Page 29 of This Is War: All's Fair Duet
Well, this is news. And fucking interesting.Yet I’m still unsure what has her flustered so badly. It’s whatever she was about to say about Logan, but without being an ass, I can’t conceive of how to wrestle the info out of her. So instead, I focus on what I did learn while allowing my eyes to wander the unique green of hers. A very important newfound truth rampages through my head: she’s not Logan’s. Never was.
But she could be mine.
And I still maintain that fucking around with her will kill Logan. Because messing with his best friend is only a half-step different than trying to steal his girlfriend. On my thigh, my phone buzzes with yet another notification.
Rya glances in the direction of the sound, her prettyfeatures pinching. “Somebody’s trying to reach you. It’s okay to check, if you want.”
“Uh, yeah.” I clear my throat. “I was trying not to let it interrupt us, but if you don’t mind…”
She shrugs, gesturing that I should go ahead, so I bring it out from under the table to take a look. I freeze. The notification isn’t for a message from Logan.
It’s from my mother.
I’m not feeling so well.
That single sentence slams into me with the force of a base runner barreling into the catcher at home plate. My ears buzz as everything around me dulls to a quiet hush.
“Jaxon?”
I blink.
“Jaxon?” Rya puts her hand on my forearm, and it finally pulls me from the wild tumult in my head.
“Uh. Yeah.” My brows dart together as I put one hand to my neck and tug hard. It’s difficult to swallow, much less speak. My mouth has gone bone-dry. “I’m gonna have to cut this short. I’m so sorry.”
“Okay. Is something wrong?” Rya’s eyes plead with me to share, but I can’t.
A sick feeling curls inside my stomach. “No, nothing’s wrong.”Just my life coming apart at the seams again.
18
LOGAN
The vodkaI pilfered from Levi’s stash hasn’t done me a whole lot of good. Not that the alcohol hasn’t seeped into my system and made me a stumbling, incoherent mess. It has. It’s done its job. All I’d been hoping for was some numbness, but instead I’m flat-outangry. Fuck me. How did everything go to hell so fucking quickly? I groan, propping my chin up with my hand. And now Rya’s out with my dick of a stepbrother instead of here with me, where she should be.
Frustration bleeds from my pores along with the potent alcohol I’ve been consuming. I’m intoxicated beyond what I’ve ever been in my life, but no matter, I tip the bottle to my lips again. “Fucking shitbag asshole dickwad.” My head circles around the same string of curses over and over again in an unending loop. I’d pleaded withRya not to go with him. I’d wanted to talk things over, tell her where I was last evening. And that would have led to us possibly figuring out how to move forward now that I’ve had my hands on her.
Would I have told her that I fuckin’ love her and always have? Fuuuck. I set the bottle down on my desk, then lurch from my chair to the closet door where a mirror hangs. My chest heaves for several ragged inhalations before I rear back, then strike my reflection three times over before I find myself on hands and knees with no recollection as to how I came to be there. I blink, scowling, then lift my hand in front of my face, watching the blood ooze from my knuckles. My eyes droop for a moment, then I pry them open, trying my damnedest to focus on the mirror in front of me. That’s when I see the huge spiderweb of cracks radiating from the points where my fist must have connected with the surface. I huff out a laugh that sounds disturbing even to my drunk self.Fuuuck.
Rya. Fuck. I need her. I shake my head, then grip it in my hands to stop it from rolling off my neck. But she needs to know— I blink. I was locked in, dammit. Jaxon’s an ass.Mother. Fucker. If she’d woken me up— I heave out a breath, my jaw clenching. I’d have told her.Jaxon.My head spins, and I bring my hands up to cover my face. So fucking sexy. She’s so beautiful. My beautiful TinyDancer. Fuck me. I felt her up. There was no way to explain myself after that.
She ran.
From me.
Grogginess accosts my vision with blurred edges and echoes of everything in the room. I’m seeing double. No. I squint. Triple.
Rya thinks I abandoned her. I growl with a shout. And she ended up with Jaxon again. For a fuckin’ second time. Letting out an aggrieved huff, I stare for way too long at these asshole text messages from him. Went on a date. With him. Fuck. Fucking dick. Through my hazy vision, I stare long and hard at each one until they blur in front of my face and my eyes close.
She looks happy.
I’m her best friend. I want her to be happy. But with me, dammit. I slam my fist into the carpeted floor. Fuck. I’m still on my hands and knees. I groan as I unsteadily manage to gain my feet. I sure as fuck wish it’d been me holding her, making her laugh, kissing her, and inhaling the scent of citrus, lemon blossom, and vanilla from her skin.
Very specific, I know, but I happen to have been there when she took this quiz and had a variety of perfumes sent to her based on the answers she gave. I’d made the mistake of telling her that one of them was myfavorite… so of course,that’sthe one she chooses to wear.
My tongue sweeps over my lip. It’s like the most delicious torture, I swear. And the goddamn scent of it on her skin gives me a hard-on every fucking time I get too close.
It’s actually surprising she has no fucking clue I’m into her. But now, at the very least, she’s aware that Ilustafter her. But I dunno what she makes of it because she refuses to talk to me.
