I nodded and let out a breath I'd hardly been aware of holding. I couldn't say I was relieved, exactly. But I was hopeful. "Thank you. Really, Dex. For everything you did."
"Shit." He looked away, obviously embarrassed. "Why do I feel like I could use a drink?" he said. "I don't like talking to girls about perverted shit like this."
"It's not my favorite topic, either. If it helps, I won't look at you."
He shook his head again. "You're funny, Ellie."
"Look," I said. "I'm fighting a succubus who haunts Logan in his dreams. It's like boxing with shadows. I need ammo. Just give me the basics."
He shrugged. "The tape was short and shot from a camera she must have hidden somewhere off to the side of the bed. The picture wasn't super clear."
If that was another lie, I let him get away with it.
"It opens with her leading Logan to the bed. He's leaning on her heavily, as if he can barely stand, and protesting that he feels sick and needs to leave. He's mumbling like talking is a real effort and stumbling and dragging his feet.
"She helps him on to the bed just in time and it looks like he passes out." Dex paused. "Shit. You really want to hear this?" He studied me like he was trying to determine if I was okay.
I nodded and swallowed hard. "If Logan has to live through it at trial, I can live through it here. Logan isn't going to tell me. I'd rather hear it from you than the hostile opposing lawyers for Dr. Rogers' defense."
Dex nodded and pursed his lips, looking like I'd made a good point. "Okay, then. She undresses him, slowly, like she likes it, running her fingers over his body, squeezing his muscles, telling him how hot he is and how much she wants him. His breathing gets heavier, but he doesn't move.
"Then she does a striptease for him, even though he's out cold. And gets herself off as she lies next to him, stroking his dick." Dex shivered like he was totally revolted. "It was horrifying and I fast forwarded through a lot of it. But my morbid curiosity got the best of me and I saw enough of it. Too much."
I nodded. "I know. Keep going."
Dex looked out the window as he spoke. "She strokes him and plays with him until he's hard. Then gets a condom out and rolls it on him. Climbs on top of him and puts him in her. She's riding him, calling his name, trying to wake him. Finally, he rouses just a little and murmurs a girl's name."
Dex glanced at me guiltily. "Don't ask me the name because the sound quality was bad and he mumbled. I couldn't hear it, but it sure as hell wasn't Dr. Rogers' name. That much was clear. He thought she was some girl he was into, okay?"
"Okay."
"Just so you're clear—he was obviously confused. He was in no way into Dr. Rogers. I have to make an editorial comment here—she was not sexy. Her breasts were baggy and her skin wrinkled. Her belly was flabby. She looked like an old crone getting off on a hot young guy. It's important to keep that in mind. If Logan had been conscious, he would have been as repulsed as I was."
My heart was racing as I nodded. "I know. Believe me, I know. It's just that he doesn't see it that way."
Dex looked stricken. "Maybe I shouldn't have erased it. At the time I didn't think. I was shocked and sickened. I never thought…" He took a deep breath and let it out. "I never thought it would be healing for Logan, or any victim to see that. Maybe I was wrong."
"It's okay, Dex. You had every good intention. Is that the end?"
He shook his head. "She rides him until he climaxes, but it was clear he was never fully awake and aware. He was hallucinating or dreaming. He thought she was someone else.
"Just after he comes, he starts like he's waking up and realizes for a second who she is. He looks horrified. Then he passes out again." Dex stared at me. "Ellie? You okay? You look pale."
"I'm fine. Just…" It happened exactly like Logan's nightmare. He was reliving it and substituting me for the girl before.
"Icked out and feeling like you need a shower?" Dex asked.
I finally managed to nod and smile. "Yeah."
He sighed. "I know the feeling." He was silent. "I know the last thing he wants is pity, but I feel for Logan. That's some serious shit to have to deal with."
We fell silent.
Finally, Dex spoke again. "If it ever comes up, reassure him that he didn't really regain consciousness. He had no idea what he was doing."
