Just One Night (Black Alcove #2) (13 page)

The voicemail ends and
I stand motionless on the sidewalk outside the bar.
So
much for visiting Logan this weekend.
I start heading for
my place again when it occurs to me, I may not be able to see Logan,
but I sure can call that lawyer and find out what’s taking so long
to transfer ownership.

Logan

Inviting Liam to stay
with me this weekend is a huge step for me. I want to like him for
Sara’s sake, but at the same time, I still see him as competition.
I don’t like competition. I’m confident Sara loves me and only
me, but I’m no idiot to deny that unplanned things happen. And with
Liam being the one who’s there with her, I still don’t trust him,
and I definitely don’t want to give him a reason to think he has
the upper hand.

So finding Abby inside
my apartment the second Liam and I step inside is the last thing I
want to deal with, and it sure as fuck doesn’t look good.

“Abby, what’re you
doing here?” I say, groaning the moment I see her sitting my couch.
My voice is firm, but I don’t care.

“What do you mean,
Logan?” She rolls her eyes at me.

“I mean, why are you
are on my couch?” I ask, attempting to stay calm. “And could you
please put some clothes on?”

I throw a blanket at
her and then turn off the TV, tossing the remote onto the couch next
to her. Dammit, Conner. I swear, if he’s hooking up with her, I’m
going to beat his ass. I warned him about her and yet, here she is,
in
my
apartment.

This definitely doesn’t
look good.

“Stop acting like you
don’t know why I’m here.” She grabs the remote and turns the TV
back on. Then she rests her feet on my coffee table and crosses her
ankles. “Hey, Liam.” She winks and then removes the blanket
covering her body. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. This is a
crazy amount of trouble. I rub my hands down my face and shrug at
Liam. I still don’t understand why she’s wearing only a t-shirt.
Probably means Conner is around here somewhere. I glance around the
apartment. He’s nowhere to be found. Where the fuck is Conner? This
is not what I wanted to come home to.

“Hey, Abby,” Liam
says back and the tone in his voice is a dead giveaway that he is
uncomfortable. “Um, Logan, I can just give Sara’s dad a call and
go stay with them for the weekend. It’s really not a big deal.”

“No,” I say firmly
and then pin Abby with another heated glare. I can’t have him
calling Sara’s dad and telling him the reason he couldn’t stay
with me was because there was another woman on the couch. That would
not go over very well. I have to figure out what is going on, and I
have to get her out of here pronto.

“Okay! I got
groceries and I got movies, this is going to be one—oh, hey, man.”
Conner pauses when he’s fully through the apartment door and gives
me an unsure smile. He sets the bags down and rubs the back of his
neck. “So hey”—he points to the hallway—“I need to talk to
you about something.”

“Yeah, I think you
do,” I say. “Liam, make yourself at home. This won’t take
long.” Abby immediately offers him the remote.

“Here, you can pick
out something for us to watch.”

I don’t look back to
see if he accepted her offer or not because I’m too fumed and ready
to punch someone by the time I make it outside with Conner.

“What the fuck is
going on? Why is she here?” I demand once the door closes behind
me.

“She needed a place
to stay, and I know I just moved in, but I felt bad for her. Her
boyfriend cheated on her.” The look in his eyes shows real concern.
Poor guy.
She
probably played him like a fool just to get into my apartment. For me
or for him, I have no idea, but I’m not letting her stay to find
out.

“You do realize this
is the same girl who helps multiple guys cheat every week, right? She
is also the same girl who slept with Tyler when he cheated on your
sister!” My voice grows louder.

“That was a long time
ago, Kelsey is over it and besides Abby seems happy right now.”

“Yeah, because she is
sitting on my couch! I know she is up to something and I swear it’s
something bad. She wants to split Sara and I up, and I’ll be damned
if I’m going to let this relationship go down in flames all because
of her. There’s no way Sara will say yes to marriage if I let Abby
stay here for any amount of time.” My arms are in the air and I’m
pacing. When Conner doesn’t say anything, I stop to look at him.

