Page 15 of Now You See Him

Chapter

Eleven

F or the first step of her plan, Tina focused on putting Logan at ease on the drive home.

“Hey, remember that time we decided to be cultured and spent a month watching all these off-Broadway shows?”

Logan’s grip relaxed on the steering wheel. In the dark, she could see his easy smile. “We went to that one show where we were the only ones in the theater, and you kept nudging me because I was falling asleep.”

“I honestly don’t even remember what that show was about,” Tina said.

She reached out and cupped the back of his neck, registered his surprise.

He didn’t pull away as she started to knead the muscles at the top of his spine and rake her fingers through his hair.

The muscles in his shoulders began to relax.

“Walking distance to Hells Kitchen, right?”

“Yeah, and the dinner we tried afterwards was great,” he said. “Best muscles ever.”

“Clams,” Tina said, laughing even though his lack of memory wasn’t humorous. “I think they shut down.”

Logan sighed. “I miss that place.”

“Me, too,” Tina said even though she couldn’t care less. She never liked shellfish. Logan pulled into the driveway of the house, and the motion lights in front of the colonial cast a warm glow at their approach. The garage door slowly opened, and they pulled into the empty bay.

She carried on the conversation, bringing up memory after memory until Logan was laughing, his eyes filled with warmth, his guard lowered. They stood next to each other at their double sinks and washed their faces, combed their hair, got ready for bed.

“I know I said I had to work tonight, but I’d rather just go to bed,” she said, silkily.

Logan raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

She resumed bringing up the best memories they had to share, including the time one of his college friends stayed with them and panicked when they took the subway for the first time. Then there was the snowstorm where they were locked inside for days and did nothing but catch up on work and movies.

Logan joined in and recounted the moment their mutual friend dated an actor and had to hide out at their place because of paparazzi.

Tina laughed as she tampered the urge to correct his version of what happened as she changed in her closet.

She made sure to wear one of her babydoll camisoles and paired it with bamboo-fabric sleep shorts, so she wasn’t too obvious.

Logan’s gaze heated as she reappeared in the primary suite and walked to her side of the bed.

“We had fun, didn’t we?” she said. Her voice was low and warm as she switched off the light and moved closer to the center of the bed.

“We did,” Logan replied. He gravitated towards her as well. One arm slid under her pillow while the other draped over her hip. There was a gleam in his eye. He thought he was about to get lucky.

He was exactly where Tina wanted him.

As if on cue, there was a chill, a gust of air against her cheek, and she smirked right before she leaned forward and kissed her fiancé.

She didn’t feel anything. No spark, no rush of desire, no tingle at the base of her spine as their lips met.

Her vagina was as dry as a desert as she wrapped her arms around Logan’s neck and he draped a leg over her thighs and pulled her under his body. She rolled her hips forward and moaned.

The bedside light flickered.

Logan tore his mouth away from hers. “Wha?—”

“Shh, ignore it. Loose bulb.” She held his face between her palms and brought him back to her mouth, sealing her lips over his once more.

His tongue felt thick, awkward in her mouth, but she was finally experiencing the tiniest spark of interest at the thought that someone was watching her in the dark.

Wind roared against the window, and Logan’s body went tense. Tina bent her back, pressing her breasts against his chest. Then she reached between them to wrap her fingers around his semi-erect cock.

The light flickered rapidly now. The window rattled.

Logan tried to scramble back. “Something’s happening,” he said, fear radiating through every syllable. “What’s happening?”

“Nothing,” she said. “The weather said there was a storm. We haven’t fucked in so long, Logan. Don’t you want me?”

She pushed the blanket aside, got up on her knees and quickly looped one leg over his hip so that she was sitting with her pussy directly over his dick.

She quickly tore off her babydoll camisole, and her breasts popped out and bounced gently.

Her nipples peaked at the frigid air that wrapped around her like an embrace.

Logan still had that skittish panic in his eyes as the light continued to flicker and cast a glow across his face. His hands circled her hips, his thumbs resting right below her breasts. She grabbed his hands and moved them so they covered her tits.

The door slammed hard, then swung open again.

