Chapter 6
Ava
What in the actual fuck. Not only did I have to live in the same house as him, probably take an occasional ride from him and be in the same class with him…but partners? Are you fucking kidding me? The class was huge. There were so many other possibilities for people to be paired with.
But it was him and me.
For the entire semester.
That sounded like actual hell.
Of course, the thought of going to the professor crossed my mind, but it left just as quick. There was no way I’d give Logan the satisfaction of requesting a different person to work with. He never would’ve let me live that down.
So I was stuck with him. In so many ways.
“Hey,” Macie said as she tapped on my open door. “You almost ready?”
At least today I’d have reinforcements in the truck with me. All four of us were driving together.
“What time is it?” I didn’t have my watch on yet, but I thought I still had almost thirty minutes before I needed to be ready. “Why are we leaving now? No one has class for like another hour.”
“Don’t know, but Becca and Logan wanted to get to campus early.”
Would have been nice if someone mentioned that to me, but I wasn’t anyone’s priority at the moment.
“Yeah, I’ll be right down.”
As I heard her hustle down the stairs, I hurriedly brushed my teeth. Shit. I wasn’t really a makeup girly, but I also didn’t like going out with nothing on my face. Throwing mascara on my lashes and gloss on my lips, I rushed to find my boots.
After grabbing my backpack, I made my way to the first floor to find it empty. Great, they were all in the truck waiting for me, that would piss the lumberjack off.
Of course, my lovely roommates left the front seat open for me.
Next to the lumberjack.
As I opened the door, I stared up into the cab of the truck with despair.
“C’mon, Tink, we’re gonna be late.”
The venom in his words confirmed he was in no better a place with our friendship than I was.
“You know my little legs struggle with your gargantuan of a truck, asshole.” I was sure my response didn’t help. After throwing my bag into the seat above me, I reached for the armrest on the door to help pull me up.
“And why must you call me that to only ridicule my short stature?” My words were breathy as I finally made it into the cab and settled into my seat. “It’s not nice.”
He put the truck into reverse as I hurried to buckle my belt. He snickered as he twisted around to look out the back of the truck, his eyes glancing at me as he did.
“Oh, that’s not it, Tink. It’s really not about your height. It has everything to do with your bitchiness.”
I never understood the saying “my chin hit the floor.” Yet after his comment, I completely did.
My mouth dropped open and I, possibly for the first time ever, was at a loss for words.
Spinning in my seat, I checked for the reaction of my two roommates behind me.
Macie feigned ignorance as she scrolled on her phone.
But Becca stared right back at me, challenging me.
She either waited to see how I would respond or actually agreed with him.
Traitor. Why was she now my warden?
Feeling defeated, and alone, I sat back in my seat and kept quiet. Which was not the norm for me. I’d have a talk with Macie about this later, for sure. Regarding Becca, I’d have to decide how to move forward with her. She was his friend before mine. Her allegiance was definitely in Logan’s court.
I was left wondering if I’d made a huge mistake agreeing to this arrangement.
“We’re meeting up with Lanie and Xander before class,” Becca said. Her words were calculated. Selective. Spoken carefully.
Turning to look at her again, her eyes went wide as her chin lifted in Logan’s direction. A warning.
My attention turned toward the behemoth next to me. His eyes were now focused on the road, yet there was something about his demeanor. His white knuckles gripped the wheel, and I realized his sarcasm toward me ceased.
“Would you like to come?” Becca asked. “I’m assuming you’ve got time since you and Logan have the same class to get to. Might be nice for us to see each other, all together. Ty’ll be there, too.”
That made Logan uncomfortable. His menacing gaze went to the rearview mirror aimed directly at Becca, his laser eyes trying to say the words he didn’t want to speak.
I understood. He was going to see the girl he wronged. The girl he apparently used to have feelings for and touched inappropriately. And her boyfriend.
Of course he was nervous. Anyone would be.
But he was doing it. He planned on seeing them.
And that took balls.
And hell yeah, I wanted to see that.
“Sure, got nowhere else to be since we’re getting here so early.”
Our student union was a very beautiful building. It had multiple levels, but somehow the engineers managed to allow light to flow from the ceiling windows to every floor. On a cold, windy winter day like today, it made it a bit more bearable to see the sun shining even once indoors.
As the four of us traipsed through the first floor, every eye turned to look.
Every female eye, that was.
Every girl stopped what they were doing and stared at Logan as we searched for our friends. It was like a scene from a movie, yet he was completely oblivious. At least it seemed that way.
Macie, on the other hand, was not.
“Quite the phenomenon, huh?” she whispered in my ear. Her eyes scanned the room as the females continued to gawk. “I mean, sometimes I wish he wasn’t our roommate. Like, so he would be fair game, ya know?”
Christ, it was like she was inside my head sometimes.
“Yeah, but they don’t know him like we do,” I retorted. Except my response was not a whisper. Logan turned and looked right at me. But I didn’t care.
“Ava,” Macie started as we took a group of seats that were empty. “Why are you not giving him a chance? He’s really nice once you get to know him.”
I snorted. Actually snorted at her comment.
“You’ll have to forgive me, Mace, for not wanting to become friends with a guy who is a total douchebag to me. In addition to the fact that he assaulted someone who he supposedly liked, a lot.”
Macie pulled me from my seat with a force I didn’t think she was capable of.
