by Janie Marie
“Because she what?”
Kylie and Trevor both turned to see Logan enter the kitchen. His face held no sign of emotion, but his eyes raged with hate.
She just didn’t know if he was angry with her, or the fact she was there with Trevor. Or maybe it was both?
Trevor backed away from her, moving to stand by the sink as Logan glared at him and took a step into the kitchen. She knew she should be yelling at him for what he did, but she could only stare at his hair. It was wet, making it even darker. And he did that thing where he jerked his head to make the hair move out of his eyes. It was insane how he could make the simplest things look downright sexy.
“I was just offering to take Kylie home,” Trevor told Logan.
Kylie glanced at Trevor, then at Logan. She bit her lip when the latter turned to smirk at her.
“Why would you take the girl I’m dating home?”
Kylie breathed out a small sigh of relief as Logan walked toward her.
“What?” Trevor’s shock was clear, and Kylie could practically see his eyes bulging out of their sockets when Logan gently grabbed her by the back of her neck and leaned down to kiss her.
Heaven. Chocolate. Muscles. Logan!
Too many words—too many sensations overtook her. She didn’t think she would ever grow tired of feeling his lips on hers, and she knew she was in trouble. He was going to get away with everything if he kissed her like this. It was like he was giving her a box of Chocolate Logan Kisses, and she was ripping them open before he could say sorry.
Sighing against his mouth, she reached out to hold his waist. He was wearing a shirt now, but that didn’t make the feel of his hard body beneath her fingers any less pleasant.
“Hey, baby,” he murmured against her mouth, both his hands now cupping her face while his towering frame blocked any view of Trevor.
Her initial reaction was to sigh, but she remembered her anger and opened her eyes to glare up at him.
The man had the nerve to smile against her lips, then peck them again.
“I’m angry with you,” she whispered but gasped as he brushed his lips back and forth over hers. He was sort of sucking her breath in his mouth, but she also reveled in tasting his minty breath on her own tongue.
“I know,” he whispered, still smiling and still pressing tiny kisses to her lips. “I’ll explain later. And I’ll let you punish me.”
“Asshole,” she muttered, making him laugh. “And I made you a sandwich like an idiot.”
He chuckled and kissed across her cheek before coming back to her lips. “I saw. Thank you, Hood.”
She should have pushed him away, but really, who would push him away?
Sexy man-boy messing with my hormones.
“I should have spat in it,” she hissed, but she kissed his lips hard instead of slapping him like her brain was telling her to.
Logan chuckled and held her tighter, kissing her harder until she could only submit to him. And why wouldn’t she? Whoever was opposed to being dominated by a man clearly hadn’t experienced the raw dominance Logan displayed.
Trevor cleared his throat, making her pull her lips away from Logan’s. Instead of Logan stepping back, though, he reached down to her hips and lifted her onto the counter. She barely had time to reach out to steady herself before Logan had stepped between her legs to where her thighs cradled his waist. It made things . . . tingle. And she had to force herself not to scoot her butt to the edge just to be closer.
Logan reached for his food, and didn’t turn as he addressed his cousin. “Did you need something, Trevor?” He lifted his sandwich to his mouth while one hand stayed on her thigh, under the athletic shorts he had given her. “Mmm.” His thumb caressed the inside of her leg. “Delicious, baby.”
“You two are really dating?” Trevor asked, clearly annoyed with the fact they had basically made out in front of him.
Kylie didn’t dare answer. She didn’t know what Logan’s plans were, but speaking up and saying something that didn’t make their stories match would only make her look like the idiot.
Logan stared at her, running his hand up and down her thigh in a soothing motion before he answered. “I said that, didn’t I?” He took another bite, winking at her as he chewed.
Kylie’s giddiness over his attention died. He was putting on a show.
Trevor hadn’t responded, but Logan kept talking to her as if another person wasn’t in the room with them.
“Do you want a sandwich too, baby? Or do you want to wait till we go out?”
“I’m fine,” she said, squirming when he slid his hand higher on her thigh. It felt like a trail of fire was being set by his fingers. It meant nothing to him though.
Trevor finally spoke again. “She’s seventeen, Logan.”
Logan’s grip tightened around her thigh, and for some reason, she put her hand over his.
He turned his hand, linking their fingers. “Not that any of my relationships have ever had anything to do with you, but I know she’s seventeen. It’s no big deal. She’ll be eighteen soon.”
He finished his sandwich and turned to look at Trevor. There was no room for her to slide off the counter because he leaned back against it, his muscular back brushing against her chest when he crossed his arms.
Trevor stood still, watching everything happening between them. Those slate-blue eyes of his were darker, like staring into a deep abyss. “But she’s not eighteen yet, and you’ve already gone and fu—“
“Finish that sentence, and I’ll knock your ass out,” Logan said, moving to take a step toward Trevor.
Scared to see them fight, she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back against her. Logan let her, though she felt his muscles ready to unleash a whole lot of hurt on his cousin. Not really thinking any of her actions out, Kylie’s legs went around Logan’s waist, her fast breaths sliding between them as she held on tight. “Logan, stop,” she whispered in his ear. “He didn’t mean—“
“Like hell he didn’t,” he yelled, his hands coming up to grip her calves, ready to pull them away from his waist.
