Forcing Gravity (40 page)

“They’ve done that kind of thing before, right?”

He let out a deep sigh and shook his head, and his gaze shifted away. Then he brought his searing gaze back to me. “You know, I think Amanda was the first, but I would venture to guess they’ve done this multiple times over the years. Owen and I used to be friends back in high school, and we sort of bonded over the whole thing with Amanda
,
since he was one of the guys who they initially thought was involved, but he wasn’t – like me.
We hung out for about a year after it happened, but then we lost touch, but whenever I saw him he’d always brag about some girl he and Carter had double-teamed
. I just figured they were into threesomes, but now I’m not so sure.”

I shivered at the thought of other girls h
aving been through what I’d gone
through the night before – and worse. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to repay Jase for coming after me, especially after I’d been such a bitch to him.

I swallowed hard. “Why did they ask you
to join them
?
You haven’t done anything like that before, have you?
”

My heart started pounding as
I remembered Carter telling
Owen
to ask ‘Superstar’ to join them. I realized when he walked into the pool house that
they’d been talking about Jase.

Jase’s
face was suddenly shrouded in
horror.
“No, absolutely not!
Logan, come on, you should know me better than that.”

He was visibly hurt by what I’d just asked him, and I felt like shit for even asking. I did know him better than that. I reached for his hand, but he pulled away from me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, letting my head fall into my hands. I lifted it back up, so I could look at him, so he could see the sincerity in my eyes.
All I could see in his were pain and betrayal as he angled away from me.
“You’re right, I
do
know you, and I
know
you would never do something like that. It just threw me when you walked in and Carter assumed you wanted in on what they were planning to do. I’m sorry. Okay? I’m sorry.”

Jase took a deep breath, and when he let it out it was shaky.
“I have no idea
why they asked me to join them
– Owen and I aren’t even friends anymore –
but I’m so glad they did. I don’t really care about the reason. I just – I know what would have happened if I hadn’t come in, and I – I’m just glad I was there.”

“Me too,” I said, r
eaching for his hand again. That
time he let me take it.

“I should have hit them both until they were unconscious,” Jase said, shaking his head again
, his gaze unfocused on
a point on the wall.

“Ethan probably took care of that for
you,” I
reasoned
, and Jase nodded in agreement
.
“I’m
so
lucky to have you both in my life.”

“
Am
I in your life?”
he
asked cautiously
, and it seemed like he’d forgiv
en me for what I’d asked
.

“Yes,” I said softly,
squeezing his hand
and lacing
it with
mine.

“Good,” he said
,
as he looked down at our joined hands.

I
followed his gaze and realized
that I was dressed in an oversized yellow
t-shirt
. I looked down to see
‘
Lakers
’
scrawled
across
the front
in purple script
.
Under the covers, I felt below my waist to discover I was also wearing a pair of cotton boxers.

“I’m wearing different clothes.”

He nodded. “I wanted you to be comfortable while you slept.”

I gave him a small smile. “Thank you.
Where’s my dress?”

“I sent it out with Gary this morning. He stopped by to get my dry cleaning. I hope that’s okay.”

I breathed out, long and slow. “It’s Henley’s, so I want to make sure she gets it back.”

“She will,” he said, squeezing my hand. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I’m so glad you’re okay.
You scared me last night, Logan.
”

I felt a lump in my throat at the sincerity behind his words.

“I’m okay, Jase.”

He breathed out a breath I didn’t know he was holding. “You called me Jase.”

I ran my thumb back and forth along the side of his palm. “It’s your name.”

“It’s just good to hear you use it.”

I smiled and
wrapped my arms around him
, leaning my head
against his
chest. I needed to feel his warmth and comfor
t in that moment, two things I
always felt
when I was
around him
.

“Do you want s
ome breakfast?” he asked when I
sat
back
up.

I
nodded,
remember how amazing his
breakfast cooking skills were. “But I think I’d like to take a bath first. Is that
alright
?”

“Of course,”
he
said. “I’ll just give you some privacy.”

With that, he got up and walked to the doorway, and I felt incredibly empty all of sudden. I had to remind myself that he wasn’t going far, but I realized in that instant just how much I’d missed him. I’d cut him out of my life because of what I thought he’d done, and now that I knew the truth, I didn’t want to
let him go again. I hoped he wanted the same thing.

When Jase left me alone, I slipped into his huge bathroom and stripped out of his t-shirt and boxers. Then I forced myself to stand in front of the mirror and look at myself. There didn’t seem to be
m
any physical marks from C
arter’s attack, but my wrists w
ere sore
and
from where he’d gripped them so hard
, and I had faint bruises
. I rotated them around a few times. My right knee
was skinned from where I’d fallen in the grass, but other than that, I looked normal. I couldn’t find any traces of dirt on me, and I wondered how much Jase had to do with that.

