Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series) (15 page)

"I'll be in town a week from tomorrow. Oops! I have another call coming in. Got to run. See you soon."

The line went dead. Logan ran his hand through his hair and leaned back against the bathroom counter. He'd put all the money he'd inherited into this deal last fall, when all he wanted was to prove to his dad he could make something of himself. Money he could have used to go to grad school. Money to set up an apartment in the real world. Money that gave him some independence from Harlan.
 

He took a deep breath. Grad school. He couldn't believe he was even entertaining the idea. He wasn't ready to leave El.

El!

She was going to be pissed at him for taking a call from Amber. And acting like he didn't trust her to overhear it. He couldn't tell El the real reason he'd run—he couldn't tell her the truth. His slid his phone into his pocket, steeled himself, bracing for backlash, and stepped into the bedroom.

El sat on the bed, fully dressed, working on her laptop. She didn't look at him when he came in. "Done with the top-secret call already?"

Yeah, she was pissed.
 

"It was just boring business crap." He sat down next to her on the bed. "Hey, I'm sorry. My business with her will be done soon. Don't be upset with me."

"Me? Upset?"

"Don't be like that, El. Please."

She sighed and finally looked at him. "Is everything okay with Miss Double Deltsie?"

"Yeah, she's great," he said, resolving to come clean. "And coming to town for Mom's Weekend."
 

Beside him, El stiffened. She was definitely upset. "Of course she is. She can't seem to stay away." El's tone made it sound like an indictment.
Of him
.

Logan tried to deflect. "She should be easy to avoid. Just don't go the university-sponsored moms' breakfast. She's filling in as the speaker."

El shut her laptop. "Thanks for the heads-up. Lucky for me that breakfast is the
last
place you'd catch my mom. Now, a frat-house breakfast would be entirely different." She sighed. "Your mom, though? That kind of event sounds exactly like her thing."

"If she goes, she'll be going on her own. I'm not going with her." He touched her arm.

She didn't seem placated. "Speaking of Mom's Weekend, I should go." She slid past him and put her feet over the edge of the bed. "I need to work the details for Mom's Weekend accommodations out with Bre. I don't even know if her mom is coming."

El was still upset. Logan couldn't stand for her to leave like this. "Don't go." He grabbed her arm.
 

She stared at him.
 

He dropped her arm. "I'm sorry." He took her hand gently in his. "Let me make it up to you. What do you want to do this weekend? Whatever it is, I'm in. We'll do it."

As she studied him, the look in her eyes scared him. She was calculating something. But he couldn't figure out what. Whatever it was, he didn't measure up. His mouth went dry. He'd promised too much. There was one thing he couldn't do and he had the awful feeling she was about to ask for it.
 

"I want to party." She smiled suddenly and squeezed his hand like he was forgiven. "The guys are right. We need to live a little this weekend."

Ellie

I spent the night with Logan. He had the nightmare again and woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. I tried to calm him and joke about it, saying I was going to start putting a pitcher of water by his bed. He didn't think it was funny, so I shut up. I cuddled into him and ran my hands between his legs like I was interested in some late-night action.
 

He pushed my hand away. "Not now, El." His tone was apologetic.

I let it drop, because what else could I do that wouldn't make it worse? But turning me away was a first. It didn't hurt, not really, because I knew the reason for it. But it scared me. It felt like the first step down a slippery slope. Logan Walker didn't turn down a chance for sex unless he was so sick he couldn't perform. This was something worse than a physical illness. This was psychological. I had to act. Soon. I had to make another attempt. Before things got worse.

While Logan had been in the bathroom talking to Amber, I'd been thinking I'd taken the wrong approach. I needed to get him when his defenses were down. Which was why when he asked, I said I'd like to party. I'd never get him drunk, but if he had a few beers in him—better yet, a few hard drinks—then maybe he wouldn't fight me. Maybe he'd let me show him I wasn't Dr. Rogers. Maybe I could replace the nightmare with pleasurable reality.

It took him a long time to fall asleep again. I know, because I pretended to fall asleep again right away, but I was worried about him, waiting for him to drop off first.
 

He took me to breakfast at a local pancake house. Then I made him drop me off at the dorm, using a flimsy excuse. "I have to do my laundry and talk to Bre."

"You can do laundry at my place. And we have this modern invention called a cell phone."

I shook my head. "You are pathetically obvious. I don't have any good party clothes at my place."

He made puppy eyes at me. I remained unmoved. "Most of my laundry is in my room. And I need to do my roommately duty of checking on Bre and getting her out in the world again."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Tell me you're not going to invite her to party with us tonight."

I laughed. "I'm not that cruel or masochistic!"

"Good to hear." He made a comical face and kissed me goodbye before I slid out of the car. "I'll see you tonight."

I nodded. "Find the best party on campus." I bounded up the steps to the entrance. At the top of the stairs, I caught a last glimpse of his car as it turned the corner out of sight. I hadn't fully lied. I did need to check on Bre. But I also wanted to talk to the girls and get their advice.

I took the stairs to my second-floor room, slowly, and paused in front of my door.
Buck up
, I told myself, as I listened for music or movement inside my room. I gave up and plunged the key in the door.
 

