Eight
Logan
Laughing at my cheesy?ass joke, the barista hands me my chai latte. I thank her and turn to walk out the door when my shoulder collides with someone else’s. Blake’s dumbfounded when his blue eyes hook onto mine.
“Logan.”
“Blake. Following me again? Haven’t seen you around in three days. I was beginning to think you picked up a new hobby.” Smirking, I sip my drink.
Giving me a nervous smile, he looks around and steps to the side of me. “I’m not following you. I wasn’t before either. It’s a small town, remember?”
“Yes, but it’s not that small. Who told you about the party on Friday? I didn’t see any of your friends there? Never did I once see you talk to Jeremy during our four years of high school.”
“Jeremy?” His forehead wrinkles.
“Uh yeah . . . the guy who’s house the party was at. It was his birthday.” Two classes with the guy our senior year and he doesn’t know as much as his damn name.
“Oh, right. Jeremy. Yeah, a friend told me about the party but wasn’t able to join me after all.” He stumbles on his words.
“Yeah, of course they couldn’t.” I smile, moving out of the way when someone wants to get through.
“I better get to ordering. Supposed to meet my dad at the office this morning.” His gaze ping?pongs between me and the growing line.
Ah yes. Don’t want to disappoint good ol’ Dad. Or anyone for that matter. Trying way too hard anytime he has the chance—with the wrong people too. All those efforts should be geared toward me alone, then he won’t have the time or energy for anyone else. “Working for him now?”
“Yeah.” His scarf blocks half his mouth as he lowers his head. “Only part time and until he can hire someone new. One of his receptionists quit last minute.”
“That’s nice of you. Hope it works out.”
“Yeah, it’s the least I can do with my parents allowing me to stay in my old room rent free.” He lifts his chin, and I stop myself from leaning over to swipe my tongue over his cheek to see if he still tastes like me there.
“Yeah, it sounds like you have everything all figured out. I’ll get out of your way and let you get your latte.”
His gaze falls to my cup as I lower it. “Is that black coffee with cream and sugar?”
I let out a short laugh. “Nah, chai. I like to change it up now and again. Also, I’m on my way to see my friend across the way and thought I’d kill some time while I wait for her to go on break.”
He casts his eyes down, taking another step forward. “You mean Lydia?” His voice is drawn tight.
Is he jealous? He can’t be. That’s me being too hopeful. “No,” I lie, testing the waters. “Someone new, and she’s probably ready to head out to lunch now. Maybe I’ll accidentally see you somewhere later.”
A nervous chuckle slips from him. “Maybe. And I’m really not following you, so if it happens then it really will be an accident.”
“If you say so. Don’t be late to your first day at the office with Daddy.”
“Please don’t call him that.” His face wrinkles.
I laugh. Could I get him to call me that without giving it another thought? “Have fun answering phone calls or whatever it is you receptionists do there.”
“Have fun on your date,” he says dryly, and I can tell he wants to say more but doesn’t.
I never called it a date, but when he did there was a hint of distaste laced in his words.
His phone buzzes as he approaches the barista, and he looks down at the screen.
I’m too far away to read the entirety of the message but I can read the name at the top. Hayden.
Carrying on with my plans, I exit the coffee shop and stroll to the antique store across the way. Lydia circles around the counter, yanking off her name tag and waving at the other cashier. “Be back in thirty, Janet.”
“See you then, hun,” the redhead with thick faded glasses says, glancing down at a magazine. People still read those?
“What took you so long? Was it the line?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I quip, and she pauses halfway down the sidewalk after we exit the store when Blake walks out the coffee shop door. She quirks a brow. “Could he be the something like that?”
I roll my eyes. “What? He wasn’t even in there when I was.”
“Hmm.” Her feet move forward again and she links an arm in mine.
Too busy juggling the cups in his hand, with his phone pressed between his shoulder and ear, Blake doesn’t once glance our way.
We walk two blocks over to a taqueria, and when Lydia steps away to the bathroom as I wait for our order, I pluck my phone from my coat, my fingers hovering over the screen.
Exhaling roughly, I go to Blake’s and my message thread.
That’s when dots start moving across the screen.
I don’t know what told me to check, but for some reason I just had to.
