Your Exception (7 page)

Logan has slept over nearly every night this past week. As he plays guitar, he winks at me or points to me from on stage. It makes a girl feel special to be picked out of a room full of people. I smile shyly and carry on with my job. Logan sings lead on a few songs, and sometimes he takes Jack’s wireless mic and comes down into the crowd to serenade a few of the fans.

I’m serving a group of guys when I hear laughter and cheers all around me. I turn to see Logan standing there, singing to me. I’m mortified. I don’t like any attention in the slightest, and certainly not in a room full of people. I put one hand over my face as Logan takes the other, falling to his knees for drastic measure. I endure it as long as possible before tugging on his hand so he’ll stand up and stop with this nonsense. My face is fifty shades of red as he stops singing, gives me a lengthy kiss on the lips for all to see, then continues singing as he jumps back up on stage. Logan is well aware of how I feel about that sort of attention, and I know that he did it to get a rise out of me.

Mission accomplished.

Throughout the rest of the night, I get sexy glances from Logan. He’s lucky I even look his way after that stunt. I also get a few slaps on the back from some of the regulars with comments about how good Logan and I look together. If no one knew that Logan and I were seeing each other..
.
they knew now.

When their last set is over, I go into the room with the stage with no other reason than to watch Logan take his shirt off, and put on a clean one, giving me a few seconds to lust after him without his knowledge. I notice Holly is accustomed to his routine and takes in an eyeful as well. I roll my eyes at her.

He’s taken, honey
.

As if sensing me nearby, he turns and comes over to embrace me, giving me a lingering hug and a hungry kiss. “Can I come over tonight?” he asks.

“Logan, you can come over any time you want. But after that shit you pulled tonight, I’m not so sure anymore,” I taunt.

“Oh, come on. You liked it.”

“I did not! That was extremely embarrassing. I had people coming up to me all night on account of you.”

“Well, I sure enjoyed it. I like people knowing that you’re mine.”

“I’m no
t
your
s
though,” I say with a small smile. “I don’t belong
to you.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you
’re mine now,” he says with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes before grabbing me, and kissing me sensually again.

Thursday afternoon, I get a text from Logan saying there’s a big Rail-A-Palooza going on in Anoka. It is an all-day event, and he wants me to go with him. It has everything from skateboarding and BMX to freestyle and wakeboarding competitions.

He’s been racing motocross himself since he was twelve. He also dabbled in wakeboarding and snowboarding until he stopped a year ago to move to Texas. Since he moved back four months ago and regrouped with Distort, they’ve been doing extremely well and are getting booked solid on their weekends, so he put his other activities on hold.

I have ridden a dirt bike or two growin
g up with three brothers, but I’ve never been to any type of race. It would be cool to see what some of his passions are all about. I immediately text Cassidy and ask if she can cover my shift tomorrow night. She texts me back right away saying it isn’t a problem. I pull out a time off request sheet and start filling it out. I know my dad will let me have the time off, but it’s proper protocol to fill one out.

Zach picks that moment to come up to the front. He smiles, picking up the paper off the desk. “Time off, huh? Kind of short notice, don’t you think?” he teases me. “I was going to see if you wanted to hang out tomorrow night, but I’m assuming you’re busy?”

The smile spreads back across my face as I reply, “I happen to be going on a date. I’m going to the Rail-A-Palooza!” I can’t help but sound like an excited toddler.

He looks at me, expressionless. “With Logan Kalford?”

“Yes. I’m so excited!” I squeal. “Hey, how did you know his last name?”

“I’m in the music industry. Everyone knows everyone around here.” He sets my request form back down on the table. “Well, I hope you two have a good time.” He taps the desk twice with his hand, then walks outside.

What’s his deal? Brushing off Zach’s behavior, I text Logan.

Me: Yes, I can make it! What should I bring?

Logan: Just your cute ass. I’ll pick you up in the morning around 8:30ish. It starts at 10 but it’ll take us a while to get down there. Then that will give us plenty of time to get some good seats. And dress for warm weather. It’s going to be hot out.

Me: Sounds good! Thank you for inviting me!

Logan: Of course. There’s no one else I’d rather go with.

When I get home, Cassidy is nowhere in sight. She must have gone in early. I’m not scheduled to work tonight, so I start going through my closet to find something to wear to the Rail-A-Palooza. I may need to run out and get something new. Excitement fills me as my phone starts going off and Logan’s name appears. “Hello?”

“Hey you.”

“Hi Logan, how was the rest of your day?”

“Well, it’s even better now that I’ve been invited to a promo party hosted by Monster Energy. Most of the racers in the competition tomorrow are going to be there, and since I know a few of them, I was invited.”

“That’s awesome! When is it?”

“Tonight at seven. Don’t worry, I’m not planning on drinking, so I’ll be home tonight and fully rested before our date.”

Yay! “Sounds good. I hope you have a blast tonight.”

“I will. See you tomorrow.”

***
**

I wake up early, turn up the radio, and start dancing around my room.

Logan never texted me again last night. He must have been having a good time. I shower, then dress in my shorts and new top I had bought last night. When I sent Cassidy a picture of me trying on the black one, she had said to get one in pink. I don’
t
d
o
pink, but since it is supposed to be a hot day, I’d opted for the gold one.

I fix my hair and put my makeup on, making sure I have my hair tie, sunscreen and SPF chapstick, as well as a few odds and ends in my purse
, before checking my phone again for the fiftieth time. You know, just in case I missed his call.

I head downstairs at
8:15am and wait. I snack on a granola bar and water while sitting at the counter, waiting.

I’m going stir-crazy as 8:30am comes and goes.

