With one quick smash, my lips were on Logan's. I'd instigated the kiss but my heart still jolted like someone had smashed electroshock paddles onto my chest upon contact. His soft and warm lips felt better than the last time we'd kissed.

While our last kiss was gentle, this one was anything but. My lips pressed tightly and nipped angrily at his and, after a brief moment of stilled shock, he matched my movements with the same elevated vigor and his mouth unleashed the same frustration that rolled through me and grated on every last nerve.

What was I thinking? This doofus right here is the only one I want.

After I threw the flowers back at James and waited for his exit, I rushed after Logan. His uncertainty in which direction he wanted slowed his pace and I caught up with him within five minutes. His long legs made easier steps than mine but I rushed half a block behind him like a stalker and gathered up my best 'I'm sorry, you were right' words.

When he stopped at the Zeta Tau Epsilon house, my feet rooted to the ground as memories from freshman year filtered through my mind. My shoulders slumped, warmth filled my cheeks as my chin dipped down to my chest, and a slight heavy sensation weighed down my arms and legs. A slight chill ran through my body, not from the night air but an internal source like I'd dipped my bones in icy water.

The laughs, whispers and pointed fingers, the taunts echoed in the back of my mind.

What was I thinking?

Never have I been so glad for Charlie, Wes, Monique, and Darrius being in my life.

I closed my eyes briefly, subdued the memories and emotions they still brought up for later overthinking, and focused on why I was actually here this time. Once I opened my eyes, like a horrendous car accident that'd been moved over to the shoulder of the road, they couldn't tear away from the scene in front of me where Lydia and Angel both disgustingly raked their bodies all over him.

One look, one blink actually, flipped my emotions like a switch. My icy bones melted as my nostrils flared and I pushed out a small huff.Microscopic trembles ran down my arms, straight down to my fingertips, which curled inward until my nails cut into the soft flesh in my palms. The tight strain in my wrists was followed by a wildfire rash of heat that engulfed my skin from the inside out.

The hell is this!? Of all girls on campus, why them? Why here!?

I'm so angry, I'm so... jealous.

A pain that stung in my cheek snapped my attention. When a metallic taste hit my tongue, I realized I'd bitten myself.

I feel sick.

My fists squeezed tighter and I bit down hard into my lower lip with every laugh the girls had cackled into the night air, how their fingers ran over his arms, chest, neck, and face. From a few steps back, I only saw the back of Logan's head but their entire faces were lit up in excitement, arousal, and attraction like they were starving and Logan was a five-star meal laid out in front of them.

A nauseous feeling rolled through my stomach when the muscles in the back of Logan's neck stiffened as Lydia and Angel shamelessly dragged their lips all over the sides of his neck. Four eyes opened and curled upwards into half-moon shapes at me, their different shades of blue illuminated by black, full-blown pupils.

In the back of my mind, a faint warning signal fired off. I had no right to feel like this, no claim to Logan. In fact, I'd dumped him right into their front lawn.

He deserves to be happy.

He should be with someone who unconditionally trusts him, doesn't place roadblocks for him to clear or hurts him, even inadvertently, with the dangled possibility of anyone else.

Yet somehow... I seriously doubt this is it.

Once Lydia grabbed between his legs, I couldn't stay a silent witness. As I brushed a couple of past smelly, overheated bodies who looked like they actually enjoyed themselves on the lawn, I pushed back my venomous thoughts, like one where I dragged both desperate bitches out of the party by their hair extensions.

With all that pent up jealousy, combined with a near-feral desire to claim what wasn't actually mine yet, I mouth-mauled Logan right on the sidewalk in front of the sorority house. A slight cool breeze brushed over my cheeks as his arms clenched tightly around my hips and pulled me flush against his hard chest and abdomen.

My lips moved on their own accord, parted slightly, then kissed him roughly, over and over, until my tension dissolved with all the crazy emotions inside me and everything between me and Logan felt normal.

Correction, everything felt... right.

A small shudder of reality quivered down my spine and I broke off slightly. A sob vibrated and rose up the back of my throat, as thoughts of how pathetic this kiss was filtered through my mind.

No, how pathetic I am.

I was jealous, I wanted him with me and no one else. That wasn't my real feelings towards him, more conceit and rejection from when I'd seen how probably my least favorite two girls on campus hung desperately on him like side pieces. I wanted him to be mine and mine alone, an ownership desire which actually started the very moment when I saw the flash of pain in his eyes as I left on my date with James.

All those feelings of doubt and skepticism were obliterated when Logan's actions said he clearly wasn't done. His arms tightened around my lower back, tugged me back against him, and brought his lips back down towards mine but slowly this time. My fists in his shirt relaxed, then my palms snaked up his chest until they found the familiar softness of his hair between my fingers. Waves of familiarity and nostalgia washed over me as our mouths met again and, this time, moved together with purpose and intent. His hand grip on the sides of my hips remained firm, as if he had no intention that he ever released me.

