5. LOGAN
5
LOGAN
Poor Rya. Still pretty as ever, her face is a putrid shade of green. With Hazel helping me support her, we slowly make our way through the heavy door leading to our wing. We pass my room, and Hazel hurries to open theirs.
Once we get inside, Rya carefully sits on her bed, dropping her head to her hands with a soft moan. I wish there were a way to turn back time and steer her clear of the last twelve hours or so, but unfortunately, there’s not. I don’t know which will be worse for her, the hangover or Jaxon. Right this second, with her still looking like she might vomit, it’s hard to say.
Hazel paces the room, then pivots toward us, her lips pursed. “Okay, so assuming the phone is still at Tri-Beta, my first thought was that someone would see me trying to reach out. But maybe that’s not the best way to go about it because the odds of one of them knowing me or Rya to have our numbers is way low.” Hazel’s brow raises before flopping onto her bed. “But you know who I bet they would know of?” She jerks a thumb at me. “Mr. Personality over here.”
Me. For some reason, people do tend to gravitate toward me and know who I am. It’s always kinda been that way. Am I a likable guy? Maybe on the outside. Most people don’t know the real me. I glance at Rya. Hell, even my best friend doesn’t know me as well as she thinks she does. But I kinda need to keep it that way because I can’t risk losing her.
Rolling my eyes hard at Hazel, I yank my phone out of my pocket. My text thread with Rya goes back more than a full year since shortly after we first met. I tap out a quick couple of lines, hoping someone will notice the incoming messages.
My friend would like to pick up her phone today.
It was left at the Tri-Beta party last night.
Will someone be available if I drop by?
This is Logan Kent.
I mutter, “I don’t have a fucking clue if that’ll work, but if we don’t hear anything, Tri-Beta is right on my way. I’ll just stop by when I head to the gym.” That’s if Rya’s feeling better. I’m not convinced we shouldn’t make a trip to the health center on campus.
My friend looks up, her expression twisted by remorse. “Thank you,” she murmurs before shaking her head, careful not to do it too quickly.
“Hey,” I say softly, “you don’t need to thank me. This is what we do. Take care of each other.”
“Ugh,” Hazel mumbles. “You two are sickeningly cute. I don’t understand why you’re not dating.” She jams her earbuds in, not even waiting for our reaction before she gets lost in whatever she’s looking at on her phone.
I cringe internally. This comes up all the time. What the hell am I supposed to say? My best friend doesn’t think I feel anything for her… and I don’t wanna fuck up our friendship.
Rya looks away for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and returning her gaze to me. “While I appreciate so much how good you are to me, Logan, I feel like it’s so one-sided sometimes. Less of a give-and-take than it should be between friends.”
My brow furrows. “But sometimes it’s gonna be like that. Don’t worry about it. There will be a day when I’ll need you, and you’ll be there. Besides, I’d be a shitty friend if I was keeping track of favors you owed me.” I crouch on the floor in front of her since she keeps staring down at her hands. Touching a few fingers to her chin, I force her to meet my eyes. “Right now, we need to focus on two things. Figuring out where your phone is and whose bed you woke up in.” I can’t stop the bite in my tone at that last bit. If they took advantage of her, I’m going to murder them in their sleep.
She exhales heavily and nods, her eyes crashing shut. “I wish I knew.”
I don’t have the guts to ask her about my final concern. She doesn’t know where the T-shirt she’s wearing came from or what happened while she was passed out. Surely, if she doesn’t remember anything, it wasn’t her who took off her clothes and redressed her in that joke of a shirt. I’m fucking terrified for her, but I’m too goddamn scared to ask if she feels like she was the victim of an assault. If the person who had her touched her in any way— My blood boils at the thought of it, undiluted fury bubbling up behind my eyes.
Just then, my phone buzzes. Rya and I stare at each other for a beat, and I pull it back out, looking down at the screen. My brow furrows hard. The texts aren’t coming from Rya’s phone, but an unknown number.
I have her phone.
Guess who ?
A deep line wears a groove between my eyes. The fuck? Rya’s eyes roam my face, looking for clues as to the contents of the texts. “Who is it? What’d they say?”
“The ass said Guess who? like we’re supposed to know. He’s got your phone.” My jaw won’t stop twitching. Fuck. I’m not playing guessing games with this asshole. I quickly shoot him the only two questions I’m interested in him answering for us.
Who the fuck are you?
