by Janie Marie
“All right.” He put the car in park, then grabbed hold of her hands. “I’m here. I won’t leave.”
She tried to smile at him, but she knew she looked terrified.
“Come here.” He sighed, pulling her face to his and kissing her softly.
She reached up to keep his hands on her, not wanting to leave his embrace. “Thank you, Logan.”
He playfully nibbled her lip before kissing her cheek. “You know”—he left a trail of kisses down her neck—“I know we have to deal with serious shit, but right now, all I’m imagining is having you slip off your pants so you can climb on my lap and ride my d—“
“Logan.” She pushed him away, but only because she was annoyed he had turned her on.
He laughed and opened his door when she opened hers. “What?” He walked around to where she stood with her arms crossed, trying her best to look annoyed. “We’re going to do a lot in this car, baby. Just wait.” He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her to him. “You’re only turning me on more, Hood.” He smirked and gave her a quick kiss. “Better get that sexy, angry look off your face before I walk in there with a massive hard-on for Kevin and the cops to see.”
She kept glaring and glanced at the car, speaking before realizing what she was saying, “Well, I guess I better learn to swallow then. I don’t think Kevin will approve of me coming home with your cum all over me, because I’m definitely giving you a blow job the next time you drop me off.” She smiled at his stunned face and pushed herself up on her tippy toes to peck his lips before sauntering her way to the front door. She remembered something like this before—maybe a book—and she couldn’t believe it was what popped into her head. He was probably going to laugh.
“You know that doesn’t help my boner situation.” He jogged up behind her.
“I know.” She giggled as he grabbed her waist to keep her from opening the door.
“I thought you liked your pearl necklace,” he murmured in her ear, hugging her from behind.
She grinned because she felt him getting hard against her butt. “I loved it.”
He nuzzled her cheek as his fingers caressed her stomach. “Good, because I like giving my girl presents.”
Her eyes shot open, and she turned her head to the side. “Logan, what do you mean when you say, ‘my girl’?” She was so unsure of how things worked in relationships. She’d told herself she wouldn’t make him clarify, but he continued to call her my girl, and that had to mean more than the two of them simply dating.
“What do you think it means?”
She swallowed, ready to ask if he considered her his girlfriend already. “Am I your—”
The front door was yanked open. “There you are.”
“Hi, Kevin,” she said, trying to pull herself away from Logan, but her man-boy didn’t let her get far.
“Kevin,” Logan said, nodding to her stepdad before sliding his arm around her waist to pull her back to his side. “Sorry we took so long.”
Kevin lowered his eyes to Logan’s hand placement as he rubbed his thumb up and down her side.
“It’s no problem.” Kevin held the door open. “Thanks for bringing her. She’ll call you tomorrow.” He held his hand out for Kylie, dismissing Logan’s obvious intention to enter with her.
Logan pulled her closer, shaking his head. “Yeah, she’s not going in without me.”
Kylie’s breathing sped up, and she darted her eyes between the two men. For the first time, she realized how powerful Kevin’s presence really was. He was just as tall as Logan, maybe not as bulky, but a guy you wouldn’t want to piss off. Then again, neither was Logan.
“This is a family matter,” Kevin told him.
“I realize that—but your family matter involves Kylie, and anything involving her will have my full attention. So I’ll be staying with her until she tells me to go.”
A patronizing smile touched Kevin’s lips. “I appreciate your concern, kid. And while I gave my consent for you two to date, I’ll remind you that she’s a minor, and I’m her guardian. I can forbid her from seeing you.”
Logan grinned in an unfriendly way while keeping his hold firm. “One, I didn’t ask for your consent. We’re together, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Kevin looked ready to breathe fire.
“And two, she’s not a child. She’s a beautiful young woman—one who will soon be a legal adult, and one you’ve neglected since assuming the role of her stepfather.”
An icy glare overcame Kevin’s face. “You have five seconds to get your hands off her and back in your car.”
“Logan,” she said, grabbing his sleeve after he pushed her behind him and took a step closer to Kevin.
