Rush (Roam Series, Book Four) (8 page)

When his hand came down on my shoulder, I stiffened. “Thanks.”

He headed for the Pilot, and I sighed, pushing back into the lobby.
“Wait- Logan take this,” he turned back to me, handing me a credit card. “There’s five thousand on this, and the pin is Roam’s birthday. Take it all-…,”

“I don’t want your money,” I recoiled from the card, watching the muscle in his jaw tick. “Don’t ever offer me that again.”

West’s face, controlled, went blank. “It’s there if you want it.”

When he left, I check
ed in on Roam. She lay in the bed, staring out the hospital window, expressionless. “I’m here… try to hold back your excitement.”

She bli
nked and shifted her eyes to me, failing at a smile. “Logan, go home. Don’t sleep in that chair.”

“I’ll fight you for that chair. And I’ll win. I’m not too proud to tickle.”

She closed her eyes and turned back to the window.

Sometime in the middle of the night, her quiet sobbing woke me. I saw her folded over in the bed,
my phone on her lap, and I jumped to my feet. All the blood rushed back to my left leg, and I winced. “Cam,” I gathered her small frame into my arms, realizing she felt frailer than ever.

“She was real?” She cried, those emerald eyes lighting up in the darkness. Over and over her fists curled over the collar of my shirt, and I sat on the bed, crushing her to my chest.

Eva.
A baby she’d known for less than a week.
Whatever maternal heartache she was feeling, I couldn’t fathom, but I knew she was suffering. “She was real,” I whispered. “You fed her. I held her. We watched her sleep.
She was real,
” I promised, cradling her in my arms.

“I’m on suicide watch?”

I pulled away, stunned.
How could she know…?
I glanced at my phone again, fury igniting in my chest. Scrolling through the phone, I saw West’s text message. “Asshole,” I hissed, unable to hold back my revulsion.

When she asked for my phone, I dialed and handed it to her, furious. Settling back into the chair, I tried not to listen to her tearful word
s, staring at the mini blinds on the window. Her controlled voice jerked my attention back to the bed. “It’s me. You were right… you were right from the beginning, West. Nothing good… nothing good comes of us. We have to find another way.” Her tears consumed her voice, and I gripped the arms of the chair, listening. “I don’t want to see you… for a while. I need things to be how they were… before. For a while.”

He was talking, and I couldn’t resist not comforting her. I held her, hearing his voice through the phone as he begged. “
Stop
,” she cried, pressing her hand over her forehead. “
I love you, too.
”

She’s done with him?
Finally
. I held her, thinking through the best way to help her heal. Get her mind back on college… get her back to school, back to a normal life…

Back to me?

Automatically, I pressed my lips to her hair, the nightmares rolling over my betraying brain. The realization was there, but I buried it again and again deep into my mind until, finally, it ruptured through, unwilling to be unrecognized.

You don’t love her that way… not anymore.

Morgan took over around five AM, and I dropped into my bed at home, dead to the world in seconds. Sometime around noon, my ringing phone pulled me out of the first few moments of an impending nightmare. “Rush.”

“Hey,
Rush,” Violet’s voice sent me into full consciousness. I blinked at the sleep in my eyes, glancing at the clock.

“Hey…
hey, what’s your last name?”

She laughed, and I grinned into the phone, fully aware that the reflection in the mirror over my dresser revealed Total Tool. “It’s Perry.”

Of
course
. I yawned. “Hey, Perry.”

“Are we… hanging out today? I have to leave this evening.”

I threw the blankets aside, nodding to no one. “Yes! I mean- I’ll take a quick shower, and I’ll be over to pick you up in twenty minutes. Is that okay?”

She laughed again, and I
contemplated skipping a shower to get to her faster.
No, you’ve been sitting in a hospital for two days. Nasty.
“That’s fine. West is dealing with Troy. Trying to question him. I just… can’t wait to get out of here.”

“Well, I’m on my way.”

“I only have jeans… is that okay? Where are we going?”

I closed my mouth, considering.
I don’t care, as long as we’re together.
“Have you ever been… to a batting cage?”

“I… no,” she admitted.

“Then jeans are perfect, Vi. Especially on you.”

I could hear her smile into the phone.

An hour later, I pulled into
Strike
, dreading the conversation I was about to have with my soon-to-be ex-boss. “Are you sure you don’t want to just quit over the phone?”

“I didn’t show up for two days- and over Thanksgiving weekend. I owe him an apology- face-to-face.”

She waited in the car while I spoke to my boss. He wasn’t happy, but thanked me for apologizing. “You know you’re fired, right?”

“I know, sir. I’m going to pay for a cage for an hour.”

Violet watched as I pulled the batting helmet on, grinning. “Are you good?”

I winked, fastening my glove. “I’m fucking
amazing.”

She bit her lip, and I closed the step between us. “And so modest.”

Her wild, blonde curls almost grazed her hips.
Ask her. Do it.
I slipped my hand over her neck, behind her hair, and her smile fell, her eyes clouding.

“
I’m so sorry for what I did to you, Violet. Can you forgive me?
”

She leaned into my hand, and the warmth of her skin set me on fire. “I already did. I told you that.”

I ran my thumb over the line of her jaw. I loved the shape of her face, her chin… and especially her mouth. “I wish you could stay.”

Her arms wrapped around my waist, and the
flowery scent of her hair reminded me of early spring. “Only a few weeks. And then we find my mom.”

I nodded,
wussing out of a perfect kiss opportunity at the last minute. I grinned at the cage. “I’m going to hit some hundred-mile-an-hour fast balls. This will be incredibly impressive, so I’ll need you to try to control yourself.”

