Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity) (28 page)

And since we’d boarded the airplane, I’d been doing what I could to play nice – if not just for Logan, but for me too. A part of me figured if Jase and I started to get along, it would be one more person in the Brady family on my side since at that moment, Nora’s dad wasn’t my biggest fan.

I’d met her parents the weekend before. We’d gone to Spago for dinner, and not holding true to her word, Nora hadn’t invited her sisters, Tara and Mia, so it was just the two of us and her parents – which was probably ten times worse. Although her mother was great. She was down to earth, and she seemed to like me right off the bat, but her father made it obvious that he didn’t feel the same way. He’d grilled me all throughout dinner, and I wasn’t sure if he was ever really satisfied with my answers. I think he honestly thought I was a punk.

He probably
would have preferred it if I was more clean cut, like my brother or Jase, but that just wasn’t me. I had shaggy blond hair, and I’d worn gray Van’s with my dress pants to dinner, because I couldn’t find my dress shoes and didn’t have any better options. Nora said she liked my look, but I was pretty sure her father disagreed.

In the end,
I’d made it through the night, and she hadn’t broken up with me, so I guess that was good. But now it seemed I had yet another hurdle to overcome when it came to her family. The game had definitely changed since I’d last seen Jase, and I knew he wasn’t thrilled that his sister and I were dating. On the plane, while Nora and I had been sitting close to each other, talking and laughing and sometimes kissing, he’d looked over a few times with what I could only assume was wariness.

I
knew he thought I was a dirtbag, but Nora and I hadn’t talked about her brother’s opinion of our relationship, since he’d been a nonissue all the way in New Orleans. Of course now that he was walking toward us holding a set of room keys, we probably needed to have a conversation. And I probably needed to be on my best behavior.

Logan smiled at me,
her hand in Jase’s, but he narrowed his eyes as they approached us.

“Nora, guess what?” Logan
asked excitedly, but she didn’t give Nora a chance to answer. “Jase bought us massages!”

Nora looked at her br
other in awe for a few seconds and then threw her arms around his neck.

“You are the best, Jase. School and work have been kicking my butt lately. I totally need this. When do we go?”

“In about thirty minutes,” he said, and I shot him a look.

He shot one back at me and kept his gaze
on me when he started talking again. “You girls are booked for ninety-minute massages, and while you do that, Ethan and I are going to grab a few drinks.”

“We are?”

“Yeah, we are,” he said coolly.

I nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Yeah right.

“Hey!”

The blond girl Jase’s bodyguard was with, Sloane, I think she said her name was, came running into the lobby from outside.

Logan smiled brightly. “How was the beach?”

She and Charlie, the guy whose job I’d learned was to pretty much stand around and do nothing until a threat presented itself, had walked out to the beach as soon as he’d made sure there were no stalkers or rabid fans or terrorists in the lobby. He’d come inside first while we waited in the car, and then he’d given Jase the all clear. I thought it was a little bit pretentious, but whatever. I figured if he was keeping Jase safe, then that meant he was keeping Logan safe, and that was cool with me.

Sloane slid her arm around Charlie’s waist. “The water was so warm! We’re going to go
back out there and get some sun.”

“Unless you need me,” Charlie clarified, always on the job, apparently.

“You don’t need him. You’re fine,” Sloane insisted.

I liked the way she talked to Jase. She treated him like everyone else, but then she looked at him with puppy dog eyes and begged please silently a few times
the way Logan did when she wanted to talk me into doing something I didn’t want to do.

Jase laughed. “I’m good
, man. Have fun with your girl. I’m going to grab a drink with Ethan.”

“And I’m super-excited about it,” I added, not even trying to hide the sarcasm in my voice.

So much for being on my best behavior.

Nora elbowed me in the ribs, and I flinched. She shot me a look that told me to be nice, and I vowed to try, but
if he tried to start in on any of that ‘what are your intentions with my sister’ bullshit, I wasn’t holding back.

Jase shot me a look as he handed out room keys, and I think I was supposed to be threatened, but I really wasn’t. I could take him.

Not that I would have to, but if needed to, I could knock him out.

We headed toward our rooms, which were actually little bungalows along the beach. I noticed Nora and I were on the end, Jase and Logan were sandwiched in the middle, and on the
other end were Charlie and Sloane. But there were no adjoining walls, so that was good. The last thing I wanted to hear was a headboard banging next door, because I didn’t want to picture Logan and Jase having sex. No thank you.

As soon as we were inside the room, I grabbed Nora around the waist and
fell on top of her on the bed. She squealed in delight, and I started kissing her furiously, knowing I only had a few minutes before she had to meet Logan to go to the spa, and I had to go to the bar with Jase. I would have much preferred to stay with Nora so I could give her a full body massage, but that option had been taken away from me.

Jase was a sneaky bastard.

Nora and I made out like teenagers for ten minutes before a knock on our door pulled us apart. She squirmed out from under me, so I smacked her ass before she could walk away, and she jumped and screamed before reaching out and smacking me back. Such great foreplay that would lead to absolutely nothing.

She opened the door for Jase and Logan who stepped inside
our room. I sat up on the rumpled bedspread and ran my hand back through my hair.

“What’s up, guys?”

“You tell me?” Jase said, and Nora rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be that guy?” she warned him.

“What guy?” he asked, as if he didn’t know exactly what he was doing.

“The protective older brother,
Jason
. Don’t go there.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did we not just interrupt something in here?” he snapped.