He didn’t acknowledge her and continued speaking to Kevin. “If I leave, she comes with me. You don’t get to pull the daddy card just because the police are poking around. Don’t pretend you’ve never noticed what they’ve been doing.”
Kevin opened his mouth, but a new voice silenced him.
“Actually, Mr. Blackwood.” Footsteps sounded behind Kevin as a man wearing a police uniform stepped out.
Kylie looked him over, stunned by the smoldering look he gave her and his swoon-worthy tousled chocolate brown hair as he smiled at Logan. “Since Mr. Grimm appears to be the initial cause of all this mess, I’d like him to stay.”
Logan stepped back, placing his arm around Kylie as his tense posture relaxed.
“Of course,” the man continued, “if you have a problem with Mr. Grimm entering your home, Kevin, we can have them follow us to the station.”
“No.” Kevin held the door open again. “Here is fine. I’m sure Kylie wants to be somewhere comfortable.”
Logan scoffed as the officer turned to her.
“Let me introduce myself, Miss Hood.” He smiled, though there was no kindness to it. “I’m Police Chief Messor.” He stuck out his hand. “But you can call me Than, if you’d like.”
Kylie recognized the name and realized this was Logan’s guy, so she relaxed and shook his hand. He wasn’t kidding when he said he knew people. “It’s nice to meet you.”
He nodded and released her hand, gesturing for them to come inside. Kevin, she realized, had already walked off. They quietly followed the chief.
Logan turned and pressed a sweet kiss to her temple just before they came to the opening of the room where Kevin waited. Kylie lowered her eyes from his fierce look, but she noticed a woman sitting on their couch where the chief was heading.
Than cleared his throat and gestured to the woman. “This is my lead detective, Kali Parvati. Detective, this is Kylie Hood and Logan Grimm. I insisted, after gathering the information we learned earlier, that Mr. Grimm stay in case you have any questions for him.”
The detective smiled as she stood and held out her hand. “Hello, Kylie.” They shook hands before Kali turned to Logan and shook his hand too. “Mr. Grimm. If you both will take a seat.”
Logan took her to the opposite couch as the detective, chief, and Kevin returned to their spots.
“I’ll try to make this as easy as possible, Kylie,” Detective Parvati said.
Logan took Kylie’s hand in his while the detective pulled out her phone.
“And please,” Detective Pavarti said, “don’t mind Police Chief Messor’s attendance. We were having a private meeting outside of work when I received the call regarding Miss Payne’s assault. Seeing that Mr. Blackwood is a prominent member of our community, and both yours and Miss Payne’s stepfather, the chief insisted on joining me.”
Kylie shook her head, muttering, “It’s no problem.”
She noticed the smirk on the chief’s lips as his breathtaking blue eyes zeroed in on Logan’s hand, but she returned her attention to the detective, realizing just how striking the woman was.
Kali shifted her near waist-length, sleek black hair away from her flawless, oval face. Her dark brown eyes nearly matched the color of her skin, and they were focused right on Kylie. “Excellent. Now, I assume you
have no problem with your stepfather and boyfriend remaining present?”
Kylie blushed and shook her head, feeling her face grow even hotter when Logan removed his hand from hers, only to place it around her shoulders in a more intimate hold.
“Great,” said Detective Parvati. “I’ve already spoken to your stepsister and most of the other girls with her. They all gave me near-identical stories that could put you in some serious trouble.”
“I understand.” Kylie swallowed, leaning against Logan for strength. “But whatever they told you is a lie. I did nothing but stand there while they surrounded me.”
The detective nodded, messing with her phone as she took down notes. “Then give me your side. I’ll just listen, and if I have a question, I’ll stop you.”
Kylie nodded, then told her about the rumors and teasing that had been going on—then how she found herself surrounded by Maura and five other girls.
“And how did Miss Mortaime come into this?” Detective Parvati asked.
