Page 116 of Shattered Souls
“It was our freshman year,” he begins. “We all had our reasons for keeping to ourselves…” He gives a one-shoulder shrug, not needing to fill in the gaps. Royce had just left the false rape allegation behind, and Grayson was dealing with his grandmother and the company off the back of his father’s arrest. Logan… tilting my head, I give him a questioning look. “It was after I got kicked from that Michigan game,” he explains. That’s what I suspected.
Despite that dark time in his freshman year, he smiles at a memory. “I remember seeing Royce at one of the freshman football games. He was amazing on the field, but he always appeared guarded when stomping around campus.”
“I did notstomparound campus,” Royce gripes.
I chuckle. “You kinda do. Youstompedright into me on my first day.”
Challenge flashes across his brilliant blue eyes. “Babydoll, you’re the one who ran into me. So desperate to get your hands on me.”
Grabbing the straw from my milkshake, I flick it at his head while grinning.
Logan and Grayson burst into laughter as Royce easily catches it. “I figured he needed a friend, even if he didn’t know it yet,” Logan continues when we settle down again.
Royce rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. “Logan wouldn’t leave me alone. He kept bugging me until I agreed to hang out with him.” I don’t even bother to smother my smile. That sounds exactly like Logan, and I bet it’s precisely what Royce needed. After what he’d gone through, there was no way he would put himself out there to make friends. He neededsomeone like Logan to poke and prod and force him into a friendship.
“And then there was Grayson,” Logan continues, turning to him. “We had a couple of classes together, and I noticed how he was always so focused. It was like the rest of us didn’t exist. After seeing him so intent on his school work for several weeks, I decided he needed a break.”
Grayson chuckles softly. “Logan practically dragged me out of the library one night. I was buried in work, struggling to balance school and the company, and I still visited Gran regularly. He insisted I needed to have some fun and dragged me to some frat party.”
“But it wasn’t until Royce got himself kicked out of a campus bar after Gray and I peeled him off some guy too dumb to realize who he’d picked a fight with, and spent the night bonding over stale coffee and pancakes that we truly became friends,” Logan says, smiling fondly at the memory. “We realized we made a good team. Royce, with his determination and loyalty. Grayson, with his intelligence and strategic mind. And me, with my... well, charm and persistence.”
Royce and Grayson laugh, and I find myself joining in. It’s clear that Logan was the glue that brought them together, his easygoing nature and relentless friendliness breaking down their walls.
“You were the anchor.” My voice is filled with awe, and I have so much love and respect for this husky of mine. The entire campus had turned on him, and instead of curling in on himself and putting up walls, he went looking for friends in the unlikeliest of places. “You brought all of you together.”
He shrugs like what he did wasn’t an incredible feat, but we all know, given Royce’s prickly attitude and Grayson’s obstinance, what Logan achieved is practically a miracle. “I guess you could say that, but it wasn’t just me. We all neededeach other, even if we didn’t realize it initially. We became each other’s support system, and that’s what kept us going.”
Throat tight, I nod, feeling a deep admiration for these three incredible men. Their friendship is a testament to the power of connection and the strength of having people who genuinely care about you.
The moment grows heavy, and in true Logan fashion, he breaks it with a more lighthearted memory. “Remember that wild party at the Delta Chi house?”
Grayson’s eyes light up. “You mean the one where you got kicked out for trying to ride the mechanical bull in the backyard?”
Royce laughs, shaking his head. “And then you convinced us to sneak back in through the kitchen window.”
Logan holds up his hands in mock surrender. “In my defense, I was trying to impress that girl from my international business class. But, yeah, that was a good night.”
Grayson shakes his head, although a smile lifts the corner of his lips. “You ended up getting us all thrown out again when you tried to start a conga line in the living room.”
“And then the sprinklers went off,” Royce finishes, grinning. “We were soaked to the bone.”
Later that night, Grayson and Royce are watching a movie with Aurora while Logan cooks dinner when my phone buzzes on the coffee table. I smile, seeing several new messages from Tara. I hadn’t been very good at replying to her while everything was going on, but I’ve been making more of an effort to respond and actively participate in our friendship this past week.
Tara
Got a new shipment of feather boas. This one’s neon pink! *photo attached*
Oh, and Xander ate the last slice of pizza. AGAIN. That little troll.
I’m thinking about switching the pink out for electric blue. What do you think?
But I like the girliness of the pink. It throws people off.
OMG, you’ll never believe what happened at the club last night. This guy tried to pay for his drinks with a magic trick. Like, dude, coins don’t magically multiply. *rolled eyes emoji*
My car made a weird noise this morning. Should I be worried? Or just blast the radio louder?
Me
