I felt around on the wooden nightstand for my phone, and I was surprised to see that it was already ten o’clock. My eyes flew open, and I shot out of bed like I was spring-loaded. In fact, I almost went sliding on thesmooth floor in my polka-dotted wool socks.
I scratched my neck sleepily, realizing that I was going to have to open the door and walk down the entire hallway in my current disastrous condition if I wanted to use the toilet.
I crept up to the bathroom door, passing my fingers through my long, tangled hair, and swung it open without knocking. I was presented with Logan standing in front of the toilet, really focused on…
“Jesus Christ!” I shouted, immediately clapping one hand over my eyes while the other stayed tight on the doorknob. “Sorry! I didn’t see anything!” I shut the door immediately and exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
I considered what to do next: I could go back to my room and stay there for the rest of the day, or I could go meet up with the others in the living room, or I could wait for Logan to be done and go in there to get ready like I’d planned. The flush of the toilet made me lean toward the last option. Surely he was done now.
“Selene!” Logan grinned euphorically at me and gave me a big hug as he emerged from the bathroom. I was immobile, my brain still half-asleep and not very responsive but, when I finally registered that it was actually Logan who was hugging me, I returned the affectionate gesture. I could smell his familiar spicy scent. “I hope the Loch Ness Monster didn’t freak you out; I really had to go.”
Oh god. Was he seriously was talking about his…
“Logan!” I said loudly, finally managing a sincere smile. I absolutely wasn’t going to keep talking about that joke, so, instead, I looked him over. He looked great with no crutches in sight. He towered over me; his long legs were straight and strong. His face was beaming and bruise-free.
“How… How are you?” he managed in a halting voice. “God, I really wanted to come see you in Detroit, but I only got off crutches a few days ago, and…” I shook my head and rested a hand on his arm.
He didn’t have to apologize to me; we’d both been through a rough time recently. Logan had been far more present for me than his brother had been.
“It’s all good, Logan. You’ve been spamming me with texts, remember?” I teased, and he reddened, rubbing the back of his neck. It was cute—a bigguy like him blushing. I could see why Alyssa was so gone for him. She was always telling me about their relationship and how special Logan was.
Cute or not, though, he was still blocking the bathroom doorway, so I glanced significantly between him and the door. I, too, had some pressing needs to attend to. Logan seemed to get my drift, shaking his head as he stepped aside to let me through.
“You do your thing; we have all day to talk. I’ll just be in the other room.” He began to leave but, after a few steps, returned and squeezed me again. “It’s good to see you again,” he said softly, giving me a sweet smile.
Still, I walked into the bathroom with a terrible, anxious feeling. After seeing Logan, I had begun to worry that Neil might actually be there as well.
Yes, Mia had called and told my dad yesterday that he probably wasn’t coming, but what if he changed his mind? Neil was nothing if not unpredictable. A small part of me was convinced that he was going to ambush me.
I stared into my reflection in the mirror, resting my hands on either side of the sink just to have something to hold on to. I had no idea how I was going to react to seeing him. I might even pass out and look like an idiot.
I gripped the cold surface of the sink tighter, trying to soothe the burning sensation that was spreading across my chest. If Neil really were out there, was I seriously afraid to deal with him? I snapped myself out of it. I was angsting over a little phone call? What about him, then? Didn’t I have plenty to say about his behavior as well?
Neil was the one who should have been worried because, of the two of us, his actions had been far more serious.
Lost in these thoughts, I washed my face and brushed my teeth before attempting to sort out my hair. My bangs covered my scar while the rest of my hair fell nearly to the seat of my pants. I made an attempt at detangling some of the knots but eventually gave up and left the bathroom, still in my tiger-print pajamas.
I knew Neil didn’t like these; he’d always told me that.
What did he call them?
Oh yeah… “Horrible.”
Well, I was going to show up in those “horrible” pj’s just to make it clear to him that I didn’t give a crap about his opinion.
I had to laugh at myself. All this pointless overthinking was only making me more nervous. So, instead, I decided to take the bull by the horns, get out of the bathroom and go find out if Neil had actually deigned to join us for the weekend.
I made my way to the kitchen with an uncertain stride, a battle raging inside me. The old me wanted to see him and greet him with kisses; the new me wanted nothing more than to hate him and forget all about it.
Neil caused all of this: anxiety, confusion, racing heart, and… I stopped.
I stopped midway through the living room when my eyes alighted upon a pair of broad shoulders covered in the bright red of a leather jacket. Everything inside me twisted. My heart inexplicably fell into my stomach, and my breath caught in my lungs at the exact moment when he, all six-plus-feet of him, turned to me. Holding a bag of…pistachios?
I cocked my head to one side and actually touched my chest like a dummy just to make sure my heart was still in there pumping because I could feel it everywhere but where it was supposed to be.
His eyes locked on mine, and I remained inexplicably frozen, admiring my nemesis.
I stared into golden eyes that, in that moment, turned to velvet. His full lips turned my brain to mush, and his powerful body sent a voluptuous shiver of pleasure down to my lower stomach, and I blushed.
