Page 31 of This Is War: All's Fair Duet
“What?”
“I drank it.” I hiccup. “Almost all. All gone.” My words come out singsongy, which makes me bark out a laugh, and in doing so, I trip over my feet and crash into Rya. She releases a squeak as she wraps her arms around my waist in a rather valiant effort at holding me up. I probably outweigh her by… I dunno. Seventy-five pounds? My brain is like mush. Math isn’t my strong suit anyway.
“Shit. Okay, sit.” She pushes me until the backs of my knees hit the chair, and my legs buckle.
“It’s fine.” I try to wave her off as she grabs at my hand, but she’s having none of it.
“Honestly, it’s not, Logan.”
I stare at her as intently as I can with my eyes wanting to shut the way they do. Suddenly, a stinging sensation lances through my hand, and I try to yank it toward my chest.
“Stop it. Hold still, you big, drunk baby.” Rya shakes her head. “Your eyes are rolling back in your head. Jesus, Logan. Seriously.”
I exhale, but bite back a retort about how it washercompletely smashed just two nights ago, and I was a lot nicer about it. “Why do you keep goin’ out wit him?” My brain feels like cotton in there. “Locked me in. Didn’ ditch you.”
She pauses her cleaning of the blood from my skin. “What? Locked where? You said I wouldn’t believe it.”
“Yeah.” I bob my head.
“I texted you when I got back here. You didn’t answer.” Her confused gaze is pinned on my face as she hovers in front of me, bandaging my hand. Foggy memories of what it had been like to wake up with her sweet and warm in my arms slam into me. She holds up her hands in a classic I-don’t-know gesture. “Where were you, Logan?”
I grit my teeth, then run the hand she doesn’t have a hold of through my hair before letting out a hard breath. “Fuckin’ PT room,” I manage to mumble.
Wrinkling her nose, she scoffs, “Wait, what?”
I dampen my lips, focused on her. Bitter anger whirls around in my head. “Froze my balls off.”
She wrinkles her nose. “You’re not making any sense.”
She’s so fucking beautiful. I grin big at her, then try to cup her cheek with my hand, but she bats it away. I grunt, frowning. “Lemme touch your skin. You’re not cold. Iwasso fuckin’ cold.” My jaw clenches, teeth grinding. I can tell I’m beginning to not make sense to her—or myself, to be honest—but I can’t do much to stop the effect the vodka’s having on me. “Locked. In. Ice-cold bath. Fuckin’ Jaxon.”
“How’d that happen?” When I shake my head, she whispers, “Why does it seem like there’s way more to this story than you’re letting on?” She sucks in a breath. “Tell me.”
Done playing nurse, she peers into my eyes, and I bring both hands to her hips, gripping tightly as my head drops. I let the world spin. My girl. Right. Here. With me. “Jaxon. He—” Shaking my head does no good in clearing it, and I slowly look up. My vision blurs harshly. “Toldyou”—I let out a heaved breath—“fuckin’hatesme. And Coach—” I wince. “Fuck. Already in trouble. Likes Jaxon.Gonna get booted.” I huff out another breath, feeling pathetic. “It’s what he wants.”
“Logan”—she frowns hard—“could it have been an accident?”
Accident.That word. Grates on my fucking nerves. Texting and driving. Not a fucking accident. That bitch picked up her goddamn phone on purpose. Killed my dad.
Locking me in the PT suite? Not an accident either. Fucker’s angry since forever. Thought we’d be friends, if notbrothers. Never, ever done anything but hate me. Hasn’t given me a motherfucking fair shot.
Giving myself a shake, I slowly swing my head back and forth, taking longer than usual to process her question because of the detour my inebriated mind had taken. Fuck, it feels like I’ve left my brain soaking in the vodka instead of consuming it. I dig my fingers into her flesh. “Makin’ excuses, Ry. Was him.”
She lets out a tortured-sounding sigh. “I know you don’t see things the same, but I really don’t think he’d have done that to you. Not on purpose… he wouldn’t do anything to actually hurt you.”
I let loose a chuckle that has her eyes widening. “It’s what he does. Promise. Not makin’ it up.” I clutch at her hips, staring into her green eyes. She looks so fucking unsure. Of me.
“And how would I know?” She stares blankly at me, heat infusing her cheeks.
Her question is like a knife to my gut. My mind catches on the edge of insult in her voice, and it tumbles and spins, trying to figure out where I’ve gone wrong. I can read Rya well enough to know what’s in her head. Well enough to know she likes him. Doesn’t want to believe he could be the bad guy here. She’s going to choose him over me. I yank her toward me, and she somehow ends up straddled across my thighs. I lean into her, resting my forehead just above her breasts.
Rya exhales hard, the rise and fall of her chest the only thing I can bear to concentrate on. “Logan? Were you awake this morning?”
“Huh?” My brain is mush. “This morning. Um.” Right. This morning. Dick hard as a rock. My best friend’s sweet ass cheeks. Her wet pussy. Her fucking moans. I groan and lift my head, looking into her soulful eyes, and wanting so bad to?—
Rya interrupts my thoughts. “Logan… I don’t understand… what happened between us.”
I’m a fuckin’ prick. Can’t tell her the truth. Irritation runs sluggishly through my veins and muddles my head. “Won’t let him have you,” I mumble. Jerk took photos of her.Usingher. A couple of deep breaths later, I grip her assand drag her flush with my body. Before she can react, I hook one hand at the back of her neck and my mouth slams together with hers in a desperate kiss. The taste of her practically ends me. She’s mint and Rya. It’s fuckin’ heaven.
