He shook his head as he nuzzled back into my neck. “No, I’m dirty.”
I pulled myself back from him to look into his eyes. His hair was a bit unkempt, his smile lazy. “Show me.” My voice came out raspy and full of need.
Instantly, his eyes darkened as his focus sharpened. He stood up straighter, looking down at my mouth before his eyes fell further down to my bra, as if just noticing it. He hooked a finger beneath one of the straps at my back and slowly slid it down my skin. “I like this,” he whispered, before his mouth was on mine again.
I finished unbuttoning his shirt and tore it off from him, throwing it to the ground before I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer as he kissed me deeply. Logan’s hands roamed my legs as I began working his belt and the button on his jeans. He groaned into my mouth and it was like lightning down my spine. The tremors of his wanting were evident as his hands grazed higher along my thighs.
My attention was caught on the zipper that I was sliding down his pants and the tongue that ravished my mouth, so I didn’t hear the twist of the doorknob or the creak in the wood as the front door opened. I also didn’t hear the three or four footsteps it would have taken to get a good view of Logan and I in the kitchen. But what Ididhear immediately shook me to my core.
“What thefuck!” Adam growled.
Before he’d even gotten the words out, Logan stepped away from me to face his best friend. As he moved, his pants slid lower down his thighs. He quickly reached to pull them back up and began fastening the button as he kept his eyes on my brother. “Adam . . .” His face was in utter shock, twisting into fear and then shame.
“What the fuck are you doing with my sister?” Adam’s face was contorted with fury and so much hurt. And then, within seconds, the worst thing that could have possibly happened, did. Adam charged toward us, locked in on Logan who was still trying to buckle his belt, and punched him square in the jaw.
The sound of his fist making contact with Logan’s chin was all I could focus on for the next several moments.
“Adam!” I screamed.
My brother turned to face me, his face full of fury and disappointment. “How could you let this happen, Amelia?”
His words surprised me. I knew that Adam would have needed a little bit of time to get used to the idea of Logan and I being together—and he ideally wouldn’t have found out by walking in on us like this—but the outright anger he was displaying was unexpected. “What the hell is wrong with you, Adam?” I shoved past him and put myself in front of Logan, who was holding his face in his hand. I pulled his hand down so that I could see the damage and found that his lip was bleeding and his jaw was red. Logan pulled his hand out of mine and turned away from me, running his hand up through his hair. When he came back to face me, his eyes caught on mine and the evident pain that flooded through him tore my heart wide open. “Logan.” My voice was barely above a whisper as my eyes filled with tears.
He shook his head, breaking our eye contact to look down at his feet for a moment before lifting them to find Adam behind me. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly before his eyes flicked to mine and he said the words again. “I’m so sorry.”
He moved to pick his shirt up from where I’d thrown it on the floor minutes earlier. Then, he walked right out of the apartment, shutting the front door firmly behind him.
I turned to face my brother. “Goddamnyou, Adam!”
He furrowed his brows as he yelled, “Me? Amelia, are you serious? I walk into my own home to find my best friend with his tongue down my little sister’s throat, and you want to damnme?” He scoffed, turning to storm out of the kitchen before he suddenly stopped in the middle of the living room and turned around to storm right back. “How long has this been going on?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling red-hot fury spreading through my body. “Since Thanksgiving, not that it’s any of your business.”
“Not my business? How is my best friend fucking my little sister not my business?”
“Okay, stop with the vulgarity. It’s not your business because, at least for now, this is between Logan and I. We aren’t ready to tell you guys yet . . . not until we know for sure that this is actually going to be something. We’re finally giving ourselves a chance, Adam, but we can’t exactly do that if we’re too worried about what the family thinks.
“That makes no fucking sense, Amelia. You were literallyjustwith Noah. Foryears, might I add. And now all of the sudden you and Logan are ‘taking a chance’? Why would you need to take a chance without us knowing? Why wouldn’t you just be honest? Clearly this is just about sex and I amnotokay with Logan being your rebound! He’s my best fucking friend!”
“It’s not just sex, you asshole! And we aren’t telling anyone yet because he’s fucking scared, Adam,” I retorted, “of exactly whatyoujust did.”
Adam’s brows furrowed tighter together again as he processed my words. His face still held incredible anger, but I could see the crack of something else, something raw that looked a lot like guilt.
I needed to make sure he truly understood what I was saying—I owed it to Logan to fight for him. “We are Logan’s family. We’reallhe has. You think this is easy for either of us? Logan and I are well aware of what we are risking. This isn’t just some irresponsible fling, Adam! We have tried so fucking hard to pretend that we don’t feel the way that we do about each other foryears, but you can’t control who you love.”
Adam’s eyes widened in surprise at that last word. I watched as he faltered, taking a step back, as if I’d shoved him with what I’d said. “What?” His eyes were narrowed in disbelief.
“You heard me. Ilovehim. And I refuse to let you make him feel bad for loving me back. Because I’m pretty sure that he does.” I felt the sting of tears rise up, knowing I was mere moments away from becoming a sobbing mess.
I needed to land the final blow, and I needed to do it soon before I started crying. “He’s your best friend. Do you remember what life was like for him as a kid? Do you remember the hell he went through?” I watched Adam’s face twist in pain from the memory. “Logan was punished for everything. He grew up scared to want anything. And now, he’s finally a man who’s learning how to live without that fear, trying to learn how to feel deserving of real happiness, and you justpunched him in the faceover seeing us together.” I shook my head in heavy disappointment. “God, Adam. He didn’t deserve that.”
Adam’s face was bright red as shame fell upon his features. I knew I was being harsh, and I knew that he would never intentionally try to trigger any of Logan’s past trauma. He knew the severity of pain that would be caused in doing so. But even if it wasn’t intentional, he had to know the impact of his actions. This was theonechance that Logan and I had, and I’d be damned if I let Adam’s irrational response be the nail on the coffin of us.
There couldn’t be any coffins, not when it came to Logan and I. This was not a love story meant to die, and certainly not because of Adam.
“Maybe he didn’t deserve the punch, but you guys still should have told me, Amelia.”
“Wewouldhave, Adam. But just like you didn’t tell anyone about Rachel—even though she was clearly here enough to spread fancy girl shit all throughout your apartment—we also deserved to have the room to figure out our feelings without owing anything to anyone else in the process. We would have told you. I’m sorry you found out this way, but we would have told you.”
