Page 47 of A Dash of You

Crew tosses Lana’s unfinished beer in the trash. “I’m being smart. Unlike you.”

I finally take a glance at Logan during Lana and Crew’s war, and I wish I hadn’t. His eyes are piercing me like a knife. The fire he’s igniting warms my body, even though I’m already in mid sweat from dancing. I can’t tear my gaze away and neither can he. It’s like a gravitational pull, and the more I try to move, the more it seems to hold me captive. I can’t lie. The way Logan looks at me is unfamiliar, but a craving that is starting to need fulfilled.

“Sora.”

“Logan,” I say back harshly.

His eyes travel down my body, and he doesn’t even try to hide the fact he’s admiring me. So, I return the favor. Because Logan in a white T-shirt that hugs his muscular arms and dark wash jeans is something to behold. He’s rugged and the way his hair sticks out from his backward baseball cap with his full lips has me in a possessive hold.

“Guess our night is over. My buzz has deflated like a damn blow-up pool. Let’s go, Sora.” Lana grabs my hand, and we head for the entrance, making our way through the crowd.

The suffocation from being inside with Logan was almost unbearable, so when the fresh night air hits me, I breathe it in.

Lana stops and leans against the brick of the pub, me joining her.

“At least they were looking out for us.”

Her head whips in my direction, looking as if I betrayed her just now. “Crew is nothing but an arrogant asshole.”

My brows furrow. “That’s a little harsh.”

Lana sighs. “Never mind. You wouldn’t understand,” she mumbles pushing off the wall.

Is there a piece of the puzzle I am missing? Something must have transpired between them, right? Crew doesn’t scream the asshole she keeps insisting he is. But I don’t exactly know him either. In fact, I don’t really know Logan.

Speaking of both brooding men. They strut outside. Logan first, joined by Crew, who has a tall, beautiful blonde woman clinging onto his arm for dear life. He certainly doesn’t waste any time. Does he snap his fingers, and they suddenly appear?

When I spare a glance at Lana, her face is already sour. “Ready to go home?” She’s talking to me but glaring at Crew from the corner of her eye.

I’m ready to say yes, but I’m frozen in place. Mark exits the alley with a woman trailing behind. He zips up his pants while planting a huge sloppy kiss on her mouth.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lana curses.

My heart thumps heavily in my chest. Just seeing him brings back what happened. Not that I’ve forgotten the feeling of him on top of me, punching the ground inches from my face.

Logan moves to stand beside me and my posture relaxes a fraction with the heat from his arm brushing against mine. It pours over me like a weighted blanket, and I welcome it. I turn, looking up at Logan, but he pays me no mind as he throws invisible knives at Mark with a cold, dead stare. Even Crewpauses with the woman he brought outside to see what is going on. I wonder if Logan told Crew that Mark attacked me.

“That son of a bitch!” Lana stalks toward her ex-boyfriend and my previous attacker, but she turns, focusing on the woman next to Mark. “He attacked my friend and sent her down a flight of stairs. If I were you, I wouldn’t come near this fuckhead with a ten-foot pole.”

A flight of stairs may be a stretch, but regardless, he did attack me.

Mark turns white as a ghost, and the woman gasps. Her eyes dart between Lana and Mark in fear, but she doesn’t wait around for more explanation. She scurries away, Mark running a frustrated hand down his face.

“Fuck,” he curses.

Lana advances, her small body standing in front of Mark’s. There is no predicting my friend’s next move because when her hand lands a solid slap across his cheek, the noise alone is enough for a loud gasp to escape me. “That’s for hurting my friend. How fucking dare you. You’re the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever met, and I hate the fact I let you touch me.”

The red fury sparking in Mark’s eyes sends chills down my spine as he snarls down at my friend. With his chest heaving in and out, he looks like a rabid animal ready to pounce.

Mark takes a step toward Lana, who straightens her spine and juts her chin upward, showing zero signs of backing down. But this man is unpredictable. No telling what he’d do, even with bodies around.

I have to get her out of there, but everything is happening so fast.

Logan twitches next to me, but before either of us can get a foot off the ground, Crew’s there. His imposing body, well over six feet, barricades Mark from Lana. His wide stance offers no way of Mark being able to reach her and my shoulders relax atthe sight of it. The placidness radiating off Crew is more than terrifying. It’s like waiting on a ticking time bomb.

His chest slowly rises then falls, the veins in his forearms protrude as he squeezes his hands into fists. “Walk the fuck away before you’re not able to,” he threatens.

Lana appears miniature behind Crew. But she makes no attempt at moving, only studies his broad shoulders with a look of confusion, not believing he would step in to help.

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