CHAPTER 10

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. I do appreciate it. This is for Amy, K and Jackie. Thank you for your friendship. Fallen Heart, welcome back!

Nothing felt worse than the sinking feeling in Logan's stomach the moment he saw Rory flee. On instinct, he ran after her.

"Ace!" he called out. For someone who detested any form of exercise, he was rather surprised at Rory's ability to run like Prefontaine.

She got to the elevator and closed the doors before he could get to her. Swearing under his breath, he took the steps to the sixth floor. He was gasping for air when he finally reached his destination.

"Rory!" he called from outside the door, pounding the solid wood when he realized that she had locked him out of the suite. "Let me explain."

"Go away!" she replied heatedly between sniffles.

"Come on, Ace. Let's talk," he asked with urgency. "Let's not make a scene."

He could hear her shuffle toward the door. The chain and bolt rattled.

"Is that what you're more worried about, making a scene?" she accused through the cracked door.

Logan was disheartened to see the metal chain securing the door to the frame.

"That's not fair, Rory," he stated. "Come on. Let's talk. Let me in."

Rory shot him with accusing eyes. "Who said anything about being fair?"

Frustrated, Logan punched the wall. "I want to explain what happened between me and Tristin."

Rory shut the door and kept it shut.

"I don't want to hear about it," she said, muffled through the thick wall.

Logan sighed, sat on the floor closest to the door, and confessed.

-----oooo0----0oooo------------

Rory crawled on to the bed, exhausted, after Logan told her about his friendship with Tristin and how it all went down after he spent one meaningless night with Tristin's ex, Camilla.

"Rory, I was a different guy before we were together. You knew that!" His words still rang in her head clearly. He justified the actions of being carefree and without conscience when he took advantage of Camilla's weakness after a night of drinking.

So what if she was susceptible to Logan's charm? She had fallen for him, too, hadn't she?

He admitted that he felt like a heel looking back, but he couldn't admit that once he saw Tristin. Declaring guilt meant swallowing his pride. He wasn't willing to do that once Rory became Tristin's partner. He said he didn't see reason until he witnessed the closeness developing between her and his now-declared nemesis.

Rory wanted to rectify his misconception but kept mum. She was disturbed that his sudden overprotective actions justified the mythical belief that there was something else brewing between her and DuGrey other than camaraderie.

He said he was sorry before shuffling away. She cracked the door open wide enough to see him knock at Finn's door to find solace.

She truly wanted to believe he was sincere in his apology. She balled up her pillow and stared at the bedside clock. She closed her eyes in hopes of forgiveness and clarity to soothe the overwhelming need to flee. What she found instead was dreamless sleep.

Awoken by a sharp rap on the door, Rory shot up to a sitting position. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Love," Finn's voice reverberated through the door. "Can we talk?"

Wiping the dried tears from the corner of her eyes, she slowly marched to the door. She had to squint at the bright hallway lights.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, groggy from sleep.

"Bringing you some food," he said, smiling.

Rory turned on the lights in the darkened room. She looked at the clock she had stared at before succumbing to slumber. She hadn't realized she missed dinner. "You didn't have to do this, Finn."

"That's where you're wrong, Sweetheart," he corrected her. He set the tray on the table closest to the TV after clearing the cluttered top with a quick sweep of his forearm.

Rory chuckled as the paper, pen, and Bible fell on the carpeted floor unceremoniously.

"I hope I don't go to hell for just doing that," he said, frowning.

Rory looked at the appetizing paella that was neatly arranged on her plate. A pitcher of sangria and some fruit accompanied the rest of her meal.

"Logan thought you weren't going to be too hot on seeing him so soon," Finn explained.

Rory sat, picked up her fork, and fluffed the rice; saying nothing to Finn.

"You know, he's truly sorry," Finn added.

"Did he send you in to convince me?" she responded between bites.