"I know. I will," I said, relieved by that part of what Dex had told me. "He won't bring it up. And I can't. He doesn't want me at the trial because he's afraid of the images getting to me. So how do I convince him?"
"Shit, Ellie. I have no idea." Dex actually gave me a hug.
The day was warm. When I got back to the apartment, the windows were open, Spartacus was swimming happily around his bowl, and the guys were lounging around the living room making plans for the weekend. I entered in the middle of their conversation.
"It's too late to plan a really epic party," Zave said.
"Spontaneous parties can be epic, too." Collin was drinking a beer. He took a swig before he spoke. "We have to do something. Live a little. Next weekend we'll be tied down with the moms." He rolled his eyes in disgust.
I hadn't really thought about their moms coming. Truthfully, I wasn't thinking about much more than Logan and my own troubles with Mom coming. I realized I'd have to move back to my dorm room, at least for that weekend. And I didn't relish the thought of going back or stopping by and talking to Bre about it. I still didn't know if her mom was coming, too.
Zave shrugged. "Yeah, your mom's a party dud."
"What are you talking about? Yours is worse. Mine's decent at beer pong. Logan's sucks."
Logan didn't come to his mom's defense. He remained silently amused.
"Let's have a mom beer pong tourney." Zave noticed me. "Oh, hey, Ellie. Think your mom would be up for it?"
"Probably. But she'd be more up for strip poker and I'm not letting her take advantage of you guys." I liked teasing and egging the guys on.
"That sounds dirty," Zave said.
"Does it? I didn't mean it to," I said, all innocent-like. Then I winked as I walked over and gave Logan a kiss. He pulled me into his lap.
"Don't worry about us, Ellie," Collin said. "We heard your mom is hot and not all that old. We'd let her take advantage of us. For your sake."
"I'm touched, boys, really. But no thanks. I'm going to take her dancing at Up All Night and let her pick her victim from a pool of willing strangers."
"Cruel girl," Collin said to me, but it was all in good fun.
Logan wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck. "You always smell good." He kissed my neck. "Where've you been? I was expecting you earlier."
My heart raced, but I reverted to my cool lying techniques and told a good partial truth. "I stopped by to see Dex. He wants me to pick up his Mom's Weekend sweatshirts and I had to get his receipt. Did you order matching sweatshirts?" I ribbed Logan.
Logan shuddered. "Not even Mom could make me do that. So what do you want to do this weekend, El?"
Zave cut in. "Let's go to the cliffs and do some jumping. We haven't been since last summer."
I froze.
Logan noticed and hugged me tighter. "No thanks. I don't think I'm up to saving El's life again." He kissed my cheek.
"Shut up." I punched him playfully, happy he'd come to my defense. But sensing that he was telling the truth—until Mom's Weekend and the trial were over, he was distracted.
"Sorry, Ellie. Didn't mean to upset you. Almost drowning has to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, right?"
"Not if you really drown the next time," Collin said.
"I'm with Logan," I said. "I'm a fair-weather jumper. It's not hot enough yet."
"We're out," Logan said.
Collin lifted his beer bottle toward me. "She has a point. It's more fun to drink beer and jump off cliffs in the heat."
Zave conceded defeat. "Okay, so what do you want to do?"
Logan slid me off his lap and took me by the hand. "You guys figure it out. El and I h
ave to study." He pulled me toward his room.
"Anatomy again?" Collin smirked.
"Shut up." Logan pulled me into his room and closed the door. "I missed you."
"Are we really studying?" I asked.
"Yeah, anatomy." He got that wicked look in his eyes as he pulled me close and ran his fingers through my hair.
His back was toward the bed. I was facing him and it. I had a delicious idea, something I hoped would work to rid him of Her. And give him nothing but happy, erotic thoughts of me.
We'd made love fewer than a dozen times, always with him on top. My inexperience, especially with being on top, put me at a disadvantage. But love, determination, and complete enthusiasm for the job had to count for something.
