Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series) (22 page)

I loved my dad so much. He was the parent I'd always dreamed of. I hated Mom even more for keeping him from me. I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, there's really no telling how Mom's going to react to that news. With the divorce and everything that's happened, she's in a fragile emotional state."
 

Not like I cared, but it sounded good and played well on Lyssa's sympathies.

"She kept Dad's identity from me all my life. She has to have had her own reasons." I sounded so reasonable, but really I was punting. I didn't want to tell her, ever. "If this weekend goes well, then maybe…" I shrugged.

Logan sat by quietly, but his fists were balled and it looked like he was fighting to hold back his opinions. I wondered what he knew.
 

"It looks like you've planned a fun weekend for her." Jason glanced at Lyssa. "We'll stay out of your way." He grinned. "I was thinking we should have a line of demarcation. Main Street or First Avenue would be good. We stay on our half of town. You stay on yours. That way we avoid any accidental meetings. But we get Walmart, in case I need to make an emergency diaper or ice cream run." He winked at me.

"Sounds fair," I said. "As long as we get all the bars. Mom wants the complete college experience."

Jason shrugged. "Hey, she's of age. She can go for it." He looked at me like
I
better not be going for it. "I'll even throw in all the restaurants with good happy hours." He laughed.
 

Lyssa sighed. "I really would like to meet Melissa sometime."

I wrinkled my nose and made a face. "You think you do. But trust me, once you have, you'll wish you hadn't. You'll never be her friend. She doesn't like other women."

Lyssa stared at me, not backing down.

"Some day," I said.

Logan

Logan dropped El off at class late Thursday morning and headed to the library to study for his afternoon lab.
 

It's your last semester. You already have three awesome job offers. Why aren't you coasting? All you have to do is pass your classes and you're out of here. Why do you give a damn anymore?

Even his profs didn't give a shit. They were as eager to graduate seniors as the seniors were to get their diplomas and blow this joint. He'd have to screw up royally and practically force them to fail him.

And yet a trifecta of specters chased him into the library when he could have been drinking with his buds—the remote possibility of grad school, which fueled the dream he could stay with El until she graduated. The trial. No way he was going to fuck up and give
Her
lawyers any ammo they didn't already have. And Mom's Weekend.
 

Studying kept his mind occupied and the ghosts at bay. For the most part.
 

He still worried about El. The stress of the upcoming weekend was making her crazy. She had activities planned down to the minute and was as obsessed with everything going perfectly as a frenetic bride. Tonight they were going shopping for last-minute stuff and then move the stuff El had at his place back to her dorm room. He'd tried to talk her out of it. They were practically living together. Why hide it from their parents? He wanted to spend every minute with her.
 

His mom would go ballistic, but he didn't care. It was time she realized how important El was to him. El's mom would probably throw a parade. So what was the problem?

El was the problem. And her fear of letting her mom see how in love she was with him. She'd made that mistake with Austin. What was Logan supposed to do? Act indifferent to El around her mom for the rest of their lives?
 

He hated that douchebag Austin for betraying El. Hated that Austin's failure tarnished him. El said she didn't trust Melissa, that her mom could seduce the most angelic guy on the planet. But unless Melissa was willing to go as far as his old chem prof and use date-rape drugs, Logan wasn't going to fall prey to her charms. El was the only woman he wanted. He wanted her. He needed her. On his arm. In his bed. On his side.

He'd rather be tested by fire with a full-on seduction attempt this weekend and prove to El he was immune to her mom than act out a charade. There was enough bullshit he had to hide this weekend as it was.

His cell phone buzzed. He glanced at the number and reluctantly picked up. He had to bite his tongue not to say,
Speak of the devil
. "Melissa."

"Logan." His name slid through the phone on a breath of seduction.
 

He was unmoved, almost sickened by Melissa's obvious attempts to turn him on. She was mercurial and sneaky. Sometimes she was almost motherly. Sometimes she played cougar seductress. Knowing her past, he understood why she was like she was and sympathized. But it was damned hard to take, especially knowing what it did to El.
 

At times like these, caught in the chasm of secrets between mother and daughter, he didn't know why he was trying to play white knight. Getting some kind of understanding between Melissa and El seemed impossible. Maybe not even smart. If he didn't love El so much, he would have given up.
 

But he hated the power Melissa wielded over her. He was determined to break it and give El her life back. El held too much anger—some might call it hate—for her mom. Bottled it up. Hate is just as powerful an emotion as love. It has just as much power to consume. He knew. He lived with pure hatred daily. He was going to get rid of his, too. Soon.
 

The opposite of love wasn't hate. It was apathy. A total lack of feeling or caring. Until El could get to the place where she could think of her mom in neutral tones and not let whether her mom loved her affect her, Melissa had too much power to destroy El. Logan worried that power would corrupt what he and El had.

He felt like a poseur. He could never present this case to El, not when he was still consumed with hate for his rapist. That was another, more selfish reason he had to testify. He hoped once he got it all out, told his story, he could let go of the rage. That was the gift he was trying to give El now. It was too bad she didn't want it.

