I laugh because that was my first reaction, too, when I found out about my heart condition. “Twenty-one. Believe me, when I first had a heart attack, and the doctor told me I only had a few months to live, I thought the same thing. I couldn’t believe something like this could happen to someone my age.” Ha, look at me, sounding like a normal person again and not like a weirdo with zero brain cells. If I could, I would high-five myself.
“That must have been hard on you…”
“Yeah, it was, but I tried to make the most of what time I had left. I’m not gonna lie…I did make some stupid decisions.” I take a bite of a bacon strip and munch on it. “But it all turned out for the best since I got a new heart in the end.”
After a few beats of silence, Logan looks toward me. “I’m sorryfor being such a dick to you a week ago,” he says sheepishly, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.
“It’s fine—”
“No, it’s not. No one deserves to be treated like that, and I acted like a total asshole.” His eyebrows furrow and his mouth sets into a thin line.
In contrast, a small smile pulls at my own lips. “You made up for it by saving me last night, so we’re all good now.”
“Thank fuck because I was afraid Tony might dick punch me the next time he sees me.”
I almost choke on the food I’m swallowing as a laugh belts out of me. “I’ll let him know you apologized.”
Logan goes for a second serving, and I do the same. He finishes the protein before me, then takes a blueberry muffin, biting into it. “Holy shit! Did you make these? I don’t think I’ve ever tasted something as delicious in my entire life.” He scarfs it down in no time and manages to eat two more before I can even blink.
Swallowing my last bite, I nod, not knowing what to say to the compliment. I’m sure my cheeks flush red.
“You’d make a lot of money selling these.”
“You think?” It seems so simple, but it’s the first time the idea has come up. I have no choice but to take a moment and consider it. I’ve always loved to bake, but I never thought I could do this for a living.
“One hundred. It’s like you put crack in them or something.”
I almost laugh and say,No more crack for me.
But I don’t. Instead, I take a muffin and bit into it just to see if it turned out better than I usually make them. The texture is perfectly balanced, pillowy-soft, gooey and airy at the same time. I almost do a little dance of happiness as I stifle a moan.
Logan’s eyes are like a hot brand to my face. They pull me in like a magnet. Our gazes snare when I chance a look at him. I feel like a deer in headlights stumbling onto the big bad wolf, andmy lips part involuntarily on a shaky breath. Pure animalistic hunger flashes in his gaze while it roves lazily over every inch of me, like a physical caress. As though he wants to imprint every single detail onto his brain. It makes me acutely aware of how close we are to one another. My skin buzzes with the electricity sparking in the air between us.
His knee brushes mine as he turns toward me on the bar stool. “You’ve got something…” All the hair on my body stands on end when he brings his forefinger under my chin and then brushes his thumb gently at the corner of my lips to wipe a crumb away. He doesn’t move his hand. Instead, he uses the pad of his thumb to trace my lips slowly, reverently, while his other hand settles atop my thigh. His touch burns through my skin like a hot coal. I whimper when he inches the hand upward on my inner leg, leaving a wake of shivers behind.
All of a sudden, Logan pulls me into his lap like I weigh nothing, and he swallows the whimper with his lips over mine in a scorching kiss as I straddle him. His tongue glides against mine with hot, silky strokes that turn my brain to mush. I cling to him with desperation, weaving my fingers into his hair and pulling on it. In response, Logan’s fingers dig almost painfully into the sides of my thighs. A voice I don’t recognize growls in my head possessively,“Mine!”but I don’t pay it any attention. I’m too consumed by the way our tongues tangle in a fiery dance.
“Fuck, you taste better than I imagined,” Logan breathes against my lips, labored like he just ran a marathon. Then his lips are on mine again as his big hands grab my ass. He jerks me into his body, causing my pulse to spike to the roof because my clit rubs onto his hard-as-steel erection in a way that fries all my nerve endings. I moan loudly into his mouth. The stimulation is making me crazy with lust.
Standing with me wrapped around his middle, Logan takes long, determined strides to the bedroom. He lowers me on topof my bed and settles in between my thighs but never allows our lips to come unfused, our tongues to cease battling for control in a mind-numbing kiss. His fingers hook into my shorts, but as he starts pulling them down, the blaring sound of a phone ringing cuts through the room.
Logan stiffens on top of me as though someone dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on his head. The spell binding us dissipates like smoke in the wind. With a sharp inhale, he pushes on his forearms and gets up from between my legs, careful not to touch me in the slightest. Like he finds me radioactive…again. He shakes his head. Somehow, it feels like he’s trying to rid himself of my image. In slow increments, that feel like a thousand rusty razor blades sawing through my bones all at once, the haze of desire burning in his eyes dulls down. His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat, hard. The regret shining in his eyes is like a dagger to the center of my chest as he avoids looking at me. He stalks to the coffee table, where his phone is, his movements jerky and weird.
He swears under his breath when he unlocks the screen. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go,” he says roughly, picks up his jacket, and then closes the front door to my apartment swiftly behind him.
He couldn’t even look at me…like he was ashamed. I know I’m being dramatic, but I can’t stop the sobs that rake through my body, constricting my heart and my lungs in a vise-like grip. I don’t understand why I’m so affected by him leaving, but I’m certain I’ve lost something vital, like the air in my lungs.
15
Logan
Blood flies as my fist connects with the jaw of one of the assholes that attacked Ava last night. The one with the switchblade that dared press it against her throat, cutting into her silky skin. I swore he would pay for that, and that’s exactly what I’m doing, collecting my debt. Ava’s debt.
“P-p-please,” Chad begs again on a whimper as a fresh trickle of piss drips from the inside of his pants onto the cement floor, making my nose turn at the strong ammonia smell. Even his name is asshole-ish. He is tied down to a chair next to the other two dipshits that dared touch Ava. They are passed out, as I already finished with them earlier. I let out all my frustration and channel my rage as I pummel Chad until I feel Kaiden’s hand on my shoulder.
“Any more, and you’ll kill him,” Kaiden says, his fingers flexing in an attempt to stop me.
I shake off his hand and turn my head toward Malik, sweat dotting my forehead and running down in rivulets between my shoulder blades. I’ve been at this for hours and still haven’t gotten my fill. “Again,” I rumble through clenched teeth, my breathing ragged.
