Page 151 of Let the Game Begin

I abruptly stopped stroking myself because it would have been pointless to continue. I was just going to have to live with a persistent hard-on for a few interminable minutes because I knew I couldn’t come on my own.

Sure, I could have gone to the next room and asked Babygirl to remedy it for me, but for fuck’s sake, I hadn’t even spoken to her since before I went to the clinic. After our last time in bed, I’d barely looked at her, purposely ignoring her so she would realize how insignificant this thing between us was for me.

Our postcoital “talk” had generated a new turmoil inside me. I was only used to my familiar sort of inner chaos, the kind I’d been living with my whole life.

I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist, trying to distract myself enough to release some of the physical as well as the mental tension. I walked back into my room, and just then, my cell phone rang insistently. I didn’t even have a chance to get my sweatpants on.

Instead, I reached over and grabbed my phone to answer the call.

“Matt?” I asked as soon as I picked up. It was strange for Matt to be calling at that hour. In fact, it was strange for him to be calling me at all.

“Neil,” he said brokenly. He sounded profoundly upset. “You… You need to come here to the hospital,” he added, his voice anxious.

“The hospital?” I frowned and immediately headed for my closet to find something clean to wear.

“Yes, Saint Vincent Medical Center. It’s Logan,” he said.

After that, I no longer felt anything at all.

After I dressed and asked Anna to keep an eye on Chloe, I got into my car and sped down the street to get to my brother.

33

Selene

It all happened so fast.

Logan took Alyssa out for her birthday. He’d gotten her a gift and planned a romantic dinner, but after he took her home, something had gone awry.

We still didn’t know exactly what happened, because Logan couldn’t talk to us. Logan couldn’t hear us. Logan wasn’t conscious.

At that particular moment, Mia was sobbing in my father’s arms as he tried to support her. Her blond hair tumbled gently around her shoulders, and mascara streaked down her cheeks. I, meanwhile, was still so shocked by the news of his accident that I wasn’t even completely sure where I was.

“What happened?”

For a second, I thought I’d imagined that baritone. But then I realized he was actually there, in the hospital, because I could see him running toward us, his beautiful face a portrait of fear. Mia turned to her son and kept sobbing, trying in vain to speak.

“Logan lost control of his car,” Matt explained, moving closer to Neil as though preparing to handle him if he had another huge reaction.

“He lost control of the car?” he repeated, his golden eyes intent. “How is he? Where is he? He’s okay, right?” he demanded, panting. He was out ofbreath and clearly shaken up, so Matt rested his hands on Neil’s shoulders, trying to calm him down.

“Neil,” he said, giving him a gentle squeeze. “They had to rush him into the operating room. He had internal bleeding and—”

“I need to see him!” he shouted, shooting agitated glances all around.

“Neil, calm down, you need to understand that—” Matt tried again, but his words were useless in the face of Neil’s anger.

“I need to see him! Christ’s sake!” he continued shouting, attracting the attention of a few nurses who turned to watch him. His voice was so loud, so full of rage that it made me flinch.

“Neil, calm down.” Matt reached out for him again, but he dodged out of the way. Neil hated being touched; my father should have known that. Mia, meanwhile, looked like she was going to faint, so I rushed over and took her arm.

“Mia!” I exclaimed fearfully, my hands trembling as I helped her into a chair.

“Neil, don’t be this way,” she whispered to her son, and I could see how anxious she was. I realized that, in that moment, Neil’s reaction was what Mia feared the most.

“No, goddammit! Let me see him!” He began stalking around in an agitated fashion and a couple of nurses approached him, which only made the situation worse.

My father attempted again to calm him down, but Neil wasn’t listening to anyone.