Chapter 12

Logan's Point of View

Sam Kidwell and Aidan Witwer had been staying on campus for the last couple of days, either sitting in their patrol car or keeping a look out for their suspect by walking around the campus, but they usually kept close to the girl's dormitory.

Even with the police being close by, all the progress Quinn had made over the last couple of months seemed to have vanished overnight. The panic attacks were happening more frequently, and she was hardly eating anything. Quinn would only leave her room to go to classes, but only if I or one of our other friends walked with her there and back. Zoey and Lola told me that even her nightmares, which had just recently started to disturb her occasionally, were now back to occurring several times during the night.

"I don't know what to do anymore," I complained to my roommates. I was sitting on the couch in our dorm room, venting to my friends. "She seems to be getting worse."

"Why are the police having such a hard time catching this guy?" Chase asked, from the desk chair. "He's our age, right? How does he keep escaping like this?"

"I don't know," I groaned in annoyance. "But he was here, at PCA. As long as Daniel is out there, Quinn is not going to feel safe here anymore."

"Is Quinn still seeing that therapist?" Questioned Michael. "She might have some advice for her on how to handle all of this."

I nodded. "She has been seeing Mrs. Thomas every week since school started. Her next appointment is in a couple of days."

"You know," Michael added. "Quinn hasn't been doing anything lately besides sitting in her room and going to classes. Maybe you should try just taking her out. A date?"

I glanced up at him hopefully. "You think that would help?"

"Yeah," Chase nodded in agreement. "It would give her a chance to do something besides moping around all day."

"It would also help get her mind off of what has been going on with Daniel," Michael added, nodding along with Chase.

I gave the idea some thought. "Actually, Quinn and I haven't been out on a real date since the incident occurred. It would be nice to hang out with her again, just the two of us. Somewhere private." I said thoughtfully.

"There's that secluded section on the beach near the rocks. The two of you should be able to spend some time alone there without being interrupted," Chase advised.

I smiled at the idea of getting a chance to be alone with my girlfriend for a while. Alone time with Quinn had become a rarity lately. I couldn't wait to bring up the idea with her.


It took a little convincing, but I eventually got Quinn to agree to accompany me to the beach to have a picnic on the sand for dinner.

I called in a favor with Michael to make us his special ravioli recipe for our main course. Along with the pasta, I got a fruit salad to be our side dish and a cheesecake for dessert.

We walked hand in hand down a wooden walkway that took us right onto the beach. Some of the boards were partly hidden under the sand due to the long years of usage from other students. Eventually, the feel of the wooden planks under our sandals disappeared only to be replaced by our feet sinking slightly into the loose granular substance as we continued towards the ocean.

It felt so good to be out with my girlfriend. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath through my nose, letting the salty smell of the ocean take ahold of me and focused my attention on the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

While I was enjoying the feel of the ocean breeze rolling pass me, I could feel Quinn's body shaking in fear next to me. Opening my eyes, I gazed right and left down the shoreline. There was no one in sight.

I turned towards Quinn, sending a smile her way. As she stared back at me, I saw a look of terror in her eyes. My smile was quickly replaced by a frown as I gave her hand a light squeeze. "There's no one here, Quinn. You're safe."

I saw a small smile appear on her face, but I knew it was fake. Every instinct in her body was probably screaming at her to turn and ran back to her room and lock the door. I hated knowing that she was scared. A part of me wanted to take her back to where she felt comfortable, but I had to show her that she was safe outside of her dormitory.

Turning away from her, I lightly pulled her in the direction towards a large outcropping of rocks that ran perpendicular to the ocean. I set the picnic basket that I had been carrying down a couple feet from the rocks and held out my hand to take the blankets from Quinn. I put one of them down on top of the basket and worked on spreading the other out flat on the sand. We took a seat on the blanket and I started to pull out the food and utensils.

