Fighting Fate (Granton University #1)(38)

But she jerked back, her eyes flaring with fear. He stopped himself, realizing what he was doing. Body going into a hyper-aware kind of shock, his epidermis heated and chilled at the same time, making his entire system feel as if he had ants crawling on him.

She knew pain at the hands of a nasty drunk and bore a scar to prove it.

That wasn’t acceptable.

He wanted to act. He wanted to hurt whoever had hurt her. Fisting his hands at his sides, he let his system prepare for war even though it was too late to do anything about it now.

Feeling as useless as he’d ever felt, he whispered, “Your dad?”

Of course it had been her dad. She’d already admitted as much at the one group meeting they’d attended together, talking about how her father had turned into a drunk.

Without answering, Paige jerked away and jumped into the back seat with her friends, slamming the door.

Logan stood there, hollowed out and numb. Tempted to stumble to the bushes and borrow Tess’s sick spot, he covered his mouth with one hand because it struck him how much this was his fault. His actions had turned her father into a morose alcoholic, and she had suffered the consequences.





“So how do you guys know each other?”

Logan glanced over his shoulder to find Bailey perching herself on the edge of her seat so she could rest a forearm on the back of his and lean in toward him with an expectant look.

He cleared his throat and shifted, casting a quick darting peek in his rearview mirror to meet Paige’s gaze. He still couldn’t believe her dad had actually hit her. And left a scar.

“We, uh, we work together at The Squeeze,” she said, looking straight at his reflection, her gaze demanding he keep silent about everything else, which baffled him.

“Really? Hmm. Paige has never mentioned you before.” The way Bailey said Paige’s name told him Paige was getting a stern, reprimanding look. He slid another quick glance into his mirror, amazed she hadn’t told her friends about him. Amazed she didn’t want them to know.

She’d told no one. Anything.

When she looked up and made eye contact, he realized she wouldn’t say anything, either.

Why hadn’t she fed him to the wolves already and gotten him chased out of Granton? He appreciated her silence more than he could say, but he had a sinking feeling it was for her own protection, not his. If she spoke of his relationship to her, she might have to keep talking, and reveal her mother’s suicide and father’s abuse.

Dawning realization struck him. That had to be it. He clenched his teeth, not liking this insight at all. He didn’t like thinking she couldn’t talk to anyone about her scars—physical and emotional. Maybe he should go see Samantha and ask her to seek out Paige privately and—but no. Every time he’d butted into Paige Zukowski’s life, he’d only left her hurting more. He needed to mind his own damn business.

Blinking rapidly, he forced his attention to the road and slowed to turn down the street toward her dormitory. Okay, so he finally understood her silence concerning him. But why was she being so pleasant when he knew she hated him and still blamed him for Trace’s death?

As he pulled alongside the curb in front of Grammar Hall, a group of guys had gathered around a small tree on the front lawn and were launching things into the branches at something cowering above them.

“What is that?” he said, squinting as he leaned forward to see better. It looked as if they’d treed some kind of animal.

In the back seat, Paige gasped. “Oh my God. Einstein!” She pushed open the back driver’s side door before he’d even come to a complete halt.

“Paige!” He slammed on the brake, though she was already out and sprinting a lopsided dash in her high heels across the front lawn. Approaching the largest guy in the group, she dived at him, shoving him square in the chest with both hands and making him falter backwards away from the tree.

Logan’s jaw dropped. “Holy—is she completely insane?”

“Yes,” Bailey moaned. “Yes, she is.”

Ripping open his door, Logan got out of the car and sprinted toward the action, hearing her friends scrambling after him.

“How many times have I told you to leave him alone already?” Paige roared to the big fellow, pushing him again. “Don’t you have anything better to do, like get a life?”

“Maybe I would, if you’d ever go out with me.” Instead of looking insulted, the guy appeared as if he’d just accepted a challenge. Stepping right up to her until he was entirely too close, he reached out and ran his fingers over her bare shoulder, playing with the thin red strap holding up her dress.

Logan moved to intervene, his teeth clenched with fury.

But with a growl of repugnance, Paige grabbed the bully’s hand off her shoulder, by his thumb, and twisted hard, making him grunt out a sound of pain as he doubled over. “Are you trying to make me sick?”

Stumbling to a halt, Logan’s mouth dropped open. Paige must’ve applied more pressure to the guy’s thumb because he bowed down nearly onto his knees before her and whimpered.

“No, ma’am,” her victim rushed to croak. “But he…the little homo was watching me take a shower.”

“I don’t care if he was trying to join you in the shower. No human being deserves to be chased up a tree like an animal. Leave him alone.”