Logan Kade (Fallen Crest #5.5) (39 page)

It only pissed me off, and the fact that I didn’t want to be here when all I wanted to be with was Taylor.

“Logan,” the receptionist greeted warmly and stood up.

She was going to open the door for me. I waved her back down. “I know the way.”

She paused, frowning. “I’ll need to make sure he’s ready for you.”

I grunted. Like I cared about that. Ignoring her, I swept past and was at the door before she could get there first. I didn’t know what to expect inside my dad’s office, but seeing Mason there had me putting on the brakes.

He was standing, glaring at James, but twisted to see me. His face went blank. “What are you doing here?”

I gestured to him. “Probably same as you. What are you doing here?” And why hadn’t he told me?

As if reading my thought, Mason cringed. He shifted back on his feet and slid his hands inside his pockets. “I would’ve told you I was coming here, but a certain someone is always with his girlfriend now.”

I smirked. “You jealous of Taylor? Missing your little brother maybe?”

“I’m starting to feel that you spend more time with my coach than I do.” I grimaced.

I laughed. “You’re jealous of your coach.” I winked. “That’s cute.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “Taylor was attacked a month ago, and you’re basically living over there now.”

“Well,” I corrected. “Not really. I had to meet Broozer first. You know, the official boyfriend/dad of the girl I’m screwing and who I love to screw, that meeting.” I flashed a grin.

“Screwing?”

I shrugged. “Make love, but the mushy stuff is on the down-low. I have a rep to uphold. I’m still a badass.”

“You’re wifed up.”

I hushed him. “Let’s not talk like that.” I zeroed in on our dad, who’d been quiet the entire exchange. Mason and I were standing while he remained in his big leather chair, watching us. I said, “We’ve got a different ‘wifed up’ situation to deal with first.”

Mason turned with me so we were both facing our father. And I knew without looking that we wore matching expressions. Scowls.

James took a breath in, his shoulders lifting up and moving back down in a slow motion. His hand came to the desk, resting there, before he nodded like he came to a decision. He stood then and slid his hands inside his pockets, mirroring Mason. I started to smirk because I knew what would happen next, and it did.

Mason pulled his hands out and crossed them over his chest instead.

James glanced at me, and I raised an eyebrow. “You going to do that, too, now?”

The slight blank mask on his face fell away and exasperation showed. “You two will never completely forgive me, will you?”

Mason asked, “For what, Dad?”

I added, “For being a douchebag father?”

Mason was next. “For all the women you brought into the house?”

Me again. “For not being there, ever, for us?”

Mason. “For leaving Mom and falling in love with someone
just like
you?”

Me. “Or for deciding to be our father when we really don’t need you anymore?” I leaned forward, placing my hands on the desk. “Too little, too late…Dad.”

He sat back down and leaned forward, folding his hands together on the desk. His eyes went from Mason to me, and back again. In that moment, he gave in. I felt it from him. He sat down while we both towered over him, and we were united. This was how it was supposed to be, and how it would always be. Me and Mase, together, as we were against him.

“Okay.” He gestured to the chairs behind us. “I get it. I do. Please, sit down.”

We remained standing.

He let out a small breath of air, shaking his head. “I told you guys two years ago that I was going to make everything up to you—”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “You left. Thank you.”

He threw me a dark look. “Oh, come on, Logan. Analise is sick,
was
sick. I went to be by her side. I was doing what a devoted fiancé does for the woman he loves, and I know you both hate her—”

Mason cut in, “With good reason.”

“—but she’s better now, and we’re back. We’ve been back, and I’ve done what you both wanted.” He held a hand toward me. “I stayed away because that’s what you wanted. I can’t do that anymore.”

“Why not?”

I kept quiet. Analise hurt Sam and while Sam was my family, she was Mason’s soulmate. This was his fight, more than mine, but only by a little.

James didn’t answer, not at first. He focused on Mason, his jaw clenched and his Adam’s apple moved up and down.

Shit. This was it. This was the favor he was calling in, and then he said, “Because we set a date.”

Mason closed his eyes, leaning back on his feet, away from the desk. His arms fell down, going to his side, and he let out a defeated sigh, half turning away.

I frowned. “A date for the wedding?”

Mason said, “That’s the favor.” He looked back and glared at James, speaking to me, “He’s going to make us be his groomsmen. Aren’t you?”

“What favor?” I snorted. “Rankin still went after Taylor.”

“That was a miscommunication, and you know it. He was told to stay away from my sons. The girl should’ve been included, yes. That was a misfortunate mistake, but I still reached out and took some highly unethical and illegal risks for my sons. So, yes, I’m going to be a bastard father to you, too, because I’m still holding you both to the favor I did do for you.” He paused, then continued, “I know I’ve not been a great father to the two of you, and I know you might not realize it, but I’ve been trying to make things right. I love Analise, and I’ve been at her side. I’ll be a devoted husband, and now it’s time for me to be a devoted father to you guys.” He stood up. “It’s time you for guys to let me be that father to you again.”

He was right about one thing. We’d been shutting him out since high school, since he brought that woman into our home, but he was wrong about one thing, too.