As we started to fill our plates with food, I noticed that Quinn's hands were shaking and she kept looking around at the scenery in fear. She set her plate of food down on the ground. "I want to go back," she whispered. I could hear the quiver in her voice.

"Quinn . . ." I tried to protest and set my food down.

She shook her head at me. A few tears slid down her face. "Please, Logan. Just take me back to my room," she pleaded with me.

I scooted closer to her, pushing the plates farther away from us in the process. I put an arm around her waist and wiped the tears away with my thumb. "This is about Daniel?"

Burying her head in my shoulder, she whined, "Please, I want to go."

"Quinn," I cooed in her ear. "There is no one here. Daniel isn't here." The mention of his name seemed to make her cry harder. I pushed her away slightly, forcing her to look at me. "Look," I gestured to the sandy surface in front of us. "We are alone. You're safe here."

"But . . . Daniel," she moaned, tears soaking my shirt.

I laid a hand on her cheek and looked deep into her beautiful brown eyes, begging her to trust me. "If Daniel shows up here . . . do you really think I will let him do something to you? Do you really think I am going to let him hurt you again?"

She stared back at me with tearstained eyes. Not registering at first what was happening, she leaned towards me and lightly touched her lips to mine. She seemed to be testing herself. Seeing if she was ready to do it again with me.

I wanted to pull her closer to me and deepen the kiss. My whole body seemed to be screaming at me to do it, but I didn't want to push her if she wasn't ready. I didn't want to force her to do it and then end up driving her farther away from me. My heart pounded in my chest as I waited to see what she would do next.

Quinn's Point of View

For months I have put off kissing Logan, worried that having his lips on mine would cause me to remember Daniel and what had happened that night. The kiss Daniel had given me when he had me pushed up against the wall, the feel of his hands on me . . . Ever since the attack I had been trying to avoid anything that could cause me to have a flashback, but I didn't want to wait anymore.

I missed the feeling of Logan's arms wrapping around me and pulling me close to him. I missed the way it felt to be near him like that. I missed the taste of his lips on mine and I didn't want to wait any longer. I was tired of being scared of being with the man I loved.

Not giving myself time to rethink my plan, I leaned forward and pressed my lips lightly against his, waiting to see if my body reacted negatively to the contact in some way. To my relief, the small contact with his lips sent shock waves of pleasure throughout my body. Desperate for more, I clung to his shirt and kissed him harder.

I heard Logan let out a moan in pleasure as he moved a hand up to the back of my neck. The pressure of his hand on my skin sent a shiver down my spine. I pushed myself up onto my knees and hugged my arms around his shoulders, letting myself enjoy this moment of bliss.

Everything seemed so much brighter after that kiss. Logan and I ate our dinner, and talked happily with each other. I smiled and laughed at his jokes, allowing Daniel to creep to the back of my mind to worry about later. Right now, I was determined to enjoy my alone time with my boyfriend.

When we had finished eating, Logan stood up and took off his t-shirt, letting the article of clothing drop onto the picnic blanket, and started to head towards the ocean. He turned around to face me, walking backwards to the water as he talked. "Come on," he called, gesturing for me to follow him. "Let's go swimming." I laughed at him. It was hard to say no to him when he had that goofy grin on his face.

Trusting Logan, I stood up and took off my shirt to uncover my dark blue bikini top. I left on my purple Nike shorts and chased after my boyfriend.

Logan ran on ahead of me and dived under the salty water, only to come back up several feet away as he turned back to look at me.

I walked into the ocean until the water was almost up to my thighs before swimming the rest of the way over to Logan. By the time I reached him, he had spread out on his back, floating on the water. He had closed his eyes against the glare of the sun.

Deciding to have some fun with him, I waited until I was within a couple feet of Logan and then splashed some salt water onto his face. His eyes instantly snapped open in surprise at the unexpected contact to his skin.

I moved backwards as quickly as I could in the water, trying to hold back my laughter at his reaction. I managed to get back to where the water was up to my thighs before his eyes made contact with me and realization of what had happened crossed his face.

