Free CRASH (A Logan Brothers Novel) by L. A. Shorter Page A

his arm wrapped around her,
a stern look on his face. That look never seemed to dissipate from
it.
    “ I see you managed to replace
your handbag?”
    The voice shot me out of my
stupor. I turned to my left to see Crash standing above me, a smile
showing off his beautiful white teeth. He looked incredible in his
tux. James Bond eat your fucking heart out.
    A smile grew quickly on my face
at the sight of him. Someone I knew. Thank God.
    “ Do you mind if I join you?”
he asked, his hand resting on top of the chair next to me, preparing
to pull it out.
    I nodded. “Please.”
    Please save me.
    He sat down next to me, his
cologne floating across the short gap between us and drifting up my
nose. His eyes settled on me, a friendly look to them. Yet inside
those hazel browns I could see turmoil.
    “ I wasn't expecting to see you
here,” he said.
    I couldn't tell whether he was
glad about it or not. I felt an urge to apologize, as if I didn't
belong. That's how I felt anyway.
    “ Um, Alice invited me. I hope
that's OK?”
    “ It's not my party,” he
said, “I'm just a guest, like you. I have no control over who
comes.”
    He took a sip of his drink, his
eyes staying on mine the whole time.
    “ How come you're sitting here
all alone?”
    I lowered my eyes and sucked up
some wine. I had no answer for him. I couldn't say it was because I
thought the people here were conceited and arrogant. I didn't want to
tell him the real truth - because I was a shy little girl with no
aptitude for large social functions like this. Someone who needed to
ply themselves full of wine to feel comfortable, often resulting in
embarrassment and humiliation the following morning.
    No, I couldn't do any of that.
All I could do was lie.
    “ Just taking a break,” I
said, my eyes still unable to meet his full on.
    I glanced back at him as his
smile deepened. “Long break,” he said, his tone dry.
    Was he toying with me, taking
the piss. And I thought my night couldn't get worse.
    “ Well, it's been a long
night.” Great, now I was on the defensive.
    I took another gulp of wine and
forced my eyes to his. They didn't hold that burning fire like
before, yet they weren't completely relaxed either. A light frown
seemed to be permanently etched on his face, the weight of the world
heavy on his shoulders.
    “ Do you wanna get out of
here?” he said suddenly, “you don't look happy.”
    Holy shit. Did I really look
that glum. I bet everyone here thought the same. This random moody
bitch sat in the corner. What a fucking downer. Crash was probably
trying to remove my sucky presence from the room.
    “ No, it's OK, I was about to
leave anyway. It's your brothers birthday, you should stay.”
    “ Trust me, I'm not having a
great time either. The last thing I want to deal with right now is
small talk, but that's all these events are. The same fucking
conversations over and over. It's doing my head in.”
    He arched one of his eyebrows up
a touch, awaiting my reply. “Come on, I'm leaving, you can follow
or not.”
    I smiled. What's the harm.
    “ OK, give me a moment, I just
need to use the bathroom.”
    “ Sure, I'll wait. It's over
there at the end of that bar.”
    I stood and followed the
direction of his finger over into the corner of the room. Tess was
draping herself over Zack at the main table, his twin Cade and a
group of others all laughing and joking raucously. Tess clearly had
no trouble integrating herself into a new group.
    I reached the corner of the room
and passed through a door. There were a series of doors down a short
corridor. I noticed the sign for the ladies and walked towards it, my
ears pricking up to the sound of raised voices through another door,
sitting ajar on its lock.
    My curiosity got the better of
me as I passed by, the bathroom just over to my right. I stopped
briefly, lightening my footfall and listening closely. It sounded
like Alice, heightening my interest.
    “ I just don't want to be here
any more,” she said,