And what the fuck did you do to my friend?
I hold my breath the entire time those damn dots jump on the screen while I wait to hear what this fucker is going to say next. When it finally comes through, I swear steam begins to blow out of my ears.
Calm the fuck down, dickweed.
I didn’t do a fucking thing to her.
I exhale sharply, because there’s only one person who calls me dickweed. “It’s fucking Jaxon,” I growl.
Rya’s head snaps up, a look of relief on her face that is a direct contradiction to the scowl on mine. “Jaxon has my phone? That makes sense, maybe. I dunno.” She scratches her head. “I don’t remember when we finished the challenge, but… if I was gone before you left, he was probably with me, right?”
My phone buzzes with another notification.
Not that she didn’t want me to do, anyway.
Mother. Fucker. So much for him not doing anything to her. Another text comes in hot on the heels of the last. A fucking smiley face emoji. The asshole is straight up goading me now. It’s enough to seal his fate. I’m gonna kill him.
“Logan, what’s wrong?” Rya’s upset expression will fuel me for what I have to do.
I take both of her hands in mine. “You’re sure you don’t remember anything after using the bathroom?”
She goes stock-still, her once pale skin flushing from her neck all the way to her cheeks. “Um. We were just…”
My eyes slam shut, and I shake my head. Each subsequent breath I take knowing Jaxon had his hands on her only riles me even more. Then I think about how that motherfucker just told me to calm down, and my rage heightens. Finally, I peer up at her. My head pounds and my stomach flips. “He’s my stepbrother, Rya.”
“What?” The confused stare she shoots at me tells me she won’t like this next bit either .
I bite down on my lip. “He’s never been anything but an asshole to me since my mother married his dad. He fuckin’ hates me. Wants nothing to do with me. And—” I can’t bear to tell her about the awful feeling creeping over me. If Jaxon has his way, he’ll wreck everything… including my relationship with Rya.
She blinks. “How did I not know this? Why didn’t this come up last night?” Her head turns to the side a bit. “Or earlier this year, even? Why did you keep this from me?”
The look of hurt on her face nearly knocks me over, and I grit my teeth. “When you moved to town senior year, Jaxon had just headed off to Evermore. I didn’t see the point in rehashing all the ways he loathes me. He wasn’t around for you to get to know. And I wanted you to know me .” Scrubbing both hands through my hair, I eye her. “I’m sorry. I was trying to warn you about him at the party when it looked like you might hook up.”
She shakes her head, disbelieving. “But… he was so nice to me. He?—”
I throw up my hands. “Yeah, he was great right up until he left you while you were drunk to figure out how to get home alone. He either let some other dude do fuck knows what to you”—I heave out a disgruntled breath—“or he fuckin’ did it himself.”
Eyeing me cautiously, Rya murmurs, “He wouldn’t have. ”
At the insistent tone of her words, my brows shoot up. “Oh, because you know him so well after spending a few hours drinking with him and doing who knows what else?”
She blinks several times, and I can see the way she’s fighting the tremble of her lip. I grit my teeth, my eyes crashing shut. I don’t think I’ve ever raised my voice to her. Never said so much as a harsh word. Not like that. She wets her lips. “That’s really not your business, Logan.”
Hazel plucks the earbuds from her ears. “Rya? Logan? What’s going on?”
I don’t bother acknowledging her question, instead focusing on the fire flashing in my friend’s eyes. With a sigh, I shake my head. “Look, I’ll go talk to him. And I’ll rescue your phone.” I launch to my feet, and Rya stands at the same time, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I don’t understand why you haven’t told me about Jaxon before.” Rya’s lips purse, and I can sense the feistiness in her coming out.
Inwardly furious with Jaxon at this wedge he’s jammed between Rya and me, I cup her face with my hand, coming in close. I draw in several breaths as I stare into her gorgeous green eyes. “Just stay here. Get some rest. I think I know where to find him.”
Shakily, she nods, then bites her lip. I can tell she’s really confused by my behavior, not to mention her own conflicting thoughts and feelings about the person Jaxon has presented himself to be.
I sigh heavily. If they had met before Jaxon left for college, I have no doubt in my mind that he’d have wanted her. She’s fucking beautiful, inside and out.
My tiny dancer.
One thing’s for sure, I’ve gotta find out exactly what the hell happened between Rya and Jaxon last night, because I’m nervous as fuck to know what lengths my stepbrother might have gone to in using her to get at me.