"He doesn't need a lackey to tell you how he feels," Finn chided her gently. "If there's anyone you really need to be upset with, it should be me."

"Are you trying to win the 'Saint of the Year' trophy? You are racking up a lot of points from my end," Rory guffawed. "And unless you slept with Camilla, too, I don't see how you could be blamed for this whole thing."

Finn pulled up a chair beside her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If it weren't for my big mouth, you wouldn't have known about Camilla."

Rory plopped down the fork on her plate and took Finn's hand in hers. "Finn, hate to tell you this, but, I've already known about Camilla. Not by name, but I knew she existed."

Finn stared at her, mouth agape.

"If there was one thing I was sure about before signing up as Logan's girlfriend, is that he wasn't one to settle. He was one that roamed aimlessly."

She paused. Finn didn't flinch or bother pulling his hand away. He just stared at her in astonishment.

"I felt the tension between him and Tristin that day in the game room," she continued on.

"I remember you not being all too thrilled as DuGrey's partner, either," he pointed out.

"Would you if all your plans had been made for you despite having an agenda of your own?" Rory asked.

Finn remained silent and nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, Logan had always been charming and sweet to me in private. Remember the couple of times I've shown up with Logan, and he was being affectionate with me?" she prodded.

"God, the PDA was unacceptable!" Finn rolled his eyes dramatically. "I swore you embedded a chick chip in him or something."

Rory smacked his forearm playfully. "See? That's what I mean. He scaled back some of that touchy-feely stuff so he wouldn't gross you out."

"Thank goodness," he guffawed.

Rory squinted at him in retaliation. "Anyway," she proceeded, "Logan felt that he had to show this macho front every time Tristin and I were together and I was getting upset by it!"

"Logan means well," Finn defended his friend.

"But there is nothing to defend. It's only me and Tristin!" she continued on.

"And Tristin may or may not have a hidden agenda," he purported. "Look, you are paired up with a guy that still holds a grudge against Logan."

"Accidentally!" Rory argued. "He was supposed to be Stephanie's partner."

"Truly, but you're missing the point," he bantered. "You still are Logan's girl. That wasn't a secret coming here. Your becoming his partner was coincidental but crucial."

Rory looked down at their hands. His thumb was rubbing up against her knuckle absentmindedly.

"I knew Tristin the same time Logan did," he confessed. "But I didn't know anything about Camilla and Logan until a few nights ago. She was a delight. I knew she enthralled Tristin. She was vivacious and bubbly and smart. I never thought that she would've been the kind to sample goods on the side."

Rory was silent. "Am I like her?"

"No," he said hesitatingly.

"Oh," Rory felt disappointed. For what, she didn't know.

"Don't take me wrong, Sweetheart, but Camilla was a lot like Logan. She lived day by day, flying by the seat of her pants." He stared at her big blue eyes as he took her hands and kissed them. "You, my love, are funny, but serious, and grounded. You are everything he isn't, and you mesmerize him."

Rory didn't know what to say after that. She withdrew her hands slowly from his warm lips and tucked them between her thighs.

"Is it odd that I really don't know why I'm even here to begin with?" she asked.

"You know why you're here," he stated. He reached out and lifted her chin so that she could look at him. "The question is, do you still want to be with him?"

Rory looked into his eyes, stunned at the question he asked.

"I still want to be with him," she sighed, focusing back on her food and drink. "Right now, he's really making it hard for me to believe those words."

"What can convince you to believe that you still want to be with Logan?" he inquired.

Rory was silent. She took a few more bites from her meal before responding. "How far are you willing to trust someone, Finn?"

"What do you mean?"

"If I was your girlfriend, would you have acted like Logan?" Rory queried.

"That's a loaded question, Rory," he chuckled nervously. He swiped a grape from her fruit bowl before answering. "If you were my girl, you wouldn't be here right now."

"Seriously, same situation, same scenario. What would you do if you were me?" Rory asked again, pushing off the double entendre.