I had a hard time focusing as his lips inched toward mine. I braced my hands against his chest and matched his grin, playfully pushing him backward toward the bed, taking full command as I pulled his T-shirt over his head.
He matched my move and ran his hot, talented hands beneath my blouse. He removed my blouse in a single, fluid move.
He dropped it to the floor with a flourish. "Now you see it. Now I see you." His grin practically stopped my heart. "I want you, El." He pressed an urgent kiss on my neck, sucking gently and pressing me against him.
I held back a sigh. Seducing Logan was the easy part. Playing aggressor was trickier. He stripped me of command too easily. And I was sure it was purely intentional.
He trailed kisses, hot, wonderful kisses, down my neck to my shoulder. He coiled himself around me, pressing me against the hard bulge in jeans. I was thrumming with lust and already wet for him as he nibbled and raked his teeth over my skin. I momentarily surrendered and spoke his name on a sigh. "Logan."
"I need you, El. Desperately."
"Only desperately?" I whispered back on a ragged breath. "I need you tragically."
"Tragically?" He kissed the hollow of my neck.
"Achingly."
"Are we engaging in a corny adverb war?"
"Yes, definitely." I ran my fingers through his hair. "Your turn."
He whispered in my ear. "I love you."
"Cheater! You win." I caught him off guard and pushed him backward to the bed until he butted up against the mattress. "You're going down, Walker."
"Is that an invitation? Because I'll go down on you any day."
I felt a rush of wetness and heat between my legs. "Shut up." I playfully shoved him backward, hoping I had enough control to hang on and make my point.
He fell back onto the bed with an exaggerated bounce.
"I like the sight of you on your back. Under my control."
"Under your control?" He spoke like he was issuing a challenge. "Power hungry?" His eyes danced.
I grinned and climbed on him, straddling him, rubbing my crotch against the obvious bulge in his jeans. I bent and sucked his nipple. "Anyone ever tell you you're a hot anatomy subject?"
He laughed. "No. No one. You're the first."
"Glad I'm first at something." I licked the hollow of his throat, feeling his pulse leap beneath my tongue.
He unhooked my bra. I sat up and let him pull it off, holding his gaze, daring him to turn me on even more. He dangled my bra from one finger before dropping it off the side of the bed. He took my breasts in his hands and ran his thumbs over my nipples until they were so hard and erect I thought they might shatter. "Now we're even."
We were so not even.
His eyes were dark with lust as I reached for his fly. "Are we?"
It had all been fun and games up until now, but now he froze as I unzipped his jeans.
"That's right. Just lie there and let me turn you on."
His breathing became shallow as I pulled back the fly of his jeans and slid his pants slowly to his ankles. He kicked them off as I reached for a condom.
I pulled his dick out from his briefs, stroking it slowly before rolling a condom onto it as expertly as my inexperience let me. I was wearing thong panties. There was no need to shed them. The thought of him sliding in around them made my breath catch. I should have talked dirty to him then, but I was afraid of being too obvious. Too similar. And it wasn't really like me.
I got up on my knees, took his dick in my hand, and poised myself about him, ready to plunge him into me. "I want to feel your big, hard—"
Before I could sit on him and take him into me, he grabbed my wrist, squeezing it so hard my hand turned almost instantly purple.
"Not like this, El."
I gasped and reflexively let go of him, stunned.
He took advantage of my moment of weakness and flipped me over, pinning me beneath him. His chest heaved. He was breathing hard and fast, excited, but he looked pale and wild. "Now who's in control?" His voice was excited and hard.
He plunged into me before I could answer, driving so hard and deep I could barely breathe, let alone speak. I wrapped my legs around him as he drove again and again, harder and harder, deeper and deeper until the headboard banged against the wall in time with us. And someone in the next apartment banged back.
"Logan!" I cried on a wave of pleasure as we climaxed together.
When it was over, he lay on top of me, breathing hard as I the aftershocks of my climax ebbed away. Finally, he pulled out and flopped next to me on the bed.
