Logan Kade (Fallen Crest #5.5) (30 page)

And I didn’t have any words. There was nothing I could say to make things better, and I didn’t know if I wanted to. He came to me with anger in his heart about Logan, about the girl Jeremy thought he should’ve had, and he used his knowledge about my mother to intervene about another girl, me.

I edged backward again, slowly moving away.

I had nothing else to say to him. The students still moved in a constant line, but my mind detached from my emotions. I knew that line would bend around me. I wasn’t scared of it, not when there were so many worse things to be scared of. Like monsters.

Like people who shot my mother.

LOGAN

Pete’s Pub was busy when Mason, Nate, and I walked inside. The dance floor usually only had a few regulars, but it was packed this Friday night. And as we entered, the people closest to the doors turned and stared at us. Nate and I got attention when we came here, but this was more than normal. It was because Mason was with us. College star and all that jazz. He came out with us because the team didn’t play this weekend. It was rare, and I was planning on taking full advantage. Sam stayed home, so it really was just the guys, but I wanted to check on Taylor. She said she was working tonight.

I usually didn’t care if a girl was mad at me. I enjoyed that—made things more entertaining—but I was finding I didn’t like when Taylor was mad at me. It didn’t sit well. Made my insides all mushy, which pissed me off. But I refused to let anyone know. Whatever stick was up Nate’s ass would be wedged even higher if he knew.

Mason leaned close to me. “I didn’t think this was a college bar.”

“It wasn’t.” But I recognized the students, too.

“The girls from last week tagged us on Instagram,” Nate said. “I’m sure word spread from there.”

“Well.” Mason looked at me. “We’re here.” He pointed to an empty booth in the corner. “You go check on your girl. Nate and I will be over there.”

There was a line to get to the bar, and I could see Taylor’s head bobbing back and forth as she filled orders. She’d only started a month ago, but I wouldn’t have known it watching her now. She wore a cool, calm look, with her hair pulled back in some kind of braid. She had on her black uniform shirt over jeans, and the V dipped low enough that when she darted to the back storage section, I got a glimpse of her rack, and a delicious view at that.

I wanted to go back there and lock us into the storage room. I’d just convinced myself it would be better if I didn’t when I saw another guy break free from the crowd. He was heading right for the storage room. He would’ve walked right past me, but I shifted, leaning my shoulder against the wall and folding my arms.

Nothing.

The guy should’ve stopped, if only to check me out.

When he reached for the door handle, I moved fast to stop him. My arm completely blocked him now, and as he leaned back to take me in, I leaned forward to give him a better view.

“Don’t see a Pete’s Pub shirt on,” I said.

He frowned and glanced down. “No. I don’t work here.”

“One point to me.” I grinned. I felt the asshole coming out. This guy was going to get the full effect. He had no idea what was coming his way.

“Point? What?” He pointed to the storage room door. “I just need to see Taylor. She went in there.”

I cocked my head. “You work for Rankin?”

“Rankin?”

Enough chitchat. I was about to straight up ask if he had a hard-on for Taylor when the door swung open under my hand. I stood back, but kept myself between the doorway and the guy as Taylor appeared. She stopped, braking at the sight of us. I looked over my shoulder at her, but her eyes moved past me. I knew the second she saw the guy. Her eyes went round, and the blood drained from her face. Her lips parted, and she leaned backward, though her feet stayed rooted in place. I started to reach for her when I heard her quiet gasp.

“Eric.”

The fuck? The ex? I looked at him, and his face flushed. He looked guilty. And with good reason.

“You’re the ex?”

“Yeah.”

I grunted. Enough reason for me. I swung my fist and made contact with his neck. He went down, but not enough. He wasn’t on the floor, so I punched again. This time, I hit the sweet spot—going through the cheekbones toward the nose—and his body dropped.

Taylor looked down at him. “Why did you do that?”

“Because he’s a fucker.” It was as simple as that.

She groaned. “I’m going to get into trouble for this.”

“No, you won’t.”

A security guard shoved through the small crowd that had gathered. Mason and Nate were right behind him.

“Logan.” One of the security guards frowned down at the douche. “Why’d you hit the guy?”

“Because he’s a fucker.” I was going to add that I would hit the guy whenever I saw him or I wanted to hit him every time I saw him, but Taylor’s hand clamped down on my arm. She squeezed, stopping me.

“He’s an ex, and my history isn’t great with him,” she explained. “Logan was just worried about me.”

“Punch first, talk later?” The guard looked confused.

I laughed. “More like punch first, never talk later.” I pointed to him. “I did you a favor. The guy is a dipshit.”

The security guard looked from me to Taylor and back again. “Was there a violent history we need to know about?”

“He won’t be a problem, if you’re worried about a lawsuit.” Mason stepped forward.

“Let him try,” I said.

“Logan.” Nate shook his head, giving me the motion to cut it out.

Fuck them. I motioned to Nate and Mason, bending down to grab the dipshit. “We’ll take care of him.”

“Wait. I mean—” The guard gave us a nervous look. “What are you going to do? Give me something here to work with.”

Mason grabbed Eric’s legs, and Nate pushed his way through the crowd, making an opening for us. When we lifted Eric in the air, I said, “We’ll take him to the hospital, make sure I didn’t do any permanent damage. How about that? Can you work with that?”

“I don’t know, man.” The guard still seemed torn.