"We have a problem, Logan." Melissa's silken voice brought him back to the moment. "Have you seen the ridiculous schedule Ellie has planned for me?"
 

"Is that a rhetorical question?" His laugh came out more of a snort. "She spent hours planning and agonizing over it, trying to make sure you got exactly what you asked for—the complete college experience. What's the problem?"

"Isn't that sweet of her. Friday night frat parties? She thinks her mom is a complete skank!"

"Aren't you?"

"Only when I want to be." She laughed. Insulting Melissa was practically impossible. "I didn't go to college, but I've been to enough frat parties to last a lifetime." She laughed again. "Maybe three lifetimes."

"So? What am I supposed to do about it? Call Ellie and tell her you're not up for it."

"Not up for it! You make me sound like an old lady." She sounded mockingly scandalized at the thought. "I'm not too old to party with frat boys. I just don't want to.
This
time." Her laughter would have been infectious if not for the cynical undertones in it.
 

"So little time. So much to do. So much to accomplish this weekend. Getting back in my baby's good graces.
Meeting her boyfriend's family
." She let the last phrase dangle a moment before continuing. "My darling daughter's oh-so-thoughtful plans leave no time for intimately getting to know your parents and brother, Logan. A track meet? Seriously?"

"What do you have against track meets?" Logan tried to sound lighthearted and teasing, but his heart raced. Melissa had something up her sleeve. Something El wasn't going to like.

"Nothing! Are you kidding? Young, athletic men in short, tight running shorts and tank tops? What's not to love? Just the thought of all those firm, muscled legs gives me tingles. But as a place to chat, laugh, swap stories, and have a few drinks? Sadly lacking.

"I want a real social event. I'm quite happy to pass on the frat parties Friday night in exchange for dinner with your family. I'm can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to meeting them."

He bet she was. "You're asking the impossible. El won't go for that."
 

"Obviously. Which is why she purposely avoided it. And why I called you, miracle worker. Ellie will go for anything if you issue the invitation and beg her to come."
 

Melissa paused.

"Come on. Invite us, Logan. I'll crash your dinner anyway. You know I will. Do you really want me to embarrass Ellie in front of your family? And in the worst possible way. Invite me and I'll be on my best behavior." Even when issuing a threat, Melissa put a purr in her voice and spoke in silken tones. She was so damned good at seduction it was scary.

He cursed to himself for falling prey to her. He believed her. She had him beat.

"Okay," he said. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. But best behavior, remember? No upsetting my mom. No flirting."

She laughed again. "Not even with the waiter?"

He smiled. She was incorrigible. "Absolutely not."

"You'll regret it," Melissa said. "When I flirt with the waiter, I get the best service around. But if that's what it takes, I reluctantly agree."

When Logan got off the phone, he called his mom. He agreed with Melissa on one point. El was important enough to him to rate dinner with his family. His mom should have thought of it. He suddenly felt stretched and pulled between his mom and El. And it was his mother's fault. "Ma, can we add two to our dinner reservations Friday night?"

"Hello to you, too," Sue said. "You want me to add to our reservations at the last minute? Don't tell me Collin and Zave are begging to tag along now? What is it about college kids and free meals? I thought their moms were coming?"

"They are. It's not Collin and Zave. It's El and her mom. I'd like you to meet El's mom."

There was dead silence on the line. If his mom had been the kind to swear, the air would have been blue with it. Silence was her method of torture, disapproving silence to show her unhappiness with him. It had been like this since he was little.

He broke first. "Ma?"

"Yes, Logan." Frost in her voice.

Shit.
He should have known this would happen. How did Dad deal with it?

"I asked you a question, Ma. I'm not coming to dinner without El. And she won't come without her mom."

"Seriously, Logan? You're going to force us to entertain that woman after all she's done to your
girlfriend
." She ended her sentence on a snort, like "girlfriend" was a dirty word.

"This is important to me." He refused to back down.
 

She sighed, heavily, like she was supremely put out. "Do I have a choice? You're going to be the death of me, Logan. I'll change the reservations."
 

"Thanks, Ma."

"If she embarrasses us—"
 

"Don't ruin it, Ma. I'll be at the airport at noon to meet you. Have a safe trip." He hung up before she could harangue him and dialed El. "Ellie Elizabeth Martin."

El laughed. "Logan Walker. Are we back to being on a full-name basis again? What did I do?"

"I just love saying your name."

"Flatterer."

"Just warming you up. I have some bad news." He kept his tone light and teasing. There'd been so damned much shitty news lately that he didn't want to alarm her.

"Bad news? Like what? Don't tell me you're going to be late. I'm desperate to see you."

"Nothing that dire." He paused. "Mom has invited you and your mom to dinner with us tomorrow. Sorry, El, but she's already changed the reservations. There's nothing we can do. You know Mom, once she gets an idea in her head…El?"

"Logan." El sounded wary, like she didn't believe him, "Your mom doesn't even
like
me. She hates my mom without ever having met her. Mostly because she spawned me, the offspring that's snared her little boy. Why would she invite us to your family dinner?"

Logan sighed and went for broke. "Because I asked her to, El."

"Why?"

"Because you're important to me. She should have invited you in the first place." He waited for El to reply.