Surrounded (Unsettled Series Book 2) (8 page)

“She’s what?” Alex blurted. She started to speak, then stopped, then started again, “Elizabeth Drexel is carrying Logan’s baby?!” I nodded my head slowly, letting only my silence be her answer.  “Does Logan know?”

“I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say no. I didn’t tell him what I heard; just that I knew he lied to me. But then again, I have no idea what he knows or what he is or isn’t hiding.”

“How can you be sure that he lied to you then? How do you know that the baby is even his?”
Oh, Alex.
She was my everlasting well of reason.

“I can’t be sure, but her friends were pretty clear about the situation. The point is he lied to me. He told me they were friends, not that they were
fuck buddies. He told me that he hadn’t been with anyone in a long time. I had no idea that they’d even been together at all in
that
way.” The last words of that sentence left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

“
Well, before you go off on an ‘I hate the air Logan breathes’ crusade, maybe you should figure out what parts of that story are truths or lies.”

“Why are you defending him anyway?” I muttered, stubbornly. I picked up my mug and took a few more sips of my now lukewarm cocoa. I knew the lawyer side of Alex was just trying to get to the logical explanation of the story, but the emotional side of me wanted to make sure my best friend understood that I was mad. I didn’t think it was too much to want to be with a man who didn’t lie—or in Damon’s case, cheat.

“I’m not taking his side, B. You know better than that. I’m just saying…” Alex abruptly paused mid-sentence. I could tell she was trying to gage her words, “Maybe things aren’t exactly what they appear to be. How do you even know that she’s really pregnant?”

I stayed silent. She was right. The truth was, I didn’t. But anger was all I had to go on at the moment.

“Well whatever you heard, I think you need to do some investigating. You wouldn’t appreciate it if someone immediately jumped to conclusions about you without giving you a chance to defend yourself.”

She was right. I wouldn’t. Damn her logic.

“I’m going in,” she announced. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah, in a little bit. I’m enjoying the fresh air.”

“Alright, well I’ll handle breakfast. I’ll figure something out with that mess you left on the counter”

“Great” I replied weakly.

After about ten minutes, I was tired of wallowing outside. I knew there was nothing that I could do about what happened and my butt was starting to get numb. I pushed myself off the stairs and headed in to join Alex in the kitchen.

“Will work for food,” I said, as I slid the door closed.

“Don’t sound so chipper. In this kitchen an extra pair of hands is always welcome.” She responded, “Especially since we both know this can turn into a disaster quickly.” Alex wasn’t exactly the best cook in the world.

“What are you making?” I asked.

“Continuing what it looked like you started. Omelets, hash browns and waffles a la Alex. Can you whip up the batter?” she asked as she beat the eggs. I grabbed the pancake mix from the cabinet and started combining everything into a bowl.

“So what are you going to do?” she asked, dropping the bacon pieces into the beaten eggs. “I can see your brain smoking over there,” she teased. I freaking loved Alex. As long as I’d known her she was always there to put a smile on my face, even during the not so fun times.

“About what?” I said, spraying the waffle iron with cooking spray.

“About Logan! Don’t play stupid. It’s obvious you’re thinking about it—the way you’re beating the shit out of the batter, pretending it’s his head. But seriously, I’m pretty sure it’s ready,” she observed, opening the oven.

I set the whisk to the side of the bowl. “To answer your other question…I don’t know what I’m going to do about him. What
is
there to do?” I asked. I could admit that I loved Logan.
That
wasn’t going to change overnight. I just wasn’t sure if I could love Logan past his lie. And then there was my true fear—the one that had sent me running last night—what if I heard something I didn’t want to hear? It’d be like re-living that moment in the bathroom when I overheard those girls talking all over again.

“I just don’t know.” I repeated with trepidation.

“Just look into it, B. I’m just saying” she said as she closed the door to the oven.

An hour later I stepped into my room and closed the door. I was stuffed beyond belief. Breakfast may not have mended my broken heart, but it certainly filled my grumbling belly. I wanted to try to take a nap to make up for all of last night’s lost sleep, but I was under direct order from Sergeant Cartwright, AKA Alex, to complete a high priority research project. I used all my energy reserves to bend down and pull my laptop from underneath my bed. I crawled back into bed and fired up my computer.

My mission was to see if Elizabeth Drexel was in fact buoyantly jaunting around Hollywood with Logan’s baby growing inside her. Maybe Alex was right, maybe I’d missed something. My hands felt clammy. I was mortified at what might pop up on my screen.

When my search results populated, any glimmer of hope I had died instantly. I couldn’t tell if Elizabeth was pregnant or not, but that was beside the point. My eyes were firmly glued on a picture that had been taken just a week earlier. Whoever took the photo did an excellent job capturing Elizabeth and Logan standing side by side. I forced myself to break away from their smiling faces and read the caption below. 

Elizabeth and “her beau” were caught having drink
s at the bar inside Hotel 1000 in Seattle.

