Remorseless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 3) (5 page)

As soon as she was dressed, she grabbed her room key and left for the free breakfast. Namely coffee. She needed lots of coffee to get through the day.

The continental breakfast was a short walk down the hall, and there were already a few people there. Julie started with the eggs and loaded up her plate with the powdered egg product and then grabbed a banana. Once she got her coffee, she chose a table where she could see the hallway. She was only halfway through the eggs when she saw Logan come down the hall. He was in the same pants he’d worn the day before but had the navy blue T-shirt that she’d given him last night. Once he reached the breakfast area, she started to wave her hand, but he already looked in her direction and then back again.

Well, that was a little strange.
But it wasn’t as if they were best friends, so if he wanted to be standoffish, that was his choice. She started to bring another bite of eggs to her mouth when she realized that the entire tone of the room had changed. Everyone had stopped eating and they all looked at Logan, from the awkwardly large man with the dark, thinning hair to the two businesswomen at the table on the other side of the eating area.

It really shouldn’t have surprised her. Logan was a commanding presence and he tended to draw attention. But it was still shocking to see how everyone stopped what they were doing and whispered among themselves. Julie frowned.
They didn’t recognize him, did they?
She couldn’t have someone calling the local news station to tell them that the black sheep Farrell brother was in some tiny hotel in the middle of nowhere.

She cautiously took another bite as Logan set his plate on the table and sat down. She blinked at the overflowing pile of bacon, sausage, and eggs. “You know the all-you-can-eat thing isn’t a challenge, right?”

“Hey, I see bacon and I lose all control.”

“Obviously. But as soon as you get settled in, you need to start to monitor your cholesterol. I’m worried about you.”

He smiled sarcastically at her as he put an entire piece of bacon in his mouth. She shook her head before she took another bite of her own eggs. “Did you sleep okay?”

“I can sleep anywhere,” he said, not really answering her question. “You?”

“I’m pretty used to hotels. I thought you might be sleeping in today.”

“I don’t think I can. Old habits, you know?”

“Yeah.”

They fell into silence as they both kept eating. She finished her plate, but he still had a ways to go.
If they were going to be in the car for a while, maybe she should get seconds...

“I’m surprised you haven’t been talking about the family more often,” he said abruptly.

“What?”

“Robert and Alex and Nathan seemed so intent on talking to me when I was locked up. I expected them to be riding in on their white horses to bring me home.”

“I told them not to.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because you refused to talk to them while you were in prison.”

“So?”

She sighed. “If your brothers annoyed you in prison, you’d tell them to fuck off and that was that. If they annoy you now that you’re out, you can drop off the face of the earth and they’ll never see you again. So I’m working my damnedest to make sure they don’t annoy you.”

“Probably a good call.”

“Good call? Do you have any idea how many texts and calls I’ve gotten in the past twenty-four hours? Jean is practically freaking out, but that might just be her pregnancy brain.”

“Jean...she’s the sister, right?”

“Yep. She really wants to meet you before she has the baby.”

“I didn’t realize she was pregnant.”

“File that under things you’d know if you talked to your family.”

Logan shrugged. “So tell me about her.”

Julie cautiously glanced at him, trying to get a read on his mood. “What is it you wanted to know?”

“I don’t know. What do you think I should know?”

Julie set her plastic fork down and looked at him. “Jean is smart, but she’s in a bit over her head. She’s trying to be a member of the family and get to know all the brothers better, you included. From what I gather, she didn’t grow up with a tight-knit family, so she’s trying to make up for lost time with you guys.”

“So she’s going to want to meet me.”

“Definitely. And there’s one more thing, but you’re not going to like it.”

“Great.”

“She’s seeing Colin Carter.”

Logan dropped his own plastic fork onto his plate. “Are you serious? Why? Is Robert letting her do this? He’s using her for the inheritance and—”

“Trust me, I’ve heard this already.”

Realization struck him. “Fuck. He’s not the father, is he?”

Julie tried to think of a good answer, but she knew nothing she could say would make Logan happy. “I guess that after she found out who her father was, Colin was instrumental in helping her through the transition.”

Logan shook his head. “I’m starting to think that she isn’t nearly as smart as you seem to think. Are you ready to go yet?”

His plate was still half full, and this was the first time Julie hadn’t seen Logan finish a meal.
Interesting.
Maybe he cared more about this sister he’d never met than he wanted to let on. “I’m ready. I’ll need a few minutes to finish packing up and then we can leave.”

“Good. I’ll meet you in the lobby in ten minutes.”

Julie watched him walk away as she jumped up to follow. She would’ve preferred twenty minutes, but she could be ready to go in ten. Once back in her room, she swept her makeup back into her bag and made sure she had all the toiletries packed away. Then she tucked away the previous day’s clothes and did a quick search of the room to make sure she wasn’t leaving anything important behind. Once she was clear, she opened her door and gasped in shock when she saw Logan there. “I thought you were going to be in the lobby,” she said breathlessly.

“I was, but I remembered you pack more luggage than the Queen of Sheba and figured I could give you a hand.”

“Thoughtful.” She maneuvered out of the way so he could take the suitcase from her as she went back to get the other two. She had luggage that had four wheels on each bag, so they were easy to get from place to place. The hard part was fitting out the door with the two oversized bags, but she turned sideways and managed to push one out in front of her and drag the other behind her. “So, since you’re feeling thoughtful, you care to share where we’re going today? I won’t tell anyone, promise.”

