Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series)

Gina Robinson

Gina Robinson

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Copyright © 2014 by Gina Robinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
 

Gina Robinson

http://www.ginarobinson.com

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

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Reckless Together/Gina Robinson. — 1st ed.

RECKLESS TOGETHER

Book Three of the Reckless Series

The stunning conclusion of Ellie and Logan's love story that began on a hot August night in
Reckless Longing
and continued through the depths of winter in
Reckless Secrets
...

Ellie

My mother is a liar, a seductress, a keeper of family secrets, and a master manipulator. She took Austin from me. Now she claims she wants forgiveness. But she's after Logan. I know she is. He thinks he can protect me from her. I love him for trying, for playing hero, but he doesn't know her like I do. She'll charm him until he lets his guard down and then she'll strike so quickly he'll never see the attack coming. I may already be too late to stop it.

Logan's love is essential to me, like sunshine and deep nurturing breaths. He's my all. I can't live without him. But there's so much standing in the way of our happiness. As dangerous as she is, Mom is the least of my worries. I'm fighting the darkness Logan is struggling with, the upcoming trial, his family, and sometimes I even think I'm fighting a phantom of myself. But I won't give up.
Ever.

Logan

I wish I could make El understand how much I love her, but I'm losing control.
She
makes me lose control. Since the abuse, that scares me shitless and brings back the guilt and the memories I want to erase. Things that have nothing to do with El, and everything because they affect the man I want to be for her.
 

I can't face losing her. I don't want her to hear the ugly truth about me, but I have to testify. I have to, even though I'm risking everything and fighting my dad and myself to do it. After it's over, will El still love me? I have to help her reconcile with her mom. Then maybe she'll understand.

Chapter One

Ellie

I hated my mother. She'd done it again. This time from across the state. Intruded on what should have been one of the most beautiful moments of my life. After swearing for my entire existence I'd never have sex with any guy I wasn't totally sure was long term, I slept with Logan Walker. Trusted him with my heart and my body. He was so sweet, thinking he could protect me from Mom. That
anybody
could. He didn't know her like I did. Didn't know how cunning she could be. How devious.

Just like I hadn't known it was possible to feel such an intricate cocktail of emotions—love, lust, ecstasy, total happiness, fear, and blinding rage. It would have been absolutely heady, except for the anger. I'd kept my fury under control while I'd been with Logan, focusing all my attention and thoughts on staying in the moment with him. The guy had literally had a heart in his hands. A balloon heart. But still, how could I resist that? And the sweet, funny way he'd stocked up on protection? And how he couldn't stay away from me, no matter how hard he tried?

But now that I was back in my dorm room, thoughts of my mother and her Snow White's Evil Queen Stepmother act popped into my mind. Or maybe she was more like
Alice in Wonderland
's Queen of Hearts playing a giant chessboard with my life. What was her game? What was her next move? Whatever she had planned, I had to stop it.

My hands trembled as I pulled my cell phone out. I took a deep breath. She and I had been estranged since she slept with Austin, my boyfriend before Logan. And I left her and came to college to find my bio dad, Jason Front. I had a delicate new relationship with him and his wife and baby. Mom could destroy all that, too. She didn't know I'd come to the university to find him. She didn't know he was here at all.

I hesitated on the verge of battle. I had to risk it. I'd chance anything to keep her away from Logan and me. I stared at the phone another second as I gathered up my courage. We hadn't spoken since before Christmas. It was nearly March now. She'd take my call. I knew she would. In fact, I was certain she was waiting for it. I hit the button that dialed her and braced myself.

"Ellie!" She picked up before it even rang. That was how confident she'd been that I'd call. That was how expectant she was.
 

Which put me even more on edge—what did she want? Melissa Ann Sawyer always wanted something. She never gave anything away and she never played for free.

"Leave Logan alone! Stay the hell away from him!"

It was the wrong way to lead. I'd let my anger get in the way of my scheming and common sense. I'd forgotten my own chess metaphor.

