Drunk Logan
Chapter 14
A/N: You guys are awesome reviewers! Thanks a lot!
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Veronica's mind was racing. She couldn't grasp what had just happened. All she knew is that she had to get out of there. She wanted to make sure that Troy didn't change his mind and come back for her.
She slowly got on her hands and knees from her sitting position. She looped her bag strap diagonally around her body. Then, she held onto the wall with one hand and pushed off the ground with the other. Her legs were shaking violently as she stood and her entire body screamed out in pain. Tears began to fall from her eyes, but she quickly sniffed and wiped them away. She knew she didn't have time to fall apart. She had to get to safety.
Where Troy had taken her was close enough to the parking lot that she knew getting to her car would be the quickest way to get away from Troy.
She moved as quickly as she could, which was not fast, grasping the wall for support until she reached the edge of the building. From where she was, she could see her car. It was still parked in the spot it had been Monday morning when she arrived at school early.
'Good thing it's close to the building. If it were very far away, I don't know if I could make it.'
Veronica looked around to see if anyone was around. She didn't want to find herself face to face with Troy on her way to her car. She had heard the bell ring, ending lunch about 5 minutes earlier. Most of the students were already in the school and headed to their 4th period classes.
Veronica paused for a minute when she thought of 4th period Journalism. Logan would be there. She knew he would be wondering where she was, but she was too afraid to stay around.
'First things first, Veronica. Get away.' She stiffened up, took a deep breath and prepared herself for the walk to her car.
It took every bit of strength she had to stay upright, but she finally reached her driver-side door. She opened her door to get in, but briefly looked around inside the car to confirm that she was alone. She felt her phone vibrating, but didn't want to stop to answer it.
She slowly sat down in her seat, but screwed her eyes shut and quickly shifted her weight when she sat on the spot where Troy had kicked her. She had to fight back the tears again when she felt them rising behind her shut lids.
She turned the key and could feel a throbbing pain where Troy had dug his fingers into her arm. When she put the car in drive and it began to roll toward the entrance, she let out a huge breath. She just had to make it home now.
Veronica tried to find a comfortable position the entire drive home, but wasn't successful. Every time she moved to alleviate the pain in one spot, she would end up putting pressure on another injury. When she finally pulled into her parking spot in front of the apartment complex, she moved to get out of her car. Standing proved to be a challenge, and walking a test of her will. The car ride, although uncomfortable, had begun to rest her sore body. Moving it only made it scream back at her.
She made it to her apartment, unlocked the door with shaky hands and entered. She shut and locked the door behind her as she surveyed the apartment. There were so many things she wanted to do. She wanted to get some ice out of the freezer and pain killers from the medicine cabinet. She wanted to remove her clothes and take a long bath. She wanted to figure out what she was going to do about all of this. She didn't do any of that. All she could manage was to walk to the couch and flop herself onto her stomach. She knew her mistake when she let her head hit the couch and felt the throbbing on her right cheek. She turned her head and laid the left side of her face down, then she burst into uncontrollable sobbing. She doesn't remember passing out, but that's exactly what happened. She finally saw black.
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Logan was sitting in Journalism waiting for Veronica to arrive. When she wasn't there several minutes into class, he wasn't sure whether to worry or be insanely jealous.
'Maybe she just wasn't ready to face Duncan yet. She would have told me though, right?' He pulled out his phone and glanced at it to see if he'd missed any calls or received any text messages. There were none. He discreetly texted her asking, 'Whr r u'. Ten minutes had gone by and Logan was dying inside.
'She must be with Troy still. Uh, I hate him. He doesn't deserve her. I should have told her how I felt when I had the chance. She wouldn't sleep with him now though, not with everything that she's found out in the last 36 hours.'
He was pulled from his thoughts when he felt someone staring at him. He looked around the classroom to see who it was, but no one was looking at him. He shrugged it off until he looked out the window on the door to the class room.
What Logan saw confused him. Troy was standing there, leaning against the wall, staring at Logan. When Troy was sure he had Logan's full attention, he stood from the wall, a small smile gracing his lips and winked at him. Then, he turned and walked away.
