The Road Home

The Road Home

****

Logan felt a cold, hard pit in his stomach as he packed his travel bag in his room, it made him feel sick. He didn’t know how he got there from upstairs or when he started stuffing his clothes into it, but it seemed the right thing to do. He hurried to fill it, not caring if the clothes got wrinkled or not. He had left room for some souvenirs and gifts, so having things neatly fit wasn’t a problem. He went to pick up his toiletries from the bathroom when Scarlett came in.

“Wait for me!” Scarlett said as she rushed to shove her things into a small cosmetic bag. She’d ask Duncan to bring her clothes back, there wasn’t time to pack it all.

Logan ignored her. He wanted to get out. Go somewhere else. Anywhere to escape the sounds coming from the living room, which only reminded him of what was happening upstairs.

Grabbing his car fob and phone, he gave one quick look around the room to see if he was forgetting anything. ‘Fuck it,’ he hissed. Anything left behind could stay behind. Despite the turmoil inside him, Logan strode across the cabin, his pace firm and steady as he passed the two couples on the couch.

He briefly noticed Alice lying on her back on the couch with her legs in the air while Jake was fucking her. Next to them, Delilah was riding on Duncan’s lap while he buried his face between her tits. Logan barely heard the words they mumbled to each other but it wasn’t hard to imagine.

He got into his car and started pulling out, grateful that he didn’t have to ask any of the others to move their cars. ‘That would be awkward,’ he thought, he really didn’t want anyone to know he was leaving. That would raise a lot of questions he didn’t want to answer.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

Logan almost jumped in his seat at the sound of someone smacking the window of the car. Startled, Logan hit the brakes hard and looked around.

“I told you to wait!” Scarlett chided him as she got into the passenger side of the car, “Let’s go,” she added as she put her seatbelt on.

“Scarlett, you don’t have to come,” Logan started to say,

“I know,” She nodded as she answered and settled into her seat and motioned him to drive.

“I…” Logan started to say, he didn’t want to seem rude, but he also didn’t want company. “I need some time alone.”

“I know,” She agreed with him but still motioned him to drive.

“Scarlett,” Logan started and took a deep breath, “Look, I’m…”

“Going home,” Scarlett finished for him. She gave him a weak, hesitant smile. “I know. Me too, and I could really use the ride.”

“Look, Scarlett,” Logan said, “I know you mean well, but… but I don’t want to... ‘talk about it,’ and all that.”

“I get it,” Scarlett said, she had wanted to say, ‘After seeing that, I get it. You want to run away,’ but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. She knew it would only remind him of what they had seen. “Look, there’s nothing left for me to stay here. You’re going home, so I might as well go with you.”

Logan opened his mouth to say something, but Scarlett cut him off, “Besides, it’s raining cats and dogs, you need another pair of eyes. And it’s going to be dark when we get home. Don’t want you falling asleep on the way.”

Logan hesitated for a moment. He couldn’t fault her reasoning even if he knew it was only an excuse, but a kind one at that. Still, the idea of not having to drive alone did, somehow, ease his feelings. “You sure?” he asked. “I don’t want a pity talk and all that, so you can stay if you want to.”

“I know. But, like I said, what am I going to do here all alone? Everyone got paired up; I’d just be the pity girl.” Scarlett said, “Besides. If I’m not here, they’re all going to think you and I went to hook up somewhere else.” She raised her eyebrow and gave him a knowing wink. “Nobody's going to ask questions till it’s too late.”

Logan raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘She does have a point,’ he thought as he pulled away and started the long drive back to Azure Rock.

“How do you know all about this?” he asked once they pulled out of the sandy and muddy road and onto the asphalt.

“Please, I’m a singer,” Scarlett teasingly scoffed. “Half the songs are about falling into love, falling out of love, good times, bad times, stuff like that.”

“Should have guessed it,” Logan said as a ghost of a smile threatened to curl his lips up.

“And, I might have been there once or twice,” Scarlett said softly as she gingerly put her hand on his thigh. She watched him silently nod in understanding as they drove along.

For a long time, they didn’t say anything. Scarlett left her hand on his thigh the whole ride. Occasionally Logan would reach down to take her hand for a moment before bringing it back up to the steering wheel.