She laughed. "So you finally slept with him." Her voice was amused and as nubby as raw silk, not quite her usual polished self. But as grating as ever in its confidence. "I was wondering how long you'd hold out. He's a handsome boy. Now you can finally stop blaming me for ruining your life. You've turned out just like me."

"Not just like you," I said. "I'm not pregnant."

"That you know about. Be extra careful, Ellie. We're fertile girls when we're young and careless!" She laughed again.

Mom had a laugh for everything, like life always amused her, even when it was tragic. Even when there was absolutely nothing funny about it. This time it felt like she was laughing at herself as much as at me.

"I didn't say I slept with him." And I hadn't said I hadn't. Semantics were everything when playing with Mom's fire.

"Of course you have. That's why you're so protective and possessive of him now. He finally felt close enough to you, confident enough to tell you that he and I have been talking. And so you rushed to protect him from big, bad me. It all adds up. And I can tell from your voice you've lost your virginity."

"You cannot."
 

She'd used that "I can hear it in your voice" tactic on me since I was little. I'd outgrown my belief in her magical abilities to read voices and see out of the back of her head.

"I hear it in your denial."

"Just stay away from him!" I pulled the phone away from my ear, ready to hang up.

"Or what?" Devoid of laughter and completely serious, she was the ice queen, full of menace.
 

I froze, unsure how to deal with a serious her.
 

"Stopped you short, didn't I?" Her voice was the very essence of smugness. "You were going to hang up on your sweet mommy. You haven't answered my question—what are you going to do if I don't stop talking to him? Cut me off?"

"What do you want from me?" I said. "Isn't it enough that you slept with my last boyfriend? When are you going to stop competing with me for everything?"

She made a sigh of exasperation. "Austin! You have to let that go, Ellie. For your own good. Hanging on to it will just make you bitter.

"I'd undo it if I could. Not for Doug's sake, but for yours and Austin's. I'm really sorry. I was vulnerable and made a mistake. Even so, it turned out my mistake was for your own good. How true was he to you? How much in love with you if I could snatch him away in a moment of weakness? If he could be tempted to cheat so easily?"

"He wasn't tempted. He was tricked. You trapped him."

"Is that what he told you? Is that what you call it? I didn't drug him. I offered something he wanted and he took it happily enough. I did you a favor, Ellie."

"Well, then, stop doing me favors. I don't want your help."

"But
I
want something—a relationship with my one and only child."

I snorted. "Right. You have a funny way of showing it."

She ignored me. "Mom's Weekend is coming up. I'm coming. And I expect you to hang out with me and give me the full Mom's Weekend treatment—the activities, the concert, the entire college deal. After all, it's your fault I never got to go to college." She laughed again, like she was teasing about the last part.

I was in no mood for her jokes. "No! No way. When are you going to stop blaming me for everything that's gone wrong in your life? For every mistake you made? Don't come. I won't see you."

"You can't stop me. I can pop up unexpected any time. And you know me. That's exactly what I'll do. Isn't it better to plan for me? One weekend, Ellie. That's all I'm asking for."

My heart galloped unevenly, pounding with rage and fear. I knew her. She wasn't joking now. She'd come and wreak her havoc when I least expected it. She was right—it was better to plan for her. I could warn my dad Jason to stay out of sight. I could keep Mom away from Logan. Contain her. I had no choice. I had to. But I wasn't going to concede without getting something from her. "If I agree, you have to promise to stay away from Logan. No flirting with him. No traps. No tricks."

She sighed, and there was pity in her voice—pity that I was so naïve. "Haven't you learned anything from me? I can promise you
anything
. But that doesn't mean I'll keep it. Never trust another woman around your guy." She laughed again, like she was laughing at herself.

I shuddered. "Promise or the deal's off."

"Honey, I don't want your
boy
."

"You wanted the last one." The thought of Mom turned loose onto a happy hunting ground full of horny young men during one of the biggest cougar-fests of the year made me almost physically sick.
 

"Maybe I'm more sensitive to your feelings now," my mother said. "You're obviously really into this one. Austin was a passing phase."

"There's no place to stay here," I said, still fighting when I knew resistance was futile. "The hotels have all been booked a year in advance."