“Ava!” she yelled once we were away from Logan and Becca. “What is your problem?”
We were up against a wall in a little alcove. She obviously wanted privacy for her next words, which I was sure weren’t going to be nice.
“Why would you say that? Especially with him right there?” she reprimanded.
I was known to be a girl who spoke her mind, and I liked that about myself. But I was never known to be a mean person. And that was a mean thing to do, even to him. However, there were things going on in my head, things no one else knew about, that were at play here.
“I don’t know, Macie. I don’t know why I said it. He’s just under my skin, ya know? He’s pissing me off on purpose, and I don’t know why.”
She shook her head at me like a schoolteacher would.
“Ava.”
Her hand literally went to her hip. Christ, now I had her and Becca acting like sentries in my life.
“I don’t need another mother, Macie. Please, let’s not do this, OK? I’ve already got Becca on my case about Logan, I don’t need you, too.”
“But you’re not seeing that you’re the one who started all of this between the two of you. You could put an end to it, too.”
I was about to respond. Retort. Retaliate.
Then I realized she was right.
But I didn’t care.
“I don’t want to do this here or now. Can we talk at home, later?” My eyes scanned the room, refusing to look her in the eye. I lowered my voice as I said my next words to her. “I think it’s about time I tell you a little something about me and my past.”
The look on her face transformed from schoolmarm to concerned best friend in a millisecond. She reached for my hand and squeezed it before nodding.
“Of course.” Her arms went around my shoulders, and she pulled me in for a hug. “Is everything OK?”
I nodded and she accepted that.
I guess I was doing this. I’d be sharing a part of me from my past that no one other than my mom and sister knew.
But I think it was time.
As we walked back toward our group, I noticed that Lanie, Xander and Ty had arrived. We were a large, robust gathering of people in the center of the union. Everyone laughed, hugged, and talked over one another as they caught up.
“Ava!” Lanie yelled. She ran to my side and pulled me into her arms. “It’s so good to see you. How was your break?”
I liked Lanie a lot. She was most likely the only reason I agreed to the arrangement of Logan living with us.
Lanie had a troubled past, a deeply disturbed ex who hurt her badly.
Physically, emotionally, mentally. He’d actually been in jail, but they couldn’t keep him in any longer and he was recently released.
Xander, her hot boyfriend, insisted she move in with him.
That left an open room in our house. Enter Logan, who needed a place to live.
Win-win in everyone’s mind.
Everyone’s except mine. If I’d spoken up about my concerns of living with him, I’d be the reason he couldn’t return to school.
“It was good,” I told her. “How was yours?”
“It was OK. Xander spent most of it trying to figure out where Max might be, and plan accordingly if he decided to show up at his house. He’s a little obsessed at the moment.”
Her distress came through as she threw herself into one of the chairs.
Hearing that made me feel guilty. I hated that her life was filled with this unnecessary drama. She wasn’t even twenty years old yet and had to be constantly looking over her shoulder for an abusive ex.
But taking in the people around us, I saw her support system. In that regard, she was truly lucky.
“I’m sorry, Lanie, that sucks. He sounds like such a tool. But you’re lucky to have Xander, and these guys, to help you.”
A brilliant smile formed on her lips, lighting up her face.
“Becca always told me how good you were at doling out words of wisdom. And you’re right, I am lucky, I need to remember that.”
I noticed her eyes focus on two people in particular. And they grabbed my attention as well.
Xander and Logan were speaking.
What I saw surprised me. Xander was relaxed, leaning in toward Logan, smiling as they spoke. It was obvious Logan was still nervous as he stood with his hands shoved in his jean pockets. But he seemed better off than when we were in the truck. A bit more relaxed.
His eyes kept darting in our direction, though. Which was crazy that he would be stealing glances at Lanie while talking to her boyfriend. But then it hit me.
He wasn’t looking at Lanie.
“Becca told me you and Logan are struggling a little bit,” Lanie said, interrupting my revelation.
“Um, yeah, just a little, but we’ll be fine. No worries, Lanie.”
I wasn’t sure if she believed my lie, I didn’t think I was good at it. But she let it go. Maybe because Logan was headed in our direction.
“Hey, Lanie. Wish we had more time, we didn’t get a chance to talk too much. Xander brought me up to speed about ‘the asshole,’ though,” Logan said.
They shared a look, her eyes serious, as she stood to greet Logan with a hug.
A hug.
“I’m so glad you’re back, Logan,” she said to him.
As she said it, she held his hands and looked him square in the eyes.
“Me, too,” he responded.
His smile for her was genuine. Real. And not a smile one would give to a person they were in love with or anything like that. They had a mutual respect for one another.
“But me and this one have to get going. We’ve got a class starting soon,” he said while gesturing to me with his thumb.
Looking at my watch, I realized we would have to really hustle across campus. Grabbing my bag, I said my goodbyes.
It was a content silence as we walked into the brisk outside air. He seemed to want to be with his own thoughts, and I was fine with that. It meant he wasn’t passing any snarky comments my way.
Then his pace picked up. I knew we were possibly going to be late, but I couldn’t keep up with him. Instead of complaining, I kept quiet. My pace increased, but Logan was yards ahead of me.
Suddenly, he stopped and turned to find me. Still quiet, he waited for me to catch up. We walked in silence, stride for stride.