Fighting Fate (Granton University #1)(16)

“Oh, yum.” She brightened as she scanned the food. “Blueberry muffins. These things are my absolute favorite food.”

Sensations roared through him as he watched her pick up one of the muffins he’d brought and sink her teeth into the tender breading. He could almost taste the tart berry on his own tongue as he watched her close her eyes and moan. It made his mouth water, but not because he was hungry.

He wondered what she’d do if she knew her favorite food had come to this table courtesy of him. He hoped no one told her; he liked watching her enjoy the pastry. He liked it a little too much.

“These wraps are really good too,” Kevin told her as he picked up another and popped it into his mouth. He grinned as he chewed as if sharing some kind of inside joke with her. Then he shifted just so, blocking Logan’s view.

Logan frowned, disappointed yet relieved the spell she held him under was broken. He wanted to keep staring but with his sanity returned, he decided to make a break for it.

Until Samantha spoke up. “Looks like we have a newbie tonight,” she called, thankfully interrupting Paige and Kevin’s moment. “And more of you showed up than I was expecting. Logan?” After a quick glance around the circle, Sam looked at the faces of the members as if searching for someone. “Could you get us another handful of chairs please?”

Logan froze only two steps from the doorway.

Sweating like crazy, he looked over just in time to catch Paige’s face drain of color. She swerved around and spotted him. As their gazes connected, he felt struck hard in the chest, watching the dazzling smile she’d flashed a second before disappear as if it had never existed.

Sick about sucking the joy out of her, he waited a beat, braced for her to point and scream, “Imposter!”

But when her face only darkened with silent hate, he yanked his stare away and gave Sam a tight smile. “Sure.”

As he stumbled from the Crimson Room, he knew this was his last opportunity to run. But Sam was counting on him to return with more chairs. He couldn’t let her down.

He couldn’t let anyone down. Not ever again.

Not even to fetch some stupid chairs.

Gritting his teeth, he silently cursed his overwhelming need to be responsible all the way to the supply closet. Running was meaningless now anyway. Paige knew he was a member of the group; she was going to out him whether he stuck around to watch the horror or not.

He’d rather not, but Sam was still waiting on him to return.

A cold kind of numb coated his skin as he lugged four chairs from the supply closet. By the time he returned to the Crimson Room, everyone but he and Sam had found a seat. She took one from him and sat down.

He put all his attention into unfolding the other three just a little behind Jamie and Brenda. Then he paused, making his final decision to stay before slipping into one of the three empty seats. When he looked up, he found himself directly across the circle from Kevin.

Who sat beside Paige.

He exhaled deeply through his nose, trying to control the panic, but he couldn’t stop the crazy jump in his pulse. It was like watching a train wreck from the viewpoint of a passenger, waiting for the impact, braced for the explosion which would surely slay him. His life flashed before his eyes.

She was going to destroy him in mere moments. He could probably start the countdown.

A little startled to see she hadn’t left either—since that had seemed to be her standard reaction around him—he held her gaze for longer than he meant to.

“Logan?” He jumped at Sam’s call. Clearing his throat, he tore his attention from Trace’s little sister to the group’s leader. Sam smiled. “You were out of the room when we all introduced ourselves. So…this is Paige. Paige, Logan.”

Slicing his gaze back to Paige, he managed a greeting nod but didn’t even try to speak. She didn’t respond past staring at him as if he was insane. Logan jiggled his leg, couldn’t stop his bobbing knee if he tried. His anxiety needed some kind of outlet.

No one else seemed to sense the animosity and terror bouncing back and forth between them. It was all so surreal. Save for the heavy, frantic thump of his heartbeat grounding him inside himself, he felt almost as if he were watching the scene unfold from outside his body.

Sam started group as she always did, with a bright, rather forced smile. “Tonight, let’s go around and share one thing we miss most about our loved ones. I’ll go first.” After a bracing breath, she said, “I miss seeing my husband stretched out on the couch, watching football.” After a humorless laugh, she added, “I used to razz him mercilessly when he was alive about being a couch potato. But now…I’ll walk through the living room and it’ll look so…bare. I’d give anything to see him lying there again.”

Jamie went next, talking about her grandmother’s snickerdoodle cookies.

Then Brenda spoke of her best friend she’d lost to leukemia.

After her, everyone turned to Logan. He shook his head and hoarsely rasped, “Pass,” as he usually did. He’d never been urged to share anything, and he couldn’t explain how much that relieved him.

But tonight, as soon as he croaked the word, Paige raised her hand immediately from across the room. “May I go next?”

When he met her blazing, condemning glare, sweat trickled down the side of his face. Dear God, it was time for impact. The breath shuddered from his lungs and his flesh went clammy.