Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series) (21 page)

We arrived at the college of engineering almost late for Logan's interview. "Screw it! We'll have to park in the garage."

"I thought that's what we just did?" I grinned at him. It turned out he was right—two minutes was enough.

He grinned back. He squealed into the first available spot. We jumped out and walked hand in hand into the building until we reached the departmental offices.
 

Logan stopped me outside the door. "Seriously, El. I don't need you to hold my hand from here." He rubbed his thumb over mine and kissed it. "Much as I like holding your hand."

"I'm embarrassing you." I kissed his hand right back.

"I can handle this interview alone." His eyes got that sexy look again. "You'll only distract me."

"We can't have that." I kissed him lightly on the lips, trying not to transfer my pink lipgloss to him. "Come find me when you're done. I'll be in the lounge."

The student study lounge was at the end of the hall. It was mostly full of guys. I found an empty seat by the windows and checked my messages. I had one from Mom.
 

What kind of alcohol do you want for your jello shots?

I rolled my eyes and ignored it as my phone buzzed in my hand and another popped up.
 

What's the weather supposed to be like this weekend? What kind of clothes do I need to bring?

And so the sense of gloom, preceded by the sulfurous smoke of her text messages, began to settle over my happy college town. I resisted the urge to text back that the only clothes she needed were mom-type clothes—any style she wanted except skanky and cougar. I slid the phone back into my purse.

Logan found me half an hour later. He wore a huge smile.

"Looks like you survived the lion's den."

"They went easy on me. Ready to pick up sweatshirts?"

The day was partly sunny with a few non-threatening clouds scudding across the sky and windy, like always. Logan drove us to a small old house at the edge of Greek Row and had to cruise to find a parking spot. There was a line out the door of mostly girls picking up the matchy Geed sweatshirts for Mom's Weekend. The sweatshirt enterprise was a private venture by an enterprising student, who ran the whole operation. It was a great idea. The Greeks all had their matching gear. Why not the Geeds?

Logan took one look at the line and laughed. "So this is where all the girls are." He took his phone out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"Texting Collin and Zave to get their butts over here. There are some hot girls in line. I wonder if it's too late for them to buy sweatshirts?"

"I wonder why you're noticing hot girls."

"Just playing wingman for my buds."

"Nice save." I bumped him playfully in the arm. "I also wonder if it's too late to get into the matching-sweatshirt business. Judging from the length of the line, someone is making a killing."

It took nearly an hour to make our way through the line, into the beat-up house with its ratty furniture, and pick up my sweatshirts and Dex's.

When we finally got back outside, the sun was shining full on and the clouds were disappearing. I grabbed the smallest of the sweatshirts from the pile Logan was carrying, snapped a picture and texted it to Mom along with the message,
Clothing problem solved. Won't we look cute?

"Sending her a picture of the extra small for Dex's mom is false advertising," Logan said. "You're delusional if you believe Melissa is going to wear a baggy sweatshirt."

Sometimes I forgot he knew her. I hated being reminded. I shrugged. "A girl can dream."

"That's what I love about you, El." His eyes danced. "Your naïve optimism."

"
That's
what you love about me?"

He flashed me his wolfish grin. "One thing. One of the many things."

I folded the sweatshirt and tucked it under my arm as I texted Dex. "Let's go drop Dex's off."

Dex was in his room waiting for us when we arrived. He rubbed his hands together eagerly, handed me a twenty that was part of the deal, and reached out for his gear. "Logan. Ellie. Welcome to my lair." He took his shirts from Logan and hefted them, fingering the fabric.

I laughed as I watched him and pocketed my cash. "What are you? A sweatshirt connoisseur?"
 

"Just checking the fabric. It's full of sizing." He frowned. "Mom will be suspicious if I wash them. She likes that fresh stiffness and the new smell." He waved us over to a chair, where he had a pile of sweatshirts. He rummaged around and pulled one from the pile. "Fortunately." He held up a finger. "I've thought of everything."

"It's nice to be friends with the great brain," I said to Logan, who tried not to snigger.

Dex wagged his finger at me. "I heard that, Ellie." He held up the plain sweatshirt. "Nothing on it, agreed? It's completely blank." He showed us both sides.

We nodded.
 

Logan whispered to me: "Where's he going with this?"

"You'll see."

Dex slipped the shirt on and flashed his back to us.

"So far, unimpressive," I said. "It's a new blank gray sweatshirt."

"Exactly." He hunched over and offered me his back. "Remember my puffy-paint tactile problem. Rub my back."

"I'm not giving you a back rub." I crossed my arms.

Dex looked over his shoulder at me and rolled his eyes. "Hurry, Ellie. We don't have much time."

"Humor him," Logan said.

I rubbed the sweatshirt. "I don't feel a thing."

Dex glanced at his watch. "Prepare to be impressed. Now you don't see it…"

"The suspense is killing me," Logan said. "Is this an inverse magic show? Isn't it usually 'now you see it'?"

"Now you see it!" Dex said like he was parroting Logan.

"Whoa!" My eyes went wide as brightly colored words appeared on his back. "'Not my idea,'" I read aloud. "I thought it
was
your idea."