Bre sat at her desk with her laptop open and her headphones on. She glanced up when I walked in and took her headphones off. "You're back."

"Yeah, the prodigal roommate returns."

"Tired of Logan already? Ready to join the Men Suck Eggs Club?"

"Not quite. You're up and dressed." I nodded toward her desk. "And studying. Are you back among the living?"

"Not quite." She smiled.

"You look like it to me. Welcome back," I said as I threw my stuff in the closet and took a seat on my bed. "What made you turn the corner?"

"I haven't turned the corner. But if I flunk out, my parents will kill me." She sighed. "Mom is coming next weekend to give me a pep talk and make sure I'm okay. I'm just practicing seeming normal."

"Good idea." I nodded. "Practice is always good."

Bre got an evil grin on her face. "And Dan totaled his car, wrapped it around a streetlight, got picked up on a DUI Thursday night, and spent a night in jail. The new girl dumped him. I guess she was more into his car than him. He's in a ton of trouble with his parents."

"Don't sound so upset," I said.

She grinned back.

"And you know this how?" To say I was suspicious of her sleuthing methods was an understatement.

"Social media."

I didn't ask for more details. Last I heard she'd unfriended him, disconnected with him, taken him out of her circles, linked him out, unpinned him, basically excised him from any of her online accounts. But there were always ways to stalk people online, as I knew full well.

"Thank goodness for online connections," I said, and took a deep breath. "Speaking of Mom's Weekend, I have some bad news."

Bre shot me a worried look, like more bad news was the last thing she needed. "
What
?"

"My mom is coming." I made a face that showed my disgust.
 

Her mouth dropped open.
 

"I thought Nic and Tay would have told you by now," I said.

"You caught me on a good day," she said. "I haven't talked to anybody since…"

I nodded, knowing what she meant.

"Holy crap! Your mom is coming for Mom's Weekend! How did you let that happen?"

"She blackmailed me into it." I gave Bre the quick rundown. "Worse, she's insisting on staying here with us." I took a deep breath. "There aren't any hotel rooms anywhere. She wouldn't stay in one if there was. I'm really sorry. Your mom is going to hate her."

"I'm finally going to get to meet the infamous man-eating Melissa." Bre actually sounded excited. "I hope she lives up to the hype. I can't stand another disappointment." She nearly broke into an actual smile. Well, at least the edges of her lips curled up slightly.

I made a point of shuddering. "Let's hope
not
. Why are you smiling?" I asked, relieved she was taking the news so well.

"This is a stroke of good luck—she'll divert Mom's attention away from me."

"Yeah, maybe. But this means we're both going to have to sleep on the floor," I said. "Know anyone with a spare sleeping bag?"

"Why don't you just sleep with Logan?" Bre asked. "Your mom probably expects it anyway."

"Yeah, but his mom will kill me. Remember Thanksgiving?"

That great memory got a full smile from Bre. "I guess you could be right. But it seems like you could put your mom up on Logan's couch."

"Collin's and Zave's moms will be in Logan's apartment, too. I think they've already called the couch. And I'm not keeping Mom in Logan's room."

"Yeah, I see your dilemma." Bre took a deep breath. "I'll ask my mom to bring two sleeping bags with her and the camping pads. I'd guess your mom probably doesn't own a sleeping bag?"

"You'd guess right." I got up and gave Bre a hug. "It's good to have you back. Hang in there."

"Oh, I will," she said.

The hair stood up on the back of my neck. Something about her tone put me on guard.

I hung out with Bre for a while, then grabbed my laundry bag and headed to the basement to do my wash. Tay was working, but Nic was in her room. I tapped on the door and walked in.

"You're back!" Nic jumped up and gave me a hug.

"I'm off to do my laundry. Care to join me?"

"Wow, make me an offer I can't resist!" She laughed. "It's a nice day outside. I was actually thinking of heading to the sunbathing porch and getting some color before party time tonight.

Nic was already half a dozen shades darker than ghostly pale me.

"Don't look at me like that. Beautiful caramel latte girls like me get pale after a horrendous winter, too." She eyed me. "Let me grab my stuff. We'll throw our clothes in the machines and take in some sun. Go get your suit on."

We stopped by my room so I could change into my bikini, then headed to the laundry room and loaded up the machines. I made her swear not to repeat anything I told her and filled her in on everything, including Logan's nightmares.

"That's heavy, Ellie." She paused. "I don't need to tell you to be careful. This could backfire on you."

"I have to do something. Or I'll lose him."

She raised one eyebrow. "But getting him drunk and taking advantage of him?"
 

"I'm not getting him drunk. Just, you know, taking advantage if it happens."

"Well, you've come to the right place. I'll help you get ready for tonight. He won't be able to resist you. First, let's catch some rays. My mom would say you look like milk poured through a bathing suit."

"Your mom would be right."

The sun porch wasn't really a porch at all. It was the roof to the dining hall. You had to climb through a dorm-room window to get to it. Only certain rooms had access. Fortunately, we knew the girls on one of the rooms that did.
 

We settled our towels on the heat of the asphalt roof. I plugged my iPod into a speaker, turned up the music, slathered on lotion, and settled in—ostensibly to study—while we baked.