Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series) (31 page)

The ride to Logan's place was one long round of foreplay. I rested my hand in his lap. He slid his hand between my legs. I sucked on his ear. He clutched my thigh. We were panting for each other by the time we reached his apartment. He pulled out his key and let us in, tugging me into the darkened living room as he slid his hands beneath my blouse and bent to kiss the tops of my breasts.

I grabbed his head and clutched at his short hair, feeling tightly wound and eager for him, reveling in the warmth of his tongue on my skin and the thrill of being with him.

He was about to slide the front door closed with his foot when we both heard the telltale thumping of sex. The walls were paper thin. The thumping could have been coming from next door, except…

The door to Logan's bedroom was closed. A sliver of light glowed beneath it.

"I am going to fuck you so hard." Caleb's voice.

Logan let go of me. "Shit. I'm going to kill him."

A woman moaned, enthusiastically, with ever-increasing intensity.

I froze. My heart, like, literally stopped beating. I broke out in a cold sweat. "Mom and Caleb disappeared at the same time."

I felt like I was going to throw up.
 

Before I could stop Logan, he tore open the bedroom door.

I remained glued in place, too horrified at the visions my on mind made to move. To look at what I didn't want to see. Memories of Mom and Austin came flooding back. My hand flew to my face. I swore my scar throbbed.
 

Doug punching Austin. Blood flying. Screams. Doug's fist slamming into me. A sob lodged in my throat.

"No!" I screamed to Logan. "Don't!" I had to stop Logan from losing control and beating the crap out of his brother. I forced myself to take a step.

Logan charged into the room. "Amber? What the fuck?"

"Amber?" My relief was so strong, my knees became jelly. I put my head in my hands.

"What are you doing, man? Get the fuck out of here," Caleb shouted at Logan.

"Get out of my bed!"
 

I heard footsteps. The sounds of bedsprings groaning.

"Get your hands off me!" Caleb said.
 

Sounds of a scuffle breaking out. A thump. Swearing.

Amber screamed. "Boys! Calm down."

Just as I moved, the living room light flipped on.

"Ellie? What's going on here?"

I spun around and thought I was hallucinating. Harlan, Sue, and Mom stood just inside the door.

"Do something!" I begged Harlan. "Stop them. Caleb's in there with Amber. Logan walked in—"

Harlan brushed past me with Sue on his heels. A second later, Sue's hysterical voice echoed, "Get away from my boys, you whore!"

The sounds of a slap reverberated off the walls.

"Get out of the way, Sue." Harlan's voice was hard. "I'll handle this." His footfalls pounded the floor so hard I swear I felt it bounce. "Boys!"

I collapsed into Mom's arms, like a little girl who just needed her mommy. She pulled me close, wrapping her arms around me while I blocked out the terrifying sounds of fighting and screaming. Blocked out the name-calling and the accusations. Hid in my mom's embrace.

"What are you doing here?" I managed to whisper to her.

"I'll explain later." She stroked my hair, soothingly, like she had when I was small as she pressed my head on her shoulder. "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." It was clear she meant this bad scene we were in and the one it echoed. "You shouldn't have to deal with this kind of crap again. Are you okay?"

Harlan was shouting now. I pictured him pulling Logan and Caleb apart. I imagined Amber huddled in Logan's bed with the sheets pulled high.

Sue started screaming at her again, all kinds of terrible things I tried to block out.

"We should go." Mom led me toward the door.

I looked over my shoulder toward Logan's room.

"This is a family matter. Believe me, it's best to let Harlan and Sue deal with this. The less we see or say, the less they think we heard, the less embarrassment there will be later."

"But Logan—"

"You might not believe me, but he's in good hands." She put her arm around my shoulder. "My car's in the lot. You can text Logan later. Right now, I think we need at least a gallon of ice cream. Ice cream makes everything better. How about some of the university's famous concoctions?"

"The creamery's closed. Grocery Mart carries it by the gallon."

"Good," she said, leading me out of the apartment. "We'll get as much as we want, try a dozen flavors. Buy a pack of spoons and go back to your room and watch a movie." She gave me a squeeze. "Just chill until this blows over."

She walked me to the car with her arm around me. To my surprise, I didn't feel like brushing her off. We didn't speak until we were both in the car and buckled up.
 

I wanted to know what had happened. "How did you end up with Harlan and Sue? You texted that you met someone you knew?"

Mom nodded. "I went to the ladies' room. When I came out, I ran into Sue and Harlan coming out of a private banquet room down the hall from the ballroom. They'd been at a dinner for the College of Business that had just gotten out. I seized the opportunity and asked them for a moment to tell them what I knew. As hard-assed as Harlan is, I knew he could help Logan. We went downstairs to find someplace private to talk. I texted you so you wouldn't worry when you couldn't find me.
 

"After they heard what I had to say, we went to the ballroom to find you and Logan. When we couldn't find you, and neither of you responded to our texts, we decided to wait for you at Logan's. Sue has an emergency key to it. Turns out we didn't need it. You know what happened from there." She paused. "Ellie? You're still pale. In this dim light you look like a vampire."

"Thanks, Mom. You know how to pep me up."

