Free Let Me Be the One by Christa Maurice

worse than the fury. “I’m going home.”
    “You’re leaving me?” Logan asked. She couldn’t leave him. He needed her too much to let her go now.
    “No, I’m going back to the guest house.” She scowled at him. “Where else would I go?”
    “Home to LA?”
    “That’s your house.”
    “But it’s yours, too.”
    “Ms. Bazian!”
    Logan turned to the voice. Jason was jogging along the path. A few paces behind him were Brian and Greg. He wanted them all to go away. He needed to talk to Suzi alone. There was something seriously weird happening in this conversation, and he needed to figure out what so he could fix it.
    “It’s my fault, Ms. Bazian,” Jason said. “I am a total fucking jerk.”
    “It’s all right,” Suzi said coolly. “I shouldn’t have shown up uninvited.”
    “But you’re always welcome, Ms. Bazian,” Brian said.
    She put up a placating hand and backed up a step. “Please, call me Suzi.”
    “Come on back, Suzi. We’ll get you a drink.” Greg reached out as if to put his arm around her shoulders, but stopped short. Even he could sense the glacial chill surrounding her.
    “Thank you, no. I’m going to take a walk. Good night.” She turned and walked away.
    “Sorry man,” Jason muttered. “Thought I could make it better. Come on back. You can sleep at my house tonight.”
    “No. I think I better talk to her. Thanks.” Logan touched his cheek, which was now stinging. Her nails had scratched when she slapped him. He started up the mountain after her. Up the mountain. She couldn’t have picked a nice walk around. No. Up.
    “Suzi…sugar, if I knew how much it was going to hurt you, I wouldn’t have said anything.” Liar. He’d known, and he’d said, anyway. He’d just thought he could get away with it. Note to self: you can’t get away with it, whatever it is.
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    “Suzi.” He caught up to her, but she veered off the path, crunching through fallen sticks and last year’s leaves. “Sugar, please listen to me.”
    “It doesn’t matter. You’ve already apologized and been forgiven.”
    “I don’t feel forgiven.”
    She leaned against a tree. “Then maybe you have more guilt than I can forgive. I can’t leave you. Isn’t that enough?”
    “What do you mean you can’t leave me?”
    “I’m here. I picked you. I abandoned everything for you. I have nowhere else to go.”
    “That doesn’t make any sense.”
    “I moved out of my parents’ house and stopped speaking to them because of you. I transferred to UCLA to be with you. I gave up everything I knew for you, and all you can do is brag to your friends about what a good lay I am.”
    “It was a mistake. You didn’t hear the whole conversation.” Hopefully.
    “Suzi is a demon in bed. In bed, on the floor, anywhere we can get a little leverage.”
    “They wanted to know what you were like. They were asking me questions.”
    “So you told them I was a nymphomaniac?”
    Logan scratched his head. This tack was not working. “They like you Suzi.”
    “I’m sure they do.”
    “No, I’m serious. They were talking about you like you’re Paul McCartney. Brian’s been trying to figure out what to say to you.”
    She frowned and dropped her gaze to the ground. “Don’t tease me.”
    Logan stepped forward and cupped her cheek. She didn’t deck him, so he thought he might have a chance. “I’m not.”
    “They always act so strange when I stop in. Brian Ellis hasn’t said ten words to me the entire time.”
    “He said he’s read your books three times.”
    She stared up through her lashes. “He has?”
    “Or more. He mentionedthe one about bats.”
    “ Bats With Baby Faces ?”
    He eased closer, letting his body brush along hers. Sex always worked with her. If he could just keep her drugged with sex, he’d be able to hang onto her. “Yeah, Bats With Baby Faces . They really like you and I was—I was trying to impress them with the fact that you like me. You missed the