Page 134 of Poet & Protector

“Not here,” I told him in a low voice.

Nev’s eyes were on me, his nostrils flared slightly. He’d noticed the change, too. It was only on the surface. My essential scents never changed, but the superficial ones easily could, and Guardians were sensitive to any differences in smell.

If Logan had smoked a cigarette in the car during our drive to school, they would have figured it out already. As it was, the mahogany and vetiver of Logan’s body wash clung to my skin, but without cloves and tobacco the scents were different enough that Nev and Ansel didn’t immediately connect them to Logan.

Now that I thought about it, he hadn’t smoked at all while I was at his house. Was that another aspect of him being ‘nice’ Logan?

If so, it was kind of impressive. He must really have been jonesing for a cigarette. Or maybe a Keeper’s magic kept them from getting addicted to things like cigarettes and Logan only smoked as an affectation. I pushed the thought aside. It didn’t matter.

When I had everything I needed, I slammed my locker shut. I turned and walked down the hall, knowing they’d follow. I didn’t want to talk about last night, but it wasn’t fair to leave them hanging.

I went to the student lounge, checked to ensure it was empty, and led them inside. In case anyone came in after us, I chose a seating area in the far corner and sank onto one of the small couches, suddenly exhausted. Last night wasn’t as awful as I’d assumed spending that much time with Logan would be, but I’d been a tight, fraying rope of nerves the whole time, never knowing what might come next.

Nev sat beside me and Ansel settled in a chair opposite the couch.

There was no sense in dragging it out. “I smell different because I wasn’t at home and I didn’t have my normal stuff this morning when I took a shower. I was at Logan’s.”

Nev went rigid.

“What do you mean, you were at Logan’s?” Ansel demanded. “At his house?”

I nodded.

“When?” Ansel sputtered. “The whole time I was messaging you? But that was last night and now you’re at school…”

I shot Ansel a look. Nev remained quiet. He hadn’t moved a muscle since I started talking.

“All night?” Ansel’s eyes bulged. “You were at his house all night???”

“It was fine,” I said. “I’m fine. Nothing happened. I slept on the couch. And my phone really is dead. I didn’t have a charger with me.”

Ansel skipped over the whole charger thing. “But…you took a shower…in Logan’s shower?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I understood Ansel’s panicked questions, but they weren’t helpful. Nev still hadn’t spoken.

“Ansel, like I already said, nothing happened. It was just a shower. I spent the night at his house, yes, but it was all very…normal.”

I wasn’t going to mention I’d walked in on Logan naked. It was kind of a blip amid all the other stuff, and I wanted to forget it. I couldn’t as easily forget about the wardrobe, but I didn’t want to get into that right now.

“But…” Ansel kicked at the floor. “How could it be normal? What did you do?”

“Homework.” I kept my tone neutral. “Then we ate pizza. We played pool and video games. He made up the couch into a guest bed and that’s where I slept. This morning I took a shower in his bathroom, we ate breakfast, and he drove me to school.”

“He drove you⁠—”

“Ansel, would you stop repeating everything I say?”

It came out harsh and he winced. I sighed and slumped against the couch.

“I’m sorry, An. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to protect you from something horrible. Logan didn’t do anything to me, but I’m tired. Just being there was stressful.”

“Of course it was,” Nev said softly.

He reached out and rested his hand on mine for a moment before pulling away. I wished I could lean against him, nestle into his warmth. I should have been with him last night and not with Logan. We were both feeling that loss, but at school we had to keep things platonic. I hated it.

Ansel was watching me closely. “He really didn’t hurt you?”

“He didn’t,” I assured him. “He told me he wanted to spend time with me away from school. That’s what we did.”