Sam blocked his view of me. “She’s fine. I got her.” She started toward the stairs and Logan opened his mouth, but she waved at him again. “I swear, Logan. She’s fine. I’ll take care of her.”

I didn’t know what was going on, but they seemed to be having a more involved conversation with their looks and words.

I gave Logan a smile as I passed by. He shifted so our arms grazed each other and I could feel his eyes following me all the way upstairs. It felt good. I couldn’t deny that. It felt damn good, and then Sam was there, waiting for me when I stepped through the door.

“Sorry to strong-arm you away from Logan. I wanted to give him some time with Nate before he got distracted and remembered you were here.”

I nodded. “Oh, yeah. No problem.”

She spoke over her shoulder. “Those two really do bicker like a married couple, but there’s more to it.”

“Did something happen?”

“Uh…” She hesitated as she gestured toward the kitchen. “Let’s get something to drink.”

She glanced over her shoulder with another smile, but I got the message. It wasn’t for me to know. When I saw this group at the first party, I’d been on the outside. Everyone looked tight, but now I could sense the layers. Logan was closest to Sam, then Nate, and then—I had no idea. Suddenly and so completely, I wanted in.

I wanted to be on the other side of whatever wall he kept between him and most people. I wanted it almost desperately.

I followed Sam as she waded through the crowd to the booze. Hers wasn’t exactly like Logan’s reception, but a lot of the same guys moved aside and greeted her. They called out hellos. A few offered to get drinks for her.

With her hands full of vodka, beer, and some other bottles, she smiled as she took in the look on my face. “It’s because of Logan.”

“I’m gathering that.”

“They like him.”

They respected him.

Sam glanced around as the guys took the drinks from her arms and headed downstairs. She ran a hand through her hair, a rueful expression on her face. “I’d forgotten what it’s like.”

“What what’s like?”

She grinned at me. “You. Your face.” She looked around the room. “Seeing all of this for the first time. It’s overwhelming. That’s how I remember it.”

“They act like he’s a god.” That wasn’t normal, was it?

“Logan would have their backs in a heartbeat. That’s what he does. He’s actually a lot nicer now than he was in high school.”

“What?”

She laughed at my surprise. “He was meaner in high school, but I think he was just more protective of his brother.” She stopped, her lips pursed together. “Or maybe that was Mason bringing out the mean side of him?” She shrugged and patted my arm. “You’ll get used to it.”

What did she mean by that?

She read the question in my eyes. “Logan likes you. If he likes you, everyone else will, too.”

“Your friends didn’t.”

She waved that off. “They’ll come around.”

“How do you know?”

She started forward, turning back over her shoulder as she headed downstairs and said, so simply, “Because Logan said you’re a friend.”

#CHICKSHOWDOWN

TAYLOR

I was having fun. I was laughing. I was joking.

I was drunk.

Logan came back with another beer for me, and I stopped counting how many I’d had. It had been this way for the past two hours. Logan spent time with Nate and the guys, but he kept coming over to check on me. If I hadn’t been smart, I’d have let it go to my head. But nope. Logan and I were friends. Samantha had said it earlier. Logan had said it on a couple of occasions, and with a decisive bob of my head, I reminded myself of it, too.

Friends. Nothing else. But as I watched him line up a shot—his eyes narrowing so he could focus, ignoring the guys trying to distract him—there was a little pitter-patter in my heart. I wasn’t just in trouble. I was firmly in deep shit.

“I don’t want to be intrusive,” Sam said, leaning across the table. She cast a look over to her two friends, but both seemed oblivious.

She said they’d warm up to me, and they had. They were now past warming up and were drunk right along with me. Well, I still bordered between really tipsy and drunk. Both had glazed eyes and open mouths as they watched Logan. His ass was right in front of us as he bent over for a shot. I tore my gaze away and refocused on Sam.

She continued, “How did you and Logan get to know each other?”

I shrugged, shaking my head. “I was in a sociology class with him, and…” I frowned. There’d been something else. I snapped my fingers. “Jason.”

“Jason?’

Logan must have heard me, and when he finished his shot, and came over to stand next to the table. He leaned on his pool cue as Nate took the next shot. His eyes lingered on me.

“Delray,” he said to Sam, switching his gaze to her. “That little shit is one of her friends. He turned me down last year because of Sebastian, so I used Taylor to get a little revenge on him.”

“You used her?” Sam glanced at me, questioning.

I shook my head. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Come to think of it…” Logan lifted a hand to scratch behind his ear. “I used him to get her phone number.” He winked at me. “Best move I’ve made in a long time, that is until she abandoned me in my quest to mindfuck entire groups.”