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you need to stay away from that girl.”
    Crumpling the note in his fist, Logan tried not to cry again as he shoved it in his pocket and reached for his phone and dialed once more. He just needed to know that she was all right. Tara’s voicemail picked up. He closed the phone and shoved it in his pocket.
    Please be okay. Please . . . She had to be safe. If she wasn’t, it would be his fault for calling her, for doing exactly what he’d been warned against. And he’d lose another loved one to terrible, sudden violence.
    “I have to take a Government test,” Hunter murmured. “I’ll see you at lunch. We’ll talk more.”
    Absently, Logan nodded, his head still spinning as his brother walked away.
    Fourth period was about to begin. And still, Tara hadn’t come to her locker, only three down from his own. If she didn’t, it would all be his fault. Logan raked a hand through his hair. Tara was so smart and responsible. She would never have missed school unless something was wrong.
    On autopilot, he grabbed his books and closed his locker, fear eating at his composure. To say that the day before had been both the best and the worst of his life would be a gross understatement. His thrill that he’d finally made Cherry his had totally amplified the horror of discovering his mom’s body. The worry that he’d spelled Tara’s doom only made it all worse.
    “Logan?” a shy voice whispered.
    Cherry!
    He whirled to find her standing beside her locker, pretty brown eyes bouncing up to his face, her expression concerned. Relief poured thorough him, and he ached to grab her, kiss her, get inside her again. They’d get busted in the hallways if he did more than hold her hand. He didn’t care about getting caught himself, but her overprotective stepfather already disapproved of him, an experienced jock sniffing around his pristine daughter. If Logan lured Adam Sterling’s valedictorian-in-training into trouble, the man would only try harder to pull them apart.
    “I’ve been trying to call you.” It came out like an accusation, but Logan was too strung out on worry to take it back.
    “Sorry. I dropped my phone last night. It broke.”
    Logan released the last of his breath he’d been holding. That was it? Thank God it hadn’t been anything more serious. Thank God no one had harmed her.
    At least not yet.
    He stared, not sure how to how to explain his behavior. Not sure how much longer he could stop himself from touching her.
    Then he realized that he shouldn’t do either. He shouldn’t even be talking to her now.
    Under his intent gaze, a flush crawled up her skin, from the pale flesh above her little white cardigan, all the way to her lightly freckled nose. She nervously fingered a heart-shaped pendant around her neck, eyes cast down demurely. Was she remembering yesterday after school, when they’d gone all the way? Logan ached to return to that blissful moment, when he’d been able to truly experience first love—without knowing any of the horrors that awaited.
    A vision of Tara brutalized like his mother flashed through his head. If he didn’t want that to become reality, he had to end this now.
    Damn it, she stood two feet from him, and he could barely keep himself from reaching out to touch her. How agonizing would it be to see her every day but know that she might as well be a million miles away?
    Logan swallowed all that down. “I have to go.”
    She grabbed his arm. With that one touch, she soothed him. He closed his eyes and savored her for one selfish second, wishing it could last forever.
    Then he jerked away.
    “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it last night,” she apologized, her sweet face all but pleading with him to understand. “You needed me, and I—”
    “It’s fine.” He was sure there was a good reason she hadn’t made it. His Cherry was nothing if not caring and conscientious. Maybe her stepdad had found out they’d made love. Maybe she’d gotten grounded. Logan frowned.
    “It’s