Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series) (3 page)

"Shut up, Ellie, before I have to kill you."

I took a deep breath and forced myself to hold in my laughter until my eyes watered. I didn't want to get on Dex's bad side. The guy could prank me into extinction. "There must be something in the air. I got a call from my mom this morning. She's coming, too."

"Shit." Dex knew the whole story. "I'm sorry, Ellie. I feel like a douchebag for complaining about my mom now. Matching sweatshirts pale in comparison to sharing a boyfriend. What are you going to do?"

"The only thing I can do—I ordered matching sweatshirts and now I'm scheming like crazy to keep her away from Logan and Jason." I couldn't resist teasing Dex. "Hey, any chance you'd take one for the team and sleep with Mom to keep her away from Logan? It would prove your manhood."

Dex laughed. "Gladly. But from what you've said, I'm not her type. I'd need about a thousand hours at the gym before she'd even look at me. I don't have time for that shit."

"And your mom would kill you."

"Seriously, Ellie. Anything I can do to help short of banging your mom. I'm here for you."

Chapter Two

I had a ton of homework to do that afternoon, but I couldn't keep my mind on it. I kept worrying about Logan and Mom. Just how much had they been talking? What ideas had Mom filled his head with?

Mom was a charmer, a seductress, a siren.
A liar
. She'd done something to Austin to take him from me. I'd been so furious at Austin and hurt by the whole affair that I had pushed him from my mind, refusing to think anything good about him at all for a long time. But now I forced myself to go back and revisit our failed relationship from the beginning and examine the good times.
 

At first, Austin had seemed totally into me, the way I was into him. I couldn't believe my luck to find a guy like him—hot and sweet. Willing to wait until I was ready. Sympathetic about why I couldn't go all the way with him. Everything was a go and we seemed so right for each other. We were both from around Seattle and lived on campus at a university in the city. It was easy for either of us to pop home whenever we wanted. I rarely went home, except to do laundry and pick up my mail.
 

I wasn't thrilled with my then-stepdad Doug, although he was the best of the three I'd had. Don't even get me started about Mom. She and I have always been best apart. I loved living my life separate from hers. I kept Austin a secret from her until she noticed how happy I was and pried the news out of me. Even then, I didn't want her to know I was falling in love with him. I didn't change my Facebook status to "in a relationship." I didn't post pictures of him on my page. I didn't tweet about him. I never mentioned him to her.
Ever
.

But eventually she pried the fact that I had a boyfriend out of me and wanted to meet him. After fending her off as long as I could, I agreed to a double date with Mom and Doug. They took us to Teatro ZinZanni, which was part dinner theater, part circus, and a lot of fun. There wasn't much time for talking, which was good.
 

Mom and Doug picked up the tab. She behaved herself, acting like a normal mom. Not like she usually did, flirting with my boyfriends and guy friends. That should have been my first clue she was up to something. Austin was by far the hottest of the guys I'd dated. I should have recognized her indifference for what it really was—out-and-out jealousy.

I let my guard down. That was my fatal mistake. I wasn't making it again.

Looking back, I wondered how I could have missed the signs. And now I had to know. Austin was the only one who could tell me what tricks Mom had used to woo him from me. How she'd kept it secret.

I'd never wanted the details before. Had gone so far as to push them from my mind. But I couldn't be an ostrich now. This time I was going to be prepared.

I grabbed my cell phone and punched his name before I chickened out. I didn't have any idea if he'd talk to me, or be straight with me. But I had to give it a shot.

"Ellie?" He sounded totally shocked. "Did you just butt-dial me?"

"No, this is purely intentional."

"You called me on purpose? Are you drunk?"

I laughed nervously. "Do I sound drunk?"

"You sound good. It's great to hear from you."

I felt guilty. He sounded too hopeful. Last time I'd seen him was Halloweekend. He'd come to campus to party with his friend Schwartz and made a point of looking me up and apologizing. Which I respected. It took a lot of guts for him to do.
 

I'd let Austin know we were through. We both understood that. He was over me, too, but hoped we could be friends, and I still couldn't see that happening. Not after everything.
 

"What's up?" he said.
 

"I need to talk to you…about my mom."

"Shit, Ellie! Are you sure you want to go there?" There was a bunch of noise in the background, the sounds of guys laughing and joking. Austin lived in a frat. Maybe that was where he was. "Hang on. Let me get somewhere private."
 

I heard the sound of him breathing and walking. Then a door slammed shut. The background noise grew muffled. "Are you still there?"

"I'm here," I said. "Thanks for not hanging up on me."

"I'd never hang up on you, but this is out of the blue," he said. "Are you in some kind of program? Family counseling? Or did my talk with you about how I think your mom is sorry finally sink in?"

"None of the above," I said, making a split-second decision to be straight up and honest with him. "I need your help."
 

I paused and bit my lip. I trod on delicate ground here, uncertain how to proceed.

"My help?" He sounded truly stunned and a little wary.

I couldn't blame him. "I've been thinking about us and you. I was so mad for so long that I couldn't think straight. I blamed both you and Mom equally for what happened. But with some distance, I've realized that while you weren't without fault, you were at least hapless. She made an effort to catch you. That makes her worse."

"Yeah?" he said.

I crossed my fingers, hoping he wouldn't hang up. "Yeah. I want to know how she did it—how did she reel you in?"