“You haven’t been reporting my every move to Robert?”

“Of course not. I’ve been reporting them to Nathan.”

He glared at her, obviously not amused.

“Hey, Nathan is the one I worked with the most and he responds to my texts the fastest. But if you want me to keep things from your brothers, all you have to do is say. I’ve just been telling them where we are and that everything is okay. But it’s not a requirement. I still will have to tell them that everything is okay, but I’ll leave out any extra information.”

Logan stopped in his tracks and looked over at her. “You’ve been spying on me for my family and you expect me to be okay with this?”

“Umm... Did you think I wasn’t telling your brothers what was happening?” Sure, she could see how he might think it was a betrayal, but she’d made her intentions rather clear. So by virtue of that, he should assume that there would be communication to his family.

“Well, now I’m asking you to stop.”

“Fair enough. I’ll stop. Now where are we going?”

“We’re going to Colorado.” He continued down the hall and through the lobby.

Julie tried to guess what Logan would want in Colorado. “In the mood for some skiing? I know of some great resorts out that way. If you want, I can make a few calls and get you the best place in Denver.”

“I don’t need you to get me anything.”

“I can get a list of the best restaurants. Make sure we don’t eat anywhere with less than five stars.”

They got out of the sliding doors and Logan stopped and turned to look at her. “I can think of something you can do.”

“Anything.”

“Stop talking. Let’s just get the hell out of here.”

Julie bit the inside of her lip as she internally repeated the sum of money she was being paid to look after Logan.
If he wanted to go off on his own, fine.

But at least he told her their destination. Even shitty progress was still considered progress.

––––––––

“W
hy do you keep looking at that thing?” snapped Logan three hours into their drive.

Julie looked up from her phone. “Umm...you told me not to talk.”

“So? What’s so fascinating about the damn phone?”

“Well, my options to entertain myself are to stare in silence at the Mojave Desert or to play with my phone. Is my looking at the screen bothering you?” she asked skeptically.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the wheel tighter. “It’s not bothering me,” he bit out, even though he knew it didn’t sound convincing. It did bother him. He just didn’t know why. He woke up this morning convinced today would be different. He wouldn’t let Julie distract him and he’d stay focused on getting to Colorado.

But even though she hadn’t said a word since they’d gotten in the car, he kept glancing over to her. Maybe if they were in a busy city he would’ve had to pay more attention to the road, but by now they were well into Arizona and there were only sparse trucks and cars on the road. Since Julie had pointed out that he didn’t have a valid driver’s license anymore, he made sure to stick to the speed limit and laid low in the slow lane.

Which left him too much time to sneak glances at Julie.

“Remember that you promised not to inform on me to Nathan,” he said, trying to think of a good reason why her phone use bothered him so much.

“Oh yeah, I’m messaging him every time we go by an exit so he knows exactly where we are,” she said sarcastically.

“Fine then. If you aren’t spying on me, what is so interesting?”

“Well, right now I’m looking at the map on my phone and trying to figure out why we’re going through Albuquerque to get to Denver and not through Vegas. This is longer by about two hours.”

“Maybe I’m not a fan of Vegas.”

“Are you a fan of two hours? Because that seems like a long time, according to my already cramping legs.”

“There are people who might recognize me in Vegas. I’m trying to keep a low profile.”

“An actual answer out of you! I’m impressed. Between this and you telling me where we’re going, I think you’re actually starting to like me.”

“I don’t like you,” he said a bit too quickly.

“Relax, Logan. I’m just giving you shit.” She looked back out over the endless desert. “Can we stop soon? I need a bathroom and a caffeine fix.”

He looked down at the gauges and saw that they’d need gas soon anyways. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

About twenty minutes later, they finally came to an exit that had a truck stop with a store and restrooms. He pulled the SUV to a pump and put it in park. “Pick out a good amount of snacks, too. We have a lot of ground to cover and I don’t want to stop for big meals.”

“The entire day stuck in the car. Fantastic.” She got out of the car and swiped her credit card at the pump. Once it was approved, he watched her go into the station and then followed her with his eyes until she was past the wall of windows in the front of the store.

He could leave her. Just drive off and not look back.
She wouldn’t be able to find him. Even if she knew the general location he was going, Denver was a big place. It would be so easy to just drive. He had no money, but he could get around that. Once he found Alecia, she’d help him out for a while. From there, he’d figure it out. He always did.

Just as he was about to jump in the driver’s seat and get the hell out of there, he saw the black rectangular phone in the passenger’s seat.

If he drove off now, Julie wouldn’t have the cell phone she was so attached to.
Damn it.
Logan punched the door as he turned around and continued to fill the tank. He was going to regret this later. He could already tell.

The large tank seemed to take forever to fill up and Julie still wasn’t back. She didn’t seem like the type to spend hours in the bathroom fixing makeup.
Maybe she was grabbing all the food in the store?

He put the nozzle back, screwed on the cap to the tank and headed into the gas station. He did a quick walk around the perimeter but didn’t see his sexy girl next door anywhere.
Fuck, did she fall in the toilet or something?

Well, he needed to use the restroom too. If she wasn’t out after that, he was going to give her serious shit.

Except, when he made it to the back of the gas station, the women’s bathroom door was hanging wide open, with no sign of Julie.

She wasn’t in the gas station at all.