(Brinck - I don't wanna love her)

Logan Echolls finished putting the last of his items into the drawers of his new bedroom in the Neptune Grand Hotel. Shifting position as his ankle pinched where he was he kneeling on the floor and mentally cursed his luck to be stuck with the Sheriff Departments tracking monitor, courtesy of their diligent Sheriff Lamb's helpful suggestions. Eli "Weevil" Navarro and the other PCHers had taken great pleasuring in torching his former residence.

Flight Risk my ass!

Every trace of his old world was now ashes… any semblance that his life was ever movie perfect, lay in the same dust as the Echolls Estate. His world a crazy place people acting, reacting, escalating behaviors. The World thought he was a murderer.

He closed his eyes and willed away the image of a dead Felix Toombs lying on the cold asphalt, the tinny scent of the blood like pennies on the back of his tongue. He would still wake up from the nightmares of seeing those glassy eyes reaching out at him over the darkness.

His existence a war, and no one realized.

She certainly hadn't understood…

He felt his heart involuntarily twist as it usually did when Veronica Mars crossed his mind. The familiar ache settling into his gut, there was no hangover could cure how messed up he felt at the memory of that singular girl.

How could the existence of one person cause him such considerable anguish?

She was the calm in the center of his storm, a beacon. The only thing that showed him what was best in himself, and how badly he had screwed up.

His Home, not that it had regularly been much of one, had burned to the ground. Lady Karma had eventually caught up to him for all his hatching plans and running around with his toadies.

She never even thought to call to make sure I was okay…

She'd been downright furious in fact when she'd come over that night and found out he'd moved in.

Probably considered it foul play…

Logan had had to share a cell with his father. The monster who'd murdered his girlfriend Lilly Kane and Logan never wanted to put his arms around Veronica more than when he'd eventually got released from that cell. His gaze shifted to the argyle shirt sitting over the chair that Duncan had let him borrow when he'd first suggested that he move in.

His body still ached from when she'd curled up on the couch against him, it still smelled of her. He inhaled sharply and tried to suppress the tears.

Dammit, he needed her… the lack of her was in every piece of his life… and he hated her for it.

How could she be so cold?

"I'm pretty sure that there's a part of you is having fun with all of this?"

Whoever could have conceived these torturous few months that he was having fun? She'd almost perished in that bus crash a few weeks ago and she couldn't even be civil to him when he went to Java the Hut during her shifts; Veronica's manager requested he move sections. He'd tried to call her, but she'd switched her number and the few occasions he'd adopted a disposable cell paid for in cash to phone the Mars Investigations Office he'd only gotten hold of her dad, so he still dialed an old case mailbox just to hear her voice.

He'd been struggling to entertain himself by having an affair with Kendall Casablanca's… but she wasn't Veronica.

No… Veronica was dating Duncan Kane… his new roommate, and the thought twisted like a knife in his gut stealing his breath. It had since the moment that Dick had told him that they'd gotten back together. He'd give anything to finally put her in the rear-view mirror… but the problem with seeking to put her behind him… was he was constantly glancing back.

She'd always wanted Duncan… and he wasn't even an afterthought…

Why had he been so stupid as to believe that they could make it work?

Duncan didn't know Veronica anymore… they'd make each other miserable eventually… Duncan would grow more and more withdrawn, never having the guts to end it because he was such a 'great guy' and Veronica would break herself trying to become what he preferred.

Every kiss Logan had experienced with Veronica had told him that they fit together.

She belonged with him.

Now instead of being with the girl he adored, he was in limbo with his rumpled bedsheets reeking of a revolving door of faceless one-night stands, but his regular afternoons with Kendall couldn't stop the petite sleuth from breaching his thoughts… now she would be in his home, she would be in the bedroom just feet from his, in bed with his best friend.

His Devoted Ex-girlfriend and his Best Friend… Now Logan could see why Cain had slain Abel… jealousy was a powerful demon.

It exhausted him. She'd been staying over last night… he'd heard them together.

"God, Veronica… make up your mind! Just pick ONE of them…."

The times he'd had to waste watching them flirt and hold hands at school had been irritating enough… now he was the fly on the wall to the parts his mind didn't even dare to. 3D, surround sound and full technicolor.

Duncan's proposal of moving in had made rational sense, the PCHers were not likely to burn down a hotel with him inside; they had security in the building who could help protect him and it was the ultimate Fuck You to his A-Lister father, by staying with the brother of the girl he'd slain. It had the benefit of telling the world precisely what he thought of Dear Old Dad.

He was thankful to have his friend having his back again… but he couldn't shake how much he hated him for being with Veronica.

"Hey baby… you want to come over tonight? We could… have some Dim Sum and Den Some…" Duncan flirted on the phone, and Logan felt his stomach roll.

Best to be scarce and hit the town.

Veronica was visiting… he was hitting the streets of Neptune to Raise a little hell.

Logan could pinpoint almost the exact moment he knew he was in love with Veronica… the Total Eclipse of the Heart Dance last year. She'd been wearing an 80s outfit, and he'd interrupted her date with his public drunkenness when she'd tried to take his keys to make sure he didn't drive home. He'd seen her kissing Deputy Leo just before his sister Trina had driven him home and something in him had wanted to break the guy in half.

Jealousy had always been a problem of his, he was a hothead… it was one of his lapses. SHe could make him feel like he was spinning out of control.

She was his kryptonite.

He couldn't take it anymore, pulling out his phone he dialed the best distraction he knew.

"Hey, Dick… know any good parties tonight?" Logan asked.

Please God say yes…

"Oh Hey Man, sorry… Beeves and I are heading down to Tijuana for the weekend with Luke and Sean… Surf's up!" Dick said. "We'd have invited you… but you know…"

"Ankle Bling… I get it" Logan sighed sitting on the edge of his bed. rubbing the flesh underneath the wretched device.