"Oh, Pensky," Logan growled, sending me a mischievous grin. "You're gonna wish you hadn't done that."

A cheerful scream escaped my lips as I turned and started heading back towards the shore, feeling the wet sand beneath my feet. When the water level was down closer to my knees, I turned and started heading down the beach.

I couldn't help but giggle as I heard Logan catching up to me from behind. It wasn't long before I felt my boyfriend's arm snake around my stomach. "Gotcha!" He exclaimed in victory, as I let out a cry of surprise when he pulled me close to his body, and dunked us both under the water.

Logan spun me around in his arms under the water, so when we came up for air I was facing him. I coughed out some of the salt water that I had swallowed and continued to giggle as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

I heard Logan laughing as I felt him brush the hair out of my eyes before leaning his forehead against mine, and looking into my eyes.

"You okay?" He asked in his soothing voice. I loved it when he talked to me like that. I nodded, smiling back at him.

He placed a hand lightly on my cheek and rubbed his thumb gently across my skin. "I missed that laugh," he said sincerely. He then moved in to kiss me passionately on the mouth. I didn't want this day to end.


Once we had dried off some, Logan and I decided to eat the dessert he had brought for us as we watched the sunset. He cut off a piece of the cheesecake and placed it on a plate, handing it to me before getting his own slice.

We moved back so we could lean against the rocks as we ate, sitting close enough for our shoulders to brush against each other.

As the sun began to set below the horizon, the blue sky started to get replaced by yellow and orange.

"I'm sorry," I said, as I looked at the sky.

"About what?" Logan questioned in shock.

I leaned forward to set my now empty plate down on the blanket, before leaning back again. "About how I have been acting lately," I pressed. "Wanting to stay in my room all the time. Only coming out when someone is with me. I just . . . can't help it."

"It's fine," he assured me, pushing his plate away from him so he could wrap his arm across my shoulders. He then leaned down to whisper in my ear. "I understand you're scared, Quinn, but I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise."

I smiled at him and nodded slightly. "I know."

Logan paused for a second, while looking at me. He seemed to be considering something. He then moved away from me to grab something out of the picnic basket. When he came back to join me he had a small white box in his hand.

"I have been carrying this around with me for a while, trying to find the right moment to give this to you." He explained, before handing me the container.

"What is it?" I asked, feeling the smooth surface of the box.

A nervous smile was playing on his lips. "Just open it," he begged.

I looked down at the white box in my hand and flipped up the lid to reveal a ring. The design on the ring showed two interlocking hearts; one was silver, like the rest of the ring, while the other heart was painted in gold. In the center of each heart was a small diamond. I loved the ring instantly and my eyes lit up in excitement.

"It's a promise ring," Logan explained.

I looked up at him in surprise. "You're . . . giving me a promise ring?" I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face.

Seeing my face light up at the news, his nervous expression changed into a smirk. "Yeah, I wanted to know if you would wear it."

I looked back down at the ring, happy tears coming to my eyes. I knew Logan loved me, but this ring meant that he was one day hoping to marry me. Giving me this gift was his way of telling me that he wanted to be with me forever. I couldn't think of anything that would make me happier.

Turning back to look at my boyfriend, I nodded my head in excitement. "Of course I will."

Logan gently took the box out of my hands. Taking the ring out of the case, he set the box aside in the sand. Reaching for my left hand, he slid the jewelry onto my ring finger.

The sky was just starting to change to a red hue across the horizon as Logan moved to rest his hand on the side of my face, his fingers brushing against the back of my neck.

"I love you, Quinn. More than anything."

I grinned, happy tears pouring down my cheeks. "I love you, too."

Logan then leaned in to capture my lips with his. I closed my eyes and moved my lips against his, pulling him closer to me.

I really needed this, a full afternoon just to be with my boyfriend. Right now, Daniel was the farthest thing from my mind.