At 8:45am, knee bouncing, I decide to text him.

Me: Are you s
till planning on picking me up?

9am. No response. I’m having a slight panic attack at the idea that I might be getting stood up, or even worse that something bad might have happened. I decide to call him.

He answers with a groggy, “Hello?”

“Logan? I’m so glad you’re okay! Were you still planning on picking me up so we could make it to the practice?”

“Oh, man. Wren, I’m so sorry. I rode here with my buddy Josh and got way more drunk than I intended.”

“Oh. That’s okay. I’m glad you had fun. What time do you think you’re going to be back?”

“I’m not sure. We met some pro wakeboarders last night, so we’re all going to go wakeboarding on Lake Minnetonka today.”

Say what? Did we not have plans?

He continues, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. I’d be stupid to pass this up.”

Stupid is one word for it. Tears sting my eyes. “Wow. Yeah, that’s…cool.”

“Well, I have to go. Everyone is already up and loading their stuff. I’ll call you later. Bye.”

He abruptly hangs up, not even giving me a chance to respond.

I stand there looking at my phone. Did that really just happen? Tears roll down my cheeks and drip off my chin.

He doesn’t even care.

I scurry upstairs to my room and turn on my music, careful not to wake Cassidy, but loud enough to cover up the sobs coming out of my mouth. My gold shirt is now wet from my crying. I rip it off and throw it across the room before crawling under my blankets and closing my eyes. I lie there, staring at the ceiling until eleven o’clock rolls around. I still haven’t decided what to do with myself for the day, and I need something to keep me busy because I’ve gone from hurt to furious in two hours. I go into the bathroom to clean my face and redo my makeup before changing into my business casual clothes and head to the shop.

Zach looks up and gives me a surprised look when I go to sit at the desk. He starts walking towards me when I look him in the eye. “I don’t want to hear one fucking smart-ass comment come out of your mouth. I am not in the mood,” I snap.

He holds up his hands, “Okay. If you get bored, you can come help me replace the exhaust on this truck.” He lowers his head and walks away. I wipe a few stray tears of frustration and start going through the paperwork stacked on the desk.

By 3:45pm, I still haven’t heard from Logan
.
I hope it was worth it, asshole.

I throw my phone into my purse and decide to wander into the back.

“I wrote a new song. I’d like you to hear it,” Zach says as I’m helping him with some new spark plugs. “You should come over tonight and watch a movie. I can play it for you then.”

“No, thank you. I’m not really in the mood right now. I’m just going to stay here until I know Cassidy is at work. I don’t want her to know Logan stood me up.”

“I assumed that’s what happened. Come on, I’ll grill some steaks. This way, she’ll never know.”

Damn it
.
I love steak.

“Well, steak does sound good…”

Zach smirks. “It’ll be fun, and we haven’t hung out in forever. Maynard misses you.” His Brindle Boxer was named after the lead singer of Tool. Not my favorite band, but I can dig it.

“All right, let’s finish up, and I’ll follow you. I think I have an extra pair of clothes in my trunk.”

“Or you can come nude. I won’t complain,” Zach jokes.

Why would he say that? He doesn’t normally make sexual innuendos like that towards me.

“Funny,” I say sarcastically.

***
**

I pull in behind Zach’s ’
71 Chevrolet truck and go around to my trunk. I keep a tote bag in the back with extra clothes just in case I need them.

When I enter the front door, Maynard runs straight towards me, licking my face repeatedly.

“Traitor,” Zach scolds his dog.

I stand up and look around his house. It has three levels, five bedrooms, and three bathrooms. He bought it for the girl he once loved.
I don’t know the full details of the breakup, and I’ve never asked. All I know is that she started seeing someone else and married him not long after. Zach hasn’t been in a committed relationship since. He always says he doesn’t want to settle down, and that he nearly made the biggest mistake of his life by marrying her, but I don’t think he really believes that. I think he just had a broken heart and didn’t know how to deal with it.

He leads me downstairs, and I head to the bathroom to change into a pair of shorts and a red shirt that says Bookaholic on it. I scrub
any excess grease from my hands before walking out and plopping down on his couch.

He grabs one of the guitars he has hanging on the wall and sits on the couch to my left. “Ready?”

“I’m ready.”

I watch him clear his throat and close his eyes. He starts to strum, and then he starts to sing.

It’s magical.

He sings about a girl, and hoping there would be more. That she was with someone else, but he wanted her to be his. That his time will come. He’s just waiting until the right moment.

It’s beautiful, and his voice blows me away. Why does he play bass and sing backup? He is gifted and needs to sing more often.

When the song finishes, I clap my hands in applause. “Oh, Zachary! That was amazing!”

“Did you really like it? I started it so long ago and finally just finished it.”

“I did.” That bitch never deserved his love.

He sits there staring at me, fumbling with his hands. I lean back on the couch. “Wow. You took my breath away.” I look over at him, and he’s still staring at me. “What’s wrong?” I ask. “Are you hungry?”

He looks down and shakes his head. He smacks my leg as he stands up. “I’ll go start the grill. You pick out a movie.”

My phone vibrates and I look down to see I have a new text from Logan.

Logan: Sorry I blew you off.

I glare at my phone before throwing it back in my purse
.
What a dick
.

After Zach and I are done with our first movie, and a delicious dinner, I help him clean up the kitchen and
wash the dishes. We decide to watch one more and I end up falling asleep about halfway through.

I wake up on the couch, covered in a blanket. I sit up and take in what I can of my surroundings from the dim light that’s been left on in the hallway. It finally hits me that I’m still at Zach’s, and he’s nowhere in sight. As I reach for my purse, I see a piece of paper lying on the carpet next to it.