Chapter 6

• Ashley
• Ashley woke up to find Logan parking in front of her building and talking to the doorman.
• “—take her upstairs but don’t want to get towed if I park here.”
• “No worries, Mr. Logan. Kevin can move your car to the garage, if that’s okay with you?”
• “It’s been okay all the other times,” Logan said with a laugh. “And stop calling me Mr. Logan.”
• Blinking awake, Ashley ran a hand through her windblown hair and didn’t bother to look at herself in the mirror. Realizing what a mess she looked like wouldn’t do anything besides send her scurrying into the building before Logan could see her. And she wanted him to walk her upstairs.
• Doing her best to moisten her lips and rub sleep from her eyes, she glanced at him now that they were beneath the street lights of Manhattan. He was in worse shape than she had thought, sporting a massive bruise on his jaw.
• “Holy shit!”
• He rolled his eyes. “Let’s go.”
• Protests filled Ashley’s mouth, but she held them back until they were alone. She waved at Rick, the doorman, and fumbled in her pockets for a random wad of cash.
• It was probably an excessive amount, but he didn’t have time to refuse it because she was hurrying to catch up with Logan’s long-legged strides. Now that she had slept, she felt more sober, but her head was still swimming from the combination of alcohol and a disrupted REM sleep.
• She vaguely remembered dreaming just moments ago about Logan’s body beneath hers, which was distracting with him walking ahead of her. His physique was incredible, and she couldn’t help but stare at his backside. He had become a fitness enthusiast when they were teenagers, and ever since, she had been captivated by how delectable and round his buttocks were.
• “When are you going to quit fighting?” she asked.
• “Never.”
• Logan jammed his thumb against the Up button on the elevator, and the doors whooshed open. They stepped inside, and Ashley leaned against the wall, frowning at him.
• “You don’t even like it that much! The money can’t be that good.”
• “I haven’t made a dime yet, Ashley. It won’t happen unless I go pro, which is the whole point of working so hard for so long.”
• Talking about boxing with Logan was never easy because Ashley was the only one who knew he wasn’t truly passionate about it. He did it because he had natural talent, and since he was a child, he saw it as a potential way out of the financial struggles he had been born into and couldn’t seem to escape. Just thinking about it made her chest tighten.
• “But when will that even happen? You’ve been fighting for years…”
• “If I qualify for the Olympics, I have a good shot.” Logan’s shoulders tensed, and he crossed his arms over his chest, causing his biceps to bulge and his T-shirt to cling tightly to his torso. “But right now, it’s all just a dream. Qualifying is complicated. I’d have to win here and then internationally, which means defeating everyone in my weight class. The point is, if I were doing it for money right now, I wouldn’t be driving a cab and taking odd jobs from the building superintendent.”
• The elevator stopped on the ninth floor, and they stepped out. Logan walked ahead, his body still tense with the conversation now centered on him. It was a sign for Ashley to stop asking questions and to keep her thoughts to herself, but she couldn’t help it.
• Ashley questioned why Logan put himself through so much. With him facing away and her staring at the back of his neck, she brought up the job offer from her father that had been hanging in the air for a year. Logan tensed, refusing to discuss it.
• “We’re not talking about that. I’m serious, Ashley,” he said as he used his own key to unlock her door.
• “Okay, I’ve escorted you home safely. Now I’m leaving,” he declared.
• She pushed him inside the apartment and kicked the door shut. “Not allowed, sir.”
• When Logan finally turned to face her, she was relieved to see no storm clouds shadowing his brow. There was only an unease she hadn’t seen before. “Is that so?”
• “That’s definitely so. It’s five-thirty in the morning, you look terrible, and you’ll probably fall asleep if you keep driving,” she said, placing her hands on her hips and widening her eyes. “Stay here with me, and I’ll take care of your wounds.”
• He glanced between her, the door, and the dawning sky outside. It was clear he wanted to leave, but a yawn nearly cracked his jaw. Irritably, he asked, “Are you going to quit talking about my money situation?”
• “For now,” she promised.
• Rocking back on his heels, a muscle twitching in his cheek, Logan reluctantly agreed. She inwardly cheered as he nodded. “Fine. I don’t have to be up tomorrow morning, anyway.”
• Logan allowed her to lead him across the hardwood floors of the living room and into her bedroom. Clothes were scattered everywhere, and a lamp and music were left on.
• He didn’t protest when she pushed him down onto her disheveled bed. There were numerous pillows and mismatched sheets, but everything was soft and carried a pleasant scent. She was convinced it was the only reason he ever stayed the night, or at least why he had before his mother passed away. After that and the night they had spent together, he had kept a careful distance from her. No more sleepovers. He only appeared if she seemed exceptionally pitiful, like tonight.
• With Logan compliant and stretched out, Ashley went to fetch a first aid kit, discarding her own clothes along the way. She removed the sweaty dress that had absorbed several spilled drinks and the noisy boots from her quiet apartment. Locating the small red-and-white box Logan had compelled her to buy when she first stocked the apartment, she brought it to the bedroom. His eyes were half-closed.
• “You really don’t have to do that,” he murmured. “I already cleaned up.”
• “Yeah, but you’re bleeding again,” she responded, straddling his legs and pointing to the various cuts on his face and torso. He tensed, placing his hands on her knees as if to push her away but didn’t. If her sitting on him in her underwear made him uncomfortable, he didn’t voice it. He also didn’t move his hands. “How does that even happen?”
• “Fuck if I know, Ashley. I didn’t notice a lot of the damage until now,” Logan admitted, a shadow crossing his face as he closed his eyes fully. “I guess I thought I’d evaded more than I actually did.”