Page 75 of His Good Girl
Hiding my giggle behind my hand, I decide I like this woman. She knows how to keep Logan in line, which I find hilarious.
A knock at the door draws all of our attention to it, but no one moves. It suddenly occurs to me that I shouldn’t be here. What if it’s Quentin? Or the police about last night? Logan and I still haven’t had that conversation yet, and now it seems like a foolish thing to do, putting it off. What does he want me to say if it is the cops? I don’t know. We don’t have our stories straight.
Outright panic hits my chest, but when Rue calls out, “Serena, you in there?” I nearly faint with relief.
Logan, his face relaxing as well, after tensing up to the point I thought his teeth were going to crack under the pressure from his jaw, crosses over to it as Rose bustles about, getting what appears to be the fixings for a roast dinner organized. My stomach growls to my utter embarrassment, but Rose does a bang-up job of ignoring it. Grabbing my coffee mug, I move across to Logan, who is letting Rue in, then closing and bolting the door behind her.
“You two have got so much explaining to do!” she starts but then eyes up Rose and slams her lips shut.
“We know,” Logan says quietly. “Come upstairs. Serena needs to rest.”
Blinking at the statement, I want to point out that I feel fine. Great, even. But then the feeling of love and happiness washes over me with the knowledge that he is doing just what he promised. He’s taking care of me.
He takes my hand and leads me upstairs, with Rue following. I feel a sense of weirdness descend when I realize we’re going to the only upstairs room. Logan’s bedroom, with his rumpled sheets and the scent of sex permeating the air. But in this open-plan apartment, I guess it’s the lesser of three evils when we need privacy. The downstairs toilet or the outside terrace being the other two. After it started snowing when we were outside last night, it hasn’t stopped, and the city is covered under a white blanket of a perfect winter wonderland. Only the blood and darkness that lies underneath it is a stark reminder of everything that happened last night.
Rue trails into the bedroom behind us and lets out a loud snort. “Okay, guess you two are just fine and dandy then.”
“We are perfect,” I inform her, almost loftily and a bit smug.
She smiles; it’s genuine and happy but is tinged with a cautiousness that I know is about to threaten the happy bubble I’m floating in right now—the one of denial and selective remembering.
“What is it?” I ask, gripping Logan’s hand tighter, forgetting all about my coffee.
“I need to know exactly why the cleaner was called up last night. My parents are…concerned.” She folds her arms and speaks directly to Logan.
“Cleaner…” I say the word quietly, remembering something Logan said about a clean-up. Frowning when it strikes me that Rue is aware of things and doesn’t seem to be freaking out about it, sends me into a tailspin of suspicion, causing me to pull away from Logan and back into a corner.
“Serena,” he says carefully, turning to me and holding his hands up. “Remember I said we needed to have a conversation about what happened?”
Nodding slowly, I do remember that, but something has suddenly leaped up and constricted around my throat.
“Sit, baby girl, and I’ll tell you everything.”
Lowering myself to the floor, for lack of anywhere else to sit in this far corner of the room, I slide down the wall and pull my knees up, tugging the t-shirt down to cover my bits.
“What is this?” I ask, glaring between the two of them.
Logan huffs out a breath, and with an encouraging nod from Rue, which sends up a major red flag, he says, “This, Serena, is Solitaire.”
Chapter42
Logan
“Solitaire?” Serena asks slowly. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Crouching in front of her, I run my hand through my hair. “Take everything I say very seriously, Serena. It’s going to sound ridiculous, I know, but it’s all true. I haven’t lost my mind. Yet.” I try for a smirk, but she’s not buying it, so I continue. “It’s a Secret Society that operates globally but is split up into areas, sectors, and cities. There are tens of thousands of members, and no one really knows who is in unless you are part of the city Society. I’m part of the Grove City Society, and Rue belongs to the Coe Bay one.”
“Rue?” she hisses, her eyes finding her friend. “You?”
“Yes. I wanted to tell you, but there are rules, strict ones, that we have to abide by. The clue is in thesecretbit. No one outside is supposed to know.”
“Then why are you telling me?” Her voice goes shrill, and panic sets in. She struggles to breathe, dropping her legs and placing her hand on her chest. Eyes wide, they find mine, and I see that this is real anxiety, and she’s scared.
She chokes and splutters, her hand waving around as Rue drops in front of her and grabs her hands. “Focus, Serena. Everything you know about Logan and me is real. This isn’t a big deal. It’s just another layer to things you know about the people you care about. Who care about you.”
Crawling closer to Serena, I give her the space she needs while also being near in case she needs me. Rue is good with her; she knows what she’s doing. I’m still learning. Panic, fear, and anxiety, these are not things I’m used to dealing with, but it runs deep in Serena, so I need to learn.
Fast.