I rested my head on his chest. His heart was hammering and pounding as I mindlessly rubbed my right wrist.
"Shit! That was…some powerful orgasm. Like nothing before."
Although I was in total agreement, my experience was limited. I didn't reply. I was lost in my thoughts. I'd tried to replicate the dream and replace the outcome. And failed. As long as he had to be in control, She was still winning.
He leaned up on an elbow and stared at me. My face must have given me away.
He frowned like he was concerned. "You okay? I'm sorry, El. I don't know what the hell came over me. Was I too rough?"
Logan brushed my hair out of my face. He took my wrist, bringing it to his lips to kiss.
Halfway there, he froze. He frowned as he stared at my wrist. "I was too rough. Look what I've done to you." His voice broke.
I glanced at my wrist. It was circled with finger-size bruises.
"Shit. Sorry, El. I can't believe I hurt you." He sounded truly stunned.
"I bruise easily," I said fiercely. "It's nothing. I get bruises all the time and I don't even remember bumping myself."
The look in his eyes said he didn't believe me. "Shit."
"Don't worry about it. I heal quickly, too." I paused, going for broke. "I know how you can make it up to me."
"How?" He looked intrigued and relieved.
"Next time, let me be on top." I smiled suggestively at him. "It's a fantasy of mine to have you totally in my power."
Logan's cell rang from his jeans pocket on the floor, saving him from answering. He looked away too quickly for me to read his face and didn't answer me. "I have to get that." He rolled off the bed, slid the condom off, and grabbed his briefs, shirt, and jeans.
He pulled the phone out of his pants as he walked to the bathroom and picked up. "Amber, hey," he said just before the door slid shut and cut off his conversation.
A wave of jealousy crashed over me. I hated that predatory Amber. I felt like a knight protecting his castle while a different enemy stormed it from every side. I was losing more than one battle at once. And I didn't have enough defenses.
I needed reinforcements. But I had no idea where to get them. None.
Chapter Eleven
Logan
Logan closed the bathroom door and held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he got dressed. That was a close escape. How could he explain to El that the thought of her on top caused him to go cold with nausea?
He didn't do that position. Ever. Not since Her. El could poll all of the girls he'd slept with since, and if they thought about it, they'd realize he not only liked it on top—he insisted on it. Or behind. Or any of another zillion positions. But
not that one.
"Logan, glad I caught you." Amber exuded her usual confidence.
He held himself in check, irritated with Amber for calling, yet grateful for the interruption at the same time. El hadn't known what she was asking of him. And he couldn't tell her without cracking and looking like a coward and a sexual failure.
"What's up?" he said.
"We've hit a minor snag with the IPO." Amber's tone was so casual she may as well have been talking about the weather.
Which put Logan immediately on edge. He swore beneath his breath. He needed one thing to go right. One damn thing.
"It's nothing on our end. I'm already on top of damage control. But I thought you should know—Core Technologies is rattling their sabers and claiming to have a technology similar to ours that they're planning to release within the month."
"What!" The word exploded from his mouth. "They're lying. I did the due diligence. Core has nothing like ours."
"Of course they're lying." Amber laughed. "They're trying to mess with our IPO while they play catch-up. It's nothing more than corporate politics. I wouldn't even think twice about it, except Harlan has connections there."
Logan took a deep breath. "You think Dad's behind this? How would he even know about the deal?"
Logan could almost hear Amber shrug. "I have no idea. I only know he's unhappy with you. And I know what he's capable of if you cross him."
Logan jostled the phone as he pulled his shirt on. "Yeah. That's an understatement. He doesn't want me to testify, but I'm not backing down on that. I can't now, anyway. Too many people are counting on me. What do you want me to do?" He had a feeling that whatever it was, he wouldn't like it.
"He'll be on campus for the College of Business' annual advisory board meeting, right?"
It was rhetorical question. Amber knew the answer, so he didn't bother answering.
"Play nice and try to placate him. We may need him to use his influence to get Core to back off."