Page 110 of Risky Game

What was happening?

There was only one way to find out, but for the first time since I freaked over nothing except my own shitty communication skills, I wasn’t worried. My chest wasn’t tight, and I wasn’t afraid of what Logan was going to say to me.

I was going home, and that said enough.

The Yukon was missing from the garage when I pulled up to Logan’s driveway. He’d been letting his parents use it, so I assumed they weren’t there. Hopefully, we could have privacy for the talk we had to have and I didn’t need witnesses to my apology.

I’d reacted so poorly the day before. So very immature. But if Jassen was right, it would be okay. My heart was racing. My head was still pounding. Hope and excitement were bubbling in my chest, almost overflowing, and still, I stayed in my car, hands gripping the steering wheel.

If Jassen was wrong, though…

Inhaling slowly, I managed to turn off my car and unpeel my sweaty palms from the steering wheel. My hands were shaking so badly, it took several attempts to open the door, and my legs were jelly as I closed the door and walked up to the side entrance.

The house was quiet when I entered, and I stepped farther inside. There wasn’t a single sound. Not the hum of the air conditioner, no appliances running. There was only the natural sunlight coming in through the windows, a tension growing so tight in my chest it was possible my heart would be squeezed to death, and then, there he was.

Logan.

He was standing in the middle of his living room. He had on linen shorts. A tight, sky-blue T-shirt. His hair was that wavy mess that told me he’d scrubbed his hands through it relentlessly and that one wayward curl I loved so much fell over his forehead. And he stood like he was preparing for battle. Feet planted on the living room rug. Arms crossed over his chest.

His stance and demeanor did nothing to settle the raging storm inside of me.

“Hi,” I whispered. “I’m so—”

“Kneel.”

I’d moved toward him, but at the barked command, one word he had to know what it’d do to me, I stopped. Blinked.

“What?”

He nodded to an area in front of him. A pillow sat there.

“You heard me.”

Oh God. I had not, in any of the scenarios that raced through my mind on the way here, at all considered this was how this would go.

“Logan…”

“I have things to say and you’re going to listen, but you’re going to be doing it on your knees like a good girl and not the sassy little brat you were yesterday.”

I opened my mouth to argue about the brat part, to apologize, but Logan stayed in his spot, glaring at me in a way that dared me to argue with him or disobey.

And dammit. I didn’t want to do either.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered, and my voice was already raspy. Dry.

Desperate.

I slipped out of my sandals and hurried to the pillow. My knees hit it with a soft thud, and as soon as I was there, on my knees in front of him, tears I thought had dried up last night resurfaced.

“You’re okay,” he murmured and tilted my chin with his thumb. “Stop that,” he said, and it was so soft, I laughed. He wiped tears off my cheeks.

I nodded, swallowed down the rest of the tears, and cleared my throat.

“It occurred to me that when we started this, I was always in charge. And you’ve always been such a good girl when it comes to letting me lead everything. But I failed at that, Ruby, and I didn’t communicate everything I was thinking, what I wanted from you.”

I shook my head. This wasn’t his fault. I opened my mouth to tell him, but he pressed a finger to my lips.

Looking down at me, the dark storm in his eyes melted. “You take my direction in the bedroom, but it didn’t occur to me you might need it outside of the bedroom as well. So here’s what’s going to happen. You ready?”

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