Crazy Beautiful Love (11 page)

“Logan, you change
your mind more than a contestant on
The
Price is Right
. I’m cool, I’m coming. I want to come.”

“You want to
come?” He licked his lips.

“Yes.” I rolled my
eyes, not taking the bait.

“How badly?” He
kissed my lips lightly.

“How badly what?”

“How badly do you
want to come?” His tongue traced the line of my lips and he gazed into my eyes.

“As badly as you
want me to,” I whispered softly, and my tongue darted out to meet his. I
watched as he inhaled, and desire darkened his eyes.

“You’re going to
be the undoing of me, Maddie Wright.” He leaned back away from me, and I could
see a mixture of emotions in his eyes. “What are you doing to me?”

“The same thing
you’re doing to me.” I laughed, happy that I was having this effect on him.
Jared had been right. I only hoped that everything else went as according to
plan.

“It’s not all
about the sex you know.” His eyes took me in and his hand caressed my hair. “I
want you to know that whatever happens, it’s not about the sex.”

“I know.” I
nodded. “I know.” I knew what I was getting into, I knew from the beginning. If
I got burned, it would be my own fault, I knew the score going in. But it was
worth it to me; the possibility of having more with Logan was worth it.

“I can’t believe
you just did that. Your dad is going to be pissed.” There was a new respect in
his eyes as he stared at me. “You’re pretty fearless, aren’t you, Maddie?”

“Not really.” I
shook my head in wonder. “I honestly have never been this way before,” I
continued on, as I pondered his comment to myself. I’d never been the
rebellious type. I’d never been the one who snuck out of the dorms to meet up
with boys. I’d never given my parents any headaches. I wasn’t really even a
wild one. I’d only slept with two guys before, and both of them had been guys
I’d been in relationships with. And we’d never had sex out in the open before.
I almost didn’t recognize the girl I was becoming, and I wasn’t sure if that
was a good or bad thing.

“You’re more
fearless than me.”

“No way,” I
scoffed. “You’re Logan
Martelli
, you steal cars for a
living,
you
are way more fearless than me.”

“Not really.” He
shook his head and we walked towards the main road. “This is the life I was
born into. I do what I know and what my father did.”

“Do you regret
that this is the life you were born into?” I wasn’t sure if my words were too
prying, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“No, I don’t have
any regrets about anything. Life is too short for regrets.”

“That’s a great
attitude to have.”

“My mom always
used to say that.” His voice sounded sad. “She used to say that not everyone
was born into a family with a silver spoon but everyone could change their
circumstances. There just had to be one brave person in the family willing to
ignite the change.”

As Logan talked
about his mom, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure how much he knew about our shared
history, and I wasn’t sure if he would be mad if I told him. “Your mom was a
wise woman.”

“Yes, yes, she
was.” He turned wistful eyes upon me. “Every day, I try to be the man she would
have wanted me to be.”

“Who did she want
you to be?”

“She wanted me to
be kind and compassionate; she wanted better for me and my brothers. She really
wanted us to have a better life. Better than my father was able to give us. She
even tried to leave my dad once.” He sounded as if he were remembering
something. “But then she found out she had cancer, and she knew she couldn’t
take us boys and deal with the diagnosis at the same time.”

“I’m sorry.” My
heart broke listening to Logan talk.

“She knew she was
going to die.” His voice was hoarse. “She hoped her death would get my father
to change, but he just drank more and more, and he got worse and worse. And I
had to help him more and more, and then there came a point where I realized
this was my life, this was who I was. But, it didn’t have to be Vincent’s life
and it didn’t have to be Jared’s life. Her death wouldn’t be in vain if I made
sure they took different paths.”

“They don’t steal
cars?” I bit my lip nervously as I questioned him. I had always heard that it
was a family business and that all the
Martelli
brothers
were involved. In fact, when I had met Jared with Joey, I was fairly sure they
were up to no good.

“No, sometimes
they come to be a lookout, but I try and keep them away from this life as much
as I can.” He looked at me with a weak smile. “Vincent’s in college. Well, two-year
college
, but we are hoping he will transfer to State in
a couple of years and then go to law school. And Jared is trying to get into
school as well.”

