Hide Your Crazy

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why, but I didn’t ask.

  And it wasn’t Derek who asked, either.

  It was Logan.

  “Why not go?” Logan asked curiously, leaning on the counter next to where I was standing. Not touching me, exactly, but close enough that I could touch him, or he could touch me, if one of us wanted. “West Texas is awesome. Used to live out there before I moved here. Spent a lot of time there, actually. Great hunting, beautiful land.”

  Theo glanced at Logan, then let his eyes trail to me before saying, “East Texas is just my home. I have family here. I hated leaving when I was in the military, and I’d hate leaving more now. I have nieces and nephews that I want to see grow up.”

  “Lies,” Derek coughed into his hand.

  Nobody besides Rowen and I understood his words.

  Thank God.

  But, I had a feeling it was me that was keeping him here.

  Or, it was.

  The more he looked between me and Logan, the more he realized that there was something there.

  At least, that was what I thought he was looking at.

  It was definitely something I was feeling—a pull that practically pushed me to touch the man at my side.

  Hell, my hand was twitching like crazy where I had it tucked into my hoodie pocket.

  “You should try it out, at least,” Rowen suggested. “I’m going out there soon myself. I have an internship over there with a very popular attorney.”

  Theo looked over at Rowen, and I saw the moment that whatever indecision was keeping him here unfurled.

  “You’re right,” he admitted. “I’m not even giving it a shot, am I?”

  “West Texas is nice,” Dad said. “We vacationed out there last year for two weeks. It was beautiful, and Logan is right. The hunting there is so much different than it is here.”

  “So, if I don’t like it out there, you’ll give me a job when I get back?” Theo teased.

  Dad didn’t even hesitate. “As long as you’re willing to join the SWAT team.”

  Dad had loved Theo from the start.

  Apparently, at one point, Theo had been on the area SWAT team while he was also in school to become a Texas game warden. Something in which he’d excelled at.

  “I don’t know…” Theo hesitated.

  “You should take it,” Logan said. “Now. He doesn’t let just anyone on his SWAT team.”

  All eyes turned to Logan.

  “You want to be on the SWAT team?” I asked Logan.

  “Once upon a time? Yes, maybe,” he admitted. “But the ex-wife was scared of me getting killed, so she made it real clear that it was either that or her. I chose her, which was a mistake, because now your father wouldn’t let me near his SWAT team if I paid him.”

  Dad didn’t contradict that statement, which had me wondering just what in the hell was really going on between those two.

  There had to be something more, because there was no way in hell Dad would get that pissed over a fish.

  “I’ll try West Texas first,” Theo shook his head sadly. “Wow, that smells great.”

  That was when my mother arrived with a pan of lasagna in one hand, and a bowl of salad in the other.

  She was struggling to hold the lasagna upright and was quickly losing her battle.

  That was when, without a second thought to his safety, Logan reached out and caught the lasagna with his hand and helped steady it.

  I took the bowl of salad just as my mother readjusted her grip on the pan.

  Logan pulled his hand away with a hiss and curled his hand into a fist.

  “Are you okay?” Mom asked worriedly.

  Logan nodded once. “Yeah, fine.”

  Dad walked over to Logan and slapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks. I really like her lasagna.”

  My mother snorted and shoved my father.

  Theo shuffled in place.

  Logan looked at the door.

  Then his phone rang.

  He fished it out of his pocket, looked at the call in relief, then said, “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

  With that, he offered his hand to my mother and said, “Nice meeting you.”

  My mother took it, looking at his curled fist at his side with worry.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “And you don’t want to stay for dinner? I have enough.”

  Logan quickly shook his head. “No. It’s my ex-wife on the phone. We have a weekly scheduled time to meet so I can allow her to see my dog. Unfortunately, I’m already late.”

  With that, he nodded his head at Dad, me, Rowen, Derek, and Theo then walked out the door without a second glance.

  It wasn’t until we were all seated that I said, “Dad, you need to tell me what the hell you have against that man.”

  Chapter 10

  I go grocery shopping at four in the morning because I hate humans.

  -Katy to Logan

  Katy

  I opened the door after Logan knocked as I said into the phone, “Well, I gotta go. It was nice speaking to you. Have a nice day.”

  “Anytime,” the man on the other end of the line practically cooed. “Talking to you was definitely no hardship.”

  I grimaced and hung up, tucking my phone into my back pocket.

  I looked at the man at my door and waited.

  “I never meant to spring tonight on you,” he said the moment I opened the door. “It was never supposed to be that. Honestly, I was given no choice in coming. He said to do it and seeing as I’m already on probation and he holds the fate of my job in his massive hand, I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I had to go. I’m sorry.”

  I blew out a frustrated breath, feeling the strands of hair lift off my forehead slightly with the expelled air.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I finally said. “I know how my dad can be. Trust me when I say, he’s a force to be reckoned with. And now that he’s the chief of police, he really does hold the fate of your job in the palm of his hands.”

  He snorted. “You have no idea.”

  My brows rose.

  “What?” I asked. “Does he bully you or something?”

