Page 94 of Frozen Hearts
I’m actually relieved. Although, I’m aware that means he’s been sitting here for an entire hour after everyone else left.
Just so he can ensure I get home safely.
Now that I am aware of his presence, I swear I feel his eyes on me through the tinted windshield as Ben babbles about some new exercise regime he’s been doing. Apparently, he’s put on all this muscle. It must be somewhere inauspicious because I don’t see any difference.
“Let me give you a ride home,” Ben offers. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
Seriously? What just happened to a raincheck?
I give him a tight smile. Every single fucking time he offers, I decline. Learn the definition of no, you single-brain-celled idiot.
I open my mouth to decline yet again when he cuts me off. “I can’t have an employee of mine walking home in the dark after work. It’s not safe. It would eat away at my conscience if something were to happen.”
He’s really pulling out the guilt card tonight, and it makes me even more reassured knowing Logan is here.
Even if I am also pissed at him. The second our Statistics exam ended, he bolted from the room like the hounds of hell were on his ass. Yet, here he is. It doesn’t make any sense. He can’t stand to be near me on campus, but he shows up every Friday and Saturday to ensure I make it home okay. He’s giving me emotional whiplash.
“That’s so sweet,” I say in a tone so sugary it would give an Olympic athlete diabetes. “But I actually have a ride.”
I point toward Logan’s SUV, noting Ben’s surprise. There’s a flash of something darker in his expression, even if he masks it well. “Oh, that’s good.”
After that, he doesn’t hang around, muttering goodbye as he makes a hasty retreat.
I wait until he’s in his car before making a beeline for Logan’s.
Expression pinched, I yank open the passenger door but make no move to get into his car. “Why are you here?”
I might be secretly relieved that he is, but that doesn’t mean I forgive him.
He arches a patient eyebrow. “Are we doing this again? I thought we’d already established this.”
“And I thought I told you I had it covered.”
He makes a dramatic point of looking around the otherwise empty parking lot. “Is your car invisible? Because unless it is, I don’t fucking see it. That girl, Tara, left with the others ages ago.”
“I didn’t know I’d be asked to stay late,” I mutter.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m here, isn’t it?” His tone is snarky, but he does have a point, so I keep my mouth shut as I get into the car.
However, Logan makes no move to leave, and when I look over, he’s scowling out the windshield.
“Why is he always trying to get you into his car?”
The hostile bite in his voice takes me by surprise. Is Logan jealous?
“He was just offering me a lift home,” I state with a fake nonchalance.
When Logan turns to look at me, there’s an arrogance to his expression. “Why did you turn him down?”
“Because you were here, and I wanted to yell at you for being an asshole to me earlier.”
“Then why did you turn him down last week and all the times before that?”
Cocky asshole.
I’m sure as hell not about to admit to Logan, of all people, that no matter how angry I may be with him or how pissed he might be at me, I will always choose to get in his car over Ben’s. Logan might have the potential to obliterate my heart if I was to ever hand all of it over to him, but I know all the way to the deepest recesses of my soul that he’d never physically harm me. That he’d never cross the lines Ben constantly steps over without any care or concern.
He’d never do anything I didn’t want him to. Never put me in a situation where I was uncomfortable.