“Wow, that’s
awesome.”

“I know it’s not
some fancy Ivy League school like you go to, but we’re trying.”

“Ivies are
overrated.”

“That’s easy for
you to say.”

“Yeah, I guess it
is.” I sighed at his harsh words. But I knew he was just being honest. How many
opportunities had I been afforded because I had been born into a well-to-do
family? I had never had to want for anything, and yet I knew I didn’t feel as
if my life were complete. I had still never had love, and to me love was
everything. I stared at Logan in his faded blue jeans and black T-shirt and he
looked even better in person than he had ever looked in photographs. It was
weird, this connection I had with Logan, the closeness I felt to him.

“But yeah, my goal
is that my brothers don’t have to go down this road as well.”

“So you would give
it up if you could?”

“Maybe.” He
shrugged. “But what else would I do?”

“What else would
you want to do?”

“It doesn’t
matter.” Logan cleared his throat. “This is my fate or curse. My life was
dictated by another. It seems only fitting that I do the same.” He clenched his
fist and his eyes avoided mine. “I see a Lincoln Navigator over there.
Wanna
go check it out?”

“To steal?” I had
a weird feeling in my stomach. Something didn’t feel quite right and I wasn’t
sure what it was.

“No.” He turned to
me and winked. “To borrow for an hour.” He grabbed my hands and pulled me close
to him, and I felt his lips against my hair before he pulled back and looked
into my eyes.

“An hour, huh?” I
winked back at him. “I guess I’m a lucky girl.”

“Hurry.” He walked
quickly. “We have to make sure no one sees us.”

“What if the
owners come back while we’re in the car?”

“They won’t.” He
laughed and grabbed my hand and started running. He let go of it as soon as we
got to the car. I saw him pull something out of his pocket and he started
fiddling with the lock.

“What are you
doing?”

“
Shhh
.” He put a finger to his lips. “Don’t alert the
world.”

“What should I
do?” I asked excitedly, and he smiled at me.

“You’re such an
eager beaver. Just stand there and be cool.” He pulled me towards him and
kissed me passionately, and my body melted at his embrace. I felt his hand
squeezing my ass and I moaned into his lips.

“Not yet, Maddie.”
He grinned at me and pulled away. He started working on the car door again and
I watched him work with admiration in my eyes. His biceps flexed as he tried to
get the door open, and I took the time to admire his muscular body as he
worked.

“Is everything
okay here?” a deep voice asked behind us, and we both froze. I turned around
slowly and saw a police officer behind us, and I thought I was going to faint.

“Good day,
officer, I was just helping this young lady get into her car. She left her keys
in the ignition.” Logan’s voice was cheerful, and the officer looked at him
with narrow eyes before turning to me.

“Are you okay,
ma’am?”

“Yes, officer, I
locked my keys in the car by mistake.” I beamed at him. “I’m such a ditz.”

“This is your
car?” He looked at me suspiciously and grabbed his radio from his belt.

I felt the blood
rushing from my face as I stared at the officer and nodded. “Yes, of course
this is my car. What do you think?”

“Do you have your
license on you, ma’am?” His face softened a bit but he still looked suspicious.

“Uh, yeah.” I
opened my purse and pulled out my wallet. “Don’t mind the photo, it was a bad
hair day.”

“You from River
Valley?” He looked down at my license, and I nodded. “Far away from home,
aren’t you?”

“Well, I came to
get some items from Walmart.” I smiled weakly. “They didn’t have them in my
home store. And you can’t beat a rollback bargain.”

“Maddison Wright,
hmm, any connection to James Wright?”

“Yes.” I smiled
outwardly but groaned inwardly. “Mayor James Wright is my dad.”

“Oh, why didn’t
you say?” He grinned at me as he handed back my license. “We love Mayor Wright
around here.”

“Thank you.”

“He’s a great guy,
takes care of his people, he does.”

“Yes.” I smiled at
him. “He sure does.”

“Well you have a
good day, Ms. Maddison Wright. You let me know if you need any help, you hear?”

“Yes, officer,
thank you.”

“Oh, you can call
me Tommy.” He nodded. “I’ll be up at the garden center if you need any more
help.”

