One of the Guys (33 page)

I should have known.

Logan had gotten him to approach me
to see whether I’d talk to Stu or say anything about him. I figured
Stu wasn’t about to tell Logan that he’d cut the conversation short
when I’d caught him checking out Liam’s ass.

That’s when everything became a
hell of a lot clearer. For Stu anyway. I saw Liam coming out of the
building, and looking at Stu like he was a chocolate cake and he
was diabetic. Yeah, I’d seen Bren eyeing up chocolate cake in the
same way.

Everything was so different now,
and I realized exactly how much my world had revolved around
Logan.

My eyes had been truly opened to
the other things going on around me, and it seemed that our falling
out had been a good thing after all.

*****

Logan

I woke up in a cold
sweat.

I’d been dreaming about Chase, yet
again, trying to reach for her but she kept walking away. It was
different from the usual dreams I had about her. The kind that
leaves you aching with the need for a release that caused you
pain.

Something I had to take care of
frequently.

I felt like I was going to lose
Chase forever, but I couldn’t stop what I was doing to her. It was
the only way to get close and for her to talk to me, even if it was
just to tell me where to go.

I didn’t mean to mess with her. I
needed her so much, and I thought that if I just…

Oh who am I kidding? Touching her,
getting up close and in her face wasn’t going to make her listen to
me any more than before.

I was angry that she’d changed her
seats in class. She wanted to get away from me so bad that she’d
asked to switch.

I couldn’t blame her. I’d do that
too.

I hadn’t tried to explain myself
yet. I wanted to make her scream at me, shout at me for being a
jerk; then I’d let it all out.

I wasn’t going to tell her that she
was wrong about Cassie.

Chase could assume all she wanted;
I knew the truth. Besides, she could’ve just asked me. But then
again, she’d have to be talking to me first.

I needed to her to want me
again.

God
I was
a mess!

This weekend.
I thought to myself.
I’m going to
tell her this weekend, if it’s the last thing I do.

Giving myself an ultimate deadline,
I smiled. I still had today, and the baseball game to go, before I
would probably receive a huge rejection from Chase.

Now, that I had given myself an end
point, I didn’t plan on stopping my current tactics. My fingers
ached to touch Chase again. I needed to as much as I needed my next
breath.

Getting into school, I saw Chase’s
car. It was parked further away from the entrance, but that only
made it easier for me to get to her. I could catch up to her before
she got there after school.

Smiling to myself, I walked into
homeroom, and thought how the day ahead was going to play out. The
big game was after school, and we still had a practice to go to
after lunch. I knew Chase wouldn’t be there, but that only made me
more determined to play well. I’d hit that ball like it was the
face of every guy who dared try it on with my girl.

I clenched my fist as the fury rose
within me thinking about the comments they made about her, and the
things they hoped to do with her.

No way in hell.

Getting to class, Chase was at the
back, Sam in her old seat next to me. I hated not being near her.
She was quietly talking on her phone; not paying any attention to
me. I hated that. She used to pay attention to me all the
time.

Without thinking, I walked over to
her desk and placed both my hands down, looming over
her.

She looked up at me, her face void
of emotion, like she expected me to do something.

“
I need to talk to you.” I said, my
voice low.

“
Liam, I’ll call you back.” She
said, ending the call.

Who the fuck is Liam?!
I thought to myself.

“
What do
you want, Logan?
”
Chase asked, as if she were bored.

“
You never let me explain to you.
You never let me tell you what happened.”

“
I’m fully aware what happened,
Logan.” She said, narrowing her eyes, in anger. Glancing down, she
saw the bracelet I still wore that she’d bought for me. I never
took it off.

“
Mr. Blackwood. To your seat.” Mr.
Garrett said as he arrived.

“
This isn’t over, Chase.” I said,
promising her that I wasn’t done.

“
It never even
started,
Logan
.”

She was right. Nothing had started
because I’d been a prick.

Due to the game, I’d had to leave
Chase alone. The last thing I wanted was to go onto the field
frustrated as hell, bursting my pants at the seams, and being on
display for the whole school and visitors.

It was bad enough that my body
reacted every time Chase was near, if I saw her, even if I thought
of her.

I couldn’t fuck this up for the
guys.

“
Logan, get your head out of your
ass!” Lex yelled, running past me as we were warming up.

“
Kiss my ass!” I yelled
back.

“
I will when I lap you again,
dude!” He laughed. “But it’ll be with my foot not my
lips!”

I picked up my pace as I ran. Once
I got round the field, we began to stretch out.

“
Ready for the game?” Stu asked, a
big grin on his face.

I didn’t know why he was so fucking
happy. The rest of us were dreading going up against East Comp
high. They were awesome and we’d never played them
before.

“
Not really.” I groaned. “It’s
going to be tough.” I said, meaning more than just the
game.

“
She’ll be here.”

My eyes snapped to Stu.

“
She will? How
do
you
know?” I asked, my heart suddenly thumping inside
me.

“
Apparently her Mom and Bren are
coming too.” He said, his face turning pink.

“
Stu, how
do
you
know? Have you spoken to Chase?” I didn’t attempt to hide the
jealousy in my tone.

“
No. I just heard, that’s all.” He
shrugged, before walking over to join Carl.

