Page 10 of This Is War: All's Fair Duet
My tiny dancer.
One thing’s for sure, I’ve gotta find out exactly what the hell happened between Rya and Jaxon last night, because I’m nervous as fuck to know what lengths my stepbrother might have gone to in using her to get at me.
6
JAXON
A sick satisfactioncourses through my veins, invading every cell of my body. Now that I’m certain I’ve ruined Logan’s day and possibly more than that, I can get on with my workout. Because fuck him. I hope his girlfriend tells him exactly what happened after he and that other chick got hauled out of the basement. Poor guy was trying to warn Rya about me, I think. Too bad he never got the chance. From the messages, I can’t be sure what’s going on over there on their end. First, Rya’s roommate texted her phone, then Logan, himself. And boy had he been hot once he realized it was me. Fuckin’ hilarious, really.
I stash both my phone and Rya’s in my duffel and jam it into my locker before turning around to find Alexander Simms waiting for me. “Who were you texting just now?You’ve got this look on your face.” Alexander—don’t call him Alex—is the catcher I practice with most. We both made the team last year and gravitated toward each other from day one. He’s got a cool, level head to balance out my sometimes-volatile temperament. And it’s really fucking important when I get out there on the mound to pitch that I have someone who knows how to handle my idiosyncrasies.
I can’t help the laughing smirk that makes its way to my lips. “Tri-Beta did one of those Friend and a Fifth challenges again. Fuckin’ hilarious. And I was texting the girl I was tied to all night.”
“Wait a sec. You subjected yourself to that? No one willingly does that shit again once they’ve experienced it.” He punches my arm as we make our way from the locker room and down the hall. “I thought you knew better. Coach’ll kill you if he finds out.”
He’s right. Coach Kimball doesn’t like his players to get too crazy during the lead-up to baseball season or at any time during. Pulling open the heavy door, we enter the gym. There aren’t many people here today, but enough that I keep my voice low as we pass them. I roll my eyes. “Stop trying to mom me, man. I’m good. Not even hungover. I’m here, aren’t I? And it’s not even a required practice.”
Alexander heads directly to the leg press, adjusting theweight on it to suit him. “Well, thank fuck for small favors, I guess,” he grunts out before straddling the inclined seat. He puts both feet on the plate, pressing the weight up and down in a slow, rhythmic fashion as he studies me. “I suppose you’ll sweat all that alcohol out. What’d you end up with this time? Tequila? Whiskey?”
“Rum—and the hottest girl in the room.” I wriggle my brows at him.
“Hol-y shit. Well, I guess I can’t fault you for that, can I?” His eyes narrow on me. He chuckles. “And now I know why you put yourself through tha—” He jerks to a stop, letting the weights fall with a loud crash. “Wait a sec. Isn’t your friend Trip the president over there this year?”
I shoot him a sly grin, then give a shrug as if I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about before I straddle the weight bench beside him.
“You fuckin’ dog. Got him to hook you up.Nice.” But then only a moment later, Alexander’s astute eyes have focused intently on something behind me. “Um, who is that?”
Turning around, Logan barrels toward me, his face an angry thundercloud. I get to my feet and cross my arms over my chest, taking on aCome at mestance.
Stopping about a foot away, his jaw twitches as he glares at me. I stare right back at him, and where his eyes blaze fire, mine are deathly cold. My favorite thing is toantagonize him with kindness. In public… in situations kinda like this. “What’s going on, Logan?” I look around, taking note of the various athletes now watching us, including a few members of the baseball team—the team Logan and I are both on this year.
“Whatthe fuckdid you do to her?” he hisses through clenched teeth.
I raise a brow, ignoring the question, and instead step closer and swing my arm around his shoulders. “Little bro. I’m so glad to see you,” I say loudly enough for half the gym to hear me. “Have you met everyone yet?” I point toward a couple of girls. “That’s Jillian and Eliza from the track team at the pull-up bar. Oh, and over there, the tall guys? Those are Ken, Charlie, and Gary from the basketball team.” And even though I can sense the explosion coming, I jerk a thumb at the leg press. “This is one of my buddies, Alexander. Everyone, this is my little brother, Logan.”
“I amnotyour little brother. Take your fucking arm off me,” he grits out, eyeing the people who are definitely watching our drama unfold.
“Ah, come on, man. Didn’t you come so I could show you around like I promised?” I tug him closer to me, and finally get the reaction I was going for.
“I mean it, Jaxon. Back the fuck off!” Wrenching free of my hold, he spins and shoves me away. “I don’t know whatyou’re after here but stay away from Rya. She did nothing to you.” He points a finger at me. “If you hurt her?—”
There are some whispers and gasps from the people surrounding us, so I hold my hands up, shaking my head. If only he actually knew what happened. It makes me insanely happy to see him so pissed off and making a fool out of himself. I huff out a laugh. “I didn’t do a damn thing to her. Why are you so angry?”
And it’s the truth—Logan is so mad he’s vibrating with it. “Fuck you, man. Give me her phone.” His chest heaves, and my eyes flick downward in time to see his fists clench. He’s going to punch me right in the middle of the weight room if I push him any harder. And maybe that’d be satisfying, but… I can do better.
My brow furrows, and I wet my lips as my gaze bounces around to those watching, shooting them a this-dude-is-psycho look. “I was going to bring it to her. Your girlfriend was not doing so hot, so I picked it up on our way out.”
“So you left with her.” His lips pinch together, and his jaw twitches as he folds his arms over his chest.
“I did.” I gesture with a curl of my fingers that he should follow me. “The phone’s in my locker. Right this way. I can show you around if you want.” I walk off without a backward glance, but I feel his eyes burning twin holes in my back as I wind my way through variouspieces of exercise equipment, then exit, heading out to the main hallway, not bothering to hold the door for him.
Logan slams out a few seconds later. “You’d better not be fucking with me.”
I spin around, my eyes wide. “You want Rya’s phone, don’t you?” Continuing down the hall, I turn and push open the door to the locker room. Thankfully, there’s only one guy sitting on the bench tying his athletic shoes, and when the two of us walk in, I jut my chin toward him. “Take off, would ya? Need some space.”
He eyes me and then the steam rolling from Logan’s ears and bobs his head. “Yeah, sure, man. Can’t wait to see your opening game,” he says as he tosses his bag into his locker and shuts it.
I nod, shooting him a smile. “Oughta be a good one.”
