Page 90 of The Games We Play
“You got something you want to add?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
He looked at me, startled—like I’d caught him mid-thought—and cleared his throat. “Nah. Nothing.”
“Come on, man. You know all my shit. Least you could do is give me a crumb of yours. Help a guy’s bruised ego out.”
Logan hesitated, his brows furrowing as he mulled something over. Then he exhaled through his nose and said, “I’m in love with Ellie.”
I blinked. Then scoffed. “I said, tell me something I don’t know. That doesn’t count.”
“What?” Logan looked genuinely taken aback as he pulled up to the only traffic light in Faircloud. He turned to face me, confusion creasing his features.
I shrugged. “Pretty sure everyone already knows. You’ve been in love with Ellie since the dawn of time, right?”
Logan had been trailing after Ellie Cassidy since the moment he became a permanent fixture at Cassidy Ranch. His mom traveled constantly for barrel racing, which meant he spent more time with our crew than he did at home. And wherever Ellie went, Logan followed.
She needed help? He was there. She smiled? He lit up.
And when she left town for almost a year? So did he—at least emotionally. He distanced himself, vanished for random trips, barely showed face. At first, I thought he’d grown tired of us. But the more I thought about it, the more the puzzle pieces clicked into place.
“You know?” Logan’s voice went tight. “Does Boone?”
“Don’t know,” I said. “We’ve never talked about it. But if I picked up on it, I’d bet others have too.”
The light turned green, and I pointed ahead. “Eyes on the road, Romeo.”
Logan shifted into gear, driving us down Main Street and onto one of the quieter back roads that led out of town.
“So what if Boone does find out?” I asked. “What’s the big deal?”
Logan scoffed. “You mean besides the fact I’m in love with my best friend’s little sister?”
“You’re practically his brother,” I said. “Boone’s not an idiot. And if he hasn’t noticed by now, that’s on him. Besides, it’s not like you’ve hidden it well. You’ve had heart-eyes for that girl since you were a freaking kid.”
“I don’t know…” he murmured, and I could see the war inside him. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say more, then clamped it shut again.
“Come on,” I coaxed. “I’m feeling soft today. Say what you gotta say now or forever hold your peace.”
He huffed a laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “I think I’ve always loved her. I just never knew how she felt about me. And then she dated Buck, so I backed off. Figured that was my sign to let it go. But now…” His voice trailed off into the quiet hum of the van.
“You want to know if there’s still a chance,” I finished for him.
Logan nodded slowly, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Yeah.”
If I’d learned anything lately, it was to speak up before you lose what matters.
This thing with Penny had changed me. More than any fight I’d been in, more than any mistake I’d made, more than all the years I spent trying to outrun the inevitable.
I had the urge to say all that to Logan. To crack my chest open and spill everything out onto the floor between us. But instead, I nodded and said, “Go for it. Deal with Boone later.”
Logan didn’t respond, and silence settled in the van as we turned down a quiet street. When we pulled up to the first house on the delivery list, I climbed out and rounded the back to grab the bouquet. I figured I’d take this one. Let Logan sit in his thoughts for a minute.
Mine were already spiraling anyway.
I started walking toward the porch, the flowers cradled in one arm, and let myself drift.
If I were being honest, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d ever really been loved. Not in the way people talked about in songs or movies. I didn’t grow up knowing what that looked like.
But the way I felt around Penny—the way my chest tightened when she laughed, or how her presence lit my nerves on fire like a live wire—that felt like a damn good place to start.