She flattened her palm against my lower back. “
I’ll try to prepare for extreme awesomeness.”

I gave her my best
demonstration, missing the first two swings as I tried to tear my gaze away from her. When I finally focused, I hit every mechanical pitch, pumped by her encouraging cheers.

When it came time for her turn, she took a steadying breath. “I’m afraid of how fast they’re coming.”

“I won’t make them that fast for you,” I secured the helmet over her head, brushing her hair away from her face. She lifted her gorgeous eyes to mine, and I immediately detected the amusement. “Wait. Are you about to act all girly, and then blow me away with some secret talent?”

She smirked. “I’ve played a little.”

I laughed, kicking myself in the head with how fast I was falling for her. “Go on then,” I couldn’t resist delivering a light slap to her perfectly rounded ass. Before I had time to regret the traditional send-off, she cupped her fingers over her lips to blow me a kiss.

Holy shit.

She hit every ball, and I watched her form, impressed by her follow through. “I never stayed in a school long enough to play on a team,” she called, cracking another eighty-mile-an-hour pitch at the netting.

“
That is a sorry waste.” I gestured toward the small restaurant in the sports complex. “Come on, I need to feed you before the Hulk arrives.”

She punched me in the ribs
playfully. “You’re a smart boy.”

We ate hotdogs, and she was finished before half of mine was gone. “Someday, I’m going to take you to a fancy-
schmancy restaurant where the food is so good, you’ll
want
to slow down.”

“Oh, yeah? In Cleveland?”

I dipped a French fry in ketchup, shaking my head. “Oh, no. Paris. Venice. Rome. Somewhere slightly more exotic than Cleveland.”

I immediately regretted the last city. She sighed, sitting back in her chair. I could tell her entire demeanor shifted. “Be honest with me. Are you still in love with Roam?”

Blunt. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from her. “I’m not, but I’m wondering why you’re asking,” I responded.

“Because I’m feeling something I’ve never felt before
for a guy. And I refuse to… go there… with someone who’s still hung-up on his ex.”

I felt like running a victory lap around the track.
Well, there you have it. She likes you, too, you insecure baby.
“Who’s this guy?” I demanded, dropping my fry and scraping my chair back to stand. “Get me my bat.”

She almost spit her Coke out, shaking her head. “I’m freaking serious, Logan. Do you love her or not?”

I sighed, swallowing hard. “I’ll always love her, Vi, because she’s my friend. But not like that- not anymore.”

“Did you sleep with her?”

“No,” I fired back, becoming irritated.

“But you wanted to.”

“I’m eighteen.” I shrugged, holding my arms out, defeated. “I don’t know what else to say. She was my girlfriend. Of course I did.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“We weren’t ready.”
She
wasn’t ready, but it felt betraying to Roam to tell her that.

“Huh.” She
nodded, keeping her level gaze. “Waiting for marriage?”

“No, I didn’t,” I answered
pointedly, deciding that this was now an official interview. “Two girls. Both out of the picture. You?”

She was taken aback, I could tell, and I was glad to put her in the hot seat for a second. “I… um
…,”

“Nope. You opened this can. Pick a worm.”

She tilted her head. “Hold on. I’m trying to count.”

What the…?
“Whoa. Never mind.”

“Logan, I’m kidding.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve never been with anyone.”

“I didn’t need to know,” I piled our trash onto the brown, plastic tray, catching her eyes and holding them steady. “And I really don’t care. It wouldn’t stop me.”

“Stop you from what?”

I closed my mouth, deciding not to elaborate. “Come on, I have one more place I want to take you before you go. Are you sure I can’t drive you back?”

“It’s too far-
my foster mom is coming, but thanks,” she smiled, on her feet. “Where are we going?”

“
It’s a…
really
clichéd… surprise.”

She laughed, following me to my car.
Halfway through the parking lot, when her fingers curled around mine, I threaded mine through hers. I led her to the passenger’s side, opening the door for her.

“Swoon… a gentleman,” she
murmured, grinning. I lifted her hand, still entwined in mine, to my lips.

The back of her hand pressed against my mouth, and I almost lost it. I felt every bone in her body go slack as I pressed her
against the car.

My tongue darted with a mind of its own, tasting her skin for a hint of a second as her breathing quickened. Her lips parted slightly, and her lids grew heavy as she tilted her head up to mine.

Her entire aura begged me to kiss her, and my own aura kicked me square in the balls.

Roam.

She doesn’t want to see him anymore. Does that mean she wants to be with me?
I thought of my parent’s wedding-house combo package, and then immediately let my mind wander to the dip between Roam’s nose and her mouth… my favorite part of her beautiful face.

Violet was already lowering into the passenger seat when I finally
turned back to her.

Rolling my eyes to the wintry sky, I cursed and walked around the front of the Camry to the driver’s side. She offered me a disappointed smile as I started the car, shivering.

Forget Roam! You can’t be with someone out of obligation; she wanted him, she chose this path. She’s on her own.
I headed east toward Madison again, pointing to the radio. “You’re in charge. As I tell all of my passengers, boy bands may induce vehicular homicide.”

Laughing, she reached for my phone. “You have music on here?”

“iTunes.”

“
Hmn.” She scrolled through the song choices. “
One Direction, One Direction, One Direction-
…,”

“Those are
not
mine.”

“Incriminating.”

“Roam’s.”

Her face fell, and she
pursed her lips, continuing to scroll. “The
Glee
Soundtrack?”