I’m nervous as hell standing outside of the apartment building. I don’t know what to think or where I’m going, but I know that I’m going with Spencer.

Logan is sitting in a car halfway down the block, watching me. I know he’s there although I can’t see him. We discussed this plan in depth, and it all hinged on him being close to me, within screaming distance, but I shouldn’t be able to see him.

If Spencer catches Logan following us, this is all over. I know he’ll freak and go full nuclear on me if we get caught. I can already tell that Spencer is an immature, insecure little man, and any indication that I lied to or mislead him will cause him to flip and end this instantly.

He might even release everything he hacked off my phone to the public. I can only imagine that. All of my personal emails and texts, plus that sexy photo I took, which I now regret more than anything. The annoying part of that is, I didn’t even send it. I don’t know why I kept it. Probably because I thought I looked good, and I wanted to hold onto that.

I don’t want to risk any of that, but I need to know Logan is nearby. And so we have a system where if Spencer tries to do something too far, all I have to do is scream and Logan will come running. He’ll make sure nothing goes too far. He’ll keep me as safe as he possibly can.

I have to keep reminding myself of that over and over while I wait for Spencer to come pick me up. Logan is going to be nearby, and all I have to do is scream and he’ll come running. No matter where Spencer takes me, Logan will be nearby.

After maybe ten minutes of waiting, a car finally pulls up in front of me. It’s a red sports car with dark tinted windows. Spencer leans over the seat and pushes open the passenger side door.

“Get in,” he says.

Reluctantly, I climb into the car. He leans over me again and pulls the door shut before peeling out into traffic.

He’s wearing a tight black t-shirt and white pants. He doesn’t look at me as he drives way too fast through the crowded city streets.

“Where are we going?” I ask him.

“You’ll see.” He doesn’t bother glancing in my direction.

I have such a bad feeling about this, but I’ve come so far already. I can’t turn back and give up on this now. I have to be brave. Logan is following us. He’ll make sure nothing bad happens.

Spencer whips his car around a turn, speeding through a red light. I cringe and wonder if he’s actually trying to purposefully lose Logan. Maybe Spencer suspects our little ruse, and he’s trying to head us off already.

But no, I don’t think so. Spencer reaches into the glove compartment, still driving too fast, and pulls out a vial.

“Open that for me,” he says, tossing it into my lap.

I pick it up. “What is this?”

“My fucking cough medicine.” He grins at that. “Just open it.”

I twist off the top and carefully hand it to him. He taps a little white powder into his left hand and snorts it quickly.

“Oh, fuck!” he yells, grabbing the wheel with both hands and slamming down onto the gas. We scream forward.

“Spencer,” I say. “Slow down.”

“Fucking hell, I can’t slow down, girl,” he yells. “I feel so fucking alive.” He tears through a stop sign, making a right, our wheels screaming over the pavement.

I wonder for a second if we’re going to get pulled over. That would be ideal. Maybe they’d even arrest him on drug charges and take him away. That’d make my life so much easier.

But no, that’s just a fantasy. Of course a guy like Spencer can do coke and drive too fast in a red sports car and not get pulled over. He flies around another corner and comes to a screeching halt in front of a club.

He opens his door. “Come on,” he says.

I follow him. A valet approaches and Spencer tosses the kid his keys. “Careful,” Spencer says to him then laughs and pats him on the back. The valet kid gives me a look before getting into the car.

“Let’s go,” Spencer says, and we head up to the door.

“There’s a line,” I point out. At least thirty people are standing there waiting to get in.

“They know me here,” Spencer says, grinning.

Sure enough, the doorman recognizes him. “Welcome back, Mr. Winterfield” the big guy says. “Head on in.” He opens the rope and we step past him. People in line complain, but I can’t hear them for long as a loud screaming bass line overwhelms everything else.

We step into the dark club. Spencer seems familiar with the place, because he makes a beeline straight for an empty booth in the corner. He sits down without asking anyone, and motions for me to slide in next to him.

“I’m a regular here,” he yells in my ear over the music.

“Oh, good,” I yell back.

He motions for a waitress, who walks over. He says something to her and she walks away quickly.

The club is dark, borderline too dark. The music is deep and booming, a pulsing rhythm that almost makes me want to move. The dance floor is packed with sweating people writhing against each other, and maybe under other circumstances, this place might look fun.