“Thanks, Tommy.” I
blushed at his changed demeanor and he grinned back at me before walking away
and back to his parked car.

“What do we do
now?” I made a face at Logan, who was staring at me thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t he going to
expect me to leave in this car?” I groaned. “And now he knows my name as well.
What if he tells people I was with this strange guy and word gets back to my
dad? He’ll know that I was lying in my voicemail.” My voice trailed off as I saw
Logan’s lips twitching. “I sound like a mess, don’t I?”

“A little bit.” He
smirked at me. “You’re not even close to a bad girl, are you, Maddie?”

I ignored his
words and glared at him. “Are you going to get us into this Lincoln or not?”

“Calm down, sweet
pea.” He rolled his eyes at me and went back to doing whatever he was doing
before to get the door open. “This time please be a good lookout and tell me if
anyone is coming.”

“You were the one
who kissed me and distracted me.”

“Excuses,
excuses.” He laughed and then I heard a click, and he opened the door. “Go
around the other side and hop in.”

“I thought we
weren’t going to steal it?”

“We have no choice
now. Now hurry up and get in.”

I ran around to
the passenger side and he opened the door for me. I jumped in and he was
looking in the glove compartment for something. He looked up and saw my curious
stare and smiled. “Spare key. You’d be shocked at how many people leave their
spare key in their car. Aha!” He grinned as he pulled a key out. “Here we go.”
He put the key in the ignition and the engine purred smoothly. “Buckle up.”

“Where are we
going?”

“Wherever we
want.”

“No quickie in the
backseat?” I pouted and his eyes darkened as he stared at me.

“No,” He shook his
head. “No quickie and no trip either.”

“What?”

“You’re going back
home tonight.”

“What? Why?” I
stared at him, and my stomach did a double flip. Was he done with me already?
What had I done now?

“It wasn’t a good
idea.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t thinking properly when I suggested us being
a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.”

“I
want
to go, though.” I frowned. “You’re
not making me.”

“Just now, what
you did, it was great. It was brave, and you saved my ass, but you also put
your own ass on the line. You could have been in a lot of trouble.”

“I did it for
you.” I shook my head in confusion. “I didn’t want the cop to arrest you.”

“He could have
arrested both of us if he hadn’t believed your story.”

“But he did
believe it. And if he hadn’t, well, I would have just had to deal with the
consequences.”

“You didn’t have
to do that.” He pulled out of the parking lot, and glanced at me quickly. “You
had my back.”

“Of course I had
your back.” I looked at him in shock. “Did you think I would turn you in?”

“No.” He shook his
head. “You’re not that kind of person.” His voice was full of wonder and
regret. “You’re a good person, Maddie Wright, you deserve better than to be
messed up with someone like me.”

“What are you
talking about, Logan?” I was worried. He sounded like he was second-guessing
everything again. “Are we going down this road again?”

“I want to take
you somewhere, and then we’ll go home.”

I felt tears well
up in my eyes at his words. It seemed that no matter what I tried to do or say,
something always popped into his head that made him back away from me.

“I already told my
dad I’m going away; what do I say when I get home?”

“You had a change
of plan.”

“I don’t want a
change of plan.” I wanted to scream, I was so frustrated.

“Trust me, Maddie.
It’s for your own good.” He shook his head. “You’re a good person. You make a
good friend.”

“So, I’m just your
friend
again?” I sighed.

“It may be for the
best.” He nodded. “I do like you, Maddie. It’s just complicated.”

I wanted to ask
him what was complicated, but I knew I just had to be patient. If I really
wanted to be in his life, I just had to accept what he was willing to give me.
Friends wasn’t bad; in fact, it was pretty darn good. It meant that he was on
his way to trusting me and letting me in, and that was all I could ask for. A
part of me was relieved that I was going home, not because I didn’t want to
spend time away with him but because a part of me was still a little unsure of
exactly what he wanted from me. I didn’t want to be his goodtime girl who he
just used and threw away. I wanted more than that. I needed more than that. And
I also needed to make sure I knew what I was getting into as well. Everything
had been so fast and so dramatic already. I was putting everything on the line
for a guy I didn’t really know. And so even though my heart told me I was on
cloud nine whenever I was with him, my brain sometimes begged to differ.