13. LOGAN
13
LOGAN
Getting locked inside the physical therapy suite wasn’t exactly on my spring semester bingo card. My fists ache from pounding on the heavy metal door, but I hammer against it anyway, even though I’m beginning to think it’s futile. Out of sheer frustration, I scrub my hands over my face. Fucking Jaxon. I know he did this.
Rya will think I bailed on her, and that’s the last thing I need right now—especially when it took some cajoling to convince her that Hazel’s life wouldn’t end if we made plans for dinner—just the two of us—tonight. Her roommate is fun and all, but she’s also stuck to Rya like crazy glue—emphasis on the crazy, some days. And the fact is, there are several things I’d like to talk to Rya about… alone.
First and foremost is to make sure she understands how important she is to me. Because I sense with every fiber of my being that Jaxon is worming his way in, tricking her into thinking he’s there solely for her.
To be clear, I don’t doubt he likes her or that he thinks she’s totally hot. But I’m terrified he also wants to get in her pants. If he finds out how innocent she is, he won’t stop at anything. And, of course, there’s the added bonus that messing with her is a really fucking easy way to get under my skin.
In addition to my worries about Rya and Jaxon, I’m literally fucking freezing my ass off. Azriel, Winston, and Cruz had been quick to eject from the other tubs and get outta here. If only I hadn’t taken longer than usual toweling off, what I can only assume is Jaxon’s deranged plan wouldn’t have succeeded.
When I get my hands on him, he’ll get a rude lesson in payback. I know that asshat had something to do with this. I’m not letting this prank go. There’s no doubt he laughed his despicable ass all the way back to the dorm. Fuck , and if he encountered Rya waiting on me… Well, I don’t want to think about the repercussions.
I let out an aggravated sigh, readjusting my towel around my waist as I stare at the clock on the wall. It’s been close to two hours since practice ended. I close my eyes. I’ve dealt with Jaxon’s bullshit antics before, and this sort of thing has his name written all over it .
Fuck, why did I leave my goddamn phone in the locker room? Frustration mounting by the second, I pound both fists on the door once again. Not that I expect anyone to hear me. In all honesty, it’s entirely possible no one will have a clue I’m locked in until the PT arrives in the morning. My breath heaves from me as I shout, “Let me the fuck outta here!”
My jaw clenches so hard, I can practically feel my molars being pulverized. I won’t let him use her against me. She’s like the other half of me—which is why it hurts like a bitch that she’s so quickly begun to slip away from me. I feel it in my bones and in my blood. It’s been two motherfucking days since he’s begun to interfere, and already I’m fearful he’ll poison her thinking. “Motherfucker!” I bellow, so pissed off I can’t see straight. Goddammit, I promised her I would be there waiting.
Moments later, I jerk, freezing in place when the sound of approaching footsteps reaches me. “Here! I’m in here!” Whoever is in the hallway pauses, then when I slam my fist against the door, there are definite sounds of someone coming toward me. My heart jumps into my throat when it whips open, and I fall forward right into Coach Kimball.
“What in the holy fuck is going on here?” He shoots me a harried look, confusion lancing his brow before his gaze cuts around the room. “What are you doing?” His scowl harsh on me as he takes in my towel-clad body and the goose bumps covering my skin from head to toe.
“Coach, I was—” My eyes slam shut at the look of bewildered aggravation on his face. He has it in his head I’m a fucking troublemaker, and it’s all because of Jaxon. “Someone locked me in here. I was slower to towel off than everyone else. The door clicked shut and that was it.” His brow furrows hard, waiting while I find the rest of my words. “A few of the guys and I”—I gesture to the row of therapy tubs along the back wall of the room—“we were doing an ice plunge, like you recommended.” Working my jaw to the side, I let out a heavy breath. “That’s all I know.”
“You’re lucky I hadn’t left yet. Not another soul on this floor. Be more careful next time. Just what I’d fucking need… for it to get out that one of my players was locked in here overnight.”
I press my lips together, willing myself not to bite out some harsh retort. Not only does he appear to be worried more about himself, but—with the exception of my chattering teeth—he also doesn’t see what’s right in front of him. Jaxon has him fooled, too, and wrapped around his little finger. Eyeing our coach’s surly attitude, I decide it won’t help at all to tell him what I think about his concerns. “Yes sir. Understood. It won’t happen again.”