She shook me gently. "I understand being shaken up by what just happened." She took a deep breath. "Tell me straight—you thought that was me with Caleb. At least for a second there."

I let out a breath. There was no point in lying. I nodded. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay. A natural assumption, if you were looking for it. I lost your trust. It's going to take time to earn it back." She laughed, but it was humorless. "Believe me, I know how long it can take to forgive a betrayal. I hope you're more forgiving than I am." She bit her lip. "I think you are, El. I think you're a much better person than I am."

She looked straight ahead and started the car before I could answer. Grocery Mart was just a few minutes away from Logan's. As we rode there in companionable silence, I mulled over what she'd said. I could be a better person than she was. She was trying so hard. I didn't trust her, but maybe I should give her another chance?

The parking lot was crowded. We had to wait for a spot. Inside the store was equally crowded, especially the booze section. Which was also woefully understocked. Most of the good stuff was gone.

We walked past the seasonal section, which was stocked with university T-shirts, hats, flip-flops, banners, posters, beer cozies, and key chains. As we browsed, I texted Logan, saying I'd see him tomorrow.

We finally made our way to the frozen section.

"Yum!" Mom was trying hard to be enthusiastic. She rarely splurged on desert. But it was a tradition to drown ourselves in ice cream when one of us, usually her, had a relationship end badly. "Mountain huckleberry. Chocolate chip cookie dough. Mint chip. Double chocolate whammy. S'mores. Anything strike your fancy?"

I reached into the case. "Espresso swirl. Mint chip. Huckleberry."

"Huckleberry?" She smiled her teasing smile at me.

I repeated her old mantra. "Fruit makes it all healthy so the calories don't count."

She hugged me. "That's my girl."

The aisles were crowded. People dodging this way and that. We reached the end of the aisle.
 

"Let's go all out and get cookies, too," Mom said. "Which way?"

"To the right." I pointed.

We turned sharply right as a man carrying a bag of diapers, with his head down as he texted, came out of the aisle next to us. He crashed into Mom. They reached out and steadied each other, each stammering apologies.

The man looked up. Time stood almost perfectly still, along with my heart, as their eyes met.

I said a prayer, but I was too late.

Mom went pale. "Jason Front?"

Chapter Twenty-Two

The round cartons of ice cream Mom had been carrying bounced out of her arms onto the floor and rolled away. She was so stunned that she didn't stoop to stop them.

"Melissa?" Jason's eyes were round with surprise.
 

Both of my parents turned to me and spoke at the same time, "Ellie?"

"He's why you're at this school? You went looking for your father." She spat the words out. Her eyes flashed. Her tone was hard and angry, full of hurt, like I'd been the one to totally betray her.

Just when things had been going so well between us.

"What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here." I shook my finger at Jason. "I gave you Walmart."

"Walmart was out of Mia's diapers. Grocery Mart wasn't on your schedule. I thought I'd be in and out—"

"Ellie!" It was like Mom snapped. She looked ragged and panicked and angry. I didn't understand her. "You went looking for your father!"

"Yes. And I found him!" I snapped, too, and hurled everything I felt at her. "And I wouldn't have had to if you'd ever told me about him. Why did you keep him from me?"

She was shaking and shaking her head. "No. I can't believe this." She looked like she was on the verge of hyperventilating, she was so worked up. "Ever think there was a reason? I had a good reason, Ellie! A damn good reason." Her eyes blazed with accusation. She stabbed a finger at me. "You read my diary!" She spat the words out like they were the worst accusation she could make. Like I had violated her trust. Like she'd never read mine.

I crossed my arms and glared at her. "How else was I going to find him?"

"You think you found your dad because you read it in my private diary. The writing of a confused girl. You
think
you did. But you could be wrong, Ellie. Wrong! What then?"

Jason was standing by in stunned silence.

"Wrong? How many men did you sleep with?" I screamed at her. We were back where we started. Back to the good old bad times, like we always had.

"Shut up!" She glared at me as angry tears welled in her eyes. For the second time in my life—the first was the night of Austin—my mom actually looked ugly. Veins even stood out on her forehead and her eyes were almost red. "You're playing with fire and you don't even realize it. I've protected you all these years!"

"From Jason? From the great guy who's my dad? You've robbed me of nineteen years with him and you're screaming that you were protecting
me
!"
 

People around us were staring. There's no entertainment like a good public domestic fight.

"Ladies." Jason tried to step between us.
 

"No, it's okay." I pushed past him and got right in Mom's face. "It's time this all came out." I pointed at Jason. "I don't know who all else you suspect fathered me. But Jason
is
my dad. We took a paternity test. He's the guy."

Mom's face crumpled. "Oh my God! Oh my God!" Her knees buckled. "Thank you. Thank you."

Jason caught her as she fell to her knees and began sobbing.
 

I stared at her like she was certifiably psycho. Me and half the store.

Jason kneeled beside her, trying to soothe her. "Melissa?"

She started bawling into her hands.

He looked up at me helplessly.

I shook my head and held up my palms, as clueless and helpless as he was.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her wet cheek against his shirt. "Thank God it's
you
. I always wanted it to be you, Jason. Always."