Chapter 17
Logan
I’d been awake for about twenty minutes already, just watching and listening to her sleep.
Last night was freaking insane. First, the sheer fact that she was in my arms in the first place was literally a dream come true.
She didn’t hate me. Second, the sex was fucking fantastic.
Like the hottest sex I’d ever had. She was a siren in bed.
Beyond that, we even shared parts of ourselves with one another. Secrets, backstory to my life I hadn’t told anyone else, especially here at school.
But…
Now reality was going to hit. We needed to figure out how to move forward. How to handle “us” in this house. If there even was an us or if this was a one-time thing. I think I remember hearing that was her MO.
“Could you stop thinking so loud, it’s waking me up.”
She laughed against my chest before lifting her head. Her short black hair stuck up in every direction, only slightly different from how it looked last night. And in the morning light, her eyes were as bright as gemstones.
“Mornin’.” My finger couldn’t resist a swipe at her puffy bottom lip, pulling at it.
She moved herself up, her mouth coming to mine, giving me a soft kiss.
“Morning.”
Then she was gone, away from my arms, grabbing my shirt and her thong and getting dressed.
I will say I loved that she chose my shirt instead of hers.
“I need coffee,” she said as she opened a cabinet.
She moved around the kitchen as I searched the floor for my boxers and sweats.
“Wow, did you see outside?” I asked. “That’s a freaking ton of snow. Everyone else is gonna have some trouble getting back here, I think.” As I thought about that, I wasn’t too upset about having this place to myself, with her, for another day or so.
“Do you want some?” Ava asked. She held out a mug.
“Sure.”
The pot wasn’t quite done, so we stood in the kitchen together, waiting and watching, in silence. It was already getting awkward.
And I didn’t want that.
“Go sit down,” Ava said. “I’ll bring it to you. How do you like it?”
Walking back to the couch, I grabbed the remote.
“Cream and sugar, please.”
I put Netflix on, thinking we could find something to watch if she didn’t want to talk. Scrolling through the endless list of TV shows and movies, I couldn’t decide. It would probably be best if I chose something she wanted, anyway.
Abandoning the TV idea, I picked up my phone and texted Ty.
Me: Hey, you guys get hit with feet of snow up there too
The dots of him responding came in immediately.
Ty: Yep it’s insane. We’ll be taking Savannah out for her first time sledding today
Me: That’s awesome take pics
Ty:
“Who ya texting?” Ava asked.
She handed me a steaming cup of coffee as she sat on the opposite end of the couch and curled her feet under her legs. I tossed her the blanket and she pulled it over herself since she was bare from the waist down and had to be cold.
“Ty,” I said. “They’re taking Savannah sledding today.”
Her head nodded as the mug hit her lips, a slurping sound loud as she took a huge sip. The sound that left her lips envied the sounds coming from her last night, and it got a rise out of me in my pants.
“Oh, that’s good coffee,” she said.
I took a sip and had to agree. But I was also pretty hungry after the energy expended last night.
“Want me to make us some breakfast?” I asked her.
“I think we should talk first, don’t you?”
Leaning back, I nodded. I was suddenly nervous, unsure of how this was going to go, yet I knew it needed to happen.
I thought back to some words of advice Dr. Jean gave me at a session a few months ago.
She told me that when I felt nervous about my circumstances to remember that it was always temporary regardless of how permanent the feelings felt. The situation was temporary.
“Yes, we should figure this out,” I told her.
Ava remained quiet, sipping on her coffee. For someone who wanted to talk, she wasn’t doing much of it.
“Well,” she finally said. “Like I said last night, Macie really can’t find out about us, or any of this. She’d be so mad at me. I’d lose her trust.”
That was what she said last night. But I wasn’t about to be a one-night stand while living in this house with her. Not after the night we just had.
So, I decided I was going to take the bull by the horns and really find out how she felt.
“Ava, I like you. I know you want to keep this a ‘forbidden secret,’ and I understand why. But I’d like to make sure it’s for the right reasons.
I don’t want to be tossed aside after this weekend.
I feel like we made a connection, and I’m willing to make a go at this, whatever this is, even if we have to work at keeping it to ourselves. ”
She was quiet again. Then she placed her mug on the table and moved toward me, all the way to me, climbing onto my lap. She wrapped her arms around my neck and looked me square in the eyes.
“Logan, you need to understand something about me. I haven’t been in a relationship since I was a junior in high school. Three years since I’ve had a boyfriend.”
I didn’t like the way this was headed.
“Him and I started dating when we were freshman, and then one day, our junior year, I found him in bed with my best friend. Needless to say, I not only lost my boyfriend but my best friend that day.”
Yikes. So many reasons for her to have trust issues.
“I made a pact with myself to steer clear of relationships,” she said.
Instinctively, I turned from her, not wanting to face rejection. But she gripped my cheek and turned my face back toward hers.
“Until I met you.” She smiled. “Ya know, I even called my mom about you. I mean, kind of. I asked her a bunch of questions that were kind of about you. And look, here we are.” She pushed against my chest with playful anger.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m scared shitless, but I think I’m too far gone not to wanna give this a shot with you.
I just wish we weren’t roommates, it would make it so much easier with Macie. ”
I gripped her ass, pulling her toward me. Then my hands went under her shirt, thankful she still didn’t have on a bra. I grabbed her tits, finding her nipples and those ridiculously hot piercings and playfully flicked them with my fingers.