So, Chase was coming to the game.
Now, I was looking forward to it.

We welcomed the other team to our
playing field, and took our places on our benches. Circling our
shoulders to keep them loose.

Eyeing the crowd, I watched for
any sign of Chase arriving. I saw the other girls sitting down,
near the front where Chase sat with Bren the last time, but no sign
of
her
. I even
saw my parents, and Matt not far from where they sat.

My Mom waved to me, a great big
proud grin on her face.

I waved back. Letting her know I’d
seen her.

It was another few minutes before I
saw Chase.

I smiled as I saw her wearing her
Flaming Tigers cap, a sexy-as-hell fitted T-shirt, and dark blue
skinnies. Her long hair was loose underneath the cap, and the sun
bounced of the silky strands, making her look like an angelic
vision.

My heart sank when I saw who else
had come along, and I knew instantly who she’d been talking
to.

Liam Walters.

She’d been speaking to
that
Liam.

I watched as they smiled and
laughed together. Just like we used to.

That was it. It was really over for
us.

I wanted to hit something. I wanted
to go over there, pull him off the bleachers and smash his face
in.

“
Logan, the game’s about to start.”
Stu said, glancing up to where I was staring. “Come on. Deal with
this later. We have to win this.”

My pulse was racing, the pounding
in my ears drowning out every noise around me. The sorrow I felt
was tearing me up inside, and I wanted to curl up and just scream
out for the pain that I felt shooting through my heart.

“
Logan. I know
what you
think
you’re seeing up there, but come on… We need to do this.” Stu
said, pulling me from the bench.

On autopilot, I walked out of our
enclosure to the cheering crowd, chanting our team name.

When I took a breath, I knew what
was going to happen. Every ball thrown to me would have that smug
bastard’s face on it, and I was going to hit it every time,
breaking every fucking bone in his face.

The game started and after a few
innings, we were up by two. My anger hadn’t subsided, the wounds in
my chest open and raw every time I risked a glance at Chase and
Liam.

I knew I had no right to feel that
way. It was my own fault; my actions had caused everything to
happen that way.

Matt was right. I would be watching
Chase with another guy, and it was already killing me.

Chapter
16

We won the game
10-8. A close game, but a win nonetheless.

The guys were ecstatic as they
hugged and slapped each other. Adam was so happy he ran around the
field with his shirt over his face, the crowd laughing and cheering
for him.

Looking up, Chase and
Liam
were clapping,
talking to their group. The girls were now talking to her Mom and
Bren, and they looked pretty happy about the fact Chase had other
friends.

“
Party tonight!” Yelled Lex. “It’s
already set up so once we’re wrapped up here, it’s go time!” He
said, raising his arms up in the air.

The guys cheered, excited for yet
another celebratory win, but I wasn’t in the mood. I was glad we
won, of course, but partying wasn’t high on my agenda. The only
thing I was interested in was going home and having a pity party
for one.

“
Everybody
is coming. I want the
whole team there. No excuses guys!” Lex added, looking pointedly
towards me.

He’d seen my reaction and called
it. I had to go, or I wouldn’t live it down.

Whatever, I didn’t care.

I watched as Chase and the others
got up and left the bleachers, with Chase pushing Bren; just like
the last time. But this picture was different. Chase was no longer
smiling for me. She was smiling for the guy standing next to
her.

The guy that would show her what he
felt.

The guy that wouldn’t mess with her
head because he was afraid she didn’t like him back.

“
Logan.”

I turned round to find Carl waiting
for me as he called my name.

“
Yeah?”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
Sorry?” I snorted a laugh. “Sorry
doesn’t quite cut it, Carl.”

“
I know. I can’t excuse what I did,
but now I understand exactly what you guys had and… I’m
sorry.”

Carl walked away, leaving me
staring after him wondering what had made him come to his senses
after all this time.

Going home, I was amazed to see
that Matt wasn’t there. It was strange coming home, and not seeing
his car parked in my spot.

After the game, I’d assumed he’d
stay after he and our parents got back.

Since he’d admitted he’d seen Chase
‘looking’ at me, he’d kept pretty quiet and stayed away. I wondered
how long it’d last though. Knowing him, it’d be a day or so and
then he’d be back.

“
Logan!” My Mom squealed, hurrying
towards me, her arms open, as I walked through the door. “I’m so
proud of you!” She gushed, hugging me tight.

“
You were great out there, son.
Amazing. I can smell the scholarship papers already.” My Dad said,
clapping me on the back as my Mom held her grip on me.

“
Thanks Dad.” I replied. Not
telling him that my grades had been slipping these past two weeks.
Not just in math; in every subject. I guess my brain couldn’t
compete with my broken heart.

“
So I gather Lex is throwing a
party?” He asked with a knowing smile.

“
He is. He wants the whole team to
be there, but I don’t want to go.” I said, my voice
catching.

“
Logan. You should go. Take your
mind off things for a while. Who knows, after the weekend, things
might look up.”

“
How? How are they going to look
up?” I asked. Liam had already annihilated my plans. “Chase isn’t
coming back. She won’t talk to me and no matter what I say, she has
somebody…” I couldn’t speak. I broke free from my Mom’s grasp, and
I headed to my room.