Page 62 of Frozen Hearts
“Logan was just saying how he pussied out of going to his Statistics class today.”
“I’m not ready to face her,” Logan grouses, face scrunched. “Do you know what a mind fuck this is for me? I had fucking feelings for this girl. We… she…” He blows out an exasperated breath, managing to look both pissed and contemplative at the same time. “I wasn’t fucking ready.”
“You’re the only in we have,” Grayson pushes. I can tell his desire for vengeance is overriding his compassion. He’s had a one-track mind since Saturday. Dude may as well have fucking blinders on cause all he can see is her—and his desire to fuck with her.
“You can find out everything you need online these days,” I toss out, throwing Logan a bone. “And anything about her we can’t find online, we can probably get by asking around campus or flirting with the admin staff.”
“It would still be better if we had an inside man,” Gray pushes relentlessly.
Incensed, Logan jumps to his feet, his face like thunder as he glares at Gray. “Well, I’m not fucking ready. I get that you have a fucking vendetta against her, and I wanna help. I do. But,fuck.You’ve no fucking clue how into her I was. I thought she was my fucking soulmate or some shit.” He blows out a ragged breath, looking tortured. “I’ve never felt like that before. I’ve never felt so…seenby anyone.” Shaking his head, he drops his face into his hands. “Thinking she was one thing, then finding out she’s the opposite is fucking with my head. Which is fucking with my game. I just… I need to get my head on straight before I fuck up the rest of this season.”
Basically, he’s just fucked all around.
Looking chagrinned, Grayson nods. “You’re right, man. I’m sorry. Your future is more important. Your focus needs to be on tomorrow’s game. I shouldn’t have said otherwise.” Collapsing back in his seat, he rests his head against the back of it and swipes his hands down his face as he groans. “It’s just, knowing she’s here—right fucking here—is stirring up all sorts of shit. I can’t stop seeing her wide, innocent eyes the day the cops showed up.”
The day the world was ripped out from beneath his feet, he was sent into a tailspin, left to gather the remaining pieces and attempt to fit them back together.
“There’s this dark, hungry pit inside me demanding to be filled with her tears and suffering. It won’t let me fucking sleep or eat or think about anything else other than having her at my feet, tear-streaked and begging for my forgiveness.”
“And we’ll help you achieve that,” I insist, understanding that dark desire. At least Grayson has the opportunity to sate that beast. To get some form of closure for the wrong that was committed against him. I will never have that, and it eats at me—that feeling of helplessness.
Logan nods in agreement. “Absolutely. I dunno if I can do what you need, but I do wanna help,” Logan insists, and I know he means it, even if his face is pinched and he hates himself a little for even saying it.
Gray lifts his head and gives Logan a grateful smile, knowing how hard this is on him, even if his own head is a mess. Grayson has stepped up and taken on the fallout of everything from that day. He’s dealt with all the shit with his dad, the publicity and public scrutiny on his family, and he’s taken over the responsibilities of running the family company. All while starting college and maintaining a 4.9 GPA.
It’s fucking commendable.
But he’s given every fucking part of himself to his family and the company, and the few pieces he’s kept back for himself are tarnished and stained, corroded with Riley’s betrayal.
Heneedsthis. For his own fucking sanity.
So he can gain some closure and move the fuck on from what she did.
We spend the next couple of hours determining what we need to know about Riley—who she interacts with, what she does with her time, and who is important in her life. Grayson comes up with an ambitious but admittedly sinister plan, and we agree that Operation Payback’s a Bitch should take place over winter break.
This gives us four weeks to do reconnaissance and figure out a way to ensure Riley won’t be missed over the winter break—if, you know, she just so happens to disappear off the face of the earth for a couple of weeks.
16
RILEY
It’s been a solitary two weeks without Logan’s presence in my life. I hadn’t realized how much of an impact he had made in such a short time. Of course, Logan’s energy consumes everything in its immediate vicinity, so naturally, his absence would have left a gaping hole.
I just hadn’t expected my life to feel this empty without him in it.
Without the good morning texts, which made me smile.
Without his laidback, cock-sure smile to brighten my day.
Without his easy presence to offset the gloom.
Without Logan to talk to on campus, I don’t speak to anyone. The quiet, loner life I’d been happily living before he came along now feels empty and muted. There are no smiles to break up my day. No laughter. No light moments.
One day bleeds into the next in a dull, monotonous gray. My heart feels heavy, my spirit dampened, and my nights are plagued with questions and insecurities. I can’t understand his complete one-eighty behavior. Logan was the one who pursued me. Who instigated intimate contact. Who soughtmeout.
So why the radio silence? Did I do something wrong? Was it all just some game to him? A dare to fuck with the scholarship student?
I’ll be furious if that’s what this was—some sick form of entertainment.