  He shook his head. “No. Honestly, I’m lucky to have the job at all, which shows just how hard he’s willing to fight for his officers. It was just unfortunate that I ended up being involved in a string of fuck-ups that day. He did what he had to do, and I’m still working. Still getting a paycheck. So, there’s that. It could be a lot worse.”

  I eyed the uniform that he’d yet to take off, even after being off of work for going on a couple of hours now.

  “Why must you stare?” he asked, knowing the line of thought that was taking place in my brain.

  I felt my lips twitch. “You should do a calendar or something. Swear to God, this is the sexiest outfit that I’ve ever seen anyone wear.”

  He shook his head. “The SWAT team is doing a calendar this year.” He leaned his muscled shoulder against the door. “I wonder what they’d think if I crashed their party.”

  I stepped back and opened the door wide, then paused before saying the actual words.

  “I was going to ask you to come inside, but I need to take Lou out,” I told him. “Do you want to go get your dog and we take them for a walk?”

  His lips formed into a smile.

  “Yeah,” he said, then he was gone.

  Five minutes on the dot later, he walked out of his apartment taking the stairs two steps at a time.

  His dog trailed behind him, looking happy to be out of the apartment.

  “If you want me to, I can let your dog out every once in a while,” I offered. “I come by on my lunch breaks. I don’t feel like it’s fair that I leave Lou so long sometimes.”

  I eyed his sweatpants and hoodie that he’d changed into, momentarily saddened that I wouldn’t get to see his powerful legs stride in those tight pants.

  Though, the sweatp
ants definitely had their own benefits.

  They were low slung, and they were tight in all the right places.

  Mainly his crotch.

  I was fairly sure I could make out certain attributes, but without full-out staring, I wasn’t going to know for sure.

  But wooo, boy. My imagination was definitely running wild.

  “Is your dog fixed?” I asked, clearing my throat.

  “Nope,” he said. “Why?”

  I gestured to Lou. “Mine’s not either. We should probably keep them away from each other.”

  Logan looked at the dogs, one all black long-haired German Shepherd and one all white long-haired German Shepherd.

  “Probably would be wise,” he admitted. “Who were you talking to when I got there?”

  I shook my head. “The UPS facility. I’ve had a package that needed to be picked up, and they keep forgetting to do that. This is the fourth time I’ve called. I don’t have time to drop it off during the week because their stupid office is closed during my lunch break. And they’re not open on Saturdays. Meaning I literally have no choice but to have them pick it up…which they won’t freakin’ do.”

  Logan looked down at me. “That was the UPS guy? It sounded like you knew him well.”

  I shrugged. “I do, I guess. I’ve talked to him four times this week alone. He’s nice…and I kind of accidentally unloaded all of my problems on him yesterday after learning about Jakobe.”

  “How do you accidentally unload all of your problems?” he asked curiously.

  I thought about that for a second, then shrugged, deciding to hell with it. I’d tell him everything.

  It wasn’t odd…at least I didn’t think it was.

  “His name is Bruno,” I said. “And I graduated with him. He was one of those really quiet kids, you know the kind?”

  Logan nodded. “The emo kid that never talked to anybody?”

  I nodded my head. “Yeah! Anyway, I graduated with him. Since I was three years ahead in school, I didn’t ever really have anyone to talk to. Everyone stayed away from me because I was so young. Everyone stayed away from Bruno because he was so different. That, and he put off this ‘don’t come close to me’ vibe that everyone usually respected. I didn’t, however. I sat at his table at lunch, and eventually we both ended up talking. I wouldn’t say we were friends, but we were more like close strangers. It was weird.”

  Logan stopped at the dog park and opened the gate, gesturing for me to head inside first.

  I did, and got the other gate, letting Lou off the leash.

  Lou waited patiently for his new friend to be let off her leash, too.

  When they were both free, he said, “And you realized that the weirdo worked at the UPS store?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, kind of. I called up there and asked for the manager. Bruno introduced himself as Bruno Marks and I remembered him. When I introduced myself, we got to talking. Anyway, I was in a bad place, and I told him about my ex. He told me about his…and now when I call, he asks if I’m all right. It’s kind of sweet, actually.”

  “Sounds kind of creepy,” he admitted.

  I snickered. “It is. Kind of. I don’t plan on going down there and talking to him anytime soon. If my package was only picked up, I wouldn’t have to worry about talking to him anymore.”

  Logan set both leashes on the back of a bench and watched as our dogs ran around the dog play yard.

  “This is the only thing nice about living here,” I told him honestly. “The quick access to the dog parks. He loves playing with other dogs.”

  “Yeah,” Logan agreed. “My brother owns the apartment complex. I suggested he add the stairs to the trail, mostly for my benefit, but I’ve heard from more than one of the complex occupants that they loved the accessibility to the trail.”

  “Your brother owns the complex?” I asked in surprise.

  “Yep,” he nodded. “Luckily, when he asked if I wanted in, I hesitated. Otherwise my ex would’ve gotten half of it, too.”

  “Your ex?” I hesitated.

  “Yeah,” he murmured.