Nora crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe you did, so what?”

“Okay!” Logan said, stepping in between the siblings. “That’s enough. Nora and I have an appointment. Have fun getting drunk. We’ll see you for dinner at eight.”

With that she whisked Nora out of the room and left me alone with Jase.

I stood up. “Look, man, I know you’re not cool with this any more than I’m cool with you doing what I’m sure you do with Logan. I don’t want to think about that
, because honestly she’s too good for you, but you make her happy, so I’ll deal with it.”

“You’re no
t good enough for my sister,” Jase challenged, and I shrugged.

“I disagree, but whatever. The bottom line is, we can either choose to be dicks about this and ruin what could be a pretty epic weekend, or we can suck up the fact that we don’t particularly like each other and move on. I’m game for whatever you want.”

Jase looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he nodded. “I really don’t want to waste my time fighting with you when I can be with Logan. I haven’t seen her in three weeks, so this weekend means a lot.”

“So, truce?” I offered and stuck my hand out.

“Truce,” he agreed and shook my hand.

Chapter Nineteen

Logan

“Hi,” I said to the concierge as I wheeled my suitcase up to the front desk at Jase’s posh hotel. I couldn’t help smiling. He was going to be so surprised to see me.

I figured after the surprise weekend in Mexico that had been one of the best weekends of my life, I needed to return the favor. So instead of going home during Spring Break like I’d planned, and like Jase thought I was doing, I’d flown to New Orleans to see him. I figured we could spend a few days together and then fly to Ft. Lauderdale to see my dad and Sasha.

Jase had finished filming the day before, and the wrap party had been
that night. I’d talked to him right before he’d left his hotel room, and he’d been tired. He said it would probably be an early night for him, which was good since I’d taken the redeye from L.A., and it was only five in the morning. Jase was about to get woken up early.

“How may I help you miss?”

“Um, I’m here to pick up a key to my boyfriend’s room. Someone should have called and asked that it be left for Logan Kessler?”

I hoped Andrea
had come through for me. I hadn’t heard back from her, so I assumed there hadn’t been an issue with her arranging my visit with the hotel. They were guarding Jase’s privacy, as well as the other cast members, which I was grateful for, but the surprise wouldn’t be as impactful if they had to call his room to ask if it was okay for me to have a key. This way worked much better.

The concierge took a moment to look through one of his drawers before making eye contact with me. “Yes, miss. Here you are. The room number is 12
01, the top floor. You will need your key to access the floor. Do you need any help with your bags?”

I smiled. “No, I’m good. Thank you
, though.”

“My pleasure, miss. Have a pleasant day.”

“Thank you,” I said, as I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and headed toward the elevator bank.

As I rode up to the twelfth floor, my heart
started pounding so hard. The excitement of seeing Jase was making me giddy.

I took a deep breath as I paused outside the door to his room, one
of only two on the whole floor – Charlie had the other room. Then I put the key in the door and waited for the green light before entering the dark hotel suite. The sun would be up in about an hour, but I planned on being asleep in Jase’s arms when that event took place.

I left my suitcase and my
backpack by the front door and headed toward the bedroom. The door was slightly ajar, so I pushed it open, fully prepared to crawl into bed with Jase and pepper his face with kisses to wake him up. Then we’d sleep for a few hours before getting up to go have beneits at Café Du Monde. They were one of Jase’s favorite foods, and I’d never had them. Jase had been abstaining since he needed to stay in shape for all of his shirtless scenes, but now that filming was over, he wanted to treat himself.

The room itself was bathed in moonlight, so I was able to see the bed he slept in clearly. And as soon as I registered the scene in front of me, a yelp escaped my lips
, and my hand flew to my mouth.

Jase wasn’t alone.

The minute I realized who was in bed with him, my eyes narrowed, and my breath started coming in short bursts.

“You bitch!” I screamed, storming toward the sleep body of Chloe St. James.

Jase barely stirred, but she started to open her eyes when I yelled, and it took her a few seconds to comprehend that I was standing in the room. I stood a foot from her as she sat up in bed and glared at me.

“It is five o’clock in the fucking morning. Will you shut up?” she said nastily

At that, my hand reached out and connected with her cheek involuntarily. I wanted to cry and scream and shout every curse word I’d ever learned, but mostly I just wanted to collapse in a heap on the floor, because second by second, reality was dawning on me. Chloe was in Jase’s bed, and she was naked.

“
You little whore!” she shouted, lunging at me, as I stepped back out of her reach.

That was the moment that Jase opened his eyes and took in the scene in front of him.

“Logan?” he questioned, the excitement in his voice palpable as his eyes lit up. “Hi, baby.”

Chloe and I both turned when we heard his voice. Then it was as if he suddenly realized that it wasn’t just the two of us in
his room, and his face fell. He sat up in a rush and looked back and forth between Chloe and me several times, as if trying to piece together what was going on.

“What are you doing in my room?” he asked,
moving away from Chloe as much as he could, his back slamming up against the headboard.

She rolled her eyes and settled back against the headboard, but she didn’t answer him.
She just tucked the sheet around her bare chest and crossed her arms over it.

I was also waiting for her response, even though it was pretty obvious what she’d been doing in his room. What
they’d
been doing. Bile crept up my throat, but I swallowed it back, pulling together all my strength so I didn’t fall apart in the moment.

I told myself that there was a logical explanation for this. Chloe had been drunk, and she’d passed out in Jase’s bed. He was being a nice guy and helping her out.