Me: Not yet.
“Hey!” Sarah yells, waving her arm in the air. She jogs over to my car as I send Logan one more text, letting him know she got here. “Sorry I’m late. Melody wouldn’t stop crying in the bathroom. I felt like a total bitch leaving Rachel to deal with her but I didn’t want to be any later than I already am.”
“What happened?” I ask, tucking my phone into my back pocket. I don’t actually care about Melody, but my mamma raised me better than most.
Sarah shrugs and shakes her head. “Gunner. Apparently, he ended things and is moving out of state.”
I bite my tongue, literally, until it bleeds. I don’t want to hear about Gunner, especially if it’s in relation to him and Melody. But I asked and true to her nature, Sarah rambles on, throwing more tidbits of gossip into the conversation as she goes. She talks the whole time we’re shopping. Throughout our food court dinner. Even in the bathroom. I’d forgotten just how much Sarah loves the sound of her voice.
A few hours later, I’m standing by my car, keys in hand, exhausted. I didn’t actually buy anything, but I’m tired, nonetheless. There are a few moments of awkward silence where I don't know if Sarah is going to hug me or shake my hand and say goodbye. She doesn’t do either. Instead, she sets her bags on the ground and leans against the side of my car. “So, you and Logan.”
“Yup,” I say, popping the P. I’m ready to slip into my pajamas then curl up in Logan’s bed and fall asleep for the night. Dad’s given up trying to make me come home most nights. I’ll be eighteen next week, so there’s not much he can do either way. Out of respect, I tell him where I am every night and he always responds with “I’m too young to be a grandpa. Wrap it up.”
“No one talks about the Harris twins,” Sarah starts, staring at her feet. “But they’re not as perfect as they seem.”
“Every family has their problems,” I tell her, thinking about what mine was like before the cancer took over. We were happy, but Dad worked too much and Mom complained a lot. She wanted to take family vacations and have movie nights and things like that. With Dad working so much, we’d just go on without him. Our family wasn’t perfect, we had our own issues.
“True, but theirs is extra wonky. For starters there’s Piper. She’s lived with them on and off for the past ten years. Not to mention she just got out of rehab for—”
“Don’t talk about Piper,” I snap. “I can guarantee you don’t know what’s going on with her. We can’t be friends if you’re going to talk shit.”
Sarah’s gaze flicks over to me then back to her feet. “Sorry. I wasn’t meaning to, I was just…it won’t happen again.”
“Thanks.”
Sarah’s quiet for a beat, then continues like nothing happened. “Anyway, so there’s that and the Harris divorce, but there’s more. You know my dad is one of the few Judges in this county, so he sees a variety of cases. Well, when I mentioned Logan’s name freshman year at dinner one night he flipped out. Warned me to stay away from him.”
I step in front of Sarah, kind of forcing her to look at me. I don’t like her talking about Logan. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t want you blindsided again,” she huffs. I’m glad she thinks she’s doing me some big favor, but without verifiable details, this is nothing more than gossip. “Look, I don’t know for sure what happened with Logan, but I think there had to have been some kind of legal issues for it to make its way to my dad. I tried asking about it once, but he refused to tell me anything else.”
“Probably because it’s none of your business.” It’s none of mine either. I can only assume this has to do with the secret Logan thought I knew. Whatever it is, Sarah needs to stop snooping before she uncovers something no one is meant to know. “It’s probably not what you think.”
Sarah bends down and grabs her bags. “You’re probably right, but you should be careful. Cooper’s a total hothead who’s in love with Piper and always getting into fights, and Logan is straight trouble.”
38
Danika
I amble onto Logan’s back porch and stare at his kidney shaped pool. It’s been years since I’ve been swimming. The houses in my old neighborhood, they were lucky if they had garages or a fence. An in-ground pool was unheard of and above ground pools were far and few between. There was a community center, but it was run by the local gang and I didn’t want to get shot.
Besides, it's not like I had a lot of spare time to go swimming, or to hang out with friends. With the exception of the Friday night football games—mom insisted I go—and school dances; every moment was spent with her. Not that I’m complaining.
Logan presses his lips to my shoulder, running his fingers down the back of my arms. A shiver of lust runs through me. I bite my lip, closing my eyes.
“You okay?” Logan asks, his voice a deep whisper. “You’ve barely said anything since coming over.”
“How’d you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Gunner. How’d you get him expelled?” I stroll over to the patio set and sit. Logan follows, a cheeky grin on his lips.
“He actually withdrew, but I like the rumor that he was kicked out better.” He waits for me to respond. When I don’t, he continues. “There was a video.”
“What?” Panic squeezes my throat. I swallow the lump, but it sticks going down. “Someone recorded what happened to me?” I run my hand through my hair, scratching the back of my head. I bet it was Melody. She’s an evil whore like that. But if she had a video this whole time, why hold onto it? Why not put it out there for the world to see? Girls like her have ulterior motives for everything they do.
Logan sets his hand on my thigh and squeezes. Tiny tingles spread from his fingers, momentarily distracting me from my silent freak out. “Relax, baby. It’s not what you think. Jake’s whole house is wired. I had him give me the surveillance video and took it to my dad. He may be a total dick, but he agreed to help me.”