“Aoife, right?”
Thankfully, I turned to see a familiar face in the hallway. Logan wasn’t answering his door. It was just my luck that I would come all this way to surprise him and he would be out of town or something. Though, it hurt to think that he might be back in New York visiting his brothers and didn’t bother to tell me or make plans. Considering he hadn’t done so in a little over six months, I shouldn’t be surprised.
“Yes. Hi, Miles. How are you?”
The left corner of his mouth lifted in amusement as his eyes raked up and down my body. “Wow! You look amazing. Did Logan know you were coming today?” I shook my head in answer and watched as Miles almost mimicked the movement, only his appeared to be disappointment. Whether that was in his friend or for me, I wasn’t sure. “He’s not here.”
“I gathered that when he didn’t answer his door.” I kept my voice light and airy despite how heavy my heart felt.
“He went to a party with Grace.” There was no hiding my response to hearing that woman’s name as my shoulders stiffened and my back snapped straighter. A slight nod fromMiles let me know he must have felt the same way. “She has been invading most of his time lately.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“I think you know. Look, I’m only guessing because neither of them have said anything to me. Grace has made it pretty clear that she wants Logan, though, and she doesn’t strike me as the type who will stop until she gets what she wants.”
My shoulders slumped with that news because it was exactly what my roommate had warned me about for weeks now, especially after that disastrous phone call when my best friend believed her lies and laid into me like I was the horrible person in the scenario. Pity was evident in Miles’s eyes and it made me feel even worse for coming here without giving Logan a head’s up.
“Do you know where they went?” I asked. I’d come all this way, so there was really no turning back. I’d either go to that party and Logan would be happy to see me or I would see enough to know that my only option was to walk away without him and never look back.
“I do, but…” he hesitated momentarily and then sighed before he finished. “Do you really want to find him and maybe see something that will hurt you?”
“I need to know one way or another,” I admitted.
Miles nodded and tipped his head to the side. “Come on, I’ll take you over there and wait with you. If you need to haul ass out of there, we can leave. I’ll even drive you back to New York tonight, if that’s what you need.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
Miles put his hand on my lower back to guide me through the hall and down to the elevators. “Believe it or not, I’ve been rooting for the two of you since I first met Logan. He seemed so enamored with you and whenever he got back from visits, he’dbe equally sad for missing you and floating on air for having spent time with you.”
“That hasn’t happened in a long while,” I reminded him.
“I know. And for the record, the person behind those canceled visits is the same one with him tonight.”
“Do you not like her?”
I couldn’t bear to look at Miles as we walked but I could see from my peripheral vision when he shook his head. “I don’t trust her one damn bit. She has an agenda, and I don’t think it is just to make Logan her boyfriend. I think that’s only part of her plan.”
“What else could she be after?”
“So many things, Aoife. So many.”
“Is it because of who his family is?”
“Look, I have my suspicions, but I want to keep them to myself, if you don’t mind. I could be wrong.”
“But you don’t think you are,” I added. His shoulders bounced in the air once before settling back down as we got on the elevator and made our way to street level. “You don’t think I’m going to like what I see at this party, do you?”
“No, honey, I don’t, and I’m sorry as fuck to have to be the one to take you there to see shit you’ll most likely wish you could un-see.”
We moved in silence after that. Miles took me to his car, which was an older model Camaro. It might have been black or charcoal or even a deep blue. I couldn’t really tell because the lights over his parking space were broken and it was too dark to distinguish the difference. As we pulled out onto Memorial Drive, I stared out toward the Charles River. Logan’s room had a view of the river and I always told him how lucky he was to have that. I had a view of another building where I lived, and on a good day, I could people watch into other people’s rooms if they had their windows open. I’d much prefer the river viewto unintentional voyeurism. We drove to the opposite side of campus and down into a neighborhood near Market Street Park.
“This party was kind of far away, huh?”
“That’s why I said I’d drive you and wait to see if you needed a ride home or at least to a hotel for the night.” I nodded and we both returned to our own silent contemplation as Miles looked for a place to park.
To say I had butterflies in my stomach as we approached the house where the party was taking place was a giant understatement. It felt more like winged hippos were bouncing around inside me and they might have been wearing armor as they did it.
“Why do I feel like I’m going to throw up?” I asked the universe. I wasn’t expecting an answer, but Miles reached over and offered me what was supposed to be a reassuring side hug but felt more like the death knell of my friendship with Logan.
