14. RYA
14
RYA
I hesitate outside Logan’s room, unsure if he’s already gone to bed or not. But it’s bothering me that he didn’t respond when I texted him back. There’s this horrible twisty feeling in my stomach that he’s going to be upset when he finds out I was with Jaxon. My eyes crash shut. I don’t know what to do. There’s this part of me that wants to figure out what the issue is that festers between them.
A choked laugh burbles up my throat. Logan has lovingly called me Little Miss Fix-It on more than one occasion. I can’t ever seem to let a problem slide without trying to help. The first time he said something about that pesky part of my personality, I thought he meant it as a bad thing, but he’d assured me it wasn’t. Will he think it is now, though, with Jaxon involved ?
I fidget for another minute, staring down at my tired feet, and draw in a breath that I’d hoped would be more steadying than it actually is. I hate to bug him—or Levi, honestly—but the reality is there’s no way I’m sleeping until I put eyes on Logan. So, I can stand here fussing over my indecision or take action. Exhaling hard, I lift a hand and tap softly on their door.
At first, there’s no response, no sound at all, then a second later, the door cracks open. Levi pokes his head out, bracing his forearm on the door frame as he rubs at his eye with the other hand. He frowns for a second like he’s confused. “Hey. There you fucking are. You need something?”
“Um.” My brow furrows. Shit. From the There you fucking are , I’m guessing Logan was looking for me earlier. A sick feeling of guilt flows hot and sticky through my veins. I clench my teeth together, peering behind him. I can totally tell Logan is lying on his bed. I tip my chin in his direction. “I wanted to find out what happened earlier. He said there was some story I wouldn’t believe.”
Levi raises a blond brow, then scrubs a hand through his sandy hair with a chuckle. “You could say that.” He shakes his head. “I’ll let him tell that tale. But what happened to you? When he woke my ass up for a second time, he was in a really shitty mood. He said he looked for you every-fucking-where. ”
I grit my teeth and suck in a breath. “I guess we had a misfire of sorts. Total communication failure.” Levi frowns, glancing over his shoulder. In that moment, I’m hit with the overwhelming feeling that he’s trying to keep me out of their room. Did Logan tell Levi he didn’t want to see me? What is this, some sort of best friend block?
Just before winter break, I had to have Hazel tell Winston—one of the more obnoxious baseball players—that I wasn’t in the room while I hid behind the door because he just couldn’t get the message that I wasn’t interested in him. But this is different, right? It’s me. And Logan is clearly here. Frustration leaches into my blood, flowing swiftly through me. “Levi, are you going to let me in or not?”
He grimaces, and the idea that maybe I was right after all and Logan doesn’t want to speak to me makes it hard to breathe. After hesitating for several beats of my anxious heart, he mutters in a low voice, “Fine. I’ll give you two some space, I guess.” His chest rises with his slow, deep intake of breath, then he pushes off the door frame, and exhales hard as he backs into the room.
I follow, hesitating just over the threshold when I realize he’s talking to himself under his breath. It finally clicks that he’s trying to locate a pair of joggers, because, yeah. Levi’s in the tiniest pair of briefs I’ve ever seen. I avert my gaze. “Oh my god, Levi,” I grit out, putting my hand up to hide my eyes. “I did not need a visual of what you’ve got in your pecker packers.”
“Suck it up, Twinkle Toes,” he scoffs with a twist to his lips. “You get what you get when you enter the man cave after hours.” My mouth drops open, and I can’t help but hazard a glance in his direction. Turns out, the jerk is waiting for just that, and he smirks at my appalled expression as he jams his legs into a pair of joggers. With a final yank of them over his ass, he winks, then grabs the lanyard attached to his keys and sidesteps me.
Before exiting, he pivots, his eyes briefly landing on Logan, who’s on his side facing the wall. “You might not think it was a big deal, wherever you went, but he was worried. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
I swear, sometimes Levi gives me whiplash with how quickly he can switch gears. First questioning, then teasing, and now strangely protective. I rub my hands over my face and nod, because arguing with Levi isn’t going to help… and I don’t disagree with anything he’s said. I could tell by Logan’s text messages that he was thrown when he couldn’t find me. Shit. I should have texted back when I finally saw them, but I hadn’t known what to say.
Drawing in a breath, I eye Levi, unsure what the right play is here. Apologize? Tell him to mind his own business? Remind him that I’m Logan’s person and to quit worrying? “Levi?— ”
Levi holds up both hands as he turns and walks out the door. “You don’t owe me anything, Rya.” He glances at Logan one final time as he closes the door, then I’m left in almost total darkness.