"I'd make sure I am happy," he said. "Are you, Rory?"

"I'm not sure," she sighed her response. "Right now, I feel like I've accomplished nothing but upset Logan, have you psychoanalyze me, been obnoxious to…."

"To whom, Love?" Finn asked with much concern.

Rory got up from her seat and secured a jacket. "I need to know the whole story."

"What?" Finn got up and looked at her like she lost her head.

"Do you love me? As a friend that is," she asked in desperation.

"Uh, yeah, I suppose," he stuttered.

"Then you will do this one favor for me, right?" she asked, smiling sweetly at the Australian.

"Why do I feel like this is going to be worse than the Spanish Inquisition?" he inquired in a mocked tone of desperation.

"You're in Spain and I've inquired, so the Spanish Inquisition isn't that bad," Rory rebutted before she pushed Finn out the door.

"Ha, ha. That wasn't even remotely funny," he mocked.

"You are taking me to Tristin's," she said.

"Are you mad?" Finn spun around and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Seriously demented?"

"I assure you my mental faculties are in place," Rory promised.

"How about selfish?" he snapped. "You know my head's going to be on the chopping block the moment Logan finds out."

"You said you owed me!" she exclaimed. "Now this is your payment for letting the cat out of the bag. I need to know Tristin's side of the story."

After a moment's hesitation, Finn replied. "Heaven forbid I want be upset with you right now, Rory. But I can't. I seriously need a drink for actually considering driving you to Torre del Mar."

"I'll buy the drink for you!" Rory squealed, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll wait for you downstairs."

She was running down the steps when Finn called out to her. "You're buying me the whole bottle, Rory. You're not getting off that easily!"

------oooo0---0oooo----------

Sleep won't come to him at all. He had opened the French doors to let the sea breeze in. All he got was silence. The eerie kind when all you hear is the crashing of the waves on the boulders scattered close to the shore. He sighed, staring at the shadows dancing on the ceiling. They were animated, but not living.

He felt that way all afternoon. He functioned as Tristin DuGrey on the outside, but he was hollow inside. After he watched Logan run after Rory, he was rooted on the spot. Even Finn got the courage to snatch the rest of his personal belongings to go after the couple.

He felt like a coward.

He knew it wasn't his place to explain to Rory who Camilla was, or what she meant to them. Camilla was a part of the past neither he nor Logan could deny, but surely had forgotten until their meeting.

Tristin sighed and exposed his leg from under the sheets, making it dangle off the edge of the bed. He couldn't seem to find a comfortable position to get himself situated for sleep. He let out a groan and stared at the neon hands that glared half past ten from the nightstand.

This had definitely been the longest day.

He sat up and grabbed the cigarettes and lighter, holding them in his hand. The urge to have the nicotine run through his veins itched. But he knew if he started now, he wouldn't be able to stop. He couldn't seem to remember when he started getting addicted to the sticks, but he remembered inhaling more of them when his thoughts revolved around Rory.

Getting ready to light up, he heard a car drive up to the villa. He looked back at the clock and frowned. He knew everyone was back from Costa del Sol. The crunching of the gravel signaled the vehicle's stopping. Giggles and soft voices were heard. Not in the mood for lost honeymooners, Tristin marched down to the door to shoo the intruders away.

"You are at the wrong place," Tristin warned before he focused on the couple emerging from the white BMW.

The laughter stopped. It was Rory and Finn, who seemed to be enjoying a private joke.

Tristin turned on the porch light and looked at them. He was stunned and speechless at what he witnessed.

"Tristin… hi," was all Rory said.

Suddenly, dread settled in. "He didn't hurt you, did he, Mary?"

"No," Rory vehemently denied, blushing under the pale moonlight.

Finn watched on, gripping the keys in his hands tighter than usual.

"So what are you doing here?" he asked, approaching the care.

"We need to talk," she stated. She slammed the door shut and shifted her gaze between Finn and Tristin.

