She aimed her heel at his foot and stomped. With a grunt, he jerked her arm, but held fast to her wrist, calling her a vulgar name.
“Just bend a little closer, you jerk,” she mumbled.
“What did you say?”
She felt his hot breath on the back of her neck, smelled the stench.
Wham! She slammed her head upward, her crown impacting something hard.
“Ahhhh!!” He screamed out, releasing her arm and stumbling backwards.
Head throbbing, Ellery scrambled to lean against the nearby wall, probing her tender scalp. She jumped when she heard him exclaim again, but looked up to find him curled in a ball on the floor with someone standing over him. A woman in a peach dress.
Nancy!
CHAPTER 12
“I still can’t believe Chester attacked you, Ellery.”
In the back seat, Logan’s mother went on about the incident. As shocked as anyone else at her actions, Nancy had been quiet while the wedding party had crowded around Chester’s prone body and two teenaged girls who’d emerged from the restroom and observed the events gave their eyewitness accounts. But now, in the safety of their SUV, her subsequent adrenaline rush evidently made her talkative.
“He used to be emotionally and verbally abusive,” Nancy said, “but he’s never been physically violent with me.”
“It’s not your fault.” Ellery’s voice was small, her gaze directed out the window.
Still seething with anger, Logan’s blood pulsed at a rapid rate. When he’d arrived at the scene, the iron grip of Cole’s prosthetic hand had kept Logan from beating his stepfather to a pulp. But Logan’s real fury was directed at himself. He’d put Ellery in danger, using her as the instrument to jab at his stepdad’s pride. And Ellery still believed his only interest in her was as a path back to Allegra. All because he’d been too cowardly to tell her the truth. And now it was too late.
She must hate me.
His mother droned on. “…and when I saw Chester twisting Ellery’s arm behind her back, something snapped. Between Ellery’s head and my knee, we got him good!”
Logan’s stomach twisted. He felt bad enough without hearing the story again. He caught Ellery gently probing her wrist. “Is your arm hurting?” he asked over his mother’s continuing monologue.
“I’m fine, Logan.”
Ellery was quiet the rest of the way until they pulled into the garage. She climbed out almost before he’d put the car in park. “Got a headache, so I’m going straight to bed. No reason you can’t go to the party with Allegra, Logan. G’night, Nancy.”
A cursory nod and the car door closed with a firm thud, making her desire plain—she wanted nothing to do with him. He turned off the engine and watched her disappear through the kitchen door. Sagging in his seat, he groaned and let his eyes close.
“What are you waiting for?” His mother’s voice startled him from his slump. “Go talk to her!”
“Not to be rude, Mom, but I didn’t ask for your advice.”
“You never did, and I always kept my mouth shut, even when you were dating Allegra. Carlotta and I are best friends, but she and Duane spoiled Allegra rotten. Ellery is different—can’t you see that? She’s ten times the woman Allegra will ever be, and I refuse to say nothing while you throw away your relationship.”
He was too depressed to be mad at his mom’s interference. “There is no relationship. Ellery and I only met Friday afternoon.”
Nancy’s glower bored into the back of his head. “Friday? As in yesterday?”
“I paid her to come.” He struggled to talk around the lump in his throat. “I just didn’t want people to know I was such a loser, I still didn’t have a girlfriend.”
“You lied to me?”
He twisted to face her, noting how the garage light was illuminating the disappointment on her face.
“I’m sorry, Mom. For what it’s worth, I regret it.”
“The way you acted…like you really cared about each other…that was all fake?”
“She was pretending. But I feel… confused.” He stared at the closed kitchen door, his chest aching. “It doesn’t matter. She hates me now, and I deserve it.”
“Your real dad used to say, ‘Regret is worthless. Restoration is priceless.’”
“There’s nothing to restore.” He couldn’t hide the desolation in his voice.
“You’ll never know unless you talk to her.”
He knew. From her body language. From her tone of voice. From the way she jumped when he touched her.
“I’ll try,” he said.
But it’s hopeless.
As Logan had feared, when he went up the stairs, Ellery’s door was closed, no light filtering from beneath it. He lay in his bed, secretly hoping she would have another nightmare to give him an excuse to go into her room. Meanwhile, the memory of their intense kiss swirled inside his head, making sleep impossible. Still wide awake at two a.m., he heard a strange sound coming from her room. Nothing blood-curdling, like Friday night, but loud enough he could hear it through the wall.
