Page 59 of Fighting Fate (Granton University 1)

Paige gasped. From the corner of his eye, he saw her whirl toward at him.

“So you did hit him first?”

He shook his head. “No. No, he threw the first punch. That was true.” With a deep breath, he added, “But I made very certain he would.”

“What happened?”

Finally, he turned to look at her. With dark eyes intent on him, she’d drawn both her hands up to just below her chin and held them together, almost as in prayer. He could see on her face how much she yearned to hear this story. But if he told her, she’d probably hate him again afterward.

He didn’t like it when she hated him.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

She gulped as if she fully comprehended the consequences. Then she nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay.” He closed his eyes, prepared to regain her absolute abhorrence. “After we lost the ball game that night, my friends and I drove into Landry and got stupid drunk. We were hanging out in our usual spot when your brother and his crew happened by. I was still in a raw mood after losing to him, so I called out something, some kind of sarcastic congratulations. I don’t exactly remember what I said. But he had some witty comeback that ticked me off.”

Logan scoffed and glanced askance at Paige. “He always had a smart aleck response for everything. Even on the court.”

Paige’s grin was immediate and watered with nostalgic tears. “That was Trace for you. A great big smart-mouthed know-it-all.”

“Yeah, well it drove me crazy,” Logan muttered. “And he knew it, so he did it every chance he got. What was worse, he was so good at everything. I just wanted to beat him at something. And that was when I focused on the girl he had tucked under his arm.”

Paige perked to attention. Dropping her hands from her chest, she frowned. “Say what?”

Logan turned back to the stars. He couldn’t look at her for this part of the story. “I waited until she was off away from him…and then I struck.”

“Oh, my God.” Paige covered her mouth with both hands. “What did you do?”

Sending her a brief scowl, he sniffed. She didn’t have to make it sound as if he’d accosted the girl against her will.

“Nothing bad. I just…flirted mostly. She was as drunk as I was, so it wasn’t too terribly hard to charm her. When your brother caught us kissing, though, he was—”

“Kissing!” Paige jerked her hands down to her abdomen as she sucked in large breaths through her mouth. “You kissed…you kissed Kayla? Oh my God. Kayla?”

Kayla? “Yeah,” he said on a grimace. “I think that was her name.”

“No, no, no,” Paige insisted. She shook her head resolutely as if denying it enough would make it not so. “You’re mistaken. Not Kayla. You don’t understand. You can’t mean Kayla. He loved Kayla.”

When Logan just stared at her, she balled her hands into fists. “You don’t understand,” she repeated, her voice raising an octave. “He bought her a ring. I found it when I was cleaning out his room. But I couldn’t tell her about it because I didn’t want to hurt her. He loved her so much.”

A ring?

Falling back a step, Logan gawked, unable to digest this properly. Reaching out, he caught hold of the bed of his truck, needing the support.

“He was going to marry her,” Paige hissed, making him flinch.

Looking away, he cursed aloud. “I didn’t…I didn’t know.”

“She…she’s my best friend now.” Paige sobbed in a dry heave.

He glanced up and saw the look in her dazed eyes, the sick disdain on her face.

“God. I shouldn’t have told you that part.”

“Yes. Yes, you should have.” Hysteria filtered into her words. “Someone should’ve told me a long time ago. Oh my God.”

“Paige.” He stepped toward her, lifting his hand, only wanting to comfort her. “She didn’t do anything wrong. She was so out of it. She didn’t know what she was doing. It was all me. I did everything I could to steal her away from him. In fact, I swear she was starting to push me away when he caught us.”

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