His eyes are wide and
he’s making a stuttering sound. “Did … what … did you really
just say that you’re going to propose? To Sara? Is this for real or
are you just going that crazy right now?”

Fuck.

I said it out loud?

“I —” My eyes
dart around like I’m going to find the rest of my sentence on a
sign nearby. When I don’t come up with anything, Conner claps his
hands together once.

“Dude! Congrats! Why
haven’t you told anyone, and what the fuck is up with everyone
keeping the idea of marriage a secret? Don’t you people know that
we’re all family and friends and we support each other? I mean,
fuck, my sister didn’t even invite me to her own wedding.”

I can’t help but
chuckle. “Yeah, it would seem to be the trend these days. You
started it when you went off and had a kid without telling anyone.”

“Hey, that wasn’t
my fault. His mother neglected to tell me she even had a kid. I was
just as much in the dark as the rest of you.” A small smile appears
on his face, but it quickly turns down.

“She still won’t
let you see him?” I ask.

“She will, but she
doesn’t think I live in a safe environment for a kid.”

“Seriously? The
police station is like two blocks away.”

“I told her that, but
she just won’t have it. Not unless she’s here with him anyway. I
even asked if living with Kelsey would make a difference, but she
refuses to answer me. I’m running out of ideas here.” He looks
defeated and lost. I wish I could help him. Or that I had advice for
him. I just don’t think I have a place to say anything, considering
my father never fought this hard to get to know me. Hell, as far as I
know, my father never even tried to find me or might not even know
about me.

Abby’s laugh sounds
through the apartment window.

“Having a girl like
Abby around isn’t going to help your situation,” I say, much
calmer this time. “Or mine for that fact.”

“I know, and I’ll
make sure she knows this is temporary. She can sleep in my room while
Liam is here, but can we please just give her a few days to sort some
things out? She says she can cook. Like really cook.” His eyes
widen and he looks excited. A few home-cooked meals might be nice.
And I guess she is still technically my friend and I can’t just
kick her out. I sigh. Conner really isn’t leaving me with any other
choice.

“She has one week.”
I hold up a finger and then turn for the door. “And you are going
to make sure she knows it,” I shout over my shoulder.

I had better call Sara
before Liam does.
Fuck.
How do I get myself into situations like this? I have got to start
telling everyone no. Everyone but Sara, that is.

Sara

“I have to tell you
something and I’m not sure how to say it.” Liam stands across me
with his chin resting against his chest.

It’s Friday again and
he had suggested going back up to Wind Valley this weekend, too. I’ve
opted to go in his spot and told him to take the weekend off, but by
the way he’s acting right now, I suspect that plan might have to
change.

“What’s wrong?”

“I, uh, let me think
for a second on how I want to phrase this.”

“Okay … ” This is
starting to sound like it might be something juicy. Maybe he’s
seeing someone, or maybe Andi met a new girl. Or maybe—

“When I was in
Wyoming last weekend, there was a girl in Logan’s apartment.”

I freeze. Liam’s eyes
dart around the bar for a minute before they come back to mine.
It
was probably Kelsey there with Ethan.

“And?” I ask before
returning to placing the artwork where it will eventually need to go
on the bar’s walls. I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to
react in a situation like this, but the fact I just starting sweating
isn’t a good sign.

“Well, it kind of
sort of looked like she was moving in.”

Again, I freeze and
turn to look at him.

“What do you mean?”

I
bet Conner has a new girlfriend.

“I mean move in, like
bags packed and her lying in what I think were pajamas on the couch”

Huh.

“Did you get her
name?” I ask. “He lives with Conner, so I bet it was someone he
knows.”

Liam doesn’t answer
right away, and I swear his face get more pale as I stare at him.

“Liam, what’s
wrong?”

“It was Abby.”

I step back as if
someone slapped me.

“Abby, like the Abby
we work with?”

He nods.

I flip around to face
the wall and mutter a quick “fuck” under my breath. I’ve always
known she was a little off in the man department, but she can’t
seriously be dumb enough to first go after my cousin while he was
with Kelsey and now with Logan. If she isn’t careful, she isn’t
going to have many friends left.