***

Logan’s mind was a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and confusion. On the one hand, he was angry at Sharon, he felt betrayed by her. She knew what this trip meant for them, but she still went and fucked someone else. He didn’t understand how she could do that to him, and with his best friend, that really hurt.

That was another punch in the gut for him. How could Charlie do that to him? He knew what Sharon meant for him, how he felt for her. How could he betray his trust and fuck his girl? He wanted to turn the car around, head back, and punch his face.

And yet Logan still had the presence to remember that he had been about to do the same with Scarlett. Wasn’t he doing the same thing Sharon did? What if it was the other way around and Sharon caught him with Scarlett? Except. Except she had caught him, Logan suddenly realized. Not only had she seen him with Scarlett, but she actually wanted him to fuck her. ‘And the other girls,’ he reminded himself.

That thought opened up a whole other can of worms that had him running down the rabbit hole. Was she trying to get rid of him? Was he being a hypocrite? After all, he was about to be with Scarlett when he found them. But something didn’t seem right. It was just too damn confusing.

He felt his chest tighten around him, and he wondered, ‘Why does it hurt so much?’

***

Scarlett sat next to Logan and split her time between watching the road and glancing at Logan. She didn’t know why, but she felt worried about Logan. Not that he would do anything rash or crazy, she didn’t think he would, at least not right now.

No, she was worried about his heart. She could see the pain in his eyes. Pain he tried to hide from her and probably would also try to hide from everyone else. She could see how he struggled to stay strong and not show any weakness. It was… admirable.

She hadn’t said it, but the other half of the songs she sang had to do with this very thing she was seeing in Logan. She started to understand why guys loved those songs about being brave and stoic in front of the whole world. ‘What did that song say?’ She tried to remember.

Dry your eyes and quietly bear this pain with pride

For heaven shall remember the silent and the brave

'da da da da,' she hummed ‘How did the rest go?’ she wondered, before remembering the rest of the lyrics.

And hide the signs of pain

With noble acts, the bravest souls

Endure the heart's remains

‘Yeah, it went something like that.’ She recalled the song and then the name of the band. ‘He really did love her,’ she came to realize as she watched, and her heart went out to him. She wanted to say something, to reach out to him, but something held her back. While Logan drove them home, her mind started to write a song.

Behind the mask of guarded pain,

He wears a sorrow, hard to explain,

A heavy heart, once full of light,

Now shattered, like a fallen night.

I watch him suffer, lost and alone,

My heart aches, yet I don't know how to atone,

Oh, how I wish to be the balm,

To soothe the ache, to calm the storm,

For now, I stand, a helpless friend,

A witness to his sorrow's bitter end,

And pray that someday, he'll find his way,

To heal the cracks, and seal the fray.

***

“Logan,” Scarlett’s voice seemed to pierce the silence. He turned to her and noticed her hand in his. “Can you take me home?”

Logan looked around and saw they were almost at the manor. “Em, sure,” he hurried to answer.

“Unless you want me to stay over,” Scarlett winked at him.

“If you want,” Logan said politely, but he wasn't really sure if he did want her to stay or not.

“Maybe next time. It’s pretty late,” Scarlett said and gestured to Logan to keep driving.

Eventually, they arrived at her house, and Logan, always the gentleman, walked around the car to open the door for her. Scarlett stood on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Call me tomorrow,” before she turned around and went home.

Logan waited for her to enter the house before he drove home. He parked the car and walked into the dark and quiet manor, it almost seemed as if there was nobody home. He knew Heather wasn't home. His Uncle Robert was going to the cabin with some guests. that just left his parents and the staff, maybe Aunt Brooke and her sister if they had stayed.

He went up to his room. The exhaustion, physical and emotional, was finally catching up to him as he dragged himself down the hallway. Passing by his parent's room, he heard the faint sound of his parent's voices and instantly knew what was happening.

“That’s it Danny! Pound that pussy!” He heard his mother’s voice urging on his father.

“Oh, yeah, I love how you ung...,” he heard his father grunt and female moans, “good,”

Logan smiled as he heard his parents making love. Someday he wished he could have that with someone.

“Oh, Mph, Ravers!” he thought he heard a different female voice mumble and wondered who it was. ‘They must be roleplaying,’ he thought as he stumbled wearily to his room.