Reckless Secrets (22 page)

I also hadn't missed her use of the word "our" like I was the outsider and she had some kind of ownership over the school. And with the money it looked like her dad had, maybe she did.

"I'm loving it," I said with a smile.

"You're in that chem class, aren't you? Such a scandal." She gave Logan that hero look again, making it clear she was aware of his role in bringing Dr. Rogers down. I remembered what Logan said about wanting me to see him as a hero and suppressed a shudder. Kelsie was playing directly to him.

I thought it was cheeky of her to bring chem up, but Logan didn't seem to mind.

"I'm glad you have closure," she whispered to him as she touched his arm. "It gives me hope."

"You'll be okay, Kels," he said. "You're strong."

I felt their bond, the bond of shared experiences and the empathy of one victim to another. I didn't know much about her situation, just that she'd been date raped, too. I took her statement to mean her perpetrator had gotten away with what he'd done. But Logan's justice gave her hope. Their bond scared me with its strength and intimacy.

Before I had a chance to react, Amber Ranklin blew in wearing bright red lipstick and a tight nude slip dress with a wide-set, plunging neckline that left almost nothing to the imagination. Next to her I looked colorful, but prim. Her blond hair was swept up in an elegant bun. And it was more than just my imagination that her gaze swept the room looking for Logan. When she spotted him, she headed directly over. Unlike Kelsie, she didn't flit. She flew straight like an arrow looking for its target.
 

His eyes lit up when he saw her. It wasn't my imagination. Kelsie noticed it, too, judging from the quick frown that crossed her face. She didn't like Amber any more than I did, which put me even more on guard.

"Logan!" Amber gave him her widest smile and threw her arms open for a hug.

If he hesitated, it wasn't apparent to me. He dropped my hand and pulled her into a happy, affectionate hug. There was something going on between them. Something more than simple Thanksgiving cheer. I'd lived with a cheating mom long enough to recognize subterfuge and deception. And lust. Beneath her polished exterior, Amber was radiating with it for Logan. And Logan was riding a high I couldn't explain.

Just as I was about to clear my throat, he seemed to remember I was there. "Amber, you remember Ellie Martin? You met her at that infamous tailgate function a few weeks ago."

Amber turned a cool, blue-eyed gaze on me and extended her hand for me to shake, wearing a pleasant smile that held no warmth at all. "Yes, of course."

"Ellie is a regents' scholar," Logan said as he fawned all over a regent.
 

For the second time, Logan had managed to avoid the title of "girlfriend" when he introduced me to Amber. I felt the slap of it this second time, too. Because this time I was no fake girlfriend. That he'd remembered to say I was a regents' scholar this time only seemed to diminish me.

"That's wonderful," Amber said to me. "Congratulations. We're very proud of our regents' scholarship program."

She said all the right things, in the right tone of voice, wearing the right smile, and yet it felt like a putdown to me. She had avoided praising me, praising the program instead. I smiled. "Thank you." I wasn't going to elaborate.
 

Fortunately, I was saved any further contact with her by another family friend who spotted her and whisked her off to introduce to someone else.

The drinks flowed freely. By the time dinner was served, most everyone was in a festive, happy mood. Logan's high seemed even higher. Dinner was buffet style after Harlan made a show of carving a ceremonial slice off the roasted bird.

After dinner, the crowd split into factions by age. The under-twenty-five crowd staked out the game room with its bar, pool table, air hockey, ping pong table, and large-screen TV and video game selection as their territory, retiring there with their drinks.

Logan glanced at his watch. "Where the hell are Collin and Zave?"

"They're coming?" I asked.

"It's not a Thanksgiving party without them." Logan grabbed his phone to text them just as they strolled in the door.

"Finally done with the family festivities! Let the party begin." Collin strolled in carrying a gift bag, with Zave at his elbow. "I thought Grandma would never go home. Are we on for our annual pool tourney?" He spotted Caleb and slapped him on the back. "Caleb, my man! This year I am going to prove to you that being a major league baseball star does not make you a pool shark."

"Bring it on, Collin." Caleb slapped Collin on the back. "Zave." He shook Zave's hand. "Is that for me?" He nodded toward Collin's bag.

"No, sorry, man. This is for my man Logan." Collin pulled a black jock cup from his bag. "To protect the family jewels now that you have a girlfriend. Ellie will thank me later. The way Logan plays pool is positively dangerous."

Caleb laughed like he knew about the pool-ball incident that had given Logan a black eye just before I met him.

"That's the way
you
play, Collin." Logan reached for the cup. "Wasn't it your ball that gave
me
a black eye?"

Collin snatched the cup away and turned to Zave. "I don't know." He held the cup out, aligning it with Logan's crotch. "Now that we're here, it looks a little big."

Zave nodded. "You're right, Col. When in doubt, always go smaller. That's my motto."

Logan grabbed the cup from Collin. Unbothered, Collin pulled a pair of protective eye goggles from the bag and dangled them from his fingers, holding them out to Logan. "To protect those gorgeous brown eyes of yours."

Logan grabbed the goggles, too, and tossed them in a nearby wastebasket like he was shooting a basketball. "Shut up, Collin." Logan walked to a rack of pool cues hanging on the wall. "Prove your manhood at the pool table. Choose your cue and choose it carefully. I'm going to whip your ass."

"Not before I grab a beer. I don't play well stone-cold sober."

"You haven't had anything to drink today?" Logan said.