“She just showed up,” Kylie said, her nerves shot. She was about to puke. “I didn’t ask her to help me—she just stood between me and them. Her friends were there, too. And then it turned into an argument between Janie and Melody, then her and Maura. They don’t like each other.”
Than Messor smirked, his gaze taking in Logan as his detective made notes.
“How do you know Janie?” Detective Parvati asked.
“I don’t, really.” She tensed up. “I just know she fought Maura once.”
The chief leaned over, whispering in Detective Parvati’s ear.
Logan gave Kylie a gentle squeeze, but she didn’t know if it was to comfort her or to tell her not to bring up Janie’s violent past. She was just telling them what she knew.
“Ah, I see.” Detective Parvati smiled. “Than has informed me there is a report filed about the fight between your stepsister and Miss Mortaime. I’ll look it up when I return to the station. Now, you say the verbal attack Maura and her friends aimed at you shifted to personal instances with Janie Mortaime?”
“Yes.” Kylie wrung her hands together. “They just started insulting each other back and forth—I have no idea what they were really getting at, but then there was total chaos. They were just fighting.”
“Do you know who attacked first?” the chief asked. His fierce blue eyes made it hard to look away from him.
“No.” She took a shaky breath. “I was behind them through the whole thing, and kids were shoving and cheering. Then, I don’t know, I looked at Maura and saw her pull a knife out of her bag. I screamed because I assumed she was going after Janie. I guess Janie knows how to defend herself though, because she caught Maura’s arm and twisted it until the knife fell.”
Than made eye contact with Logan, a small smirk playing across his lips before he controlled it and looked back at his detective—well, at her chest.
“What happened to the knife?” Kali looked up after asking her question, then glared at Than until he chuckled and looked away from her breasts.
Kylie shrugged. “I don’t know. Kids started screaming that teachers were coming, and everyone started shoving and running to get away. When I looked back, Maura was crying on the ground and the others were gone. I panicked and ran too.”
“Why did you panic?” The detective watched her, continuing when she didn’t respond right away. “From the story you’ve just told, you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. Why not go to the teachers?”
Logan rubbed her arm, soothing the anxiety the detective caused in her. Because she had no idea if this Kali Parvati person was someone Logan trusted.
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I was just upset. It was too much to deal with after everything else that had happened. I just wanted to be somewhere else.”
“You walked almost ten miles until you reached the gym where Logan was?”
Kylie nodded. “I’m used to walking. He’s the only person I feel safe around.”
“You don’t feel safe with your family?” It was the chief who asked.
She tensed up, watching Than, Kali, and Kevin all narrow their eyes at her. “I just meant that I know Maura has a problem with me getting attention, and that after her fight, she might take it out on me. I mean, she had a knife, and she pulled it on someone. I had no idea if she meant to use it on me originally, but I didn’t want to find out. I knew Logan would keep me safe, so I went to him. We were just getting ready to come here when Kevin called.”
The detective looked at the chief, neither saying anything until someone’s phone rang.
“That’s me.” Chief Messor stood up, grinning when he realized who was calling him. “Excuse me, I need to take this.”
They nodded, watching him walk out. Kylie couldn’t help but snoop, and she peeked at his phone as he lifted it up to his ear. The contact read: L. Godson.
“I figured you’d be calling me.” His voice faded as he left the room.
“Well,” Detective Parvati said, regaining Kylie’s attention, “at the moment, I don’t feel it necessary to place you under any custody. Right now, it’s just a case of she said, she said, and you weren’t the one to assault anyone.
“We’ll finish questioning Miss Payne and the other girls, and Miss Mortaime. I will likely have questions for you after I do get a chance to talk to her and her group of friends. They all disappeared, but we’ll find them. For now, I expect you to stay out of trouble. Your stepmother is insisting Maura stay at the hospital for observation, so you shouldn’t have to worry about a confrontation until tomorrow.” She then turned to Logan. “Mr. Grimm, it’s been a pleasure. Please call us if either of you have additional information you feel might be useful.”
