Toxic: Logan's Story (Torn #4)(59)

“You don’t mean that. You’re just upset right now.”

“No, I really do mean it. I’m finished. Look, I appreciate you coming in here and apologizing, but I think you should go. I know you’re going out with Drake and Amber.”

“I can stay in tonight. We can hang out and watch a movie or something.”

“Nah, I’d rather be alone. Go have fun.”

“Logan—”

“Go. I mean it,” I said.

She hesitated before she finally nodded. “All right. But if you need me, call me, okay?”

“Yeah, I will. I’ll see you later, Chloe.”

She nodded before walking to the door and opening it. As soon as she disappeared, I stood and walked over to my bed. I dropped down onto it and willed myself to fall asleep. I didn’t want to deal with reality anymore today. Reality sucked.

I’d spent all my adult life going after the wrong women. Hell, I’d spent my entire adult and most of my teenage years going after the wrong women. What was it about me that had made Chloe and Jade run, screaming, to the *s in their lives? If it had just been Chloe, I wouldn’t blame myself. But when both of them had done the exact same thing, it was proof that something was definitely wrong with me. After everything that had happened, I had no doubt that I would be alone for the rest of my life. There was no way that I would ever trust a woman again.

I’ll die alone. That was the last thought that had run through my mind before I drifted off to sleep.





I grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on before walking to my closet and grabbing a shirt. As I pulled it over my head, someone knocked on my door.

“Come in!” I yelled as I grabbed a pair of socks.

I pulled them on as Chloe and Drake walked into my room.

“Hey, where are you going?” Chloe asked.

“To the shop to talk to my boss. He gave me the summer off, but I need to get back to work. I’m running low on cash, and I need to buy books. Classes start in a couple of weeks.”

Truthfully, I had enough money to cover books and a few more months of rent, but I couldn’t stand to stay cooped up in this house anymore. I was driving myself nuts by staring at the walls all day.

“I can loan you some money if you need it, Logan,” Chloe said, frowning.

Since she was married to a rock star now, I had no doubt that she had extra cash lying around. Plus, she’d inherited a lot of money after her aunt passed away. It was strange to think that the poor girl I’d once known now had a house in L.A. and a full bank account.

“I’m good. What’s up?” I asked.

“I talked to Jade last night after my show,” Drake said.

I tensed. “That’s great. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to head out.”

“She’s a mess, Logan,” Chloe said sadly.

“I really couldn’t care less,” I spit out.

“Well, you should. You need to listen to Drake. What you think you saw isn’t what happened,” Chloe said.

“I need to listen to Drake? Really? No offense, bro, but why the f*ck would I want to listen to anything you have to say? We’re not exactly best buddies.”

Drake glared at me.

Good. I wanted to piss him off.

“Look, I know you don’t like me. That’s fine. Whatever. But this has nothing to do with me. This is about Jade. She’s hurting, so you’re going to drop the f*cking attitude and listen to what I have to say.”

I saw red. After everything he’d done, he had no right to come into my house and demand that I listen to him.

“You can go f*ck yourself, *. I’m out of here.” I walked past him and headed toward the door.

He grabbed me and pulled me back.

That was the last straw. I snapped. I spun around and punched him as hard as I could. I heard Chloe shouting as he stumbled back. I expected him to fall, but instead, he caught himself on my desk and then dived for me. We fell to the ground with him on top of me. I waited for him to punch me back, but he just held me down.

“Now that I have your attention, let’s talk!” he shouted down at me.

“Fuck off,” I said as I struggled.

It was no use. I was a big guy, but he was, too, and he had me pinned down.

“If I let you up, will you listen? Or are you going to try to hit me again?”

“I’ll listen. Get off of me.”

Drake rolled off of me and stood. “Thank God. No offense, but I never want to be pressed up against a dude like that again.”

I slowly stood and walked over to my bed. I sat down, ignoring Chloe’s glare.

“All right, now that we’re done with punching and cuddling, maybe you’ll let me tell you about Jade. She’s hurting right now. For as long as I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her like this. What you think you saw isn’t what happened. Mikey forced himself on her.”

“It didn’t look like he had to force her very hard,” I muttered.

“He did force himself on her right after he tried to convince her to take him back to L.A., so she could introduce him to our label. When she told him to f*ck off, he got pissed and tried to kiss her. That’s when you walked in. He doesn’t care about her. All he wanted was to use her. She hates him, and she’s losing her mind because you won’t talk to her, so she can explain.”