Page 21 of Paradise

The waiter brings out our food, and while we eat, Gary tells more stories about Logan growing up. It seems she’s always been a spitfire, constantly getting into trouble in class for talking or being sassy.

By the time we’re finishing our food, I’m missing Logan so much, I just want to ditch these guys and spend the rest of the day with her. I check my phone again, and I’m happy to see that she’s responded to my text.

Logan:Getting my hair done, maybe I’ll let you pull on it later ;)

I smile at her message as we stand up to leave, and Levi throws his arm over my shoulder to read the message. I try to hide my phone from him, but I’m too slow.

“Damn, dude, think she’d let me join?”

Thankfully Gary has stepped into the bathroom, or else I’m sure Levi would have his ass smeared all over the floor from that comment alone. I shake his arm off my shoulder, sliding my phone into my pocket. “Fuck off.”

He laughs. “Hey, just remember, I was there first.”

Gary, unfortunately, walks out just in time to hear that.

“Where first?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow.

I shake my head, trying to come up with an answer, but Levi surprises me by speaking before I can.

“The spot I like to surf at. He’s trying to tell me it’shisspot, but I was there first.”

Smooth as fuck, my best friend.

I laugh, shaking my head in disbelief.

“I’m sure you can share the beach, Carson,” Gary says, leading us out the front doors of the clubhouse.

“Yeah, Carson.” Levi grins manically, raising his eyebrows. “Share.”

eight

LOGAN

It’s almost sundown when I slip the key into the slot for our hotel room. “Hello?” I call out, hoping Carson is back.

He comes into view when I go around the corner, spread out on the bed with nothing on but his boxer briefs, scrolling on his phone.

“Well, hey there,” I say, dropping the ten shopping bags I acquired earlier in the day with Sara on the floor before I walk to the edge of the bed.

“You look beautiful,” he says, reaching out to grab my hand so he can pull me down with him.

I was sick of the white streaks in my hair, so at the salon today, I dyed my whole head a dark, chocolaty brown and got some layers cut into it to make it look fuller. My hair was almost down to my ass after a few months without a cut, so they chopped off a few inches as well.

“Thank you.” I smile, falling onto the mattress and curling my arms around his neck. “How was your day?”

He puts his face into my hair. “Good.”

“Yeah? No fights?” I question.

“Your dad might actually be an okay guy, after all.”

I chuckle. “Yeah, he’s all right.”

His fingers stroke along my hair. “I think it’s time for us to give him a clean slate, baby. He’s suffered enough.”

I sigh, feeling my stomach twisting into little knots. There’s a part of me that does want that clean slate with my dad, honestly. But there’s still that part of me that feels stupid for being fooled by him for so long, on top of the part that’s angry at him for hurting Sara.

“Listen,” Carson says, threading his fingers into my hair and massaging my scalp. “The shit with him and my mom is between them. If she’s forgiven him for that, we need to as well. The shit between you two will always sting, but at the end of the day, he’s your dad and you love him.”

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