“You’re damn right it won’t.” He heaves out a punctuated breath. “Just follow the rules and keep your nose clean. Is that clear?”
I stare woodenly into his eyes. “It is.” He thinks what happened tonight is somehow my fault and that I’m making excuses. I lower my gaze, my jaw twitching madly at his perception of me as a pain in his ass.
“Go get dressed,” he grunts out, holding the door open for me. “You look like a goddamn human popsicle.”
Shivering in response to his comment, I stoop to pick up my sopping-wet, ice-cold swim trunks from where I’d dropped them once I realized I was locked in. Letting out a hard breath, I ball them in my fist, then slip out past Coach, whose lips are mashed together, his eyes narrowed on me.
Fuck. As if Coach having to physically pull me off Jaxon yesterday hadn’t been enough to cement me in his mind as his least-favorite player. I hurry down the hall to the men’s locker room and duck inside, then make quick work of pulling warm, dry clothes out of my bag and tugging them on. The entire time, I’m half muttering to myself about how shitty my afternoon and evening have been and wondering if there could be anything worse coming my way.
Sitting down on the bench across from my locker, I take a moment to dig out my phone. Fuck. I close my eyes, hoping what I just saw on the screen isn’t real. Biting off an oath, I pry them open to see exactly what I’d feared. Two missed calls, both from Rya, and a slew of message notifications. Thumbing open the first message, I grit my teeth as my eyes fall on her obvious confusion when I hadn’t shown up.
I’m waiting by the front doors, like we said.
Are you running late?
I hope practice was okay.
Going outside to check out there.
Then a few minutes later, there’d been a few more texts, demonstrating her rising anxiety.
Logan?
I guess I’m going back to the dorm on my own.
See you when you get there?
Logan?
I dampen my lips, quickly tapping out a message. Her texts were sent ages ago.
Shit.
I’m sorry.
You aren’t going to believe what happened.
Are you still here somewhere?
I wait and wait for the dancing of the dots on the screen, but there’s nothing. Wherever Rya is, she’s not answering. With a marked grimace, I shove my phone into the pocket of my joggers and stand, snatching up my bag and hefting it over my shoulder in one motion.
My mind races as I jog from the gymnasium all the way across campus to Deveney Hall. There are only a handful of people milling about, but Rya is nowhere in sight. I bypass the elevator in favor of the stairs and take them as fast as my feet will carry me. Once I reach the third floor, I burst from the stairwell. She said she was coming back here, so… Her room seems the obvious choice. I pass my own and head straight to the one Rya shares with Hazel. Rapping lightly on the door elicits no response, so I knock harder. Neither of them appear to be here. Unless they’re sleeping. I knock again. Then with more force until I’m pounding the shit out of the door. “Rya! Are you in there?” Impatience bleeds from my pores, and it hardly registers when the door to my room opens and Levi sticks his head out. Fucking hermit. “What the fuck, man. You trying to wake the dead? ”
I freeze. “Don’t say shit like that.” My words are clipped, my thoughts irrational.
“What’s going on, Logan?”
Turning, I lean against the door. “Can’t find Rya. I was supposed to have met her.” I run a hand down my face, then shake my head before whirling around and banging on the door again. “Rya!”
Levi’s response comes out with an amused huff. “Well, you’re making an ass out of yourself.”
Hazel appears a moment later, her eyes wide. She jogs down the hall to me, her blonde hair tucked neatly on top of her head, reminding me that she was in dance class with Rya. That was hours ago, though.
Before she can ask what I’m doing or I can say a word, Levi grinds out, “Jackass has been bloodying his knuckles on your door for at least three minutes now.” He looks at me pointedly. “She’s not in there, man. What’s up with you?”
“Fuck. Off. I was supposed to meet her. I couldn’t. I?—”
Hazel peers up at me, giving my arm a reassuring pat. “I haven’t seen her since class. You know, since she said she was doing something with you .” Her pink lower lip pokes out in a pout, though she quickly shoots me an unconcerned smile. “I’m sure she just got hung up somewhere. Did you text her?” When I give her a sour look, she continues, “Well, do you want me to help you look? ”
Levi snorts behind me. “Good idea. Whatever you do, take Mr. Lovesick outta here. He woke my ass up.”