'What the heck was that all about? That guy's a freak, why does Veronica even like him anyway? Wait, Veronica. If Troy is in the hall, where is Veronica?' Logan jumped up from his chair, grabbed his books and walked from the class, ignoring the teacher who was trying to stop him.
Logan called her cell as he ran to the parking lot. The call went to voicemail after four rings and her car was gone. He began to get frantic and hoped that it was all for nothing. He hoped that she had just been completely unthoughtful and had gone off by herself. She'd find him later as if it was no big deal.
That's what he was hoping for, but something about the way Troy had looked at him made him very nervous. With Veronica missing and knowing that she had been with Troy minutes before class started, he was scared. He had promised himself that he would look out for her and not let anyone else hurt her. He didn't know what he'd do if she was in trouble.
Logan ran to his car and sped out of the parking lot headed to the first place he could think of. When he got to her apartment, he saw her car in the parking lot. He rolled his eyes and let out a big sigh. 'Oh, good. She's here. I'm going to have to let her have it for scaring me to death. She probably wants to be left alone right now, but tough. I was serious when I said that she wasn't going to deal with all of this Duncan stuff alone.'
He got out of his car and went to her apartment. When he knocked and she didn't answer, he tried to call her again. 'Maybe she's in the bathroom.' He would have thought that she'd taken the dog for a walk, but Backup was still at his house. As he listened to the ringing on the other end of the line, he tried to look through the front window. He held his hand up to the glass and could see a small crack in material where the two curtain panels met.
Looking in the window, he couldn't see anything odd. He saw the kitchen, which was dark; and when he shifted he could see the living room. He was about to give up on the window, when something caught his eye he hadn't seen before. He squinted and realized that someone was laying on the couch.
'Could she have really slept through all of this?' He banged on the window and nothing from her. He moved back over to the door and banged on it as hard as he could, but there was still no answer. And, when he went back to the window, she had still not moved.
He was panicked now. He decided to bust in her front door. He would pay for the damages, he didn't care, he just couldn't stand there helpless.
When he crashed through the door, he was sure she would have flown to attention, but she still hadn't moved. It was dark inside the apartment. No lights had been turned on and only a little bit of light was filtering in through the curtains.
He walked over to her and looked down on her sleeping form. She was laying on her stomach with her right arm and leg hanging off of the couch. Her face was turned in his direction, but her hair had fallen over most of it, blocking his view. He knelt down and slowly said her name. When she didn't respond, he said her name again and grabbed her arm to try to shake her awake.
"Aahh!" She let out an ear-piercing scream and started crying as Logan jumped back. She hadn't completely woken up, but had moved her left arm under her body and was holding the spot that he had grabbed.
"Ronnie? What's wrong?" When she continued to cry, he couldn't stand it anymore. He moved her hair out of her face so he could try to get her attention and look into her eyes. Only what he saw when he moved her hair, got his attention. She had a mark on her face that spanned her entire cheek.
"Veronica! What happened? Veronica, it's Logan. What happened?" What he heard next shattered what was left of his heart.
"Logan?" she whimpered weakly. "It hurts."
"What hurts, your face? What happened to you?" Logan asked her urgently. He wanted to rip her off of the couch to face him, but was afraid to touch her.
"He...so angry...car...phone call...you." He had no idea what she was saying.
"Veronica, I need you to wake up right now, okay?" Logan was using his sternest voice to try to get her attention...and it seemed to work.
"Logan?" Her eyes fluttered open and looked up at him. When she realized he was actually there, she gave him a weak smile. She knew she was safe now. She knew that Logan wouldn't let anything happen to her.
When she tried to push herself up, she cried out in pain. All of the sudden, she was all too aware of the pain she was in everywhere. She couldn't think of a spot on her body that wasn't sore or shooting pain through her.
"What is it? Where does it hurt?" Logan still couldn't understand what was going on. She was obviously in pain, but where and why and how could he help her?
"Just a minute." She whispered.
Logan watched as she slid her legs off of the couch and let her knees touch the floor. She placed her hands on the couch and slowly tried to get up. Logan could see her wincing in pain and her limbs shaking with effort. He tried to grab her sides to help her, but his hand caught the spot on her back where she hit the wall.
