Chapter Three
"You are fucking kidding me,"Peter whispered, staring up into green eyes so beautiful and so damn familiar, he sometimes dreamed aboutthem.
And for a second, he almost wondered if hewasdreaming - some kind of traumatic high school hallucination brought on by Cupid's assault and the Usher tune currently thumping from the speakers. But while the man in front of him was tall, broad, and tanned just like the Logan of his dreams, this vision was different. The soft, coal-black curls Peter used to love to run his fingers through were missing, chopped into a short undercut. And even in his wildest fantasies, Peter never could have conjured a Logan who wore skinny jeans and blazer, or whose eyes crinkled at the corners when hesquinted.
This Logan was older. Betterlooking.
And as unattainable as he everwas.
Didn't it figure? The second Peter had convinced himself he couldmaybehandle his shit; the guy appeared like some demon to tempt him. "What the hell are you doinghere?"
When Logan winced, Peter replayed his words mentally. Maybe he'd sounded just atinybit more aggressive thannecessary.
"Sorry," he said, removing his forearm from Logan's chest and taking a giant step back until he nearly collided with the bathroom door again. He was vaguely aware that he'd dropped his coat on the floor at some point when he'd thought Logan was another Cupid out to attack him. He couldn't bring himself to care. "Sorry. I mean... Uh.Hey. I'm shocked to see you. I thought you were down in, like... Charlotte orsomewhere."
"Raleigh," Logan corrected. He cleared his throat. "My parents are in Charlotte, but I'm, uh... inRaleigh."
Peter nodded, as though he didn't already know this, as though he hadn't Facebook-stalked Logan through Jared for a few years until he'dforcedhimself tostop.
"Cool. That's... cool." Peter gave him a brittle smile that hopefully hid the fact that his stupid heart was racing a mile a minute and sadly,pathetically, not solely on account of the shock. "Nice to see you." He made a fluttering motion with his right hand, in the general vicinity of the living room, where Jared might be. "I've gottago."
But as he took a step, Logan moved to block him, laying one gentle hand on hiswrist.
"Wait.Peter."
Peter sucked in a breath.Thiswas a lot like a dream - Logan's hand burning through his sweater, Logan's eyes looking down on him, all wide andserious.
"Your coat," Logan said, bending down to retrieve the sadgarment.
Right. Yep. Hiscoat.
The mortification seemed to come in wavestonight.
"Thanks," he said, grabbing the material Logan held out to him. "I'm gonna go findJared."
"He's upstairs in your parents' old room," Logan blurted. His face turned red. "Or so Iheard."
"What is he..." Peter began, then cut himself off.Never mind. On second thought, he could well imagine what Jared was doing up in their parents'room.
"Yeah." Logan winced. "Um. Not alone? Jackie andTara..."
Peter held up a hand. "Oh, I get it. No need to elaborate." He sighed, really glad that his parents were safely in Florida and wishing that he was as lucky. "Jared."
"Yeah." Logan ran his free hand through his short hair, seeming at a loss forwords.
Someone in the living room began chanting,"Drink, drink, drink!"Logan withdrew his hand from Peter's arm, and Peter sucked in a breath through hisnose.
"He's got to deal with his," Peter muttered. "Before they light the fucking place onfire."
He half expected Logan to argue with him, to defend his friends and tease Peter about being uptight the way he used to, but Logan just nodded. "I'll, um, go up with you." He nodded toward thestairs.
Peter blinked. That was... completely unexpected, but would actually be really helpful. Jared never listened to him, but he'd always listened to Logan. "Okay."
Logan swept out an arm for Peter to lead the way, which was oddly chivalrous, but he didn't step back when Peter brushed past him. Peter couldn't deny the warm flush crawling up his chest... nor the way he'd inspected Logan's hand as he squeezedby.
There was noring.
Which doesn't matter one fucking iota, you idiot, since that doesn't mean he's out and proud.There were really no limits on his ability to self-sabotage, itseemed.