  “Was that really who called you earlier?” I asked. “It looked like you were rushing out of there.”

  He opened his hand and showed it to me.

  I gasped and said, “Oh my God!”

  His hand was burnt badly. So badly, in fact, that I could make out the indentions of the ‘Pyrex’ lettering that was at the bottom of the baking dish right in the middle of his palm.

  “Hurt. And I didn’t want your mother to feel bad.” He shrugged as if what he’d just said didn’t melt my heart. “Today usually is the day that my ex asks to see Sister. However, that wasn’t her on the phone. It was a robo call.”

  “What’s a robo call?” I asked curiously, my eyes still on his hand.

  “A robo call is that new scam where people ghost local numbers and call you, hoping having a local area code will help you answer the phone,” he explained, closing his fist and beginning to pull his hand away.

  I grimaced and stopped him, holding onto his hand as I continued to study it. “That’s annoying. I hate those. Though, saying that, I plain don’t answer calls, period. If you want me, you’re going to have to text me.”

  His lips turned up into a grin. “Don’t worry, I put burn cream on it. Though, it’s probably going to fucking—errrm…freakin’ suck—tomorrow.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I grew up with a dad who was a police officer and a brother who wanted to do everything like my father did. Trust me when I say, I’ve heard those words before.”

  He shrugged. “I try not to say them too much. They make my captain angry.”

  I snickered. “That happens, yes. Do you have to work tomorrow?”

  He rolled his eyes and went to the bench where the dogs were circling.

  “Yes,” he answered. “But luckily later in the day. It’ll give me the day to sleep in. Daylight savings time is going to kick my ass tonight.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  He took a seat on the bench and ran his hands over Lou’s back. Lou, the attention whore that he was, arched his back and leaned deeply into Logan’s knees.

  “You know the answer to that,” he said. “I already sleep like shit. Two, three hours tops a night. Now I’ll get one or two, max.”

  I thought about that for a second.

  “Why do you sleep bad?” I asked bluntly. When he looked like he was immediately going to shoot me down, I held up my hand. “You know my reason.”

  He sighed.

  “My dad was in an accident and I witnessed it.” He swallowed. “The night that it happened, I was behind him. He’d pulled me over because I was being a complete dumbass. I’d just gotten back from my deployment. I was fucking dumb. Young and dumb. Thought I was integrating just fine into civilian life again. Came straight from deployment home with no idea what I was going to do with my life.” He shook his head. “That night…I’d finally realized that I wasn’t going to be okay by myself. I needed help. I’d seen a lot of sketchy shit over there. My head wasn’t in the right place…and I’d just wanted to escape it all.”

  “You were drinking?” I guessed.

  He shrugged. “A little. Not much. But I got pulled over because I was driving about a hundred and fifty miles an hour. Honestly, if it wouldn’t have been my dad, I wouldn’t have bothered stopping.”

  “What happened after that?” I asked quietly, taking the seat beside him and taking the chance to run my hand over Sister’s head, right between her ears. She was much softer than Lou was.

  Sister leaned her head into my hand but didn’t give me much more than that.

  She wasn’t sure about me just yet, and that was okay.

  Lou, on the other hand, obviously didn’t have the same hesitation.

  “I pulled over. It took him about a mile to catch up with me. Where I’d pulled over, I ended up being about a hundred yards behind a lady that was broken down on
the side of the road. My father ignored me and went to her to offer his assistance, and ended up dying right in front of me. Watched everything.” He swallowed hard.

  I closed my eyes.

  “That’s…that’s fucking awful,” I finally said.

  He started to chuckle, low and deep. “That’s what I’ve been able to come up with. Pretty much sums up everything since the accident, actually.”

  I snorted.

  “So, you became a cop to honor your dad?” I guessed.

  He picked up the stick that Lou held out to him, then tossed it in the direction of the woods.

  “Yeah,” he said. “After that night, I knew I needed to get my act together.”

  “You don’t blame yourself for that accident, do you?” I asked softly.

  “No,” he answered immediately. “Dad would’ve found that driver on his own. He was already traveling in that direction. I’d been sitting there, considering getting out and offering my help while my dad helped, for about fifteen minutes before the accident happened.”

  I blew out a breath.

  “I hate that you witnessed that,” I admitted, noticing that he was sitting stiffly there at my side, and thinking that a change of subject was needed.

  “So, you have an ex-wife?” I asked.

  He burst out laughing.

  “So…the game warden,” Logan immediately changed the subject.

  I was the one to burst out laughing, loving the way he didn’t beat around the bush. The ex-wife was clearly off-limits for him.

  Which was okay…for now.

  “I used to date him,” I murmured. “Theo. I met him at my old job right after everything went down with Jakobe. Our relationship was exactly what I needed. Something that I chose. Something slow—which he was more than willing to do. And something that I could control.”

  He leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs out in front of him.

  “I broke up with him because I realized that he just…wasn’t the one,” I admitted. “We’d never progressed past kissing. Not that he didn’t want to, because it was obvious that he did. I just wasn’t ready. And it wasn’t until about three months into our relationship that I had zero plans to carry it any further.”