Logan

14. Signs

*Scarlet's POV*

Logan was acting... weird. Refusing to make eye contact, refusing to tell me what he'd done to hurt himself when any other time he would have been asking me for help.

I didn't understand.

But at the same time, I was so jet lagged, and exhausted from being on and off airplanes for the last 48 hours that I didn't want to push him any further...

I stumbled past his room, the door was wide open and it looked like someone was laying in his bed. I rolled my eyes before continuing past our bathroom, but then I hesitated when I dropped my bag in front of my door. Had that been Natalie? There was no way... I quietly opened my door and kicked my bag inside, and then turned back down the hallway, carefully peeking my head inside his room just as Logan came over the top of the stairs.

"What the fuck Logan?!" He held his bandaged fingers up his lips, motioning for me to keep my voice down, and I scowled at him as I again looked into his room to make sure I was seeing things correctly "What is going on..." He again shushed me, pulling me into my room and carefully shutting the door, both of his hands running through his hair as he paced the length of my room a few times "Are you going to say anything?!"
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*Logan's POV*

"I said it was a long story 'Lette... Nat and I, we uh..." I folded my arms across my chest as Scarlet scowled at me and mirrored my body language "She... had a really bad night. We both did." I pulled at the edges of the bandage wrapped around my hand, it was starting to come loose and the bruised skin was beginning to peak through "We went to see a movie and Jacob was there."

"Jesus..."

"I was at the counter getting our stuff and he grabbed her arm and I... I just lost it." Scarlet's body language relaxed, her arms unfolding and falling against her sides "I think it finally hit me that I could have done something to stop what he was doing to her. We all saw that something wasn't right but none of us said or did a damn thing about it... and Natalie got hurt." I sighed, running my uninjured hand through my hair and then using it to peel off the bandage, and it fell to the floor in slow motion as I flexed my hand, wincing at how sore it felt "Jacob hurt her... and I couldn't stop myself. I hit him, again and again until she put her hand on my shoulder and brought me back." She walked closer, her hand now hovering over mine, her eyes studying the bruised skin.

"You need to ice this..." Scarlet finally mumbled under her breath, after opening her door and motioning for me to follow her downstairs.
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*Natalie's POV*

"You need to explain what's really going on between the two of you. Right now. Because I'm not stupid enough to think you stayed last night just because you were scared Nat." Scarlet tossed an ice pack from the freezer to Logan, who'd just woken me up only ten minutes earlier as he pulled a tshirt over his head "I mean, I'm pretty sure I know you've had sex, but I want to hear both of you say it." I couldn't help the smirk that ghosted over my face as I took a long sip of my coffee, and Logan adjusted the way he was holding the ice against his hand "I'm not mad... I'm way too tired to be mad. I just want to know that you're both... being safe."

"I love her..." Logan looked at me, briefly, before looking back at his sister, his free hand moving underneath the table to my lap "And I'll tell you the exact same thing I told Alex..."

"He's never going to hurt me." I'd tried to whisper, but when Logan trailed off, his eyes locking with mine, his hand tightening its grip on my leg... I knew both of them had heard me.
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I pulled at the end of the long sleeves of my hoodie, my mind completely focused on Logan as he leaned against the bar, his hands waving around as he and Alex ordered drinks for our table. He was wearing the jacket I'd picked out for him, his rings back in place after his hand had fully healed. I would have been more than content staying home with him, maybe watching a movie while we cuddled under a blanket, but when Victoria had called and invited us all out for drinks... He'd insisted that we both go.

"Hey..." Logan slid into the booth next to me, his arm gently snaking around my back, his lips briefly meeting mine before pulling away just as Victoria and Alex slid into the booth opposite us "I got you a water... you sure that's all you wanted?" I only managed to nod at him, my eyes darting around the busy space, and eventually locking with his "It's alright if you don't want to be here Nat... we'll finish our drinks and..."

"Stay!" Alex pushed my glass of water towards me, downing his own drink in two swallows, wiping his mouth with his sleeve "Please?"

"I'm tired..." It didn't look like he accepted my answer, but he didn't say anything else as he stood up and mumbled under his breath about needing to use the bathroom. Victoria and Logan were talking about a show that was coming up, and the way she was looking at him made me oddly uncomfortable. I pushed the doubt down, I needed to stop letting my trust issues get in the way of everything "I'll be right back..." Logan let me out of the booth, and I ignored his questions asking me what was wrong as I hurriedly walked towards the bathroom and went to lock the door behind myself, but found it being stopped by someone...

"Nat..." Scarlet's words were slurred, and I could smell the heavy scent of her favorite Irish whiskey as she pushed past me, locking the door and leaning against the far wall "You know... my... my brother... you know he had sex with her once? Victoria."

"You're drunk Scarlet..." I shook my head, moving towards the sink to maybe splash a little cold water in my face "He would have told me."