"Serious?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Why?"

"Because I don't think yours was an isolated incident. Mom will strike again."

"Is this about your new boyfriend? Logan, right? The one who decked Schwartz at the football pregame party."

"You heard about that?" I said, deflecting.

"Come on, Ellie. Was there any doubt Schwartz would tell me? He was epically pissed. If I were you, I'd stay the hell out of his way."

"Like you have to tell me!" I shook my head. "I don't know why you hang with him. Schwartz is an ass. That wasn't his finest hour."

Austin laughed. "We've been friends forever. But Schwartz can be a real douchebag."

"I won't argue with that. But he's loyal to you. I'll give him that."

"You're afraid Melissa is going to go after Logan," Austin said. "And you don't trust him."

"I don't trust
her
."

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

"That's probably smart of you."

"Look, Austin, you're a decent guy. We were good together. What did she do? How did she get to you?"

"I don't like to talk about it, Ellie." He sounded really uncomfortable.

I hated to push him, but I had to. "I know. I wouldn't ask, except it's important."

He sighed. "I owe you, I guess. Otherwise, I wouldn't say shit." He sighed. "I still have a criminal assault case against Doug. And my parents filed a civil suit against him for damages and hospital expenses that we're in the middle of settling. This is completely off the record."

"I understand," I said. "This is for my ears only. Hey, the police took my statement. I shouldn't be talking to you, either."

"As long as we're clear."

"I'm clear."

He paused. "I don't know where to start."

"The beginning's always good."

"Yeah, but where's that?" He snorted then took a deep breath. "It all started with you. She messaged me, saying she was worried about you, and asked for my help. She said she wanted the best for you and was worried because you were so naïve and vulnerable.

"You mom has a sympathetic, charming way of finding common ground and building from there. She made me feel like the hero in your life, and then I became the hero in hers."

I bit my tongue to keep from swearing.
Hero.
Logan wanted to be my hero. Unless I missed my guess, Mom had homed in on that desire. By keeping Mom away from me, Logan thought he was protecting me. But I worried he had wandered haplessly into her trap. I went suddenly cold. My mom was a genius when it came to manipulating men. I swallowed hard and white-knuckled the phone to keep it from trembling in my hand. I didn't want to hear more, but morbid curiosity and desperation kept me hanging on.

"I can't even tell you when the switch happened. She listened to my problems and sympathized."

"How?" I asked. "You talked to her? In person? On the phone?"

"It started with direct messages. Then texts. It progressed to phone calls." He hesitated. "She showed up on campus once. Ambushed me between classes. We had coffee. And talked about you and school and shit. She was lonely."

"She had Doug." I closed my eyes, picturing Mom coming on to Austin. "You never mentioned talking to her."

"She asked me not to. She shared her crap, like how she and Doug were having problems and things were falling apart for her."

"Falling apart?" Why didn't I know about that? "She was making that up. She had to be."

I could almost hear him shrug.

"I don't think she was. She was pretty emotional and upset by it."

"Did she come on to you then, when she was sharing her problems?" I was thinking of Mom ambushing Logan at the airport. The cold I'd felt before became arctic ice.

"I don't know, Ellie. It was hard to tell. Your mom is hot. She makes guys nervous. She made me nervous."

I frowned. "That's all?"

"She stroked my ego and made me laugh. I was in love with you. But attracted to her at the same time." He paused. "Sorry, Ellie."

I swallowed hard. "No, I get it. That day…" I said, unable to finish my sentence. But he knew what day I meant and it wasn't the day they met for coffee.

He hesitated and took a deep breath. "She called me over to talk about you. I knew right from the beginning that I shouldn't go. On some level, I realized I was asking for trouble. But I couldn't stay away. I couldn't refuse her. When she came onto me, I went with the flow.
 

"She was like an older, experienced you. I'm not blaming you. I'm just saying, she gave me what you couldn't. And made me feel good about it. Until you and your stepdad walked in on us.

"And I realized what deep shit I was in. And how she'd seduced me. And ruined things. I've regretted it since. Live and learn. I'm sorry, Ellie. I wish I could take it back and start over with you."

I'd heard those words before—from Mom. I swallowed hard. "Yeah. Some things are unrecoverable."

"No shit," Austin said. "My parents would have my head if they heard I'm talking to you. It's nothing personal. It's because of her."

"Guilt by association," I finished for him. I couldn't blame them.
 

"Does that help?" he said.

"Yeah," I said. But it scared me to my core at the same time. "Thanks."

"Anytime," he said. "Hey, Ellie, I'm trying to keep you out of this court shit against Doug. My parents are insisting your testimony is vital to the case. I told them to keep you out of it. This is your mom we're talking about. It's shitty. It's all shitty. I'll do what I can."

He paused and his voice broke. "Ellie, I
miss
you. I really wish we could be friends again."

Chapter Three

Logan

Logan Walker sprawled on his bed. He was supposed to be writing a paper on the ethical issues of computers and technology as they pertained to technological advancements enabling computer crime for his four-hundred-level class Computers and Society. Despite the dry title, the subject matter fascinated him. Damn, though, he hated writing. With a passion. Anything English scared the shit out of him. The thought of writing a forty-page paper that his final grade and graduation hinged on gave him waking nightmares.