"Okay," Tristin whistled out slowly. "Why don't you guys come in?"

Finn came around and walked beside Rory. "This isn't a good idea."

"I promise we won't take long," she whispered back.

Rory and Finn followed Tristin through the door and into the cavernous villa. The sounds of a TV playing and a chorus of cheers were heard from down the hallway.

"Why don't you join the guys in the room, Finn," Tristin suggested. "There's beer in the refrigerator."

Finn saluted Tristin before reminding Rory, "You know where to find me."

Rory smiled and looked at Tristin once Finn left their presence. She stared at the pack of cigarettes he still had in his hands. "Let's go for a walk."

Tristin looked up and said nothing. Instead, he put his hand on the small of her back and led her back outside.

The villa was nicely situated close to the shore. With wooden planks for steps and smooth pebbles used as a walkway, the moonlight provided adequate lighting for them to reach the rough coastline fairly easily.

They walked beside each other. Rory grabbed the edges of her jacket and zippered them together, providing some heat from the cool breeze. Tristin lit up a stick and started puffing away.

Neither spoke. Neither touched.

Rory found a large piece of driftwood just a few meters from the low tide. She sat on it. Tristin followed.

The exercise of speaking without words was reassuring in a way Rory never imagined. She expected him to ask her to spill the beans. She was grateful he hadn't.

"You know, he doesn't know the whole story," Tristin said from out of the blue.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Logan," he said, stubbing out the cigarette on the wood. "He just knows half of the story."

Rory was about to make a sarcastic remark but bit her tongue. This was his confession to make.

"Logan was someone I thought was a lot like me. We got along famously when we first met years ago. Camilla and I were dating for about eight months at this point…." He paused, lit up another cigarette, and continued his story. "Camilla was pre-law. That's where I met her. Very spunky. She was like the rest of us, grew up in a screwed up family, and went to college to get away from it all…."

Rory just stared at him.

"Until the Düsseldorf scavenger hunt," he sighed, letting the smoke escape his lips and nostrils. "She fell hard for Logan even though we were dating."

"I'm sorry," Rory apologized.

"It's not your fault," he snorted. He paused, took another drag, then continued his story. "Logan, Camilla, and I hung out like the Three Stooges. It was fun for the first day or two, until I realized that they would disappear for long periods of time. There would be some hugging or accidental touching that I realized later on was not really accidental. Finding them on my bed was the topper."

Rory flinched, thinking about the pain he must have felt. She should know. She was Logan in the Forrester saga.

"You don't have to…." Rory started saying.

"I wanted to kill them," he recalled. He took a long drag from the stick. His anger was resurfacing again. "But what did I do? Just walked out of the room and got smashed at the pub across from our hotel."

Rory wanted to reach out and touch him but his body language emanated fury. Instead, she wrapped her arms around herself tightly.

"She told me the next day we were through, and that she was going to be with Logan," he said.

"Oh," she interjected.

"She didn't know that Logan didn't want her as much as she wanted him," he smugly replied. "She invited herself to the boat trip he was to take right before the start of the semester, and I guess he told her that she was just a fling."

He stubbed out the second cigarette.

"She was torn and depressed for the longest time," he said softly.

"Did you take her back?" she asked.

"She didn't want to," he stated. He looked at Rory for a moment before looking at the bright moon. "She eventually dropped out half way through the semester. Last I heard she was stripping in Montana."

"Wow," Rory said after the revelation. "It's so… depressing."

"So when I saw you with him, I was rather taken aback," he confessed. "I don't want you ending up like Camilla."

"I don't have the assets to be a stripper," Rory nervously chuckled.

"You know what I mean, Mary," he said. "I know Logan can be a great guy. I just don't want you to sell yourself short because you think you're in love."

"I am in love with him," Rory admitted. "He's… definitely different from all the boys I dated. I came to Spain to be with him, not to be part of this game… In hindsight, I am somewhat grateful that you became my partner."

