novelxo Cross-Checked Hearts: Chapter 24
Since I rode with August to the party, we take an Uber back to the apartment. When we get there, it’s dark and quiet inside, with no trace of August. I follow Isla into his bedroom and there is no August there either. Instead, there are clothes thrown around, his drawers hanging wide open, like he packed a bag and left in haste.
He must have come straight here after he left us at the party and since we had to wait for our Uber to show up, we missed him. We were later than him getting back here and he had already packed enough shit for a few days before he left. I know August, he couldn’t have gone far. Especially not with having hockey practice and games coming up.
Isla walks out of his room, her shoulders sagging and head hanging in defeat as I pull out my phone. I don’t bother calling Cam, instead I open up my text messages and send him one, hoping August is with him.
Logan: Yo. Have you talked to August at all?
As I walk out of August’s bedroom, Isla meets me in the hallway with a first aid kit and grabs my hand before silently pulling me into the kitchen. My phone vibrates in my hand as Isla opens up the kit and takes out the supplies to patch my face.
Cam: Yeah, he’s here. I don’t recommend coming here, if that’s what you were thinking. Pretty sure he might actually kill you if he sees you.
With the way Cam is able to respond, he must have took a quick nap and slept off some of the alcohol before August showed up there. I can’t imagine what he told him, but knowing August, he probably told Cam the truth. Or at least, what he thinks is the truth. He didn’t exactly give us any time to fully explain. We had to give him the cliff notes and he wasn’t having it.
Logan: I need to talk to him. Can you ask him if we can talk?
I set my phone down on the counter as Isla turns back toward me. “We need to clean some of those cuts on your face.” She pauses, her eyes bouncing back and forth between mine. “I can’t do anything for the bruises, but we can put some ice on them.”
Taking a step backward, I lean against the counter as Isla grabs a gauze pad and some hydrogen peroxide. She pours it onto the pad and presses it against the cut on my forehead before working her way to the one under my eye. I inhale sharply from the sting and watch her face as she focuses on what she’s doing.
My phone vibrates on the counter and I grab it, quickly opening a new message from Cam.
Cam: He said he doesn’t want to talk to you tonight. Just let it go, dude, and let him calm down. Call me tomorrow and I’ll see if he wants to talk to you then.
I close my phone, locking the screen before I set it back down. “Your brother went to stay at Cam’s house.” I pause for a moment, wincing as she runs her fingers over the bruise forming under my eye. “He doesn’t want to talk right now, but I’m going to try again tomorrow.”
Isla stops for a moment, grabbing some antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit. “Maybe I should talk to him instead. Maybe he’ll listen to me.”
I shake my head as she lifts her hand to apply the ointment to the cuts that August left. “Let me handle it, baby.” Her eyes scan my face before finding mine. I know how ridiculous I probably look right now, with healing bruises from the last fight I was in. “This is my mess to clean up.”
“No, it’s not,” she says quietly as she cups the side of my face. “We made this mess together. This isn’t just on you to fix now.”
I stare back at her, feeling her warm hand against my face as my eyes fall shut. I don’t respond, letting her think what she wants instead. We may have made this mess together, but it isn’t for her to deal with. She isn’t the one who went behind her best friend’s back. I’m the one who fucked up, Isla will always be innocent when it really comes down to it.
She wraps her arms around the back of my neck, pulling me against her as she buries her face in my chest. “I’m really sorry, Logan. I never wanted this to happen.”
Grabbing her arms, I pull her back slightly, her gaze finding mine as my hands drop to her waist. “It’s not your fault, so I don’t want you to apologize anymore. Neither of us wanted this to happen, but this is the situation we’re in now.”
She nods as she draws her bottom lip between her teeth and bites down. I can’t take the look on her face right now, as if she doesn’t know what to do. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what either of us can do, but with the way that she’s looking at me right now, I’m not going to waste this moment… especially when it might be our last.
My grip tightens around her waist and I lift her onto the counter, setting her down as I settle in between her legs. Her arms are still wrapped around the back of my neck and as my lips collide with hers, she slides her fingers along my scalp, gripping locks of my hair.
I breathe her in, drawing the air from her lungs as I swipe my tongue along the seam of her mouth. Isla parts her lips, letting me in as my tongue slides over hers, tangling together. She moves against me, her breathing shallow as she tightens her grip on my hair.
My head screams in protest, but she soothes my wounds with her tongue. I grip the back of her neck, holding her in place as our lips melt together and my other hand slides along her thigh. As I move up her body and slide my hands along the waistband of her pants, she breaks away.
She’s breathless, her lust-filled eyes searching mine. “I need you,” she breathes, sliding her hands from my hair as she moves them down my back. “Please, Logan.”
My eyes search hers as she grabs the bottom hem of my shirt and slides it up my body. We’ve already fucked up and dug ourselves into a hole that we’ll never be able to get out of. The damage has already been done and we officially have everything to lose.
“One last time…”