Toxic: Logan's Story (Torn #4)(57)

Does no one listen to me anymore?

“Amber said you had a hangover. What’s going on?” She sat down on the edge of my bed.

“What do you mean?” I asked as I sat up.

She pointed to the almost empty bottle of Jack Daniel’s on my nightstand. “You rarely drink, and you never get drunk unless something is bothering you. What’s up?”

I hated that she knew me so well. She knew me better than anyone. I used to know her better than anyone, too—that was, until Drake had decided that he wanted to be a part of her life. Then, I had been pushed to the side, so they could have their happily ever after.

Go them.

I stared at her, willing myself to be angry with her, but I couldn’t. She was still Chloe, my best friend. No matter what happened between us, I could never be mean to her.

I sighed and ran my hand over my face. “I had a rough summer, okay? Let’s just leave it at that.”

She frowned and patted my leg. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

No, I can’t. “Yeah, I know.”

She stared at me, obviously waiting for me to spill my guys. It wasn’t going to happen. Finally, she gave up.

“All right then, I’ll leave you alone. When you’re up to it, I’d like to talk though.”

I stayed silent as she stood and walked out of my room. I waited until she closed the door to drop back down onto my bed. She might want me to talk, but it wasn’t going to happen.



If my phone rang one more time, I was going to throw it out the window. I looked down to see Jade’s name flashing across the screen. I hit Ignore and tossed my phone down onto the couch beside me. Five seconds later, it started ringing again.

“Jesus Christ!” I shouted before hitting Ignore again.

“Who’s trying to get a hold of you so bad?” Amber asked as she walked into the living room.

Chloe and Drake followed her.

“No one important,” I muttered.

She dropped down onto the couch beside me. Drake sat down in the chair across from me, and Chloe made herself comfortable on his lap.

My phone started ringing again. I grabbed it and hit Ignore, but not before Amber saw Jade’s name flashing across the screen.

“Jade? Why aren’t you answering her?” Amber asked.

“It doesn’t matter. I just don’t want to talk to her.”

Drake and Chloe both frowned, but Amber shrugged.

“Okay then. Anyway, we’re thinking about going out. Do you want to come with us?” Amber asked.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To Gold’s. Drake promised the owner that he’d perform with the band playing tonight.”

I almost rolled my eyes. “I’ll pass. My head is still killing me.”

Amber, Chloe, and Drake had been home for two days. I’d stopped drinking once they came home, but my headache had refused to leave. I swore to myself that I would never drink again.

“Come on, please?” Amber begged.

I shook my head. “No, th—” My phone started ringing again. “Are you f*cking kidding me?”

I pressed Ignore again, and then I shut off my phone. I was tired of Jade calling me every five minutes. I would think that she would have taken the hint after I’d been ignoring her for over a week. She was nothing if not persistent.

“Logan, what’s going on with you and Jade?” Chloe asked.

“I told you, I just don’t want to talk to her.”

“I call bullshit. You haven’t been acting right since you came back. What happened when you guys went on your road trip?” Chloe asked.

“We didn’t go on a road trip. We went back to her hometown. She wanted to reconnect with her little sister and deal with some…issues.”

“What? I didn’t even know she had a little sister,” Chloe said, looking shocked.

“Yeah, there’s a lot you don’t know about her,” I said.

“Is she okay?” Drake asked in a serious tone.

“What do you know?” I asked hesitantly.

While I was pissed at Jade, I wasn’t going to tell Drake all of her dirty secrets. Her past was hers and hers alone. If she wanted to tell Drake and the rest of the band, that would be her choice.

“I just know what Eric has told me, which isn’t much. Her stepdad was an abusive prick, and her mom wasn’t much better.”

I nodded. “That about sums it up. She’s fine though. She did everything she wanted to do while she was there, including reconnecting with her ex.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my tone when I mentioned Mikey.

“Mikey? Eric said he was a dick,” Drake said.

I laughed humorously. “I thought so, too, but apparently, he’s not so bad.”

“Logan…were you and Jade together this summer?” Chloe asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, we were together the whole summer, except when she was with her sister,” I said, dodging her question.

“No, like together, together,” Chloe said.

I shrugged. “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter now.”

“What happened? And don’t say nothing. Tell us the truth.” Chloe frowned at me.

I shrugged again, pretending like I didn’t care. “It was the same thing as last time. I was with a girl I really cared about, and she chose a cocky, * rock star instead of me. Oh, and she cheated instead of just telling me to get lost. I must have dumb f*ck stamped across my forehead.”