Seeing the photo immediately took me back to the message Logan sent me while he was on his “business trip.” I couldn’t hide the dread of the realization that Logan had been in Seattle—with her!

I threw my head back into my pillow, hoping for a concussion that would put me out of my misery. I wanted to kick and scream like a toddler. I wanted to throw something, but I couldn’t throw the one thing that confirmed Logan’s betrayal.
You never had him,
an inner voice taunted. Even as that thought sunk in, it still didn’t seem real. I felt like an utter fool for letting him in; for falling in love with him. I knew all too well that love wasn’t something I could just turn on and off. I’d have to ride out the pain until it subsided and turned into hate—the same way it had with Damon.

I thought about the events leading up to last night. So many things went through my mind, but I kept coming back to the same question: why did he lie about Elizabeth? If it had been all innocent with her in Seattle, he’d have told me right? But he never even mentioned he saw her.
At all.
And even if it wasn’t all innocent, like the evidence suggested, I could’ve coped with the truth. Knowing he’d been with her from the beginning would’ve been an easier pill to swallow. The pregnancy— not so much. I mean, I knew he wasn’t a saint. Everyone has a past. After all, I was once pregnant with another man’s baby before the miscarriage. But there was
no
way I could dismiss the fact that she was pregnant. Logan wasn’t the type of man to walk away from his responsibilities so I knew he’d stand beside Elizabeth. And having gone through the whole walked-away-from-while-pregnant thing, there’s a part of me that would have wanted him to stand by the woman carrying his child. Although that was the right thing for him to do, the thought hurt.

So what was I supposed to do now? Put myself back out there to meet someone new? Forget it.

I didn’t want to date anyone new. I wanted Logan.
My
Logan. The green eyed, brown haired man who’d torpedoed into my life and turned it upside down for the better in a matter of weeks. But not everything was meant to work.

A tear slipped from my eye and rolled down my cheek as an overwhelming urge to vomit came over me. I slammed my computer shut and shoved it out of my sight.

I changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a stretch tee. I threw on my black converse and raked a comb through my hair, pulling it back into a ponytail.

“Where are you going? Are you okay?” Alex called behind me as I blew past the kitchen.

“I just need some air. I’m going out for a while. Take some photos or something. I’ll see you later,” I said over my shoulder.

“Be careful. See you later!” I didn’t respond. All I could think about was getting out of the house and trying to erase the images of Elizabeth and Logan together.

I hopped into Aspen and took off as if my life depended on it. I turned down 14
th
street as Kelly Clarkson’s
Since You’ve Been
Gone wafted through my car speakers. I sang along to the oldie but goodie, hoping belting out lyrics about moving on would lift my mood.

Where to go? Where to go? I was sitting at my third red light when a good spot finally popped into my head. Luckily the lane I needed to be in was empty. I usually obeyed traffic laws—okay, most of the time—but today I just needed to be in and out of my car as soon as possible. When the light turned green, I swerved into the left hand lane, thanking God no cops were in sight. A traffic ticket was the last thing I needed.

Fifteen minutes later I drove onto Theodore Roosevelt Island. The parking lot was relatively empty. Only a sprinkling of cars graced the concrete jungle amidst the expansive trees. I paid the parking attendant and searched for a parking spot away from everyone else.

I found a place underneath a large willow tree with a great view of the Potomac. I pulled into the spot overlooking the lazy river and killed the engine. My jumbled thoughts were not in sync with the smooth movements of the flowing water. Spring had done the place good. Yellow lilies sprung
up in various areas of the park and the trees were green and plush. I unclasped my seatbelt and stepped out of my car, grabbing my bag and heading towards an open pathway.

I followed the curving cement wall to a lagoon area. I took my camera out of my bag and inhaled the fresh scents of the surrounding wilderness, my negative thoughts of Logan and the night before drifting into the furthest parts of my mind.

Don’t think about him. Don’t think about him.

I made my way to the stone paved bridge in the middle of the island, snapping a few photos along the way. I hadn’t been to the island since last spring. Far too long to not appreciate the quiet beauty here among the chaos of Washington DC. I took a seat on the stone bridge and started clicking, not giving my trigger finger a break. A few birds flew by my lens and I was able to capture them as well. Peace and serenity. Two things I didn’t have much of this morning, but was slowly gaining as I sat along the wall.

After a while I moved from the bridge down to the columned memorial built to honor the former president. I wasn’t a history buff by any stretch of the imagination, but this place had a quiet peace about it and I loved that it wasn’t very far from my house.

“Nice out here, isn’t it?” I nearly jumped out of my skin. I clutched my chest to slow my racing heart.

“I’m sorry” he said apologetically. I turned and faced the older gentleman, with dim gray eyes and bushy eyebrows, who was smiling at me. He tipped his fedora hat.

“It’s okay,” I replied, once I found my voice again. “It’s very nice out today. Great weather.”

“Do you want me to take a picture of you? My eye sight is shot but you’ll have the picture for memories. When you get to be my age, that’s all you’ll have left,” he laughed warmly.