“It’s statutory rape,” Trevor told him.
Logan made a sort of growling noise and began to pry her legs off, but she tightened them. She was torn between wanting to stop them from fighting and being angry that this was all an act for Logan. Still, she didn’t think she could stand the sight of Logan beating up Trevor.
“Shh,” she cooed into his neck while his chest heaved up and down.
“Did I say we had sex?” Logan yelled. He was really good with his acting, because she almost believed his anger.
“It’s obvious,” Trevor yelled back.
Several of the guys peeked into the kitchen. A few even went to stand beside Trevor, trying to calm him down.
“Relax, Trevor,” one of the guys said when he shook their hands off him. “It’s just Logan. No one will say anything.”
“No,” Trevor yelled. “He tricked her into having sex with him. She’s a minor!”
“Dude,” another guy yelled at Trevor. “We’re all like the same age. Don’t worry about it.”
“Fuck you, Ricky. You just banged a fifteen year old.” Trevor moved to stand right in front of Logan.
Kylie hung on as tight as she could, all while Logan kept his hands over her legs, ready to rip them away if they were to fight.
Trevor continued, “She’s a nice girl. A normal person would be ashamed for tricking someone like her, but it’s hopeless to expect you to do anything with a girl that doesn’t involve fucking them. You can’t even stop yourself from destroying someone as innocent as her.”
Logan laughed, but it was a dark and cruel sound. “I don’t know who you’re trying to fool with this shit, but what I do with Kylie is our business, not yours. If I want to see her, I’ll see her. And she’s right here. You don’t need to talk about her like she’s a child who can’t think for herself.”
“You’re not dating her,” Trevor growled, his eyes burning into Loga
n’s.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Logan rubbed her legs.
Every boy in the room zeroed in on the small movement.
“Go ahead,” Logan challenged Trevor. “While you’re at it, ask her if we fucked.”
Every pair of eyes went to her. Squeezing her arms around Logan, she hesitated, shaking. She did not expect this to happen. Her plans had been to come, talk to Logan, agree to dating, and to apologize. Not have her first kiss. Her first make-out session. Her first orgasm! Now she was preparing to have two boys fight over her.
“It’s okay, baby,” Logan told her, his palms sliding softly along the front of her legs. “Not that it’s any of his fucking business—and Trevor loves getting into my business—but go ahead and tell him what we were doing.”
“The truth?”
He chuckled, nodding. “The truth.”
She looked over at Trevor. “I got wet.”
Logan’s head went down as he laughed silently. There was no way she was admitting why she was really wet.
“I mean, sweaty,” she corrected. “We were working out, and he gave me this to wear. We didn’t have sex.”
“So you guys are really dating?” Ricky asked, looking at Logan like there was something else he wanted to say.
Logan narrowed his fierce gaze on Ricky. “Tell him, Hood.”
“We’re really dating,” she whispered.
One of the other guys turned to Trevor. “See, man, nothing to worry about.”
Logan straightened himself and gently pushed her legs away, then glaring at Trevor, he said, “Get over whatever your problem is. She’s mine. You had your chance, and you left her to me.”
He smirked at Trevor while Kylie’s heart jackhammered against her chest. Surely, it would explode any minute now.
Logan continued, “To make things clear, though, I’ll go ahead and explain what we’ve been up to. I came out without my shirt on because I took it off to work out. You guys asked who I had in the room, and I told you—the most beautiful blonde I’ve ever seen.”
Kylie’s breath hitched, her chest hurting because of how hard and fast she was breathing. Her poor ribs were really taking a beating today. She just wished this was how he really felt.
“When you asked if I was going back for seconds, I told you I was getting her medicine. She had a headache, you morons. I had the bottle of aspirin in my damn hand.”
The boys all had red faces as they looked back at her.
“Like I said,” Logan went on, “I don’t need to explain shit to you, and I won’t do it again. I’m just doing this for Kylie. But”—he looked at all the guys—“talk about her like this again, and I’ll break every one of your faces.”
“Sorry, man,” one of the guys muttered. “I mean, we were only messing around. But the marks, and the yells coming from the room kind of made it seem like you were having some wild ass sex.”
Logan shook his head and turned to lift her off the counter. “If any of you idiots got some real action”—he put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close, kissing her forehead as she hugged herself to him—“you’d know that a girl usually digs her nails into your shoulders or arms. Fuck’s sake, she can’t even get her arms in a position to drag them straight down.” He scoffed and began to pull her out of the kitchen. “Fucking amateurs. I had an itch—she scratched my back.”
Kylie blushed along with the boys. Trevor still looked ready to fight, but he just pushed his way out of the kitchen. A few of the boys followed, but most of them moved to get refreshments from the fridge.
“Sorry again, Logan.”
Logan stopped with her, nodding to the guys left behind.
“And we’re sorry, Kylie.”
She gave a smile but turned her face into Logan’s chest. Being so exposed was worse than she ever thought it could be. The attention was nothing like she remembered . . .
“No more hiding, Hood,” Logan murmured into her hair as they walked back to his room.
