Page 96 of Broken Princess

“You know, I had a different plan for this semester. But I’m here. And I’ve been really, really confused, trying to adjust. I’m trying to embrace these feelings you bring out of me. The passion, the lust, the… the dark desires that I didn’t know were there.”

His walks ahead of me to the elevator and on the ride to my floor and the walk down the hall to my room, he still says nothing. He sets the bags just inside the door to my bedroom, then turns abruptly, heading back to the common area. “Logan, I don’t mean to push you away. I don’twannapush you away. I want to be with you, and it scares me how much. I just need a little more time to figure things out.”

I turn towards my room. Before I can move inside, he scoops me in his arms. He’s holding me. Kissing me. With the same amount of worry, confusion, and fear I feel. The heel of his sneak kicks the door closed with a bang. If Kassidy’s home, she’s surely heard it, along with my lamp crashing to the floor, when Logan pushes me against my desk.

“Please, don’t give up on me.” I whisper against his lips.

“Never.”

The lights on my phone flash beside me. I answer it, flicking my hair dryer off with one hand. “Hello?”

“Uh, this is Preston Hernandez. I had a message asking me to call this number. Someone named Jordan.”

“Jordanna. Yes, that’s me. Thanks so much for getting back to me.”

“Your message said you were looking for information on William Ernest Cloutier.”

“Yes. I am. I should have explained better, but there was only so much time to leave a message. I’m a student at Van der Borne University, and I’m doing a research paper on prosperous businesses in New York in the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds. I came across two names, Cole Elcor and William Cloutier. They had a jewelry company at one time, but there’s hardly any records about it, so I’ve been researching the names themselves. Your name came up as a possible associate of Thomas Ernest Cloutier. I see you’re in Dubai, so I’m not sure why your name is listed. Still, I wanted to make sure I actually ruled you out as a known associate.”

“I wouldn’t do that just yet, Jordanna.”

“Are you saying you know Thomas?”

“During my first deployment, we lived in an apartment building in San Diego. My wife spent a lot of time with our neighbor and her grandmother while I was away. The old lady liked to talk about the town her family was from. I think they owned the building William’s shop was in and they eventually sold it to Thomas. We used the granddaughter as a reference when we brought our first home, so that might be why my name popped up on your search.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a name for that neighbor, and the town she was from, would you?”

“I do, but I don’t know how much good the address will do you. The family moved to Europe right around the time I got back from my second deployment.”

I secure the phone between my shoulder and ear. “Meridian Falls?” I repeat, writing down the name of the city.

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“And the family?”

“Shaw.”

Logan

Jordanna and I are still trying to find our rhythm and I know part of her hesitancy to go all in, stems from her distrust of my friends. I can’t expect to build that trust, if I continue to keep them apart. She’s forgiven me, and I know she has the capacity to forgive them, too. It’s up to me to create opportunities for that to happen.

Spring break is in a few weeks and I’m taking a page out of Kassidy’s parent’s playbook. We’re not going to camp pleasure, but I think a week with all of us in one place, letting our guard down might be the path forward. It’ll prove to Jordanna once and for all that I’m all in, and it’ll show my friends that I choose her. Without games or pretenses. I just need to set down some ground rules, first.

“I know everyone has plans for spring break, but I was thinking we could meet up during the second week at my dad’s beach house,” I say, looking around the table.

“We haven’t done that in a while. What’s the occasion?” Frankie asks.

“I think we can all agree that this has been a crazy year, and things have been a little strained between us this semester. Some time away from campus might be good for us. We’ll be on the beach so I expect to draw a crowd, but the only people staying at the house will be us.”

“Just us?” He pouts. “You mean I have to convince someone to let me stay at their place if I need my nuts rubbed?”

“You’re free to bringoneguest. I am”

“Guest?” Hal looks up as much as he can through the haze of smoke.

“Jordanna. My girlfriend.”

Saying that word to them does something to me. I brace myself, waiting for someone to attack.

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