Taylor moved next to me. “I’ll go with, if that’s okay?”

“We’ll be down a bartender then.”

“Let her go. I’ll step in.” A guy arrived and took in the scene. The name tag clipped to his shirt read
Manager
.

“Are you sure?” Taylor asked.

The guy waved her on. “Go. Get him out of here before he wakes up. I don’t want to deal with paperwork. As far as I’m concerned, this is a domestic problem. Not a bar problem.”

He stared at Taylor as he said the last part, and I got his message. This was on her. I was about to let him know this was on me, not her, when she nodded.

“Yes, sir.” She touched my arm. “Let’s go. Please.”

I nodded, and Mason and I carried the ex-boyfriend out of the bar. When we got outside, Taylor pointed to her car. “You can put him in the backseat.”

“No way in hell,” I said. “He’s going in my Escalade.”

“You sure?” Mason asked.

I nodded. No way was I letting this guy further hurt Taylor, not if I could prevent it.

“Taylor?” A voice came from the parking lot.

Taylor cursed, and I recognized the same friend who’d interrupted us after sociology this morning. Claire…? I think. Taylor talked about her a few times. She was the female counterpart to that dipshit Delray. Both were Taylor’s friends. Earlier she’d been on cloud nine. This time she seemed transfixed by the unconscious dude. She stopped a few feet away and pointed. “Is that…?”

Taylor nodded.

Her friend’s arm dropped. “Oh.”

Nate laughed. “He walked into Logan’s fist.”

Mason grinned and added, “Twice.”

Taylor’s friend turned to me. I flashed her a grin.

“Oh.” I could see the wheels turning, and she got stars in her eyes.

I would’ve stepped back and held up my hands, but they were occupied. I could only shake my head. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m not some knight in shining armor. The guy had it coming.”

She turned to Taylor. “I’m not disagreeing with you, but whatever. It’s all over social media that the Kades are here tonight. You weren’t answering my texts, so I figured I’d see if you were with them.”

Mason frowned. “It’s on social media?”

Nate groaned, cursing under his breath. “Uh…” He gave us an apologetic look. “I might’ve posted that we were going to Pete’s tonight.”

“Why would you do that? All these people know our hangout now.”

Nate rolled his eyes. “Because unlike the new you, I want chicks to show up.”

My eyes narrowed. “I still feel like punching someone.
You
could be that someone.”

“Stop.” Mason threw both of us a warning glare. “Let’s deal with this guy, then hash out whatever is going on.”

“Taylor, stay.” I nodded toward Claire. “Talk to your friend. We’ll load him up.”

And once Eric was in my backseat, Mason shut the door and rounded on us in the parking lot. “Nate, what’s your problem?”

“Nothing.” He pointed through the window to my unconscious passenger. “Let’s head out. This guy is going to wake up soon.”

Mason held back, still watching me.

I gestured for him to go. “I’ll be fine. I mean it.”

“You sure?”

I nodded. “Get the fuck out of here. I’ve got an ex to interrogate. We can figure a plan later.”

Mason grinned and lifted his hand in a wave. As the two of them left in Mason’s car, I glanced back to the bar and saw Taylor heading my way. I walked over to meet her. I didn’t want her to have to see her ex any more than necessary.

“Jason’s gone,” she said before I could speak.

Good.
“Really?”

“Claire’s been trying to call him, but he wasn’t answering. So she called his roommate instead. He’s completely gone, like he packed up and everything.” She stopped and tried to clear her throat. Her voice came out hoarse. “He said there were two letters left behind. One for me and one for Claire.” She looked over to my vehicle. “What the hell are you going to do with him?”

I shrugged. “I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, to be honest.”

“Logan.”

“What?” I grinned at her. “I’m being the supportive guy. I punched your ex for you. Punching’s my thing. It’s what I do.”

“I thought you were the talker?”

“That, too. Tonight it was punching.”

“I never asked you to.”

I tapped my head. “You were thinking it. I caught the vibe.” I winked. “I can read minds, too, didn’t you know?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “I can’t deal with this. Can you just drop Eric off somewhere where there are medical professionals?”

“He’ll be fine. Don’t worry. And you shouldn’t go to Delray’s place. Call his roommate. Have him meet you somewhere else, somewhere safe. Crime Boss Dickhead could be waiting there for Delray. You don’t want me to go with you?”

She shook her head, her smile fading. “No. I’ll go with Claire. And we’ll call. We’ll have him meet us somewhere safe. Can you just—”

She looked over my shoulder at my vehicle. “Why did he come back?”

“Look at me. I’ll find out why he’s here.”

“You won’t hurt him?”

I flashed her a grin.

She added, “Any more?”

“You really don’t want me to hurt him?”

She let out a sigh. “No. He’s an asshole and a coward, and I think he deserved getting hit, but he doesn’t need to get beat up anymore.”

“Okay.” I let her hand go and held both of mine up in the air. “I’ll be nice. We’ll just…chat.”

She shook her head. “Why don’t I believe you?”

I winked. “Because you know the real me.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I motioned for Claire to come over. When she did, I said, “Take care of her, at least until I can come and take over.”

She gave me a firm nod and took Taylor’s hand in hers. “I’ll take care of her.”

Taylor gave me a tentative wave and smile as she followed her friend to her car. But there was a look in her eyes—the same look she’d worn when she told me what happened to her mom. And that didn’t sit well with me.