‘Gabe put a lot of trust in me,’ Logan corrected him sharply. ‘Laura still thinks I’m an irresponsible kid. I know she tried to talk him out of letting me house-sit. She doesn’t want him to see me as an adult.’
That’s because you aren’t an adult, thought Seb, watching Logan topple backwards onto a pile of hay bales, burst into a fit of giggles and pour herself another half mugful of Gabe and Laura’s Grey Goose. Seb knew Logan was a child, and a spoiled one at that. He also knew that she had the hots for Gabe Baxter and was only using him to try to make Gabe jealous. But he couldn’t seem to help himself. She was so gorgeous, and, when she wasn’t drunk or high or banging on about Gabe, such fun to be around. It was like asking a starving lion to walk away from a juicy gazelle that was practically throwing itself into his jaws.
‘Light another joint for me, would you angel?’ Logan blew him a kiss from the hay bales. ‘I’m so hyper right now.’
‘You’re not hyper, you’re drunk,’ said Seb. ‘And none of you should be smoking in here. One stray spark and this whole place would go up like a box of fireworks.’
‘Oh, give it a rest, Granddad.’ Liam Docherty, the new gardener’s boy up at Furlings, sidled up to Logan with a fat, ready-rolled joint in his hand. Lighting it for her, he inhaled once deeply himself before handing it over. ‘Who invited this killjoy anyway?’
Like most of the boys in the village, Liam fancied the pants off his boss’s daughter. Unlike most of them, he had daily opportunity to get close to Logan, and hadn’t given up hope of eventually charming her into bed. Liam was eighteen but looked younger, thanks to a pale complexion and freckles that gave him the look of a naughty schoolboy. But all Logan’s friends agreed there was something sexy about him, a certain cocksure Irish confidence.
‘I did,’ Logan sighed, looking at Seb Harwich with studied boredom. ‘But I’m beginning to wonder why.’
‘Come on. Let’s get this party started.’ Lavinia Creek, a particularly obnoxious schoolfriend of Logan’s, stripped off her T-shirt to reveal a bright pink bra. ‘Everyone has to take off at least one item of clothing. Last person on the dance floor goes naked!’
Lavinia was blonde and might have been described as buxom. She was inordinately proud of her large breasts, despite the fact that they came as part of a package that also included a roll of belly fat and a big, wobbly bottom. Seb kept reading that men were supposed to go wild over figures like Lavinia’s. Personally he found the sight of her white flesh spilling over the top of her underwear and miniskirt borderline repulsive, especially when she jiggled it around in what drunkenly passed for dancing.
‘I’m game.’ Not taking his eyes off Logan, Liam Docherty removed his shirt to reveal a surprisingly taut and toned six-pack. The other girls swiftly followed suit, the prettier ones shimmying out of dresses, screaming with laughter as they jumped around in only bras and knickers. Everybody was drunk, but no one more so than Logan. Not one to be outdone on the exhibitionist stakes, she staggered back to her feet, turning up the volume on Gabe’s ancient boombox and dramatically peeling off her bra, which she proceeded to toss provocatively into Seb’s lap.
‘Come on, Sebby.’ She threw her arms in the air and spun around like some Bacchanalian goddess. ‘Dance with me.’
Seb stood up and pulled Logan into his arms, more to shield her naked breasts from Liam and the other boys than out of any desire to be there.
‘You’re hammered,’ he whispered in her ear, trying hard not to be distracted by the silken soft skin of her bare back. ‘And you’re making an arse of yourself. Tell this lot to go home and I’ll make us some coffee.’
‘Can’t hear you,’ laughed Logan, shimmying out of his arms and bending down to turn the music up even louder. As she did so, one of the girls took a picture on her mobile phone.
‘I bet that’ll get a fuck of a lot of “Likes” on Facebook tomorrow,’ whistled Liam.
‘And I bet gorgeous Gabe will be one of them,’ added Lavinia, loudly and for Seb’s benefit. Like most of Logan’s friends, Lavinia fancied Seb Harwich madly and knew he was jealous of Logan’s crush on Gabe. Lavinia would have liked nothing more than to see Seb and Logan break up. ‘I could be his beaver to cry on,’ she’d told the other St Xavier’s girls with a cackle.
‘That’s it,’ said Seb, grabbing his jacket angrily. ‘I’m going home.’
It took Logan a few moments to realize he was serious. By then he was halfway across the farmyard. Grabbing her T-shirt, she ran after him.
‘Come on, Seb. Don’t go.’ She did her best to sound conciliatory. ‘It’s only a bit of fun.’
Seb turned on her angrily. ‘No, it’s not. It’s fucking irresponsible. Poor Laura thinks you’re keeping an eye on the place.’
Logan’s face instantly darkened. ‘Poor Laura indeed. If she’d had her way, Gabe would never have let me house-sit.’