Kylie and the others stood while Detective Parvati gathered her things. Logan kept his arm around her waist, quiet as the detective went to shake hands with Kevin.
“Did I do okay?” Kylie whispered, turning in his arms.
“You did great, Hood,” he said, hugging her. He looked over at where Kali still spoke with Kevin, then back at her. “You kinda made it clear you’re not friends with Janie, so that looks good for you—she won’t buy that you instigated Janie and the girls into attacking Maura.”
Kylie pressed her lips together. She couldn’t tell if he was upset with her because she wasn’t praising Janie like a hero. Beating up mean people didn’t make you a hero.
“I don’t want to leave you here with Kevin,” he muttered, relieving her because he obviously wasn’t angry with her. “But I have a feeling he’s going to keep me from you as soon as they leave.”
“Then take me with you.” She hugged him tighter.
“I don’t think I can without him causing a scene. And with the way that fucker acted with me outside, I’ll probably end up in jail for fighting him.”
“Then what do we do?” She knew he wasn’t talking just to talk. Kevin had pissed him off, and she knew neither one was ready to back down.
He rubbed his hand up and down her back and lowered his voice. “Keep your phone hidden from everyone. Call or text me if anything happens. Anything.”
She nodded, already knowing she would. “But what if he tells me I can’t see you?”
Logan scoffed. “I might not feel like getting locked up, but that’s only because I can’t protect you from jail. I’m seeing you no matter what. How do you feel about me sneaking over tonight?”
Kylie’s mouth fell open. “Like spend the night with me?”
He nodded, smirking as he added, “And I’ll tell you what I mean when I say my girl.”
“Okay.” She smiled like an idiot.
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head before sighing. “He’s coming over. Call me when you’re alone, and we’ll figure out what we’re going to do.”
She nodded and got a quick kiss on her lips before Kevin cleared his throat.
“Kylie, I think you should escort your friend out, and then you and I will talk at dinner.”
Kylie didn’t want to
be clingy, but she didn’t want to be alone with Kevin. “Can he stay for dinner?”
“Some other time when my evening isn’t ruined because my stepdaughters are fighting over a boy.” Kevin glared at her before doing the same to Logan.
“Okay. Um, I’ll just walk him out.”
“Make it quick.” He turned to leave the room without sparing Logan a glance.
“Prick,” Logan muttered as he started walking toward the front door. “Which way is your room?”
She pointed to the stairs. “I’m the corner room. There’s a big tree right outside my window.”
He smirked. “Convenient.”
“It’s not like I planted it for you.”
He chuckled, his eyes lighting with mischief that made him look adorable and sexy at the same time. “Yeah, yeah. I know you can’t get enough of me. You probably knew all along you were coming to Logan Grimm’s town and thought, ‘I better have a tree for this bad boy to climb.’ Go on, tell me you planned this.”
“I did not.” She smiled, shoving him even though she wanted him to hold her tighter. “That’s the most ridiculous thing ever.”
“This is Blackwoods we’re talking about. Grimm, Knight, and Godson territory.”
“What?” She looked up at him, confused. “This is Kevin’s town. His family founded it in the 1800s.”
He scoffed. “You really don’t know how legendary we are then. Blackwood was just the family who did the paperwork. Our families don’t need documents to know what belongs to us.”
“Okay.” She shook her head. “That’s probably the freakiest thing you’ve said.”
“You’re the freaky one.” He snickered, hugging her. “I would have never thought it. Hood’s a super freak, super freak.”
“Shut up.” She laughed, covering her face as she prayed Kevin wasn’t listening.
He didn’t stop. “She’s super freaky, yowww.” Logan cut off his surprisingly good interpretation of Rick James’ Super Freak when the door suddenly opened from the outside.
“Logan.” Than Messor smirked as he looked between them. “I’m sure Miss Hood would love for you to continue serenading her about how kinky and freaky she is”—he winked at her—“but I’d like to get our little conversation over with quickly. You’re not the only one who wants to sneak off with his super freak.” Than’s eyes slid to where Detective Parvati waited.