Torn from You (25 page)

We ate bacon, scrambled eggs and hash
browns. Well, most of us ate; Raven picked at hers. I knew the shit
that had gone down with her was really bad. Alfonzo was immoral,
corrupt and cruel, and she’d been trained by him to be a sex
slave.

Crisis did most of the talking, and the
conversation was kept light, away from me, and nothing was
mentioned about Logan, although I was constantly on edge waiting
for him to come by. Wondering if he still was. Hoping he was, and
yet praying he wasn’t. Then wondering why it was taking him so long
to get here. It was perpetual anxiety.

The gate clanged.

I didn’t have to turn to know who was behind
me as goose bumps sped across my skin. My belly dropped as I slowly
turned and locked eyes with him. God, he was magnetic. There wasn’t
a flicker of uncertainty in him, and it was unnerving and ...
attractive. Yes, Logan was attractive as hell standing there
watching me as if he was going to eat me alive with his desire.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” Crisis said, then
looked at me and hit his head with the palm of his hand. “Of
course.”

Logan was moving. I heard mumblings from
Ream telling Crisis he was an ass.

I stood, so did Georgie and Ream.

There was determination in his stride as if
nothing could stop him from reaching me, and it sent my pulse
racing.

Logan stopped in front of me. Paused for a
second. Then hooked his arm around my waist and dragged me up
against his chest. His warm body sunk into me, and I could feel his
chest rising and falling as he kept me locked to him.

“Mouse.” His whispered word dripped like
honey across my mind, and I had a hard time not melting into him
and ignoring the warning beacons. “We need some privacy. You good
with that, Eme?”

Was I? Georgie took my hand and squeezed. “I
specifically recall not inviting you, Logan. I told you last night,
Emily was coming and it wasn’t a good idea.”

“Georgie,” Deck said. “Leave it.”

Georgie ignored Deck and looked at me. “You
okay with this?”

I hesitated then nodded.

“We’ll be back in ten.” Logan tagged my hand
and pulled me outside the gate and down the alley to the front of
the house where he put me up against the wall and leaned into me. I
wondered if he did it on purpose as the memory of him kissing me
outside the Brazen Head restaurant hit me full force. I’d loved him
then. I trusted him.

Logan slid his finger across my temple, down
the side of my face to the curve of my neck where he stopped. “I
wish we had more time together, Eme. I tried to get here earlier,
but Matt had a lot to say.”

I could imagine after the fight Logan
started last night.

I stood against the wall; his fingers
splayed on my neck, and with every word he spoke a breath of him
swept into my ear. I ached. I wanted him, and yet, me giving him
myself was all that I’d left behind. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t
be that girl again.

“Give me your cell number, Mouse.”

“No.”

His body stiffened, and the rhythmic motion
of his thumb stopped. I felt every muscle flex, and there was a
coldness that invaded my body as my words hit him.

“Emily.”

“It’s not a good idea.”

“Sure it is.” His warm breath caressed
across my cheek as he leaned into me. “Jesus. Why won't you look at
me?”

I did and regretted it because my belly
dropped. “Is your mother okay, Sculpt?”

He seemed to relax at the mention of her.
“She’s good.”

I sighed and nodded. I couldn’t imagine what
his mother must have gone through living with Raul then being
pregnant with Logan and raising a child in that place. Deck was
right, that place was Logan and his mother’s nightmare. And he’d
willingly walked back into it.

He moved in closer. “Deck and his men took
the place down a few months after you left, Eme. Raul escaped and
went underground. Deck found him recently.”

“A few months? What took so long, Sculpt?
Why did you stay there?”

“You saw the place. It was well guarded.
After you got out, Raul knew something was up and doubled his
security. Took Deck some time to get organized and enough men to
take out the compound.”

“Where were you? After I got out, what
happened, Sculpt? Did you stay to fight for Raul?”

It was rare Logan avoided my eyes, but he
did, and I knew instantly he wasn’t going to tell me. Another
reason why I couldn’t trust him.

“Raul is dead. We leave the rest out of our
lives.” He tilted my head up so I was looking directly at him.
“Emily, you mean more to me than anything. I love you. I want to be
with you ... Help you get through this. Baby, I missed you so
much.”

I pushed on his chest, but he didn’t to
budge, so instead I pounded my fists into him. “No. You can’t do
that. You can’t tell me you love me and you missed me and think
it’ll make it all better. That I’ll forgive you.”

He remained stiff and unmovable. “I don’t
need your forgiveness. I did it so you’d stay alive, and if that
meant I had to watch you suffer or make you fear me then that’s
what would happen.” His hand went to the back of my head, and his
fingers weaved into my hair. “You know why? Because I knew one day
I’d get you out and it would all be worth it.”

“You brought me into that.
You.
It’s
your fault.” But I knew it wasn’t his fault. Raul was the only one
responsible; Logan just happened to be his son.

“Mouse.” His hand tightened in my hair and
he put his hand under my chin, to urge me to look up at him.

Oh God, he’d see the watery depths, and I
didn’t want him to.

“Yeah it’s my fault he got to you. He saw me
with you and knew you were my weakness. I have to live with that.
But the rest ... I’d do it again. It’d kill me, but without
hesitation I would. Because you’re standing here in front of me.”
His voice lowered. “Every single time I’ve touched you it was
real.”

“I loved you. You used that against me,” I
whispered in a ragged voice.

“No. I used it to save you.” His voice was
quiet and steady.

The profound effect Logan had on me was
undeniable. It was how he held me, how he looked at me, how he
pushed me to my limits. My body and mind were starving for Logan,
and I didn’t want to admit it. Damn it, I wanted to submit to him.
I wanted to surrender to him and I was fighting it with everything
I had.