“Whatever, Levi,” I growl.
And for once, Hazel comes to my rescue, letting out a billowing laugh. “Levi. It’s eight o’clock. What are you, two?”
“He’s fucking with my beauty sleep,” he grumbles, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “If you’ve got him, I’m climbing back into bed.”
The two of them exchange a look, and Hazel holds up a hand. “Don’t worry. I’ve got him. And we’re gonna find Rya.” Taking my hand, she drags me away from their room, down the hall, and out into the central part of our floor where the elevators, small kitchen, and communal bathrooms are located. We split up, checking all over before admitting we need to look elsewhere.
I glance down the opposite hallway where Jaxon’s room is.
Hazel doesn’t miss a thing, her mouth dropping into an O. “You don’t think she’s doing the dirty with Jaxon in his room or something, do you?”
Squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, I give myself an internal shake to get the image out of my head. “Jesus, Hazel.”
“Sorry.”
When I finally peer at her, she gives me a cute shrug, an apology in her eyes. I heave out a breath, then turn, putting myself on a collision course with our newest resident advisor’s room.
Hazel’s slim dancer’s legs move double-time to keep up with my much longer strides, and she finally grasps at my elbow, tugging to get my attention. It does her no good, as I have a one-track mind and simply keep moving with her hanging from me like an annoying barnacle. I feel her ice-blue eyes on my profile, a witness to my impending meltdown. Rya can’t be in there with him. I stop outside the door, fuming, my anger teetering on the brink.
“She’s not in there. She wouldn’t be.” To her credit, Hazel does her best to stop me from lifting my hand to pound down the door.
“Oh, no?” I give her a pained smile. “We know now that she was there with Jaxon Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Then again last night. She only just met the asshole, and she’s already spent more time in his room the last twenty-four hours than she has her own.”
“She passed out, you know that.” Hazel frowns. “And then had to get her phone back.” Her brows pinch together harder than I’ve ever seen them before. She’s mad. “You’re being a real dick, Logan. What the actual fuck?”
Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions. I heave out a breath, admitting to myself that it’s because I’m fucking terrified. And I won’t ever give Jaxon the benefit of the doubt, especially when it comes to Rya. “If you think that’s all that’s going on, you’re not seeing the entire picture. You’re eating up the bullshit exactly like everyone else, because he’s only feeding you a small portion of the truth.”
Her eyes widen.
“Yeah,” I growl, sarcasm practically dripping from my lips as I spit, “so, ‘what the fuck’ is the exact right sentiment. Good job.”
In the end, I don’t have to bang on the door because Hazel does it for me. I watch, mildly impressed, as she whacks her hand on the wood. She hits it so hard the pen attached to his message board falls onto the floor. “Rya, are you in there?” She’s loud enough that there’s no way Rya didn’t hear us if she’s in his room. A few seconds later, Hazel shakes her head, then grabs my hand, dragging me back down the hall. We stop at the elevator bay, where she hits the down arrow.
“Where are we going?”
“I figured you were hell-bent on finding her.” Hazel’s brows pull together as she side-eyes me.
The elevator door slides open before I can argue too much. I follow the irritable but determined blonde inside while she stabs at the button for the main floor. Turning around to face me, she crosses her arms over her chest. “I love Rya and all, but maybe you’re right. She should probably be looking at what’s right under her nose.”
“Sorry, what?”
She shakes her head, muttering, “Never mind,” then fits her bottom lip in between her teeth and works at it the entire ride down, averting her gaze.
Together, we wander the expansive first floor of the building, which includes four residential hallways, study rooms, and bathrooms. We never see a single sign of Rya, not even when Hazel jokingly opens the janitor’s closet with an impish grin.
Several minutes later, Hazel shrugs after we do a similar check of the second floor. She huffs out a breath before wincing, an apology clear in her bright blue eyes. “I’m beginning to think she’s not in the dorm at all.”
My chest tightens at all the possibilities. Or if she is, she doesn’t want to be found.