Page 25 of All My Firsts

“What happened today, Lanie? You OK?” Xander’s eyes pinched together, and I heard the worry in his voice.

“I’m fine, really.”

“She’s fine, Xaannderr. We got her. We’re her crewww, and I’m her guy. I’ve got Lanie covered, dontcha worry.”

Oh my God, I couldn’t believe he said that. And Logan was already drunk. I didn’t know where he and Ty were before they came here, but he was swaying as he stood infront of us.

Xander picked up on it, too, anger pouring from his eyes. The two of them may have been on better terms the other day, but Logan had done a fine job of destroying that in one sentence. And with Logan’s words, I was sure Xander wasn’t going to believe what Becca told him. This entire night was on track to be an utter failure.

“Well, that’s good news, Logan, that you’re hercrewand herguy. Hope you’re sober enough to take good care of her.” Xander glared at me before returning to the posse waiting on him.

My anger toward Logan was about to boil over as I stormed away in search of Becca. His attempts to follow me, as he stumbled around the room on my tail, enraged me more. Finally finding her in a dark corner with Ty, I pushed through the growing crowd and pulled her away by the arm. The look on my face held a clear message.

“What’s wrong?” she asked with as much panic in her voice as wason my face.

“You will never believe what Logan just did!” Her face fell as I told her, and she tried to calm me down. We looked over toward the guys, Ty trying to hold Logan up he so was drunk. “This night is not going the way I wanted it to.”

“Don’t worry – let’s go dance. Forget about Logan. Let him do his thing; ignore him tonight. Xander will see he means nothing to you. He was really excited when I told him, Lanie. Just stay away from Logan and keep making those googly eyes at Xander that you always do.” She made it sound easy, like it was just going to happen. She and I both moved back over to the people we were dancing with earlier, trying to steer clear of Logan.

But she eventually ditched me for Ty, and it felt like too much work. Xander was mad, and I didn’t want to be around Logan for another minute. The only option at this point was to leave. My bed was calling me. It was destined to be a bad night from the beginning of the day anyway. I should have read the signs from the start.

But in the next moment, Logan was standing by my side. He reached over and put a heavy arm over my shoulder, using me to hold himself up. “Hey, Lanie, where didja dis’pear to? I was looking for you.”

If it was possible, he sounded even more intoxicated. I should have left when I could have. I looked around for Becca or Ty, hoping they would come help me, but they were nowhere to be found. Then I saw a small couch inthe corner.

“Logan, let’s get you over there. I think you need to sit down for a bit. How much have you had to drink already?” As I tried to move his large frame, his lumbering steps made him crash into party goers on the way. I could smell the booze on him. It smelled like hard liquor, and a lot of it. I pushed him onto the sofa once we got through the crowd.

“Whatcha mean, Lanie? I’m good. I wanna dance with you. I’ve been waiting for this night all week, waiting to be wi’ you. Come on, let’s dance.”

He tried to get up from the loveseat by pulling on me.

I felt it happening but couldn’t stop it.

He pulled on my arms to stand up, but he was so big and heavy; I couldn’t move away, and I felt myselfgoing down.

I tried to pry my arms from his iron grip, but there was no way that was happening, and the next thing I knew, I was pulled down onto his body, splayed across his lap.

To any outsider, it easily could have looked like I was intentionally on top of him on the couch.

He moved quickly, pulling me toward him onceI was there.

His arms were around me instantly, making me wonder if he hadn’t orchestrated this.

I was flustered, and I didn’t react right away. But when I did, I put my hands on his chest and pushed myself up, our eyes connecting. The look there told me he wanted to be exactly where we were.

I felt trapped.

I needed to get off himright then.

“Logan, let go of me please.” My voice was quiet but stern. I started to try to get up, pushing against his chest harder, but he wouldn’t let go of me. We were in a dark corner of the room and the music was loud. No one could hear me.

“Lanie, let’s sit here ... togever ... fer a while. I like you on top of me. You feel soooo good, just how I knew you’d feel.” He said this into my ear, the wayhewould have, the hot breath mixing with the alcohol. He started moving his hands over the backs of my thighs, and they were moving up toward my ass.

I started panicking.

All my senses went into overdrive. In the past, I would have lain here passively, let Max do what he wanted.

But this wasn’t the past, and thiswasn’t Max.

---