He pulled me into his arms wrapping me in
his protective embrace, his hand stroking my back. I felt his
breath in my hair then his fingers at the back of my neck,
stroking, comforting.

He kissed the top of my head. “Please don’t
ask me to let you go. I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough to do it
again.”

I remained quiet, but my head was reeling.
The Legos started falling apart.

“Tour ends in a couple weeks.” He stroked
the side of my face with the back of his knuckles. “Then I’m back.
In the meantime, I want you to be careful. You need anything Deck
will help you, okay?”

I pulled away. “Tell me what happened after
I left Mexico.”

His eyes hardened and lips pursed together.
“Nothing.”

“But Deck—”

His brows dropped over his eyes. “What did
he tell you?”

“He just said to ask you.”

He didn’t say anything, and I knew he wasn’t
going to.

“The girl ... Kai’s girl. Deck got her
out.”

He nodded. “I told him about her. After you
escaped, Kai disappeared in all the commotion.”

“The gun shots.”

“Yes. A distraction. Kai’s low-key, and no
one knows much about him, but he vanished the moment things became
unsettled. The girl was left behind, not sure if it was done on
purpose or not. I told Deck about her, and he tracked her down a
few months ago. She was up for auction. Kai was there. Deck got her
out before he had a chance to buy her.”

Oh God.

“She’s staying with Georgie until she’s
ready to go home. As of right now, she refuses to talk about it or
go back to her family. They don’t even know she’s alive.”

Alfonzo destroyed that girl. I couldn’t
imagine what had happened to her for the last two years. Kai ... I
really wasn’t sure about him, but I did know he was dangerous, and
if he knew who took her, there was no doubt that Kai would come
after them.

“Give me your phone, Mouse.”

“You and me. We aren’t dating.” I had no
intentions of dating anyone again, but I’d talk to him. It would be
my therapy.

“No, we’re not. We’re way past that.
Phone.”

I hesitated. Logan frowned. Then I pulled my
phone from my purse, typed in the security password then handed it
to him. He looked at the screen then began pressing numbers into my
phone then passed it back. He didn’t take his out. “You’re going to
remember my number from one glance?”

“Emily. I lost you for two years. I finally
got your number. Do you think I’ll ever forget it? I programed my
cell into your phone.”

“Sculpt—”

“Answer when I call.”

“Sculpt, I’m different now.”

He moved in close, arm snug around her
waist. “Yeah. You’re stronger, sexier, and have an attitude. Makes
me want you more.”

Logan wasn’t defeated easily. Actually, I
don’t think he was ever defeated and as I stood in his arms I
didn’t want him to be. “Okay.”

He backed away, took my hand and squeezed,
and then brought me back to the gang who were talking quietly on
the patio. Well, Deck was standing alone leaning up against the
fence.

As soon as we appeared, he pushed away from
the fence and strode over.

“The band’s leaving this afternoon,” Logan
said to Deck and jerked his chin toward me.

“Yeah. On it. You tell her?” Deck asked.

“I’m standing right here. You’re on what?
And tell me what?”

Logan stared at Deck a second. “Nothing bad
touches her. She doesn’t need that shit on her, and I expect you to
keep it that way.”

“Sculpt, what are you talking—?”

“Eme, I’ll call you later,” Logan
interrupted, obviously on purpose. “Guys, I’m picking up Kite, see
you at the airport. Crisis, you miss the flight this time, we’re
going on without you.”

“You can’t do that.”

Ream picked up his beer. “Sure we can. You
fuck up half the time anyway.”

“That’s horse shit ...” Ream and Crisis
argued back and forth.

“I’ll walk with you.” Deck gave one extended
glance at Georgie who was sitting with Raven, then followed Logan
out of the yard.

I was left standing, staring after them.

It was morning, and I needed coffee.

Kat was already awake, and the scent of
coffee brewing had me inhaling deep. She sat on the bar stool with
her sketch pad in front of her.

“Hey, Emily, you working with Havoc today? I
can put her in the round pen after I feed.”

I shook my head. “I’m going to play with her
out in the field. Free-work with the other horses around. See if I
can get her to join up with me while they’re distracting her.”

Silence.

“You want to take the horses out this
afternoon?” Kat tapped her pencil on the edge of the counter.

“Yeah, sure.” We often took the more
inexperienced horses out for a trail ride in the afternoons when
Kat wasn’t busy painting or fixing things. She’d taken a mechanic’s
course last year and even tuned up Matt and Deck’s cars.

“Okay.” Silence lasted all of ten seconds.
Kat couldn’t keep anything in. “What’s happened between you and
Sculpt?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. You guys are like oil and water
in a blender set on full blast.”

Yeah, they were like that. Trying to mesh,
but unable to. “We’re broken, Kat. What happened ... it broke us.”
My stomach turned over. I’d been a mouse in a world of snakes. “He
hurt me. Even though I know now that he ... He doesn’t fit into my
life anymore, Kat.”

“Do you still love him?”

Oh God. I really couldn’t answer that,
because I knew a part of me always would. A part of me would always
be that innocent girl who fell in love with the guy who sat in the
horse fields playing his guitar. But I wasn’t innocent anymore, and
he wasn’t the same guy.

She looked at me, and I looked away for fear
that I’d start balling. “I love you. More than anything, and if you
choose to keep kicking Sculpt to the curb, I’ll support you. I just
want you to think about it before you do.”

I looked down at my coffee and slowly turned
the mug in circles. I kept remembering him standing there and
watching me being dragged away, the sound of Logan’s feet in the
gravel as he walked away when his father held a gun to my head. I
felt so betrayed and ... God, where was my hero? I wanted Logan to
be my hero, damn it. Why hadn’t he fought for me? I wanted him to
shout and scream and move heaven and earth ... I wanted him to kill
his own father.