Logan

A stupid grin took over my face. I couldn't stop it, even if you paid me. Placing the phone to my ear, I said, "Hey, pretty girl." I'd been on the roof for twenty minutes, contemplating whether or not I should call her. I knew she said we should spend some time apart. I didn't get it. That's not what I wanted at all. She thought I was going to get sick of her. As if that was possible. Luckily, I didn't have to call—seemed like she was the first to break.

"Hey yourself," she replied. "I'm sorry for calling."

"You never have to apologize for that."

She sighed. "What are you doing?"

"Honestly?"

"No, lie to me."

I chuckled under my breath. "I'm sitting on the roof thinking about how much I miss you."

"It's only been a few hours." She sounded sad.

I tried to lighten the mood. "Hey, you called me, remember?"

"Yeah," she said softly. Something was wrong.

"What's going on, Amanda?"

She sighed again. "I don't know. What are we doing?"

My heart started to pick up pace. "What do you mean?"

Another fucking sigh. "I mean—what are we doing? You and me. Us. Together?"

My heart sank. I wanted to slap myself for believing that things could be so simple with us. I sat down, my knees too weak to hold myself up. My head lowered. It was my turn to sigh. "Baby, I don't know what you're saying, but if you don't want to be with me, just say so."

It was quiet for so long I thought for sure she'd hung up, but then I heard her intake of breath. "I don't think it's a good idea that we keep sneaking around. I just have a feeling it's going to blow up in our faces, you know? I want to be with you, like, all the time, and I feel like there's this knot in my gut whenever we do it—guilt, or something—and I shouldn't feel like that. I shouldn't feel guilty for wanting to be with the person I love."

The tension in my shoulders disappeared. "So you're not breaking up with me?"

"What?" A quiet laugh escaped her. "Not at all." I blew out a breath, relieved. She must have sensed it. "I'm sorry, babe. I didn't mean to scare you," she assured.

"It's fine." I wiped my sweaty palms against my shorts. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I think I want to go to Lucy's bonfire thing tomorrow. I mean—Cam's right, it's just going to get worse with time. Band-Aid effect, right? Just rip it right off?"

I heard movement from her end, like she was shifting around in her bed. "That's good. I think that's a good idea."

"Obviously you'd be coming with me." I assumed she would, but I’d never asked. "If you want to, I mean."

I could hear the smile in her answer. "Yeah, that sounds perfect."

"Yeah," I agreed. "So, it normally starts around six-ish. I guess if we take into account the two-hour drive there, that means you should get here . . . say . . . as soon as you wake up in the morning?"

She snorted with laughter. It made me smile into the phone. "What are you doing, pretty girl?"

She sighed again, differently this time. "Laying in bed, missing the shit out of you."

"Yeah?" I smirked to myself. "What are you wearing?"

22

Amanda

We fell asleep on the phone to each other. It was close to four in the morning. He told me I should've just stayed there; he was right.

I decided to call before I knocked, just in case it freaked him out. But he didn't answer; instead, it was a girl’s voice on the other end. My stomach dropped. I held the phone tighter. "Hello?" she said. I hung up. What was I supposed to say? I wanted to leave, run out of there, but my feet were lead, glued to the floor. Then his door swung open, and there he was. No shirt, sweatpants hung low on his hips and the band of his boxers peeking through. He had that perfect V, you know, the one that drives women crazy. His abs. His stupid abs. When I finally got to his face, he had a twinkle in his eye and an amused smirk. I wanted to lick him and punch him, all at the same time. Apparently that was the general consensus when it came to my dealings with Logan Matthews.

"What are you doing here?" he asked through his now huge grin.

I raised an eyebrow.

"This is a nice surprise," he said, opening the door wider, right about the same time Blonde Dreadlock Barbie exited, her hair wet, dressed in a skirt-suit. "Hey, Amanda," she greeted me, brushing past and giggling. "I’m sorry I answered your call. I had his phone looking up the bus schedule. I didn’t even think." She was too perky for this early in the morning. Or maybe I was just grumpy. Or both.

Logan laughed.

Fucking laughed.

He waited for me to enter before closing the door behind him. Leaning back against the door, he eyed me. He opened his mouth to speak, but a chuckle came out instead. He shook his head. "You're so damn cute when you're jealous. I can't even handle it right now." He took the steps to cover the space between us, and then wrapped one arm around my waist, bringing me closer to him. He placed his thumb between my eyebrows and smoothed out the creases. "You're pouting," he said, kissing me once. "And you're crazy."

My eyes narrowed at him.

Sighing dramatically, he picked me up and flung me over his shoulder. He walked us to his bedroom, placed me down on the edge of the bed, pulled out a jersey from his dresser and came back. Kneeling in front of me so we were eye to eye, he spoke. "You're crazy to think that I'd ever want any other girl, ever. Their water got cut off this morning; she came in for a shower before work. That's all. Swear it."