Tristin grinned at her confession.

"I do apologize for using you as a scapegoat the other night," Rory continued on. "If I had known…."

"It took a lot of willpower to say no to you, Rory," he whispered. "God knows I wanted you."

Rory blushed at his admission. "As a partner or as payback?"

"You would never be payback, Rory," he stated. "Sure, when we were at Chilton, I wanted you. Every guy wanted you."

"Now that's an outright lie," Rory laughed out loud.

"No it isn't! You were the Chosen One, the unattainable girl. You were the mystery all the boys wanted to know: silk or cotton panties."

"Ha!" Rory interjected.

"So what is it?" he asked.

"I'm not telling!" she replied.

The laughter died between them, the tinkling sounds drowning with the crashing of the waves. The playful mood lost as quickly as they started out.

"Something happened between us in Le Quatre Gats. I don't know what it is, but I know you felt it, too," he said.

"Trust, that's what happened," Rory said to herself.

"I felt torn wanting to be with you and wanting to get away from you," he cursed. "And somehow, you always kept your cool."

"You're giving me too much credit, Tristin," Rory chuckled nervously, surprised at her own confession.

She remembered the day he took her to the bullfight. She remembered the almost-kiss that took place at the Mancana. She remembered actually wanting Tristin that night she licked his neck.

Was she that blind that she didn't know what she really wanted?

"That night, when I asked you to sleep with me…." she trailed. "I… I wanted you."

Rory could see the pulse jump at the base of his neck.

"I wanted you, really, not because of any payback," she continued saying. "I wanted to feel you the way I remember the other girls used to talk about you."

Bright eyes flashed. "You don't know what you're asking, Rory."

"I wanted you to kiss me like you did those girls when we were in school. I want to feel that passion you have every time you defended me from Logan."

"Rory…." the growl came from his throat. "You don't know what you want."

"How dare you…." she started accusing.

Tristin got up from his side of the driftwood and yanked her towards him.

"Is this what you want, Rory?" he asked before assaulting her lips with his. The jolt of electricity that ran through his veins made his blood boil. The taste of sangria on her lips meshing with the mentholated cigarettes he just inhaled intoxicated him. Her tongue forced its way through his teeth. Her hands snaked their way around his neck to nudge him closer.

She whimpered at the pressure of the bruising kiss. He backed off a bit and just left butterfly kisses on her swollen lips. His hand snuck underneath her jacket and shirt to feel the soft skin beneath it.

Tongues dueled, fingers sought. Rory tripped backwards and fell on the rough surface with Tristin cushioning the back of her head with his hand.

"Is this what you wanted?" he asked again. She could feel the soft pair of shorts between her jean-clad legs. She was fully aware of his arousal pressed up against her thigh. She could barely think when his hand sequestered a breast from underneath the shirt.

Then, flashes of Logan came sweeping through her conscience. How could she be so callous?

Tristin saw the myriad of expressions flicker in her eyes. He stopped his assault and withdrew his hand from under the layer of clothing.

"Come on, it's getting late," Tristin replied as he got up, brushed of some of the pebbles stuck to his skin, and helped Rory up to her feet.

They walked back to the villa in silence, not once mentioning the moment of passion they shared on the shore.

Rory nudged Finn awake when they got back. It was quarter past one.

"Are you sure you don't want to spend the night? There's an extra bed," Tristin offered.

"Not tonight," Rory said softly.

Finn and Rory left quietly and drove away. The ride back to Torremolinos was done in silence. As soon as they arrived, Rory saw Logan meet them by the door.

"Where did you guys go?" Logan asked, hugging Rory. It was obvious he was concerned. There might even had been some undeniable fear in his eyes, grateful to have Rory back in his arms.

"For a drive," Rory said, looking at Finn hoping he won't say a thing. "I asked him to take me out for a drive."