"The prank, not the matching sweatshirts. I'm going to write these words on the back of my Mom's Weekend sweatshirt and get my mother back for making me order them. And insisting we wear them everywhere." Dex looked over his shoulder, trying to see the writing that had appeared on his back. He looked a bit like a cat chasing its tail.

"Yeah, but at least you didn't have to stand in line for them. We had to wait, like, an hour to pick them up."

"Poor baby," Dex said.

"You are way too good with sarcasm," I said. "Now if you could just manage sympathy."

"Why do you think I conned you into picking them up? Waiting was part of the deal," Dex said.

"I thought being seen as a mommy's boy by half the girls on campus was why you wanted me to do it."

"Sucker," he said.

Logan shook his head. "Dex, really, you're the fool. You missed out. There were a lot of hot girls. I texted Collin and Zave to get their butts over there."

Dex nodded toward Logan. "You let him get away with eyeing other girls?"

I shrugged. "I'm not his mother."

Logan gave me a quick one-arm hug and walked over to inspect the back of Dex's shirt. "Awesome."
 

"Heat activated." Dex pulled the sweatshirt off over his head. "Kind of like the coffee mugs and straws that change color. This is my own formulation. I really had to work at it. Most fabric paints bead up on sizing and don't soak in. That's why you have to wash things first before applying it. It's challenging to create one that soaks through the sizing."

"How long will it take to disappear?" Logan was still staring at it after Dex laid it on the bed.

"A couple of minutes." Dex looked at me. "Where are your sweatshirts, Ellie?"

"I left them in the car."

"Get them and I'll write something on them for you."

I stared at him. "With your messy handwriting?"

"I won't embarrass you. I've been practicing my penmanship." He pointed toward the bed and the sweatshirt on it. "That's an early attempt."

"Even so, your block engineering lettering is very neat," Logan said. "And it's disappearing as we speak."

"Don't praise him," I said to Logan. "He'll just get a big head." I winked at Dex.

Dex laughed. "Too late. I've had a big head since I was born. Just ask my mom why she had to have a C-section."

I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, Ellie." Dex went to his desk and picked up one of those fabric-pen accordion tubes. "I can write anything you want."

I pursed my lips, thinking. "'First-class bitch' has a nice ring to it?"

"'For a good time call' is always fun," Dex said. "You have her cell number, right?" Dex turned to Logan. "Logan? How about you?"

Logan shook his head and grinned. "I'm not a mama's boy. There's no way in hell I would ever wear the same thing as my mom. She knows not to ask."

Dex shrugged. "Your loss. You're missing out on an awesome prank. I'll probably apply for a patent for my ink. If you want to use it in the future, it's going to cost you. Big time."

I held my hand out to Logan. "You can't beat free. Give me your keys."

Logan shook his head. "No pranking Melissa, El. You're supposed to be trying to get along."

"Too late." Dex's grin lit up his whole face.

"What is he talking about?" Logan asked me.

"I have no idea," I said. But if Dex said he was planning something, I absolutely believed him. And hoped it would be good.
 

Chapter Fifteen

We had dinner at Jason and Lyssa's. Lyssa was big now—huge in the tummy, anyway. Jason joked that the baby was reclining in there. From the back, she looked pretty normal. When she turned around, it was almost shocking to see that big basketball-like bulge.
 

At dinner, the conversation was pretty benign. Jason asked about Logan's interview. Logan was surprisingly vague about it. Or maybe it wasn't so surprising, since he was so sure he was wasting everyone's time. I tried not to think about that. The conversation turned to IT stuff. I zoned out and enjoyed looking around the table at my happy family, wishing it would always be like this. Vowing again that I would not let my mother hurt a single person here.

After dinner, my baby sister Mia toddled around the living room, walking herself along the furniture. She was all smiles and giggles. I did the dishes for Lyssa and let her rest while I chased Mia around. At about eight, Mia's happy mood turned sour in that sudden way babies have. Lyssa picked her up and distracted her with the goodnight ritual—hugs and kisses for everyone. Mia gave big, sloppy, open-mouthed baby kisses all around.

Logan laughed as he wiped baby drool off his lips. "Your sister's a good kisser, El. You could take a lesson from her."

I rolled my eyes.

"Watch it, Walker." Jason put on the protective dad voice, but his eyes sparkled. "Those are my daughters you're talking about."

When Lyssa returned from putting Mia to bed, she focused on me. "How are you holding up, Ellie? Are you ready for this weekend?"

Lyssa was always kind and concerned, but her sympathetic tone put me on edge. She sounded too much like a counselor who was trying to fix things.

I forced a smile and deflected. "As ready as I can be. I sent you my schedule for the weekend, right?" I bit my lip. "You probably noticed I'm going to keep Mom really busy." I paused. "It's the best way to deal with her and keep her out of trouble."

"I wish you'd tell her about us," Lyssa said. "About Jason being your dad and about me and Mia and the baby."

My gaze flicked to Lyssa's big belly, puffy ankles, and tired eyes. Now was not the time for her to go up against my mom. Not with Lyssa's delicate pregnancy hormones in full effect. Mom had a tongue like a stiletto—she could slice you up and bleed you out before you realized you'd even been cut.
 

Jason shook his head subtly at Lyssa to warn her off. "We discussed this, Lyssa. This will be the first time Ellie's seen Melissa since…the incident. They have enough to deal with without complicating things with us."