"Not the back, Logan, watch my back!" He quickly moved his hands to the safer area of her hips.
"No, Logan. Don't touch me!" He was a little hurt until she added a tearful, "please" after a pause.
She finally made her way all the way up and she turned to face him. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "You're here, don't leave me." Then she let her body slump against his, her forehead on his collarbone.
"Veronica, what happened?" He was hoping to finally get some answers from her.
"Well, um, apparently I have the worse taste in guys in the history of the world." She wasn't laughing or joking around, she was completely serious. "First love, brother. Second love interest, seems to have some anger issues."
"Troy did this? What happened, what did he do?" Man, Logan's ass-kicking list was getting really long now. He had stopped himself from beating the crap out of his best friend on Veronica's part the day before because he knew that she needed him. Now, frankly, he wanted to leave Veronica standing there while he dragged Troy down to the Sheriff's Department. Of course by drag, he meant literally dragging Troy's body behind the Xterra to Neptune's finest. If he made it out of the hospital, then it would be up to the law at that point. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't leave her alone and he still needed to find out what had happened.
"I'm not exactly sure, it's still kind of mixed up to me. He just said something about a rumor about you driving out of school yesterday with a blonde in your lap, me not being in school and then you answering my phone? That just doesn't even make sense."
Logan groaned. 'No, no, no! What did I do? This is all my fault.' He remembered the attitude he'd taken with Troy during the call
"What, what is it?" She asked him.
"Oh, Ronnie, I'm so sorry. I did answer your phone yesterday when you were in the shower. I told him that you were in the bathroom. I figured you wouldn't want to talk to anyone." His eyes filled with tears "It's my fault. I'm so, so sorry. Please, Ronnie, please forgive me for this. I'm so stupid. I..."
"Logan, stop! This isn't your fault. Even if I'd been giving you a blow job on the center table in the quad, he shouldn't have done this." She reached up and grabbed his face so that he was looking at her. "And, there is no part of me that would have wanted to talk to him or anyone yesterday."
He could see the sincerity in her eyes and it warmed his heart. He covered her hand with his and kissed her forehead, lingering there for a long moment. He pulled back to look into her eyes again.
"Okay, first things first. Lets get this bag off of you and then we've got to get you taken care of. What exactly did he do?"
As she told him step by step where he hurt her and how, she saw him wince several times and she could see his jaw muscles go completely rigid. When she was done, he took a deep breath and nodded his head. She could tell by the look in his eyes that if Troy were there, Logan would have killed him with his bare hands.
"Can you stand here for a minute by yourself or can you sit on the couch?"
"I can try to sit. Although, I know when I drove home, I couldn't put any weight on that side of my butt." She blushed a little at the thought of telling Logan all of this.
"Okay, let's try to get you sitting." Logan helped her down. It wasn't real comfortable, but she figured it could have been worse.
Logan went into the kitchen and got out the ice packs that were in the freezer and a bag of frozen peas. He brought them over to her and told her to put the peas on her face.
"I'm going to help you get this jacket off, okay? We'll go really slowly. You tell me if you need to stop."
"Ok"
He sat down behind her and saw that her jacket had a tear in it right where her shoulder blade was.
"Hmm, that's weird. There's a torn patch on your jacket. What's that from?"
"I don't know. When I hit the wall and slid down, I felt it scrape my back. It's one of those textured outdoor walls with those really sharp small tips. Maybe it ripped my jacket at the same time."
"Huh. Well, let's take it off. Just put your arms straight down and I'll lift it off your shoulders." He was practically growling.
"Logan? What's wrong? Are you ticked at me?" She knew it was ridiculous, but she couldn't figure out what she'd done to agitate him. 'Is he irritated that he has to help me? Maybe he thinks I'm being a baby about all of this. With all of the surfing and fighting injuries he's had, I'm sure he's seen and felt worse.'
"What? No, Veronica. Why would I be ticked at you? I'm just thinking of all of the things I'm going to do to Troy when I find him. I'm gonna kill him." She could tell that he was getting more and more worked up as he spoke. She felt bad that he was being dragged into all of this and she didn't want him to get in trouble.
