Total Knock Out / Book Two

Chapter Eighteen: Kiss It Better

Stanford paced across his living room floor, at war with himself. Logan's terrified eyes had flooded his mind and kept him from sleeping, haunting him like a ghost. He wanted nothing more than to go and crawl in her bed and reassure himself that she was okay, and that Rori was safe on the other side of their lilac door; but he knew it wasn't his place. The fantasy he had worked up in his head of the three of them being a family was just that, a dream that the broken child inside of him has latched onto with razor sharp claws.

He shoved a hand through his hair and made his way to the the beginning of the hallway, bracing each hand on a wall and letting out a growl of frustration. He hadn't planned on getting this attached. He had known that Logan was attractive the first time he had seen her picture, despite the bruises covering her face, and he had just assumed that Rori would worm her way into his heart like Zoey had done all those years ago; but it went deeper than that now. Logan was still attractive, but in a way that made him think of home instead of just a place to rest and Rori held his heart in her small hands instead of just living in a piece of it.

"Fuck me," Stanford muttered, jerking back from the entrance of the hallway and scrubbing his hands over his face. Two weeks was all the time it took for him to fall like a complete and utter madman apparently, because it didn't take a genius to realize that Logan and Rori were his whole world now. "I'm so fucking screwed."

He turned away from the hallway, determined to not let his heart ruin whatever was going on between the three of them. He had barely taken two steps when he heard footsteps behind him and he offered a weak smile when he turned and saw Logan making her way towards him.

"What are you doing up? It's three in the morning," Logan whispered, coming to a stop beside him and placing her hand on his arm. He resisted the urge to snake his arm around her waist and drag her close, shrugging his shoulders instead and shaking his head.

"Can't sleep. I got worried about Rori and figured I'd come check on her to make sure she was okay," Stanford said quietly, trailing after Logan into the kitchen and watching as she fished a cookie out of the jar she had found in one of his cabinets yesterday.

"Welcome to parenthood, babe. Doesn't get any easier as they get older," she tossed over her shoulder, shoving the lid back on the jar and breaking the cookie in her hand in half before offering a part of it to Stanford. He accepted the broken cookie and told himself that the pet name meant nothing, the other women in his life called him that all the time and it was nothing more than a friendly endearment.

They ate their cookie in silence and he followed her back into the living room, staring at the strip of skin exposed right above the waistband of her pajama pants. It was kind of pathetic how easily she could distract him without realizing it, doing nothing but simply existing.

"You can come lay down with me if you want. I probably won't go back to sleep but I want to be close in case Rori has a nightmare. Laying in the dark is always better when you aren't alone," Logan offered, standing at the entrance of the hallway and holding her hand out to him. He reached for it in a split second, intertwining their fingers and following her down the hallway.

He knew he would regret this later, but right now he could just pretend that Logan was really his. That it wasn't convenience that had Logan offering to share her bed, but the actual desire to have him there just because.

He peeked through the joint doorway into Rori's room and smiled to himself when he saw the haphazard way she was laying on the bed, one arm hanging off the side and the blanket tangled around her feet. He felt better knowing that the events of the day obviously weren't getting to her.

He crawled in bed after Logan, tugging the blanket over their legs before settling against the pillows facing Logan. She smiled up at him and closed her eyes, hand stretching across the space between them until it landed on his bare chest, fingertips gliding back and forth across the puckered cigarette burn scars above his heart. It took everything in him not to lean into her touch and he clenched his eyes shut, refusing to close the distance between their bodies no matter how badly he wanted to.

He let out a slow breath when she let her hand drop away and almost jumped out of his skin when she pressed her body flush against his, lips brushing over the scars just like her fingertips had done. She brought a hand up to rest on his hip and she squeezed until he sucked air back into his lungs, the action pressing her lips more firmly against his chest.

He was surprised Logan didn't feel his heart pounding against his rib cage and settled one arm over her hip, his own fingertips gliding back and forth over the skin that had distracted him so much earlier. He had no idea why she was dragging her lips against his skin in probably the most sensual thing he had ever experienced, but he definitely wasn't complaining. Now was not the time to think about how this was sure to ruin their tentative friendship, it was just time to feel.

Logan pulled her head back just a bit and blew cool air against his chest, making goosebumps erupt across his skin. His fingers dug into the flesh on her hip, pinky slipping under the waistband of her pajama pants and he could feel the rough edge of her panties brush against it.

"When I was little, my mom always kissed my boo-boos when I hurt myself. She said that it was magic when they stopped hurting right after. And then I thought about your mom and how you probably never got that, and it broke my heart." Logan tilted her head up and Stanford snapped his eyes open, looking down into her vibrant green ones and feeling like he was getting sucked in. Like he was fixing to get lost and he didn't even care.

"All of the places that she hurt you, all of the scars that you have from her. It won't heal your body but it might make your heart less, might fill in the cracks that she left behind. I will if you want me to," Logan whispered, a blush high on her cheeks.

Stanford's fingers twitched on their own, slipping further under her waistband when he thought about the webbing of scars he had on his thigh. About how she wanted to help fix him but she would end up killing him if he said yes and let her press her lips to that many places on his body. But he still couldn't help from nodding his head and accepting the fact that she would completely shatter him when she left.