I jumped on my bike to sort shit out between us.
I stared up at him, remembering something that hadn’t dawned on me in the slightest at the time.
That being, when I’d gone to Chaos and Logan had showed, he wasn’t nasty. He wasn’t hard. He wasn’t cold.
He was watchful and guarded.
And he was gentle.
He also wanted to talk in his room.
I jumped on my bike to sort shit out between us.
I was tweaked.
He’d come after me.
He’d been worried about me.
He’d got to the point he was going to end our insane game a different way.
And when he saw something he felt made me unsafe, he’d paid for a security firm to install a system.
Our reunion had not been triggered with me coming clean about why I broke us apart.
Our reunion had been triggered before that, when his brothers hurt me to the point I lost it and he’d been worried about me.
Now that was my Logan.
“How did you know I was in Paris?” I asked quietly.
“Babe, told you,” he answered sharply. “I was tweaked. Got a guy I know who’s a magician with shit like that to track you. Worried like fuck, was gonna follow you but thought you needed a chance to get your head together. So I waited it out. Was also gonna be here in this house when you got back. But you got back early. Still got an emergency passport partly ’cause I was that worried about you. Now that you’re back, I figure it’s mostly because I was pissed you went there without me.”
Worried like fuck, was gonna follow you.
Got an emergency passport.
Oh yes, that was my Logan.
“I don’t know what to say,” I whispered.
“I do,” he returned. “You’re gonna have to put up with those boys comin’ back because they’re gonna be installin’ a system in your office. Don’t know why I didn’t do that shit the first time around but it’s gonna happen as soon as I can set it up. You’re also gonna be vigilant about keepin’ it active. You’re not gonna fall down on that or, swear to Christ, Millie, even if nothin’ goes down and I find you did, I’m gonna lose my mind. And you’re gonna put up with Chaos protection. My boys got fences to mend with you but you’re gonna speed that up because, don’t give a fuck you got a system, that motherfucker got to you. Now every old lady, when her old man’s not close, has a man on her. First up for you is Joker.”
When Logan jerked his head to the side, I turned to the man standing close.
“Uh...?hi, Joker,” I mumbled.
He grinned at me.
He was young.
But he was cute.
“Can you do me the favor of unpinnin’ your woman from the wall so we can have a chat with her?” Tack asked from behind Logan.
At that, Logan moved to my side, hooked me around the neck with his arm, yanked me to him a different way, loving and protective but annoyed (which was acceptable), and looked to Tack.
“Your presence here was unnecessary,” he growled.
“You tore outta that meeting; no tellin’ where you were goin’ and what you’d do,” Tack replied patiently. “You hit Millie’s, in your mood, what went down, what she didn’t share, what you didn’t know, you know, any brother got that news, every brother would be on his ass so he didn’t fuck things up when he got home.”
They’d started out trailing him because they were worried he’d go after Valenzuela.
They’d ended up doing it to make sure what we were rebuilding was protected.
I wasn’t sure I had fences to mend. Hop had hurt my feelings with Candlebox but he didn’t know what was happening. He was doing what any brother would. Taking his brother’s back.
But if there were any fences to mend, the boys there right then would have mended them.
I wasn’t certain I intended to share that information at the present juncture.
However, if I was, I didn’t get a chance because Logan declared, “That’s bullshit, brother, and you know it. Minute a man hit his home, the brothers would ride off ’cause that shit’s not their business.”
“Right, then I’ll amend my statement,” Tack returned. “We rode in to keep your shit straight with Millie because you both finally got your heads out of your asses and a fuckin’ asshole like Benito Valenzuela shouldn’t fuck up anything that important.”
Tack had always kind of intimidated me simply because he was so sharp, it was uncanny.
But I’d also always liked him.
I could feel Logan gearing up to reply to Tack but I had work to do and it seemed our latest drama was petering out, so I had to move things along.
I did this by looking at Joker.
“You’re in luck,” I shared. “Logan did a massive grocery shop, so there’s tons of food in the house. And I’m a big TV gal. Anything you want is at your command. That is, if you know how to operate an Xbox. But if you don’t,” I smiled at him, “I’ll teach you.”
He smiled back but my enjoyment of the attractiveness of this was abbreviated when I had to turn my attention back to Logan, who was growling at me.
“For fuck’s sake, Millie, he’s not here to kick back and watch the tube. He’s here to watch your ass.”
“That doesn’t mean he can’t be comfortable doing it,” I returned.
“Uh...?yeah it does,” he replied sarcastically. “Hard for him to take in a movie at the same time pay attention to you to make sure you’re covered.”
I turned in his hold and started glaring.
“Well, excuse me. I’ve never needed protection before. I don’t know the protocol.”
That was most assuredly the wrong thing to say considering Logan’s face clouded with thunder to the point he looked ready to blow.
“Right, you two can keep squabbling later. Now, Millie, we gotta have words,” Tack stated.
I looked to him and took the opportunity he gave to put a line under the current scenario. To do this, I threw out an arm as best I could since Joker was still close.
In fact, all the brothers were still close.