounge. Before going, I hand her one of the coffees. “I got four. They were running some buy-three-get-one-free deal. Be right back.”

Upstairs, I stride quickly to the end of the long hallway Jaxon’s room is on and lightly rap my knuckles on the door. It pops open only a moment later to Rya’s bright face. She’s all smiles, and that does my heart a world of fucking good, considering where we were at with her yesterday evening. “I’m glad you’re back. I have to leave for class soon.”

My lips pull into a straight line as we enter the room. I set everything on the desk, plucking one of the cups of coffee free. Jaxon joins us from the bathroom a moment later. Rya has just noticed my sour expression, but before she can say a word, Jaxon asks, “The fuck’s wrong?”

Rya’s head whips around, her eyes pinging over me. “Logan?”

I release an uneasy groan. “I’m not sure. But my mom is downstairs waiting for us.”

There’s a heavy beat of silence before Jaxon questions, “Me?”

Nodding, I take a sip of the coffee. “I don’t know what’s going on, but she wants to talk to us.”

He wets his lips, a deep line forming on his forehead as his brows pull together. “Uh. Okay. Sure, I guess.”

Rya’s gaze bounces between us, finally landing on me. “You’ll let me know if you need me?”

“We always need you.” I press a kiss to Rya’s lips and gently stroke her cheek. “There’s a sandwich in there for you. Bacon, egg, and cheese. Flaky biscuit. Eat up. You need energy to get through classes and rehearsal today.”

She sighs, but nods, tucking her head under my chin and leaning against my chest. “Why am I worried?”

Jaxon steps in behind her, sweeping her hair off her shoulder and planting a kiss on the slope of exposed skin. “We’ll go see what’s up. You have plenty else on your mind. Let’s not add to it until we know what’s going on.”

“You’re right.” She takes a deep breath, her cautious eyes flicking to each of us in turn. She bites her lip for a second. “Thanks for taking such good care of me.”

I narrow my eyes on her as I watch her move to inspect the food. “Are you feeling okay after…”

Her eyes dart to mine as she pulls out one of the sandwiches and unwraps it, inhaling the scent of it as it wafts into the room. “You mean…?”

I grimace, shifting my gaze to Jaxon, whose teeth clench together. “I think he’s worried about your pussy.” Then clearing his throat, he murmurs, “I kinda am, too. You’re okay?”

Her eyes grow wide. “I’m fine. A little sore. Would I want to do that every time? Probably not. But it was hot. And I wanted it.” She’s about to take a bite of her sandwich when she pauses. “Is that weird?”

I shake my head, hand lifting to stop her from asking anything else. “I just wanted to make sure you’re good.”

Her teeth scrape over her lower lip as her gaze settles first on me, then shifts to Jaxon. “I won’t break. But thanks for being concerned about my lady parts.” She gestures to the door. “You’d better go see what your mom wants before she comes up here looking for you guys.” She gives us a comically scared face.

Jaxon runs a hand through his hair. “She speaks the truth. Let’s get the fuck down there.”

They’re right. I’m not ready to explain what we’re doing to anyone we don’t have to yet, either.

When we get downstairs, Mom’s sitting on one of the couches, waiting for us. As soon as we enter the room, she sets her coffee down on the floor at her feet and stands.

I glance at Jaxon as she rises to meet us. He looks decidedly unsure of what to do or how to respond. At first, my mother comes toward us, arms outstretched, almost as if she’s going to hug one or both of us, but she ends up drawing them in, folding her hands together, and tucking them under her chin. “Hello, Jaxon. I know I’m not your favorite person, but it’s nice to see you.”

His mouth twitches upward on one side, and he hesitantly nods, meeting her gaze. “It’s nice to see you, too. But I don’t understand why you want to speak to me.”

“Both of you, really.” She clears her throat, then exhales, dropping her arms to her sides. “I hope I can trust you with this.” At her words, his gaze cuts sharply to me, the What the fuck? clear in his eyes. As for my mother, she gives her head a little shake, looking back and forth between the two of us. I don’t know if what she sees reassures her, or what. I honestly have no idea. A moment later, her voice rings out clearly. “I’m leaving your father, Jaxon. I’ve met with a lawyer who is helping me put things in place to serve Eric with divorce papers.”

My mouth is hanging open, I know it, so I make the effort to snap it shut. “Are you okay, Mom?” I have no idea what else to say.

“I’m going to be.” She nods to herself, then focuses on Jaxon. “Don’t be mad. I spoke to your mother.”

A gasping sound exits Jaxon’s mouth, and he simply stares at her for several long seconds until he finally rubs his hand over his jaw, eyeing her. “Why would you do that?” he bites out.

She holds her hands up. “It was a good conversation. Promise. She was fine when I left. I’ll be honest—I hadn’t understood how much trouble she was having until Logan filled me in, and I’m really sorry for causing problems with the whole family dinner thing.” She takes a deep breath. “Frankly, I wanted to ask her a few questions because Eric hasn’t been very forthcoming about… a lot of things. Brushing off my worries. Denying any wrongdoing on his part. It was too much, so as a last resort, I thought maybe I could find out the information I needed. There was something I was beginning to suspect, and Macie was able to give me confirmation.”

My eyes dart to hers. “What do you mean?”

She winces. “After that unfortunate dinner we had, I started poking around and discovered you were right, Logan. Eric was dating me while he was still very much married.” On a sigh, she continues. “Jaxon, I want you to know I was told it was over. Divorce final.” She makes a slicing motion with her hand to emphasize her point. “I had no idea he hadn’t even told her there was an issue yet. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to speak to your mom. I asked her specifics about dates, wanting to know the whole truth.”

I put a hand on Jaxon’s back and can physically feel the effort it’s taking him to draw each ragged breath. “You okay?” I study his profile, and after a couple seconds his head jerks in the affirmative. “Is that it, Mom?”

She chuckles, grimly shaking her head. “We also discussed how he had to have hidden money in accounts no one knew he had. Macie said she was somewhat aware of their financial position previous to the divorce… and the numbers never added up. She got screwed over, for sure.” She steps forward, hesitantly reaching out to touch his arm near the elbow. “I’m so sorry, Jaxon.”

He drags in a ragged breath. “Uh. Yeah.” Giving himself a shake, he finally focuses on her. “What—” His face crumples like he’s trying hard not to lose it. “Sorry. What are your next steps?”

“I want to know, too. Because?—”

She holds up a hand again. “I’m taking measures now to make sure it doesn’t happen a second time. He’s lied to me our entire marriage. I don’t like knowing how he’s been treating you, Jaxon, and”—her gaze cuts to me—“I didn’t like how the second you questioned him he got on your case, Logan. There’s other stuff, too. But let it suffice to say I’m done.”

Jaxon heaves out a sigh, glances at me, then mumbles, “What can we do to help you?”

The smile that hits my mother’s face is nothing short of dazzling, but in her eyes, there are tears, and I wonder if she will ever forgive herself for the part she played in the suffering Jaxon and his mother have endured. “All I need right now is your silence so he doesn’t know I’m coming for him.”

Jaxon huffs out a laugh with a quick nod. “Done.”

“We aren’t saying a word, Mom. Trust me. But let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”

She steps close to give me a quick hug, then nods. “I’ll keep you informed. Both of you.”

I happen to turn my head at just the right moment and catch this funny look on Jaxon’s face. Before I see what’s about to happen, he pulls my mother to him and wraps his arms around her tightly. “Be safe,” he grits out, then eases from the embrace and walks out the door.