"Not enough." Collin and Zave helped themselves at the bar before selecting their cues.
 

As the guys chalked their cues, the girl named Zo grabbed my arm. "They're wild men when they play. Totally vicious. You won't want to be too near. Pool balls will fly."

Ignoring her, I turned to Logan. "The girls don't get to play?"

Logan brushed my lips with a kiss. "You saw my eye the night we met, El. Zo's right. Our annual game gets intense and involves a lot of insults."

"You mean insulting behavior," Zo said.

Logan laughed. "You want to stay and be my luck?" he said to me.

No, I want you to pay attention to me
, I thought, feeling like I didn't belong in his world and trying hard not to pout or act like a petulant child.

"Sorry, Logan. I won't let you suck an innocent victim in. I'm going to take Ellie out into the safe zone, away from the smell of sweat and beer and the danger of being caught in the middle of your horseplay." Zo pulled me away. "Believe me, you don't want to play," she whispered in my ear, rolling her eyes. "It gets ugly and silly. It's better to just ignore it and them. Besides, we want to get to know the girl Logan has brought home."

On the way past the bar, she grabbed an open bottle of white wine and pulled me across the room to the cluster of sofas and chairs in front of the TV, which was playing a classic Christmas movie. She sat me down next to her on the sofa while Lacie stared openly at me and passed the bottle of wine around so Kelsie and Zo could refill their glasses.

Finally, I made a point of looking around. "What? Do I have a spot on my dress or something?"

Zo laughed. "Oops! We're too obvious. Sorry, Ellie. We're just trying to figure you out."

"I'm not that complicated," I said.

"Don't be so modest. Just being here with Logan makes you completely complicated and totally fascinating," Zo said.

"Really? Why?" I refused to be intimidated by these girls.

Lacie shrugged. "Because you're not his usual type."

I'd never thought about Logan having a type. And I guess I just assumed that if he had one, I was it. "What is his type?" I laughed like I didn't care what about the answer.

Zo nodded toward Kelsie.

I froze.

"Ignore her," Kelsie said, but the look in her eyes was hopeful. "We're just friends." She didn't sound completely thrilled.

"Now," Lacie said. "But you two were practically living together your sophomore year."

My mouth went dry. Logan had said Kelsie hadn't meant anything to him. He'd made it sound like they had just been friends.

"We were both going through some crazy crap," Kelsie said. "It was just a comfort thing for both of us." It was clear she didn't want to talk about it. "We're over it. We weren't really a thing." But she sounded a little wistful.

Maybe the other girls didn't know her story. I took pity on her and tried to redirect the conversation, for my own sake as well as hers. I refused to show weakness. "We all have exes. Logan isn't exactly my type either."

That piqued their curiosity. Three faces lit up, disbelieving. How could Logan not be someone's type?

"What is your type?"

I thought about it a second. "Lying, cheating douchebags."

That broke the ice. The other three girls laughed.
 

"Join the club," Zo said. "You're saying Logan isn't a douchebag?"

"You've all known him all your lives—you tell me."

Zo's eyes went wide with respect and surprise. But seriously, I was devious. I wanted to see the side of Logan he wouldn't tell me about.
 

"Are you serious?" Lacie stared at me.
 

I shrugged. "Sure. Warn me off now while I still have time to run."

Zo cocked one eyebrow and turned to Lacie. "She's right. We can dish her the dirt and then it's up to her. We
have
known him all our lives."

Lacie nodded her agreement. "Very smart, really. We should totally all have sources on any potential new boyfriend."

Whoops erupted from the pool table. Lacie looked in that direction and rolled her eyes. She turned back to me. "Well, where to start?"

"The beginning's always good," I said.

Lacie nodded. "Okay, fair enough. Unlike Caleb, who's always been a player, Logan used to be totally sweet, a serial monogamist in high school and before. All the girls wanted him. But he stayed true to his girlfriend of the moment."

"Very sad for the rest of us," Zo said. "Until after his freshman year in college. That baseball injury changed him." She grinned wickedly. "He fulfilled all of us that summer." She laughed. "You sure you want to hear this?"

"I asked, didn't I?" I said, thinking,
no I really didn't
. But I had to know.

Zo shrugged. "I slept with him at that big party Collin threw on the Fourth of July."

"Yes, you rotten bitch. You beat me to him." Lacie laughed now. "I didn't get my chance until August, practically the very last second before he went back to school. He took me to SeaFair. I'll never forget what we did after the hydro races. Best SeaFair ever for me."

I felt sicker by the minute. It seemed like I was the only girl in the room who hadn't actually slept with him. But I kept my smile, acting like it didn't bother me.

"But that's all
way
before he met you," Zo said to me. "We've all known guys who can be completely faithful once they find a girl who really turns them on. He hasn't touched any of us since. And he seems completely devoted to you."

Lacie nodded.
 

Kelsie frowned as she stared at the doorway. Zo followed her line of sight.

"What?" I said, and turned. Seeing who they were looking at my mouth went dry. Amber had arrived carrying two open longneck beers.

"I thought she wanted Caleb, especially after he went pro," Kelsie said softly.
 

Zo nodded. "She's always been a cougar with an eye for Logan."

I felt sicker and sicker as across the room from us Amber walked to the pool table and handed Logan a beer while he leaned against the wall, waiting his turn to shoot. They clinked bottlenecks like they were toasting something. She put her hand on Logan's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. He nodded. She laughed and squeezed his shoulder.