I shook my head. “I’ll be your groomsman. That’s the favor I owe you for helping us with Rankin. You did that for Taylor, so I owe you.” I paused before adding, “But that’s all I owe you. You’ve been less of a father to me than Helen’s been a mother to me. Mason got the happy family experience for a little bit. It was already falling apart by the time I knew what was going on, so no. I don’t owe you the chance to be a dad. No child will ever owe a parent their own obligation. You cannot demand to be let in. It doesn’t work that way.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I knew what that text said. Taylor was done with her own father/daughter/new girlfriend dinner. She was ready to be picked up. I sent her a text back. I was heading over soon before I put my phone away and locked gazes with my father one more time. I shook my head. “I can’t speak for Mason, but that’s my deal. I’ll be your groomsman, but nothing else.”

I said to Mason, “I gotta go. I need to pick up Taylor.”

He nodded. “See you at the house later?”

I nodded back and left. I was at the door when James called after me, “Logan.”

I paused, glancing back.

He said, “I won’t demand to be your father, but I think you do owe me a chance to be your father again.”

He already knew my answer. I opened the door to go.

“Logan.”

I was half out the door. I didn’t look back, but I did stop.

He said to my back, “I’d really like to meet Taylor one day. I’d like to meet the girl that you fell in love with.”

I looked now and said simply, “No” before I left, and I didn’t spare him another thought. As far as I was concerned, we were even now, if a son could ever be ‘even’ with his own father…

TAYLOR

Professor Gayle was dating my dad.

“Call me Carol. You must.”

She had insisted with a warm smile and a glow on her face. She was my professor. She was the reason behind Jeremy’s insistence I join the Honors Study Group, and she was now my dad’s girlfriend. I looked between the two as they stood side by side, both waiting for my reaction. And what that was...I had no idea.

I said to my dad, “I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”

He was wearing a Cain University staff shirt, tucked into jeans, and loafers. His hair was combed in place, and he seemed worried, gauging my reaction. When he called and said he was bringing someone home for me to meet, I joked to Logan that I was going to meet the girlfriend. The joke was on me.

I blinked a few times.

My dad rubbed the side of his face, his eyes darting from Carol to myself. “Yeah. Uh, well, you know how these things happen sometimes.” He coughed. “Logan Kade, honey. Logan Kade.”

My neck grew warm registering his hidden meaning. We had a similar meeting like this a month ago. My dad was not happy to find out that Logan Kade was not only my boyfriend, but the one who tackled the guy who tried to shoot me.

Rankin went to prison. Word trickled down from his boss that he was supposed to stay away from the Kades. There’d been no mention of me, and hoping to get back into his boss’ good graces, he wanted to take me out. It was supposed to be a way to get back at Delray. He thought his boss would reward him and not turn his back on him, which is what happened. The attack on me was his third strike. He had enough on his record to be sent away for half his life, and we were told by a detective that he had no allies on the inside.

And even though Logan tackled Rankin, my dad didn’t take that into account. Eric stepped in front of a bullet for me. He had the scar to prove it, along with a week stay in the hospital, but he’d be fine, too. And while I was grateful to Eric, and we were on better terms, I wasn’t going back to my first boyfriend. Ever. My dad didn’t want to accept that, even when he had no place to hope for that outcome.

I was with Logan.

He had to get used to it, but for the first week, he blamed Logan for why the attack happened in the first place. Even after Jason came back and explained the real reason—his gambling. My dad didn’t want to believe one of my best friends, so Claire was brought in for reinforcement. She was more than happy to recall Jason’s history and the poor choices he’d made since graduating high school. Jason finished it up with a grudging acknowledgement that Logan Kade wasn’t to blame, saying, “Yeah…maybe he’s not that bad of a guy. I guess. Maybe.” As he added the last ‘maybe’, he was staring right at me, and a warm feeling spread through me. He was speaking to my father, but I knew it was really to me.

He was giving me his approval, and I grew misty-eyed, giving him a silent ‘thank you.’ He gave me the slightest of nods back, and that was when I knew everything would be fine. I had my friend back and as I stood there now, I couldn’t deny myself what I was seeing.

There was a sparkle in my dad’s eyes and laugh lines around his mouth. Even the bags under his eyes had lessened. My dad was happy.

“So.” Carol drew closer. She looked like she was going to take my hands so I tucked them back. I wasn’t ready for that stuff yet. She bit down on her lip and wavered back on her feet. “Oh. Okay. Uh.” She still smiled at me. “I know you’re one of my students so I wanted to wait till after the semester to let you know.”

Finals had been last week.

She added quickly, “And this is part of the reason I’ve been so absent, too, why I had Jeremy do more than normal for his TA position.” She continued to eye me. “Are you...okay with this?” She had moved a step forward so my father moved behind her, and she reached back, resting her hand on his chest. The whole gesture came so naturally to them, and that was the problem. It was natural. They were natural...my dad really had moved on.

My throat burned, but I looked into my father’s eyes, and I smiled. I really did smile. It wasn’t forced or fake. It was real, and he relaxed seeing it. I nodded. “If you’re happy—”

He said, “I am.”

“—then she’ll be happy.”

“She?” Carol’s eyebrows pinched together, then she got it. Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

Water pooled on the bottom of his eyes, but my dad coughed and blinked a few times. The water went away, but his voice was hoarse when he murmured, “Thank you, Taylor.” His hand rested over Carol’s shoulder, and I noticed how her eyes closed, how she leaned into his touch, how it was the same way when Logan would touch me. His touch gave her strength, and with my dad beaming at me, I was okay.