When my lips parted, he capitalized on the opportunity, slid his tongue into my mouth, then tasted and stroked mine gently. A low groan erupted from the back of his throat when I responded with similar movements and I shuddered from the slight vibrations against my lips. Every negative thought settled down in the back of my mind, Lydia and Angel rolled into a ditch for all I cared, even the sidewalk gawkers evaporated. Under a blanket of darkness, there was only me and Logan.

We moved together, unbreaking our kiss, as I surged forwards and he tugged me closer. The strong, pounding beats of his heart in his chest pulsed softly through his shirt into my palms. The raw, guttural groan he released as he broke off spread a smile across my lips and my heart hammered out a similarly rapid pattern. Logan was only slightly less breathless than me when we pulled apart, our chests heaved with recovery pants, then walked home in complete silence.

"I told you so." I referred to my earlier text that I'd sent my now former friend James away, pointed ahead of me once we reached the top of the stairs, and looked down the hallway to our apartment. The slight remnants of a few red rose petals littered the floor in front of our apartment door, although the bouquet was gone.

"I believed you," Logan said quietly from behind me.

"Did you believe me when I say you need a shower?" I lifted my eyebrows at him while he shut and locked the apartment door behind us, then tossed my keys onto the dining room table. "Or at least, please wash your neck."

Logan looked absolutely ridiculous, with streaks of crimson and blood-red lipstick and the start of at least one hickey on both sides of his neck. Thankfully, he stepped quickly into the bathroom, where he groaned quietly at his reflection before he ran the water in the shower.

My stomach fluttered while I watched from the doorway as he scrubbed at his neck until his T-shirt collar was soaked with water, with absolutely no luck. "What would have happened if I hadn't stepped in?"

"I would've left," he replied with a slight roll of his eyes. "Because it was shit. Trust me, I didn't want that."

As soon as his answer hit my ears, I realized how possessive and ridiculous I sounded, then tipped my chin slightly down.

"Logan," I warned him. "You don't owe me any explanation. You're single, handsome, probably the school's most eligible -"

"Stop right there." Logan shut me up with one stern look, his mouth pressed into a firm line. Under his slightly drawn together eyebrows, his gaze burned through me. Within quick steps, he stood one breath from me and, despite the uncomfortable angle of my neck craned backwards, I found myself unable to tear my eyes away.

I want you to be ineligible. Mine.

Logan must've read my thoughts because he reached out, tucked a few strands of hair behind both my ears, then cupped his damp fingers under my jaw. The gentleness of his touch against my skin sent tingles all the way into my bones. He used to hold me like his, then looked deeply into my eyes like I was the only person who mattered.

"Ellie, I said I wouldn't lie to you," his voice was low as he held me.

Remnants of my jealousy lingered in my bitter tone, "Yeah, well sometimes you're a bit too honest."

He sliced right through my words with, "You always were more about actions than words." Before I knew it, he bent down and, very slowly, placed a featherlight kiss on the corner of my mouth. A tiny gasp escaped my lips and my fingers squeezed into tight fists by my sides when his mouth locked over mine again.

His close proximity, the warmth of his breath, the smell from his laundry soap and deodorant were just as intoxicating as when we kissed outside. To make it worse, his hands released my face, ran lightly over my shoulders and down the back of my arms, then clasped around my waist.

We need to talk.

At the thought, my heart hammered in my chest, my lungs burned, and I struggled for breath. Slowly and deliberately, his eyes focused straight into mine as we both broke off gently.

"Logan." My hands slid onto his chest. "We shouldn't -"

"Then don't." His mouth formed a response to words he'd definitely misunderstood but everything in his expression said he didn't believe them. His eyes blazed such an intense shade of blue, they looked like they wanted to burst. All of the pain, the frustration, the want radiated inside them as clear as the ocean on the sunniest summer day.

"I..." I folded my lower lip under at the smile that wanted to escape, and released it when his gaze dropped to my lips. "...wasn't going to say that."

"What?" Logan's voice sounded as strained as he looked. The muscles in his neck and shoulders tensed, his mouth pulled in a firm line, and his jaw clenched tightly shut.

"I was going to say we shouldn't get so jealous... but... in response to what you thought I meant, that... I want to." My hands slid up to behind his neck and I closed the distance between us in a combination of I pulled him down and tipped my chin up.

With just a hair's breadth between us, I whispered, "I want to be with you."

Logan closed the gap before I breathed, but I was equally glad and relieved that he had.

With a sharp inhale through my nose, my hands clung desperately to him and my fingers kneaded into the back of his neck as his lips pressed hard against mine. Any hesitation or tentativeness from his previous kiss was gone, and I wanted to lose myself against the urgency, the ache, that built up pressure inside the more we kissed. His mouth moved over mine with a mind numbing mix of want and need, apologies from earlier tonight, and intentions of what he wanted at this moment.

I brushed my chest against his, my nipples tightened at the friction, and a flush of heat spread through me like uncontrolled wildfire through a dead forest. He steered me one step back but I placed both hands onto his chest and broke off.

My eyes lowered from his hair, messed from my hands' grip on it, the brightness in his eyes that haloed his full, black pupils, and the swollen, pink skin on his upper and lower lips. At the reminders on his neck, the flickers of annoyance flared up and I spat out just one word.

"Shower."