Logan Kade (Fallen Crest #5.5) (26 page)

“Logan?” she said, so quietly that I almost didn’t hear her.

I looked down and shook my head. It was all I could do; my mind was spinning. She heard her buddy out there. I didn’t know Delray well, but I knew enough to know he was screwed. He did illegal shit for Sebastian last year, and word from Blaze was that he’d gotten into even worse shit this year.

But even if I hadn’t known that stuff, I still would’ve known those guys out there were bad news. The gunshot must have come from them. I didn’t want to think about whether they’d already shot someone.

I held Taylor’s shoulders. She started to say something again, but I shook my head. I mouthed
No
to her and moved back enough so I could pull out my phone. No calls. No talking. I texted Mason instead. My phone buzzed back in seconds.
Got it. Coming.

I showed Taylor the text, then pointed to my vehicle. I wanted her to get inside.

She shook her head.

I pointed again.

She shook her head again.

I thought about carrying her in there, but could tell from the set line of her mouth she wouldn’t go for that. As if sensing what I was thinking, she crossed her arms over her chest. I was still considering what to do when I caught a tear in the corner of her eye. Her hand whisked up and brushed it away as quickly as it had appeared. She raised her chin, and her eyes cut to the gate.

She wasn’t hiding. I rolled my eyes. Girl drove me crazy sometimes. I’d known from the beginning that she had trauma in her life. I could sense it, and instinct had me holding back. I wanted to swoop in and take her home with me that first night at Blaze’s party, but I refrained, a very unLoganlike quality.

But tonight, after hearing what she went through, I knew it was worth it. I’d been right to move slowly, and I knew another thing about her: she wasn’t going to hide. I couldn’t begrudge her that. Delray was her friend, her family. If it had been Nate, Mason, or Sam—no fucker would hold me back.

I gave her a reluctant nod. Her relief was evident immediately. Her arms dropped from her chest, and she nodded back to me. I saw the silent thanks on her face.

I looked back to the gate. I didn’t know what Mason was planning. He did the planning and I did the talking. Then we both did the busting. I figured I could improvise until he showed up. I could feel Taylor’s anxiousness behind me. She wouldn’t look away from the gate, but she was waiting for me.

I sighed and looked again through the little hole. No one was leaving. A few of the guys sat on the curb. A couple sat on two abandoned cars, and Delray was still smack in the middle. The leader dude was facing him.

They were waiting for someone.

Well, fuck.

I felt something nudge my hand and looked down. Taylor had typed out an unsent text message to me:
Police?

I took it, erased the word, and typed:
Mason might’ve called them, but your buddy’s screwed then. If he goes in, they might think he’ll narc on them.

Her forehead wrinkled, and she nodded. She wrote back,
Mason is coming? That’s your plan?

You have one?

She shook her head, typing,
Jason’s in trouble no matter what. I just don’t want him to get hurt right now.

I know. Let’s wait and see.

She nodded and put the phone away, turning back to the gate. She moved until she found a little eyehole to see through, too.

I took a moment and studied her. Taylor was a little thing, but she was tough. Most girls would run, hide, or cry. She was doing none of that. She was white-knuckling it out with me.

Nate had been digging at me. He knew I had feelings for her. I don’t know why he gave a shit, but he did. I hadn’t been willing to talk much, at least partly for the sheer enjoyment of pissing him off, but honestly, after dealing with Tate and being the one who hurt Kris, I was over talking about girls. I didn’t even want to talk chicks. Never had. If I liked someone, if I wanted to screw someone—bang her, get a quick dick suck—that was always my decision alone. Nate too. He bagged girls all the time and rarely talked to us about it. I knew some guys liked to gab about vagina. They bragged about past pussy or their future pink taco buffets, but we didn’t.

That was one thing I’d learned from Mason. That was beneath us. We did our own thing. If there was blowback on the group, we felt bad, but that was how it was. So Nate wanting to know about Taylor was pissing me off. If he wanted a go at her, he’d get a good beating, but I didn’t have to talk about whatever was going on with her and me.

Taylor sucked in her breath and stretched up on her tiptoes for a better view.

I looked, too.

A pair of headlights swept over the group, lighting up the area, and my gut sank. There were more guys than I’d thought. I started to reach for the gate, ready to run out if that vehicle was Mason, but when a different voice joined the group, I pulled my hand back.

“This is the guy who owes you?” The leader moved forward, and this time I saw his face: Square jaw. Big, thick eyebrows. Scraggly cheeks and tattoos that covered his neck. He had a scar next to his eye, like a bullet had grazed him there. He was an ugly motherfucker.

“What is this?” The newcomer’s voice was high. He was nervous.

“Did you bring the money?” Delray asked.

“What money?”

Okay. This was going nowhere fast. I had to think.

Putting myself in Delray’s shoes, his problem ran deep. I could tell. He owed money, or he wasn’t getting payments. This dude, whoever he was, obviously didn’t have the money. We probably had another few minutes before something popped off. What I typed to Taylor was right. If cops showed up, the pressure would be on Delray. They’d push him to narc, and even if he didn’t, these guys would worry that he had. That was the
best
-
case
scenario in my head. There’d been a gunshot before… I still didn’t have it in me to sweep the area for a body. I didn’t want to know.

The best way to help Delray was a distraction. I needed to get him out of here. Remove him from the situation and give him a day or two, and he might be able to make things right with these guys. I looked around at what we had on our side of the gate.

