Page 83 of Whenever You Call

“You lied.”

“And I’ve hated myself for it. Every day.”

“All that time together…”

I looked up to take him in, hating the way my heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, and how his eyes held every regret he’d ever had in them, making me want to go to him. To go back to that kiss we’d shared only moments ago when I’d felt lighter and giddier than I had in so long—maybe ever.

When he’d been the one to save me, notlieto me.

“That day at the drive-thru… was that… a coincidence?”

Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes, Logan,but one look at his expression and I knew the answer was no.

I just couldn’t stick around to hear the word come out of his mouth.

I was going to throw up.

“I never meant to hurt you,” Logan said quietly, as though that fixed everything. Like it didn’t matter that he’d set himself up in my life and planned this thing between us all along.

I huffed out a venomous laugh. “Yeah, well, Cole used to say the same thing. He kept on doing it anyway.”

“I’m not him, Hannah. I would never—”

My face crumpled, and my tears rose to the surface. “You alreadyhave.” He tried to take a step closer, but I took one back, shaking my head violently. “Don’t. Don’t come any closer, Logan, or I swear.”

“Just let me talk to you.”

“I don’t want to talk!” I cried. “Not anymore. I don’t even know who you are!”

“I’m the same—”

“No.” I shook my head again, face turning harder. “You’re nothing like the man I thought you were. He would never keep this from me, and I have no desire to find out who the real you is anymore.”

The gloves on my hands felt stupid now. I unfastened them as quickly as I could and let them fall to the floor before I held my clammy hand out to Logan, and I swallowed back my heartache. “Give me the keys.”

“Hannah…”

“The car keys, Logan.Now.”

He blew out a heavy breath, and I felt the weight of it. I saw everything I hadn’t allowed him to say, but I didn’t want tohearit because the past had proven to me well enough that I was a sucker for words and apologies. I refused to be that woman anymore.

No man would ever make a mockery of me again.

Reaching into the pocket of his shorts, Logan pulled out the keys and tossed them to me carefully. I caught them and immediately turned away from him, marching over to the door and ignoring my name on his lips behind me. I had my hands on the lock and was about to make my escape when Logan’s hand pushed the door closed again, holding me hostage. He held it there as he towered over me, crowding me with that scent of his I’d thought of as magic but now smelled like poison.

“I’ll scream, Logan. I swear it,” I whispered, keeping my eyes on the floor. “Let me go.”

“Look at me, Hannah,” he whispered back, and my own flesh betrayed me as goosebumps flared to life at the sound of his voice.

That kiss had opened too much of my imagination, and despite the treachery I felt at knowing he’d lied to me all along, that imagination flooded me with images of Logan lying over me, whispering my name the way he just had done. Trapping me beneath him like this in the coziness of that condo of his—the one I already knew I’d miss once I walked away.

But I had to walk away. I’d do it any chance I got now. I’d run a million miles from anyone I couldn’t trust.

“Please,” he breathed. “Even if it’s the last time you ever do, just look at me.”

Hating myself for it, I closed my eyes and raised my chin before opening them to take him in, knowing I’d never allow myself to see him after this.

The sight of him killed me.

---