And then he was gone.
I closed my eyes and knew it was done. I’d tried to walk away clean, but whatever I’d had with Logan Kade had been destroyed anyway, at my hand. I drew in a ragged breath. Fully alone now, I let the tears come.
Everyone left.
He would’ve gone, too. Eventually.
It was better to be broken now than beyond repair later.
ASSCHEEKS & CUPCAKES
LOGAN
Nate was in bed when I pushed open his door, flipped his lights on, and threw some clothes at him. “Get up.”
“What?” He jerked upright. His hand lifted, the fist formed already, but he relaxed when he saw it was me. He rubbed at his eyes. “Logan? What are you doing?”
“Whatever our problem is, I don’t care. I need a drinking buddy, and Mason’s all curled up with Sam. You’re it.”
He picked up the shirt I’d tossed on his bed and glared. “Gee. How could I resist that invitation?”
I chucked a pair of his jeans over from his chair and paced as he dressed. I needed more than a drinking buddy. I need a friend, and I needed someone who wouldn’t make me feel like shit because I wanted to screw three different girls tonight. Mason would have the damn I-know-you’re-hurting-but-is-this-really-smart? look on his face, and Sam would press her lips together and look away if she saw me heading off with a chick in hand. Neither of them understood that a good climax was the best escape at times.
Nate did, so Nate it was.
“All right.” Nate followed me out the door, running a hand through his hair.
He’d put on the shirt I gave him, but I could see now that it was ripped at the bottom. He looked ready to tear down the city. That was what I needed.
“I’m here, and where are we going?” he asked.
Downstairs, I pushed open the door, tossing and catching my keys in the air. “Blaze has a party.”
He grunted, following me to my Escalade. “Blaze always has a party. Does that kid sleep?” But when we got there, the house was dark.
“What the fuck?” Nate wondered.
I was about to text Blaze when the front door opened, and he darted toward the car, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched forward. He climbed into the backseat and waved.
“Hey, guys.”
“Dude.” Nate twisted around. “Where’s the party?”
“What?”
I pointed to the house. “Where’s the party?”
“Oh.” He laughed. “No way. Not at my house. I know of a party. That’s what I said.” He propped his hands on the back of our seats. “But I have to warn you. This party is a little sketch.”
“Sketch?” Nate asked.
“Yeah. There might be hard-core people there. So…” He looked at us. “I mean, we don’t have to go. We can go somewhere else.”
Nate looked at me. “Some girls from Pete’s Pub told me about a party. We could go there instead.”
“Wait.” Blaze’s eyebrows pinched together. “What’s wrong with my party?”
“Define ‘sketch people,’” I said. I was pretty sure he wasn’t talking our crowd.
“Oh. Uh… I don’t know. Harder drugs, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” I said dryly, turning the vehicle onto the street. “That’s what I figured, and sorry, pal. We do not need to be hanging with the local crime circuit.”
“Huh?”
I ignored him. “Nate, where’s the other party?”#p#分页标题#e#
“Asking now,” he muttered, already typing on his phone. A few blocks later, it buzzed. “Ah-ha. It’s not far, and the girls are down to get dirty, if you know what I mean.”
“Show me the address.” Once he did, I took a sharp left turn. In between telling me where to turn, Nate and Blaze started to talk. Normally, I was a connoisseur of bullshitting, but this time, I tuned them out. I had other things in my head, or other people.
Taylor wouldn’t leave me alone. Her face kept flashing in my mind—the way she’d looked when I first saw her up on that roller coaster. She’d looked so small and defeated, but there was still a look of defiance on her face. Like the world sat on her shoulders, but she was ignoring it because she didn’t want to let it push her into the ground.
She was strong like that. She wasn’t an in-your-face kind of strong. She was quiet, but sturdy. The kind of strong that you didn’t know was there until you pushed up against it, and it threw you back on your ass.
Pain sliced through me as I remembered how I’d gone to her. I’d thought I could share a few stories, let her know everything would get better, and she’d be happy. Nope. I was the one bounced back on my ass. She was cold and locked up. I hadn’t read the signals correctly. Nate had told me I was hardened about letting new people in, but I had nothing on Taylor. She was made of ice. It was shiny and pretty, but it was thick. I could see her through it, so I didn’t even realize it was there until too late. Taylor was the hardened one, and I don’t even think she knew how much.