I had my Escalade. And…an entire amusement park.

I started off. I had to find something fast. Taylor stayed right next to me. When we got to the first building, she watched me bring out some dirty rags and spray cans. Then we trotted back to where I had some booze in the back of my Escalade. When she saw all the ingredients together, her eyes got even bigger, but she nodded.

I pressed my mouth to her ear. “I’m going to go farther down and toss these into the street. I’m hoping it’ll distract them. When they run to check, be ready.”

She nodded and moved her lips were to my ear. “What do you want me to do?”

The gate was locked. I needed it unlocked. And I needed my Escalade ready to go. Everything would have to happen within seconds, and I bit back a curse. Mason was the thinker. I wanted to text him, see where he was, but I didn’t have time. This shit had to happen now.

I pressed the key to the gate into her hand. “Be ready to unlock the gate as soon as the first bomb goes off.”

She nodded.

I kissed her and went to my vehicle. I opened the doors and put my keys in the ignition. Everything was good to go when we had to move. I could hear shouting now from the other side, but I wasn’t listening to them anymore. I liked a good brawl. I liked going in alone or with my brother—either was fine with me. But those brawls were against dickheads from high school or fraternity boys—not real thugs like these guys. I didn’t think Delray had been involved with this crowd last year when I approached him. I’d just been looking for a little fun. This was not fun. If I stayed to fight for very long, I knew it wouldn’t be good. Everything had to move at an almost breakneck speed, and I’d need to go as far as I dared.

And now it was time.

Everything turned off in me then. I couldn’t think about Taylor or those guys. This had to be done. I let out a breath and grabbed a lighter. Jesus. God. Christ. I prayed to all three. We needed to get out of this alive.

Opening the liquor bottles, I stuffed rags into the necks. Before lighting them, I pulled out everything else in my pockets. There had been some firecrackers left behind. I closed my eyes.

I was going to die someday. I hoped it wouldn’t be tonight.

I lit the first rag and tossed it as far as I could over the gate and toward the assorted abandoned cars on the other side. I didn’t wait before lighting the next, then the third and throwing them as far as I could. I heard the crash of the bottles breaking, then the shouts. They’d seen the fire. I braced myself, hoping a
boom
was coming, but I kept moving.

I lit and tossed the firecrackers, which sounded like gunshots. Someone cursed on the other side of the gate, slamming against it. “
Get down
!”

The spray cans came next. These things were going to light up the sky. I didn’t light them, as they would’ve seen it coming from inside the gate, but I tossed ’em and hoped they landed close to the soon-to-be-bombs.

After that, fuck being quiet. I sprinted back toward Taylor. I was halfway there when the first car exploded. The air filled with shouting. Taylor saw me coming, and I gestured to the gate.

She unlocked it and pulled it back as I raced to the Escalade, diving in and starting the engine. She threw herself into the passenger seat just as I hit the accelerator.

The only two still outside were Delray and the leader fucker—Rankin, I think Delray had called him that name. I pushed Taylor down. I didn’t want the leader to see her face as I braked between him and Delray.

“Get the fuck in!” I yelled.

Delray’s eyes were wide, but he wasn’t in shock. The street behind him was filled with smoke, different colored smoke, too. It was covering up his guys, but it was helping us, too. They couldn’t see us. That meant it was only Rankin to fight and he knew it at the same time I did. Delray threw himself into the backseat as Rankin came charging and tried to open Taylor’s door.

“Fuck no!” Delray’s boss growled.

Delray slammed the door shut behind him, but his boss had Taylor’s door open.

I reached for her and yelled, “Don’t look at him!”

She grabbed my arm as the guy caught her leg and started to pull her out. He was yelling over his shoulder, “Get back here! It was these guys! No one’s down there!”

“
Fuck
!” someone yelled.

Delray lunged forward, and I shouted at him, “Don’t you say her name!”

He bit down on whatever he’d been about to say. I punched the guy manhandling Taylor as hard as I could. His head whipped back, but he didn’t let go of her. His face twisted in an ugly snarl. His assholes were coming back, and they were coming fast.

I punched him again, but he still didn’t let go.

Then Mason appeared behind him and ripped him away. The guy fell to the ground. Mason whacked the guy with the bat in his hand, and he fell unconscious.

“Get in!” I yelled at him.

He jumped in Taylor’s seat, covering her with his body, and I hit the gas.

HERE. SAFE. MINE.

LOGAN

I took a crazy path to be sure we weren’t followed, but I drove us to the house. We all trooped inside, and Sam, who’d been lying on the couch in the living room, jerked upright.

“Holy shit. What happened to you guys?” Her nose wrinkled. “And why do you smell like fire? Is that what I’m smelling?”

Mason went over and dropped a light kiss on her forehead. He brushed a hand down her face, tucking her hair behind her ear. “We’re fine, and kinda.” He straightened and gave me a look. “Logan went back to his roots.”

My insides were roaring, but I grinned. “Hey, any time I can set a car on fire, I’m all for it.”

Sam didn’t seem to think this was funny. A worried look came into her eyes. She looked to Taylor and Delray, her gaze lingering the longest on Taylor. Then she sighed and pointed upstairs. “Nate got home a second ago. He rushed upstairs. I asked him what was wrong, and he said something about needing a second bat.” She looked up toward Mason. “Did you guys fight someone?”