Unfortunately, I’m with Spencer. He reaches into his pocket, takes out that little vial again, and quickly snorts a little pile off his hand. He looks around, his eyes wide, before slipping it back into his jacket.

He yells something, but I can’t hear him. Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe I won’t have to actually talk to him tonight. He’ll just do his drugs and we’ll hang out at this little table until I can finally go home.

As the waitress returns with a bottle of champagne, a bucket of ice, and two glasses, I realize something. I can’t hear a word that she’s saying, let alone what Spencer is saying back. Which means that, even if I do scream right now as loud as I can, Logan won’t hear me. Besides, there’s a line of thirty people out there. I don’t know if he could even get in.

For a second, I panic. I look around, wondering where the nearest exit is. I wonder if I can get up and make a break for it. Maybe I can get away before he even realizes what’s happening. He’s all coked up anyway, maybe he’s too high to care.

But that moment comes and passes. I can’t run away. Maybe I’m on my own, but I’ve come so far. I’m seeing this through.

Spencer pours me a glass of champagne, which I accept. I sip it while he throws two full glasses back, one after the other.

“Aren’t you glad you’re not stuck at home with that boring asshole?” he yells in my ear.

“Sure,” I yell back.

“We can do anything we want!”

“WHAT?” I call in his ear.

“ANYTHING WE WANT.”

I nod and smile, although I don’t know what he’s talking about.

“FREEDOM. ANYTHING.” He yells these words in my ear as the music changes to something faster and louder. People on the dance floor cheer.

“SURE,” I yell back, nodding.

He turns away, watching the crowd and drinking his champagne. I sip mine and glance around nervously, wondering if Logan is somehow nearby. I pray that he is, but I can’t rely on that anymore. It’s up to me to make sure that I’m safe, and I can’t assume Logan will swoop in and save me.

“DANCE,” Spencer yells suddenly and jumps to his feet.

“WHAT??”

“DANCE!” He does this dorky little dance, trying to mime it for me, although I heard him the first time.

I sigh and I know I can’t argue. I might as well get it over with. I stand up and he heads out to the dance floor. I follow him, hoping that the no-touching rule will still hold out here.

He starts to dance, jumping and shaking to the music. I bob my head and get into it, trying to find a nice middle ground of dancing and having fun but not being too sexy or sensual. As he dances, he keeps getting closer and closer, and I have to push him away.

The people all around us seem like they’re having a good time, but I’m just going through the motions. I don’t want to be here, but I know I have to dance a little bit to at least make it look like I gave it a try. Spencer gets closer to me again, this time putting his hands on my hips.

I smack them away. “TOUCHING!” I yell in his ear.

He shrugs and goes back to dancing, clearly not caring that he broke the rule. I reluctantly follow suit, not sure what I can do about it.

But a few minutes later, he sneaks up behind me and grabs my hips again. He tries to grind with me, but I pull away and turn to face him. I push him away, shaking my head angrily.

This time, he looks pissed.

“YOU FUCKING PRUDE,” he yells in my ear. “JUST DANCING.”

“NO TOUCHING,” I yell back.

He shakes his head angrily and steps toward me. I step away before turning to leave the dance floor.

I expect him to stop me, but he doesn’t. I make it back to the booth and slide into the corner, hoping that he’ll forget about me. And for maybe ten minutes, he actually seems to. He stays out on the dance floor, dancing and jumping and even manages to grind up on some other girl for a few minutes before getting bored and walking away.

He spots me again and heads over. He stops next to me and leans over. “Sorry,” he says in my ear. “Come on. Let’s do something else.”

I look up at him and sigh. “Fine.” I get up and follow him as he walks across the club.

I don’t know where he’s leading me. We head down a short hallway and past a line of people. We go up a short flight of steps before coming to a landing. He opens the first door on the left and steps inside. I follow him, and the room is dark for a second before he turns on the light.

We’re in what looks like a dressing room. “What’s this?” I ask him.

“Green room,” he says. “Club gets live acts sometimes, they hang out in here.” He walks over to the vanity and pulls out a chair.

I hang over by the door and watch as he opens up his vial again and pours four fat lines. He grins at me, taking a twenty from his pocket and rolling it up.

“Let’s go,” he says. He snorts one of the lines and throws his head back. “Fuck, yes,” he yells. “Come on over here, Everly. Live a little bit.”

I shake my head. “I don’t do that stuff,” I say.