"Logan, I'm sorry. That's why I wasn't sure I should tell you about all of this. I don't want you to get into any trouble. I just want you to stay with me. I don't know what he going's to do, but I know that you'd never let anything happen to me." She was trying to calm him down. It was the truth, she didn't know what she would do if he wasn't there. Her dad had called in the morning and told her that he knew where his bail jumper would be that night and expected to be home with a nice reward check the following day.
"How can you say that, Veronica? I did let you get hurt. In fact, I was looking for you at lunch and I saw you being led away from the quad with Troy. Argh! I even thought about going after you, but I just figured that you two wanted to spend some alone time together." He was frustrated with himself, but then he became very serious with her.
"Oh, and don't you ever keep something like this from me. Do you understand me? Ever. In fact, why didn't you call me? I'm a would have driven you home. I would have wanted to come and get you." Logan was a little hurt that she hadn't relied on him for help.
"Actually, once my brain started working, you were one of the first things that came to mind. I just didn't know if he was going to come back and I wanted to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible. Then, when I got home I couldn't do anything, but make it to the couch."
"And this wasn't your fault. I'm not your responsibility and you can't be with me 24/7. What are you going to do, bring me with you on your dates?" She let out a chuckle, just enough to try to lighten up the situation; but small enough to not cause herself anymore pain.
"That wouldn't be so bad." He figured he could bring her along on his dates, he would just forget to bring anyone else. He wanted her to be his responsibility. He'd never had such a strong urge to care for someone before. It wasn't just about her physical safety, which was a big part of it. He really wanted to make sure she was taken care of emotionally, too. All he wanted was to see that gorgeous smile of hers permanently plastered to her face and he was willing do anything to make that happen.
While they were talking he'd gotten her jacket off. He'd seen her wince a couple of times, but was being as gentle as possible. She'd made him feel a little better, but then he started to get a look at her injuries. He saw the marks on her arms first. The bruises were just starting to form, but he could see finger marks all over her arms. She had told him what had happened and he knew that her arm was sore from her reaction when he grabbed it. By the marks, though, he knew that Troy had to have grabbed her several times. There were bruises scattered from where her sleeves stopped all the way to her wrists. Then, when he lifted her sleeve up a little, he could see more.
"I'm going to look at your back now, okay?" He watched for her nod. When he lifted the back of her shirt, he could see the marks that were forming near her hips and knew that they probably extended to under her jeans.
As he continued to lift her shirt, he slowly revealed what looked like a road rash type of injury. There was a little bit of blood where the skin had been scrapped off. He took in a sharp breath and his stomach turned.
Logan had seen plenty of marks, bruises, burns, etc. on his own body. He was used to the sight, but seeing them on her made him sick. He had to take several deep breaths and try to relax. He knew he wouldn't be any good to her if he was bowing to the porcelain god.
"Veronica, I'm going to have to clean up this spot on your back. Where's the first aid stuff?"
"In the cabinet in the bathroom. There should be some alcohol rubs and bandages in there." She watched as he left the room and then returned a minute later with the supplies. He sat down gently behind her again.
"Okay, I need you to lift up your arms so that I can take your shirt off." He cringed waiting for her reaction.
"Huh? You're gonna what?" She had to have misunderstood him.
"Ronnie, I'm sorry. I just can't keep your shirt lifted while I'm trying to take care of your back. It'll just be for a minute and you can hold your shirt in front of you." He waited to see if she would comply. Not that he wouldn't have loved to strip her in any other circumstance, this just was not how he'd imagined it. It certainly wasn't as enjoyable.
She finally sighed. She put the bag of peas on the arm of the couch and slowly lifted her arms. He tried to lift it over her head as slowly and gently as possible, but she still moaned in pain and straightened her back.
"I'm sorry, Ronnie. I'm trying to be as careful as I can."
"I know, it's okay."
He straightened out her shirt and lowered it in front of her, laying it over her shoulders for her to hold in place. He got her cleaned up and then taped a piece of gauze on her, hoping that it would protect the tender area against anymore irritation.
"Don't move, I'll be right back." She watched again as he disappeared into the hallway. This time, when he returned, he had a hoodie for her to put on.