After he shut the door, she pulled away from him. “This is all your fault.” She glared at him, rubbing her eyes so she wouldn’t cry. “You knew they would think that about me. You should have told me what your plan was!”
Logan sighed as he sat on his bed. “Baby, I’m sorry. It played out a little differently in my head. And I didn’t think Trevor would come in there to play white knight with you.” His eyes darted away from hers and his hands balled up.
“They think I’m a slut.” This wasn’t supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to come off as a whore.
He shook his head. “Hood, they’re just a bunch of dumb jocks. And now they know you’re mine. That’s all I meant to accomplish. I wanted to stake my claim.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “Your claim?”
He rolled his eyes. “Do you really think I’d share you with anyone?”
She stayed silent. Wasn’t that the point? To get her ready for Trevor?
“I’m a dick, Hood. These guys all know that, or they’ve seen me with other women, women that are more than happy to climb in bed with the next guy they see because they know they’re not returning to mine. I’m not oblivious to the fact Trevor and some of his friends have waited around for my seconds. I was doing what I thought was best to make it clear that you’re different.”
He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her until she stood between his legs while he looked up at her. “I admit, the back scratch was low of me. But I did sort of want them to think maybe we had already slept together. It’s expected. But this way, if it ever came up with a cop or something, we’d still be able to say we haven’t had sex.” He shrugged and put his hands on her hips, pulling her even closer. “I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, grinning when she couldn’t take her eyes away from his face. “I should have prepared you, but I thought you would chicken out if you knew what you were walking into. You did great though. I’m proud of you.”
She sighed, placing her hands on his shoulders. “They still think I’m your slut. They said you’d throw me out. Is that normal?”
“I’m not throwing you out.” He chuckled. “And they don’t think you’re a slut. Trust me.” He laid his head against her chest, closing his eyes as he hugged her tighter. “You’re not like the girls I’ve had here.”
She frowned and absentmindedly began running her fingers through his damp hair. “Because I’m blond?”
“What?” He leaned away a little, opening his eyes.
“Chris said you like brunettes.” Kylie tried to decipher the anger in his gaze, but she had no idea what to make of it.
Logan exhaled, closing his eyes again as his warm breath seeped through her shirt. “Chris is an asshole. My point is I’ve never reacted to those guys insulting chicks I’ve had here. And I’ve never said that any of them were mine. Like more than a fuck, you know? You’re mine.”
“But I’m not yours.”
He kept his eyes closed and smacked her butt. “You are. You just don’t want to believe it.”
She smiled softly and hugged his head, enjoying his pleased groan as he held her tighter. “I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.”
“Like what?” His voice was adorable all muffled.
She bit her lip, unsure how to say anything without giving her feelings for him away. “Saying I’m yours when I’m just a project for you.”
Logan’s grip loosened.
“When you’re just preparing me for Trevor.”
Stupid, Kylie! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!!!
Logan let her go and pushed her back. “Put your clothes back on.” He stood up and walked to his door. “They’re on my counter.”
Kylie’s eyes watered, staring at his back as he left the room without even looking at her. “I’m such an idiot,” she whispered to herself as she walked into his attached bathroom. “A stupid wimp.”
Eleven
I’M SORRY, IDIOT
If being on the opposite end of Logan’s fists hurt, receiv
ing the cold shoulder from him had to be worse.
“And you’ll keep this between us?” Logan asked his trainer.
Kylie looked up, hating that he no longer held her close. He only looked at her when asking her a question.
“Sure, man.”
Kylie let her eyes drift over to the man Logan had introduced her to. Evander.
“I’ll keep my lips sealed,” Evander said. “I won’t even put her name on them.”
“Thanks.” Logan shook his hand, then turned to her, a harsh gleam in his eyes. “Kylie, go with Evander. He’ll take your X-ray, then I’ll meet you in his office.”
Again, he didn’t wait for her to respond and walked out. She jumped when Evander spoke to her, distracted by Logan’s retreating figure,.
“You ready, sweetheart?” He held up his hands in a surrender gesture. “Easy.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. Logan will meet us. It will only take a few minutes anyway. Let’s go.”
She started following him down a hall. It was quiet, but she realized they weren’t really in the gym area. This was all medical and rehab-therapy rooms.
“I don’t have to take my shirt off, do I?”
Evander chuckled. “No, sweetie. Logan would probably kill me if I asked you to.” He held a door open that had a Radiology sticker stuck on the outside. “After what happened with Chris, I think everyone knows to leave you alone.”
Kylie frowned and went to stand where he motioned for her to. “His manager, Chris?”
Evander nodded while he moved around his equipment. “Yeah, he’s doing better now—still trying to apologize and get his job back, but I don’t see Logan forgiving him anytime soon. Especially since he still has you around.”
Kylie didn’t understand what he was talking about, but she stayed quiet to gain information.
“That in itself proves Chris got what he deserved.” He looked up after preparing his machine with a smile. “He’s pulled worse stuff on Logan anyway—it was coming to him. Ready?”
Kylie tried to sink lower in her chair. She knew why Evander kept glancing at her. She knew why the frown on his face only grew more prominent as he studied her radiographs.