The Mistake (Off-Campus, #2)

by Elle Kennedy

You’re gonna have to fix this one all on your own.” There’s a pause, and then… “You stupid jackass,” my friends say in unison.

“Um. Uh, thanks for the offer. But yeah, I want her.” He pauses. “I’m in love with her.” My heart soars like a kite in the wind. He’s in love with me? Then it sinks like a stone. Wait. What if he’s only saying it because I said I loved him? “I’ve been in love with her for a few months now,” he continues, and his husky confession reinflates my heart. “I didn’t tell her because I didn’t want to scare her off by saying it too soon.”

“Anyway, this girl…she’s the love of my life. She’s smart and funny and unbelievably compassionate. She forgives people even when they don’t deserve it. She⁠—” “Good lay?” Pace interrupts. “Oh yeah. The best.”

“But the sex is just icing,” Logan says softly. “It’s everything else that matters most.”

“Wait—we’ve been talking to John Logan?” Evelyn shrieks. “Wait—you’re talking about Gretchen?” Pace exclaims, his gaze darting like a Ping-Pong ball from me to Logan. “No, I’m talking about Grace,” Logan says, smiling at me through the glass. “Grace Elizabeth Ivers. The woman I love.”

“Actually, I think I’m going to marry you one day.” Shock jolts through me. “What?” “One day,” he repeats when he sees my expression. “I mean it, Grace, I’m in this for the long haul. You still have two years left at Briar, and I’ll be in Munsen during that time, but I promise you, I’ll come see you as often as I can. Every available second I have will be yours.” His voice thickens. “I’m yours.”

“Hannah was trying to describe love to me last semester. She said it feels like your heart is about to overflow, and that when you love someone, you need them more than anything else in the world, more than food or water or air. That’s how I feel about you. I need you. I can’t stand the thought of being without you.” He releases a shaky breath. “You’re the last person I think about before I go to sleep, and the first person I think about when I open my eyes in the morning. You’re it for me, baby.”

“What about everything you said earlier…about your future, and how you’re going to be miserable and hate your life…” I bite my lower lip. “I don’t want that to happen, Logan. I don’t want you to turn bitter, and hateful, and…” I trail off. His fingers tremble against my cheek. “I won’t. Or at least, I’ll try not to. It’s going to suck, Grace. We both know that, but I promise not to let it destroy me, or us.” A crack wobbles his voice. “And it won’t be forever, just until Jeff comes back and takes over again. The next few years, it’ll probably feel like I’m wandering around in a pitch-black tunnel, but there is a light at the end of it. And as long as you’re with me, there’ll be a light inside of it, too. Without you, it’ll just be darkness.”

“I know you boys have heard this before. I know it’ll take a lot more than a few promises to prove I’m serious about this.”