"This should be easier for you to get on and off." He told her as he slipped the hoodie up her arms and over her shoulders. Then, he reached both arms around her and zipped it up, finishing with a light kiss right behind her ear. "I'm so sorry. I just want to hold you and make it all go away, but I know that would hurt you. There is really nowhere to touch you."
She slowly turned around to face him. She looked at him and gave him a soft smile, then she leaned into him and laid her forehead on his chest.
"Perfect," she hummed out as she closed her eyes.
"You just rest for a couple of minutes, then I'll pack up some more clothes for you and take you back home with me. I already called the house and the staff fed and walked Backup, so he should be good for a while longer. And, we're going to need to figure out what to do about Troy. Did you call the cops yet?"
"Logan, Lamb won't believe me. He didn't when I reported the rape to him."
"What?"
"Yeah, he laughed at me and told me to go see the wizard. Not really having a lot of confidence in his department nowadays." She shrugged a little.
"And you thought I was an ass." 'Great, another person to add to my 'Those I'd Like To Beat The Crap Out Of' list.'
"Well, this time there is obvious, undeniable, physical evidence. Ronnie, you look like crap. It's not like you can hide it from anyone, especially your dad. And you shouldn't hide this. I won't let him get away with this, one way or the other, Veronica."
"I know, I know. Can we just talk about it later?"
"Sure, anything you want. Just relax for now." He said as he kissed her head again.
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corrptedchic: Thanks! Yeah, I figured you'd feel more strongly about him after ch 13
Literari and naley forever: Well, Logan sure wants to, doesn't he?
Lorelei Candace Black: Yeah, for some reason people don't seem to be so fond of Troy in my fic. Hmmm. Wonder why. :-)
IluvVM: Thank you, thank you, thank you. What more can I say?
Sagebeth: ROTFL! Yeah, I'm sure you could keep going...seems to be a common topic among the reviews! Thanks!
Princetongirl8182: Well, let me just say THANK YOU and I hope you get this update in time. I may even update earlier in the day tomorrow. Hopefully, you'll be able to get the next one, too. I just don't know what time zone you're in. Anyway, thanks again.
Jennaml2709: Thank you so much. I hope to keep you entertained.
Miss-Mars: Oh, a girl after my own heart...well, then you're going to just LOVE what's coming...I hope. Hee hee
LoVeElle: Tell me about it! Hmmm...looks like we'll have to wait for a good fashioned beat down...time to take care of Ronnie.
RBDFAN: I just love you...you're too funny. Seems like the other reviews share your opinion of Troy. Troy will be out of the picture...kind of...eventually...maybe?
Storynerd89: Oops! Not yet! Let's drag this out a bit, shall we?
xosummerxo: I love your review. It's so detailed! It's great to know what people like and don't like specifically, so thanks! Well, some of your questions were answered in this chap., but you'll have to wait on some others. Hope you enjoy!
Kaleena Mason: Hey, she wouldn't be her if everything was roses, right?
09nerLoVer: lol...THANKS! Well, let's just see about this whole Troy thing, shall we?
2honest4myowngood: I love their morning together. Yes, poor Logan is having to use all of his will power to not leave V and go kill Troy. (FYI: so far I'm loving your honesty, hee hee)
ShmexyShmexyHinny: Thank you so much!! Remember, though, I've been writing this story since March. I am actually working on Ch. 44 right now. So, don't worry, you get it all quickly! I'm pretty sure I only have a couple more chapters to write, so there hopefully won't be any gaps. If so, they won't be too bad.
Lamiss12: I know how it is to be up at absurd hours of the day because of a fic. Thank you for thinking mine was worthy.
SaraLyeth: Well, probably a guy who want a serious ass-kicking, wouldn't you say? Hee hee hee, I can't wait for them to kiss either. Is that sick or what...it's MY fic and I still can't wait! Thanks!
vmloganluvr: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will try not to disappoint! Love the screen name...in my opinion...Logan/JD makes up at least 40 of the show.
LoVefan4ever: Yes, that seems to be a common view. People sure don't like Troy. Guess what? Me either!!!