After taking a few
focus breaths, I turn around, again.

“Oh, that’s no big
deal,” I say. The words sound fake even to me.

“Yeah, that was real
convincing.” He laughs. “But hey, if it helps, he didn’t seem
too thrilled about it, and from what I gathered he didn’t even know
about it.”

My jaw drops.

“Start with that next
time!” I yell and smile at the same time. Now that sounds like the
Logan I know. I knew there wasn’t anything to worry about.

“I wasn’t trying to
upset you, but it was last week. Don’t you think it’s a little
weird that he hasn’t mentioned it yet?”

“Abby isn’t someone
we like to talk about.”

“Okay. One other
thing I noticed while I was there.”

“What’s that?”
Nothing could be worse than what he just said.

“Logan went out both
nights I was there. He didn’t drink, but he still went out.”

“Okay,” I say,
confused on his sudden interest in Logan’s behavior. And it’s not
a very good one either.

“You haven’t been
out once since you’ve been here. Or at least if you have, I haven’t
noticed.”

“I’m not really a
big party kind of person.” My going-away party last year was the
last time I drank, and I’m happy with that.

“You don’t have to
party to go out.”

“No, I know, but most
going out involves drinking.”

“You don’t like
drinkers?” Now he’s dazed.

“I don’t like who a
person becomes once they’ve been drinking.”

“But you own a bar?”

“Just because I don’t
like it doesn’t mean I don’t want people to have fun. I’m one
of a kind when it comes to my drinking theory. I also like owning a
place where I can watch over my customers and make the calls. If I
think they’ve had enough, I can cut them off and call them a cab.
I’m a very dedicated bar owner. I take care of my customers.”

“Do you have a deal
with a cab company or something?”

“No.”

“You should.”

I stare at Liam as he
goes back to unpacking more boxes with décor in them. He really does
come up with some great ideas. The Silver Tap is going to be in good
hands when I leave.
Leave.
The idea gets me choked up, but it’s not a surprise. I’ve just
grown to enjoy the people here the same way I enjoy the people in
Wind Valley. Staying here for the weekend here won’t hurt anyone.

Logan

“Abby, is this for
real?” I shout into the hallway. I have got to stop sharing a
bathroom with her. I was trying to be polite, but she and Conner are
just going to have to suck it up.

“What? I can’t dry
that stuff in the dryer. It’ll shred it up.” She huffs, her hands
on her hips in the doorway.

“There’s nothing to
shred!” I yell. “Get it out, get it out right, now.”

“Jesus, Logan. You’re
such a dick. I have no idea what Sara sees in you,” she says,
yanking her panties off the shower rod and stomping out the bathroom.

“You’re sharing 100
percent with Conner from now on!”

“Whatever!”

I open my mouth to
argue more because I’ve been in a dick mood ever since Sara called
to cancel her trip home and yelling is helping. Abby lucks out on an
argument when my phone pings from my dresser. I step into my room and
find an unknown number on the screen. Sara’s been having problems
with her phone, so I assume it’s her.

“Hey,” I say,
hoping she’s calling with good news.
Finally, something to cheer me up.

No one replies from the
other end of the line.

“Hello?”

Still nothing.

“Is someone there?”
I ask, growing annoyed. Light breathing is all I hear. The idea that
my sister is actually calling me hits me hard. I swallow, taking a
seat on the edge of my bed.

“Alexis?” I ask,
saying her name out loud after years of keeping her name to myself.
“If it’s you, you can—”

The line goes dead
before I can finish.

I lie back onto my bed
and take a breath. Do I still want the whole family reconnection or
am I ready to give up? If she can’t even talk to me on the phone,
assuming that was her, what makes me think she’s actually coming to
Wind Valley?

Before I can change my
mind, I make a choice. My sister knows where I live and how to get
hold of me. If she wants to see me, she’ll find a way; I’m not
going out of my way anymore trying to make it happen.

I toss the phone onto
my bed before heading for the bathroom. Either I just made the best
choice I could make or a dumb one.