Logan’s bed is lifted, so he has room for a mini fridge and storage underneath. I do my usual nimble act of stepping onto his chair, then his desk, before putting a knee on the end of his mattress. I lean forward, shifting my weight onto the bed carefully, because his eyes are shut, like he fell asleep scrolling through his phone. It’s the only light source in the entire room, but it gives me a chance to study him.
His chest rises and falls subtly with each soft breath he takes. My heart thuds as my eyes wander his face. I’m so familiar with the strength of his jawline, the fullness of his lower lip, and the way his wavy hair sweeps down into his eyes. Oh, Logan. I close my eyes for a moment, hating that I worried him, even if he’d worried me, too. I crawl forward and move his phone out of the way. It’s a twin bed, so there isn’t much of a choice as to where I’m going to lie with his muscular body already hogging up most of the space, but I lower myself onto my side with my back to his front. I let my eyelids flutter shut when he doesn’t say anything. A sigh stutters uncomfortably from my lips. I don’t want him to be mad at me. And if Levi felt the need to mention it, Logan was definitely upset. And I feel awful about that.
As my brain claws its way to wakefulness, it twists and curls in an attempt to make sense of why something seems… off. I take in the wall of heat at my back and the distinct feeling of something draped over my torso that pins me down. I’m dreaming. That’s all. Warm pressure slides over the skin of my stomach. It moves upward, brushing the undersides of my breasts, then back down. Up. Down. The light caresses feel so good, and oh god, this is one of those dreams I’ll remember. The kind where every detail of what happens inside the sleeping realm will be burned into my mind for me to come back to again and again. I drift, enjoying the sensations building low in my abdomen. It’s an ever-increasing pressure. A tight coil. A deep ache.
I moan, the sound raw and needy to my ears, and strain toward oblivion, reveling in the insistent beat between my legs. Warmth floods south, my body seeking more friction as a shuddered breath feathers over my lips. Mindlessly, I chase the pleasure humming through my system while balancing on the edge of something unknown. Something fucking glorious.
Tension snaps, forcing my hips to jerk, then roll in a rhythm so powerful there’s no stopping it. It feels so good, I’m helpless as the riot of delicious feeling begins to unfurl deep inside me. The resulting moan that spills from my lips is long and low. This is the best I’ve ever felt in my life, and when the pleasure finally ebbs, it’s all I can do to take in air. The resulting lethargy is unmatched, and I lie unmoving, as if all the energy has been drained from my body.
Several seconds later, a grunted breath makes me snap from the cloud I’m floating on to full wakefulness. What the hell? Tamping down sudden panic, I hold myself very still and wet my parched lips before slowly opening my eyes. There’s white-washed brick only inches from my face, and when I glance down, the first thing that registers is the bunched-up T-shirt exposing my breasts. My nipples are hard little points of arousal, poking off my chest.
I suck in a breath as my eyes drift lower, and several things come to light all at once. My sleep shorts are embarrassingly damp with arousal. A veiny, masculine hand rests between my thighs, cupping my pussy. And I’m positive, judging by the dark, beaded bracelet I spy around the wrist of said hand that the body behind me belongs to Logan. My crush… but also my gay best friend. The pounding in my head grows faster and more insistent as the full weight of what just happened hits me like a sledgehammer. Oh. My. God. It wasn’t a dream. “Lo?” I mumble cautiously, waiting for him to say something. Anything.
From behind me, Logan grunts again and stiffens. “Fuuuck,” he groans, his grip tight on me. I don’t dare breathe because one final realization has slapped me in the face. Oh. No. That hard ridge at my back is his erection. Or was… He just— Oh my god, no. There’s a warm wetness seeping through my sleep shorts that could only be one thing. My face grows hot as blood rushes to it, distress rising within me.
“Rya? What are you doing in my bed?” Logan’s morning voice is raspy. Neither of us moves for a moment. But the longer this stalemate goes on, the more I’m convinced I can’t handle this.
“I—” Covering my face with one hand, I push myself to a sitting position, then peek over my shoulder. The heat in my face is unbearable.
Logan stares at me, his lips parted and his chest rising and falling unnaturally quickly. “Rya— Fuck. I didn’t mean—” He draws in a breath to say something else, but I shake my head furiously.
“No. Don’t.” Does he know what I— What he—? Oh my fucking god. I scramble for the end of the bed, moving fast. One foot hits the desk, the other the chair, and then I’m on the floor, fucking bolting for the door.
“Wait! Rya!”
But I don’t wait. I can’t. Things between us won’t ever be the same again.