“But think about how much fun we’re gonna have sneaking around this place, fucking in every room of this house,” I said.
She stood and went to my wallet again, retrieving the last foil packet I had down here. She handed it to me, pulled down her thong and pulled off my shirt she wore.
“That does sound like fun. How about for now we christen the kitchen island?”
Ava and I planned on completing our school project that afternoon since we were housebound.
There was so much snow we couldn’t even drive anywhere to go sledding or skating.
We spent about three hours finishing up the marketing plan and creating some social media content for the company.
We were both more than satisfied with how it turned out.
“I think we’ll ace this thing,” she said as we packed up our computers.
I couldn’t disagree.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
“Christ, man, is food all you think about? You made us huge omelets like only…” She looked at her phone for the time. “Wow, that was like four hours ago. I can’t believe it’s almost dinnertime already.”
We slept in, talked for a bit. Then our christening of the island took us well into the afternoon. Throw in the hours we’d been working, and the day was winding down.
“And, no, food is not all I think about. Not with you dressed in only my shirt all day.”
She sashayed away from me, that fine ass hidden by the long tee. I wanted to grab her, throw her over my shoulder, bring her upstairs, and do everything I’d already done to her body all over again, but in a bed.
I resisted. I didn’t want to overwhelm her literally within our first twenty-four hours.
“I think I could do with dinner soon. What did you have in mind?” she asked.
“Well,” I said, making my way into the kitchen. I opened the fridge, the freezer and a few cabinets taking a mental inventory. “I could whip together pasta carbonara if you’d like.”
She jumped onto the island, her legs kicking over the edge with excitement.
“How could you know that’s my favorite meal?” she squealed.
My arms were full of the ingredients within minutes, and I set to work on cooking her favorite dish. “Let me guess, you like the one from a very well-known chain restaurant, don’t you?”
She continued sitting at the end of the island, watching my every move. It was a bit distracting having her exposed legs catching my eye. And under that shirt her bare cheeks pressed against the marble stone, that thin thong offering no cover, tempting me.
I persevered by filling pots, grating cheese, and mixing eggs. Before long, I had a full bowl of deliciousness for us to sit down to.
“Should I open a bottle of wine?” she asked as her feet thudded to the floor. As soon as she said it, she froze. Mid-step, on her way to the table. Horror filled her face and eyes when she turned to me. “Logan.” My name came out a whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. But that didn’t seem to quell her concerns.
She just stood there, staring at me with nervous eyes.
Her hand covered her mouth as she mumbled more apologies that I couldn’t hear.
I took slow, measured steps in her direction, and her eyes widened as I approached.
Her hand went up, waving me off, a silent request to leave her alone.
I ignored her and took that hand in mine.
“Hey…” Her hand trembled against my fingers. “Ava, relax, it’s OK. You said nothing wrong, sweetheart. It’s all good.”
My arms went around her shaking shoulders, pulling her body against mine. She nodded against my chest as I continued reassuring her.
Then a phone pinged.
“Was that my phone or yours?” she asked.
“Must be yours, I have mine in my pocket.”
As she slid from my arms to search for her phone, I saw a quick swipe of her hand to her eyes. We would have to have a conversation about how to navigate this part of my life together, so that she was comfortable living hers.
“Oh shit!” Ava sprinted for the stairs. “Macie’s coming home!”
I found myself running up to the second floor, standing in her doorway watching her tear through the closet for something to wear.
“How the hell is she going to get here in this snow?” I asked. Moving to her window, I looked outside and noticed that the lots were plowed, and all the cars were plowed in. But the walkways were shoveled and things were getting cleaned by the crews from the complex.
“Jace lives here, in our complex, and he has a truck, so he’s bringing her here. She needs something for homework, or clothes, I don’t know…”
She was racing around the room, clad in only her thong, throwing bras and pants and shirts through the air. I grabbed her by the arms and forced her to stop.
“Hey,” I said. “Text her back and tell her to come eat with us. Act normal. It’s OK. Get dressed, I’ll go clean up the living room, and everything’ll be fine.”
The nod she gave wasn’t very convincing, but she calmed down. I let her go and watched her move zombielike toward her dresser. She pulled out sweats and put them on. Knowing then she’d be fine, I made my way back downstairs to straighten up.
Within minutes, Ava was back downstairs. I was plating our food while she filled our glasses of water. That was when we heard the key in the door.
“He’s such a great cook, you have to stay for dinner…”
Macie’s words could be heard as she came into the house. Ava stiffened and her head jerked in my direction.
“Relax,” I mouthed to her.
Macie and a guy, who I had to assume was Jace, bounded into the kitchen still talking to each other.
“Hi, guys,” Macie said. “Hope it’s OK if Jace eats with us. I told him what a great cook you are. This is Logan, and you know Ava.”
The guy was tall, but didn’t reach my height. He had a slimmer build than me, looked more like a baseball player.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” Jace said.
He held his hand out, and I, of course shook, it. Ava ignored him.
“Sure, I made plenty.”
Ava was already grabbing two more bowls and glasses as everyone else sat at the table.
“Can you believe this storm, Ava? Isn’t it crazy?” Macie asked. She seemed to be working hard to include Ava in the conversation.
“Yeah, crazy.”
Macie shrugged at Ava’s response, or should I say, lack of one.
And suddenly I realized it would be easy to hide what had happened over the past twelve hours…because Tink was back.