He’d taken the time to wipe away
any
the traces of the incident that he could, and he’d dressed me in fresh clothes. Just the thought of him being so sincere and so caring caused tears to form in my eyes again, but I brushed them a
way quickly, not wanting to cry, n
ot wanting to be a victim.

I started the water for the bath, getting it as hot as it would go. All I wanted was to wash away any traces of Carter’s hands and mouth, and in that moment, I could feel him all over my body.
My skin was crawling.

As
I sat in the tub
, the relief I felt for Jase rescuing me and the vulnerability I’d felt when I was pinned beneath Carter and the loathing I felt for him in general all collided, and my eyes filled up immediately. I knew it would be healthy to cry, so I let
the tears stream down my face
in rivers
until
I couldn’t cry anymore
. The
n
I
washed my hair and body with
the
Keihls
products that lined the huge garden tub.
And w
hen I got out, I felt a million times better as I wrapped myself in a fluffy white robe and went back out into the bedroom.

Sitting on the bed were two shopping bags
from
Neiman Marcus
and one from Sephora
. The note next to them said,
Get dressed and meet me on the back porch. – J

Inside
the Neiman Marcus bags
I found three different styles and colors of
panties
, three matching bras, two pairs of jeans, three
t-
shirts and three
sweaters.
There
was also a pair of brown riding
boots
and a pair of Converse sneakers. The clothes
were all designer brands
with price tags I didn’t want to look at
. In the Sephora bag I found an array of designer toiletries and lotions and hair products – most of which I wasn’t sure how to use. I shook my head a
nd
smiled at
Jase’s
thoughtfulness, even if it was a bit excessive.

Then I changed into a pair of
bootcut
jeans, threw on one of the softes
t t-shirts I’d ever felt and
one of the cashmere sweaters, knowing it would be chilly outside.
I used on
e
of the hair products that was supposed to soften curly hair, took the time to semi-dry my hair and used one of the five moisturizers Jase had left before heading outside to meet him.

“What did you do, go shopping while I was taking a bath?” I asked in disbelief when I emerged outside to find Jase sitting
at
an outdoor table reading the newspaper and drinking coffee from The Coffee Bean.

He grinned, and I sat
dow
n across from him. He pushed
a to
g
o cup toward me. “I got you a crème
brulee
coffee,” he said. “It’s my sister, Nora
’s
, favorite, so I took a chance,
thinking you might like it too.”

“I’ve never had it,” I said, as I took a liberal sip. It was delicious.
“Yum.
Thank you.”

I smiled at Jase, and a
rare
grin lit up his face. “I’m glad you like it, and to answer your question, no
,
I didn’t go shopping, but Gary did.” He looked sheepish as he said that.

“Well tell him I said he has excellent taste,” I said, taking another sip of coffee.
“But you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know,” he said, taking a thoughtful sip of coffee. “But I wanted to. Are you doing okay?”

I sighed and nodded. “I am. I’m just a little freaked out, but I’ll be okay. I’m just so grateful that you were there, Jase. If you hadn’t come after me, I – I don’t know what might have happened.”

I watched
Jase’s
jaw tighten, and I could guess what he was thinking. He knew as well as I d
id what would have happened if he hadn’t found me
.

“I’m glad I was there,” was all he said, and then
he
looked down at his phone. It h
ad buzzed with a message. H
e got up from the table and went inside, but he left his coffee, so I knew he’d be back.

I looked up into the bright mid-morning sun as the cool air swirled around me. It felt like fall, and I hugged myself as I breathed in the clean, crisp air.
We didn’t get weather like that
back home.

Jase returned a few minutes later with a large bag of food from Griddle Café.

“Did you have Gary get breakfast, too?” I asked, as he set the bag on the table.

He smiled his secret smile at me.
“Maybe.”

He started pulling out containers of food, and I realized I was famished.

“You’d better pay him well for to him to run all your errands on a Saturday,” I chastised.

“I pay him very well,” Jase said, and I knew he wasn’t kidding.

We ate in relative silence, but Jase watched me as I savored the taste of the pancakes, eggs
,
and bacon. He seemed
concerned, but he didn’t say anything.

“I’m fine,” I insisted,
and
he just looked thoughtfully at me for a few seconds. “I’m tougher than I look.”

And I was. As I
’d
mulled over what had happened and how weak I’d felt, I just got more and more pissed off. I wanted to hunt Carter down and kick him repeatedly in the balls or hold him down and tattoo ‘Rapist’ on his foreh
ead. I wasn’t about to take what he’d done
lying down, and as much as he wanted to, I wasn’t going to let Jase baby me, or Ethan for that matter. I’d had my pity party in the tub, but now I just wanted to
be thankful that
I was fortunate
enough to have two people in my life
who
cared about me so much
and
just move forward
.

“I should call Ethan,” I said, when I finished my last bite and pushed my plate away.