"Slumming, Mars?"

"Not exactly." She sits on the edge of his bed, and he can feel the waves of tension radiating off of her. "Duncan's not in his room."

"And you thought he might be in here? I think you're overestimating that whole 'bros before hos' thing." He can see the flash of her smile in the dim light and he sits up, carefully pulling the sheet up with him. He watches her eyes, but they don't move, no matter how much he wishes they would. "I haven't seen him. Figured he was with you."

"No. Not tonight." She turns her head and he can sense the worry.

"Don't fret, Princess. Duncan's not like me. You don't have to worry about him being a flight risk." He rubs the back of his neck and bites back his smile as he sees her eyes dart his way, lingering just long enough on his bare chest to make his cock respond, wake up even more than just the faint hint of her perfume managed to do. "Is this because of the Kendall thing? I'm sure they were just talking."

She looks away and shrugs. Placing her hands on the mattress, she starts to push herself up and he reaches out before he can even think about what he's doing. He grabs her arm and holds her, both of them staring at his hand. "Let me go, Logan."

"I would," he nods, his thumb moving slowly over her bare skin. "If I could. And if I wanted to. The problem is that I don't. And I can't." He looks up at her, pulling gently, his heart pounding in his chest, his blood loud in his ears. She stumbles closer, not quite resisting. She sits on the edge of the bed, poised for flight, but closer to him, his thigh pressed warmly against her body. "Tell me you don't want this."

He strokes her cheek with his other hand, his thumb rubbing over her parted lips. He can feel her breath and smell her and it overloads his senses. Her lower lip trembles and she shakes her head. Without thinking, he leans in, his eyes closing as he nears her, feeling her shuddering breath against his lips.

There's a click in the distance and before he can register what it means, she's out of his grip and out of his room and in the main suite before Duncan can open the door.

Music and blood are pounding in his ears as he pulls hard at the bars, his muscles straining against the weight. He releases and lets them fall, the hard clang loud enough to push past the heavy bass. He looks up instinctively and reaches for the headphones, jerking them out of his ears. "Lost?"

"Looking for Duncan."

"You seem to keep losing your boyfriend, Mars. I thought you were a detective. You're going to lose the Nancy Drew award this year if you're not careful." He reaches down and turns off his music, reaching for a towel. "What made you think he'd be here?"

"I saw the gym bag on the floor. I thought it might be his."

"Thought wrong." He wraps the towel around his neck and gets to his feet, walking toward her. "Maybe he's out doing good deeds or something."

"You know," she leans against the glass and smirks at him, "for being his best friend, you don't seem to like him very much."

"Tell me something, Mars, if you hadn't been Lilly's best friend, would you have liked her very much?" He wipes his face and tosses the towel in the corner. "Just because you like someone doesn't mean you can't see every single one of their faults." He puts his hand on the glass above her head and leans in. "You could use me as another case in point."

She looks up at him, her eyes moving slowly up his bare chest to his face. "I don't know that I saw all your faults."

"You might have let a few slide?" He bends his head and breathes softly against her neck. "Maybe you were just blinded by all the good stuff, hmmm?"

Veronica huffs a soft laugh and straightens, turning to leave the room. He blocks her exit and presses against her, his sweat-slicked body pressing hers against the mirror. He stares into her reflection, holding her eyes. "Let me go, Logan."

"It was good, wasn't it, Mars?" He whispers the words in her ear, feeling her shiver. "We were good."

"No." She swallows hard and shakes her head. "Let me go, Logan."

He moves his hands, holding them up in surrender. She's trembling as she faces him, her eyes hot. "No means no." He smiles as she starts for the door. "But you'd better be careful, Mars. Your no is starting to sound an awful lot like yes."

"Fuck!" He throws the cell phone across the room and then kicks the bed, barely noticing the pain. He kicks it again and then spins around, grinding his teeth against the shock shooting up his leg. "Fuck."

"Problems?"

He spins around and limps back to the bed, sinking down on it. Veronica stands in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. "No. Everything's peachy fucking keen."

"I got that."

"Trina's fucking sold her story, 'My Father, the Murderer. The Unofficial Aaron Echoll's Story'. Catchy title, huh?"

"Very."

"She called to let me know because there's some stuff that might come to light that I might want to brace myself for. Which, I have to say, is a hell of a lot more than she did for me when she posed for Playboy and I had to find out from the guys jerking off to my sister in gym class."

"Wow. Thanks for that image."

"Of course, she only did it because she knows I can't give her money since this damn Felix thing has my assets tied up." He grabs a pillow and tosses it against the wall. "Fuck."

Veronica approaches him slowly, her hand resting on his shoulder. "What are you going to do?"

"You mean when it comes out that my father used to use me as his whipping boy?" He shrugs off her hand. "Number one rule of the tabloids, Mars. Deny, deny, deny."

"Does she have…proof?"

"We made sure they airbrushed the scars out of the family photos, Mars." His body clenches as her fingers run along the curve of his shoulder blade and the faint white mark on his skin. "Duncan's not in here."

"I know."

"So why the hell are you?"

She sits down beside him and stares at the floor between her feet and takes a deep breath. "I don't know."

"Saying yes?"

She shakes her head as he reaches over and threads his fingers through hers. "No."

His breath is tight and hard, caught in his chest. "I can't hear you, Mars."

She turns her face to his, her eyes wide and scared and hungry. "No." Her free hand reaches up and strokes the curve of his cheek and then down to his jaw, her fingers trembling as they caress his skin. "No."

"Veronica…" His lips part as he leans into her, tasting her on the sliver of air between them. She licks her lips and he nearly groans. "Say yes."

She jerks away, breathing fast and hard as she gets to her feet, shaking her head. "No."

He nods and inhales sharply. "No."

She continues to shake her head, refusing to meet his eyes. "No."

"Then get out."

"Logan…"

"Get out." He gets to his feet and advances on her, his body raging with heat and need and anger. "Get out and stay out. Kendall likes the next suite. Go see if your boyfriend's there and stay the fuck away from me."

She looks wounded and hurt as she nods. "Logan…"

He leans in until they're nose to nose, her face flushed with desire and his with anger. "Get. Out." She stumbles back and he shakes his head, grabbing the card key from the pocket of his jeans. "Here." He tosses it at her feet. "It'll be more fun if you surprise them."