The thought of him hanging around Hayden, and of Hayden reversing the hold I’m slowly gaining over him could be it.
I don’t need him getting in his head about me.
He needs to stay wanting to earn my attention.
Blake: I haven’t washed every part of my skin off.
A thrill runs through me. He’s been hanging around Hayden like that, hasn’t he? Eating dinner with his parents with a part of me lingering on his skin. Nice to know he’s still waiting for me to be ready to use him again. He can wait a little longer, though.
Not responding, I pocket my phone and step up to the counter when my name is called.
Lydia helps me carry the bags to the antique store and we eat outside on the bench.
Once I start at the academy, I won’t have time for my friends as much.
No more random work visits or joining them for lunch.
I’m wanting to get everything settled on the farm before that happens too.
“So, you’re really doing this cop thing?” Her napkin drops from her hand into the bag.
“Yeah. I really am.”
“Nervous? Excited?” She crosses her legs, twisting the cap on her Sprite bottle.
“Both. I don’t want to fuck this up like I did college.”
She gives me a sympathetic look. “You won’t, and you were having a rough time. Everyone has them. You can always go back later if you really want to.”
“Yeah.” My lips turn up. “But if this works out then I won’t need any kind of backup plan anymore.”
“I think it will,” she says, confidence ringing in her tone. “Actually, I know it will. One of the things you seem to really enjoy is telling us what we should and shouldn’t be doing.”
“That’s mostly me just trying to keep Jimmy’s ass out of trouble.”
“You’ll have more people to keep in line now whenever you find yourself getting bored during Jimmy’s off period.”
A laugh bubbles out of me. “I’m not that bad.”
Pinching her thumb and pointer finger together, she tilts her hand, partially shutting one eye. “You kinda can be, but we love you for it. Just like we love Jimmy, even when he’s trying his hardest to spend the night in county jail.”
We both laugh and I walk her inside, tossing our trash in the can by the door.
I hang out for another hour until traffic picks up, and then head off to meet someone interested in buying one of my dad’s tractors.
The guy is happy with both the condition and price, agreeing to pick up his new purchase in the morning.
And I’m happy to have some money to use toward the bills still needing to be caught up on.
We’re getting close to being in the green, and my mom already looks so much lighter on her feet than she did the first day I showed up.
“He buy it?” Mom steps onto the porch, hair blowing loose from her bun.
“Yup,” I pipe up. “He’ll come get it tomorrow, but he paid me now since I might be out tending to the fruit trees in the back. Be prepared to have lots of jam and pies.”
Chuckling, she kisses me on the cheek. “It really is good to have you home.”
“I’m just happy I’ve been able to make things better and not worse.”
Her lips downturn. “I never did agree with a single thing your dad used to tell you. If anything, he’s let people down way more than you ever could.
He’s continuing to blow his money too. Says he’s getting himself an apartment and that’s what he’s using it on, but I was told by Betty who works over at Furniture Row that he was couch shopping with some young blond guy.
Sounds like the one in those images I found. ”
“What?” My chest tightens. Blake showed me where the pictures came from and said he’s never spoken to my dad before.
Never even realized he was a subscriber of his.
Do I really know him to be a man of his word?
He’s tricked me before, too many times to count, and I fell for it like an idiot.
But who at one point or another doesn’t want to be accepted by the popular kid in school?
“Yeah. I guess they’re moving into their new place this Saturday. They kept using terms like ‘our new place,’ and ‘our living room.’”
My vision goes red. The fuck. There are plenty of other young blond guys in this town, so she could be wrong.
But she could also be right, and my gut instinct isn’t even sure what direction to go in.
“Could be someone new, too. He probably promises different guys all these things he can’t even give them, and he’ll get tossed aside once they realize he doesn’t have shit. ”
“I’m sure you’re right. They can have him either way. I’m really done this time.”
“This time?” My voice squeaks.
“Yeah. This isn’t your father’s first rodeo of infidelity. There are things I’ve tried my best to keep between us, but this time I knew I wouldn’t be able to. Especially when he’s flaunting his new lover around.”
My fingers find the back of my neck, squeezing lightly. “She didn’t give you a name, did she?”