“You sound like a fucking prissy little girl. Get over here and snort this fucking coke.” He stands up and aggressively shoves the rolled up twenty toward me.

“Spencer, no,” I say. “Stop it.”

“Take it, bitch,” he grunts, grabbing my wrist. “Come on. Snort that fucking coke, you fucking slut. I want to see you get high and suck my dick.”

“Stop it,” I say, struggling, but he grabs my wrists and shoves me up against the wall. My heart starts beating fast in my chest and I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.

“Fucking bitch,” he says. “You’re such a tease. You know you want this, you whore.”

I don’t think about it. I just bring my knee up hard, slamming it into his balls.

He grunts and turns away from me. “You fucking cunt,” he growls.

I turn and dive for the door. I get my hands on the handle, but he doesn’t relent. He grabs me by the waist, lifting me into the air, and throwing me away from the door.

That’s when I scream. I let loose as loud as I possibly can, screaming my head off. He comes toward me with this blank look on his face and shoves his hand over my mouth. I try to bite him but he punches me in the gut with his other fist.

“Now you’ll shut the fuck up and let me do what I really want to do,” he says. “You think I just wanted a date? You’re not worth a fucking date. But I’m going to fuck your little ass until you bleed, and maybe that’ll be worth it.”

I struggle and hit him but he doesn’t seem to care. I don’t know what the hell to do. I’m so scared I can barely breathe, and I hate myself for putting myself in this position.

Just as he rears back to hit me again, the door flies open. Spencer turns around, shocked, releasing me completely. I fall down to the floor, sobs ripping through my chest as Logan strides into the room.

“What the fuck—” Spencer manages to say before Logan punches him. Spencer stumbles back and Logan follows him, hitting him again and again. Logan slams his fists into Spencer again and again, turning his face into a bloody pulp.

“Logan,” I say, getting ahold of myself. “Logan, stop.”

His eyes are wide and he hesitates, his fist covered in blood. He looks over at me then back down at Spencer.

“Stop,” I say to him. “You might kill him.”

Logan drops Spencer and he just collapses onto the ground. “I want to kill him,” Logan says calmly.

“Stop. Come on.” I grab Logan’s hand and pull him away.

“Stay away from us,” Logan says to Spencer. “Or next time, she won’t stop me. Nothing will.” I pull Logan again and he finally turns away. We walk out of that room together.

He leads me back downstairs, back through the club, and out the front door. We hurry out of there before Spencer gets himself together and follows.

Logan is parked around the corner. He unlocks the car and gets me inside before walking around and sitting in the driver’s seat.

“How?” I ask him.

He frowns at me. “What?”

“How did you find me?”

He smiles a bit. “Bribed the doorman. I followed you guys in there and was watching from the bar. I saw what he was doing on the dance floor. And when he took you into the back… I thought something was up.”

“You really followed,” I say.

“I really followed. And when you screamed, I came.”

“Logan.” The tears come back to me again, and he pulls me against him.

“It’s okay,” he whispers. “I got you.”

I sob into his chest. I feel like such an idiot. I’m so embarrassed and hurt. My gut aches from where Spencer hit me, but mostly it’s my pride. I’m so stupid for getting myself into this position. Logan warned me not to do it, but I didn’t listen to him. I wanted to help so badly, but instead I fucked everything up.

“Spencer is going to destroy us,” I say to him through my tears.

“Maybe,” Logan says. “But I don’t care. I told you I’d always protect you.”

He holds me tighter and I don’t know what to say. I feel so dumb. I ruined all of this for him.

Eventually, my tears stop and he starts the car. He drives us back to his apartment, holding my hand the whole time. He brings me upstairs, dismisses the nanny, and checks on Alexa before bringing me into the bedroom.

He kisses me, but it’s a different kind of kiss. He helps me undress. When I’m in my underwear, he strips down too, and we climb into his bed together. He pulls me against him, his arms wrapped around me, and he holds me.

We don’t have sex. I don’t think we need to. He just holds me like that, his body pressed against mine. “It’s okay,” he whispers. “I promise. It’s going to be okay. You did the right thing.”

“I fucked up,” I whisper back.

“No. You were perfect. He fucked up.”

I shake my head, not sure what to believe.

But it doesn’t matter. I let myself get lost in the moment. He holds me tight against his muscular body and slowly, I drift off to sleep, Logan’s arms wrapped around me, his breath in my ear.