Logan saw it happen and when he realized that it was moving on its own volition, he let out a scream.

An actual, terrified scream. It came from deep in his chest. Tina had just rolled her hips back and moaned at the contact, when she was pushed to the side by invisible hands before Logan was torn off the bed.

His body jerked like he was tied to a bungee cord, and he soared over the edge of the mattress until his back slammed against the wall.

His head hit the wood chair railing with a sickening crack and he slumped to the ground.

His arm was bent at a terrifying angle, and blood dripped down his temple.

The lights from both bedside lamps turned on to their brightest setting.

Tina got out of bed and ran to Logan’s side. Her heart was pounding now. What was curiosity had morphed into sheer terror. She’d wanted to see how far she could push Damien. She never thought Logan would be hurt in the process.

“Damn it, Damien,” she hissed as she pressed her fingers to Logan’s neck.

His head lifted, eerily slow and measured, before his eyelids jerked open. She could see the whites all the way around his irises. His pupils were pinpricks.

“Don’t do that again,” he hissed in a voice that wasn’t his own.

Logan’s eyelids fluttered closed, and he slumped to the floor, resuming his prone, unconscious position.

Tina sat trembling for another moment before she called an ambulance.

The hospital was cold and smelled like antiseptic.

The bright overhead lights were unflattering and didn’t help Tina’s exhaustion.

She rubbed the grit from her eyes as she slowly paced the hallway in front of Logan’s room.

Thankfully, she’d managed to change into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt before the ambulance showed up; otherwise, she would’ve been cold in the icebox temperature of the wing where Logan was staying.

Her idea had been so ridiculous. Tina knew that she was dealing with an apparition.

A supernatural being. This wasn’t a rational human.

But she’d wanted to test its limits, to see if Damien was actually reactive to her, because she owned the house, or to Logan, because they had some sort of past. The fact that Logan now had a broken arm and a concussion was proof that there was definitely some animosity there.

Her phone buzzed in her hip pocket, and she dreaded answering it. She hadn’t told Logan’s parents yet that he was here, getting X-rays and stitches. They were probably wondering why their golden boy hadn’t texted or called to let them know that they reached home safely.

Except when she checked the screen, she saw sutter construction displayed in capital letters. She answered it quickly.

“Derrick?”

“Tina,” he said with a sigh of relief. “Are you okay?”

Tina turned in a slow circle and looked up and down the hallway, as if she was trying to gauge whether or not she was being pranked. “Yes? Why do you ask?”

There was the sound of a beep, similar to what she’d heard at the hospital entrance. “Your car is in the ER parking lot. I recognized the New York plates. I thought that maybe Damien had done something?—”

“He did, but not to me.” Tina could hear the squeak of his shoes as if he was walking fast over linoleum flooring. “Wait, are you here? At the hospital?”

“Yes.” There was an echo, and she turned just in time to see Derrick rounding the corner and striding down the hallway. He held up his phone, then turned it off just as she did the same. His gaze ran over her from head to toe as if he was assessing for injuries.

“What are you doing here?” she said, her belly warming at the sight of him.

His hair was disheveled, his face covered in scruff.

She may not have had the history with Derrick that she had with Logan, but there was an attraction she’d never experienced with her fiancé.

After spending an hour trying to seduce Logan, it was painfully obvious to her that their memories were well in the past, and it was hard for her to think of those moments as anything but two friends connecting.

“I have a crew member whose wife had a baby, so I was here visiting.” His voice became low, and the deep rumble had her arms prickling with awareness as he stepped close, almost too close for polite company. “I went outside to get in my truck and go home when I saw your car. What happened?”

Tina looked around and spotted an empty exam room.

After canvassing the hallway for any nurses or patient visitors, she gripped Derrick’s wrist and dragged him inside the room before shutting the door.

She walked over to the bathroom to peek inside before she crossed to Derrick again and stook a few inches apart.

She was close enough to touch, but far enough that she could still have a conversation without getting distracted.

“Logan was injured.”

There was that flicker of awareness, then his expression changed to curious detachment. “Oh, okay. Hope everything’s okay?—”