Logan_Denver Royalty [Book 1]

by Sheridan Anne

  “I’d offer you my jacket but you spilled champagne all over it.”

  “That wasn’t my fault,” I object.

  “Righteo,” he grunts.

  We shiver as we wait for the taxi to show, keeping ourselves entertained with ridiculous conversation while I sip on my champagne. My head starts to spin and I realise I’ve probably had one too many drinks but that was bound to happen sooner or later.

  “You ok?” Brendan asks.

  “Yeah, just a little shit-faced,” I grin.

  He rolls his eyes. “Maybe you should go back inside. I’ll be ok out here.”

  “No, no. Your taxi will be here any minute.”

  “Ok,” he says with a sigh, knowing a lost cause when he sees it.

  We wait a few more minutes and my head grows worse but I keep a smile plastered on my face as to not worry him. The taxi’s headlights finally appear at the bottom of the longest driveway on earth.

  I get up and push Brendan to the curb before helping him into the taxi and by helping, I mean, I don’t really help at all.

  He drives off and I make a promise to call him in the morning. The second he’s gone, I can finally give in to my spinning head. I walk back to the seat I had just vacated and find myself a stumbling idiot. Shit. This isn’t right. I’ve been wasted many of times and this has never happened.

  My eyes start hurting and I find my vision getting blurry. I fall back into the seat before dropping my head in my hands. The need to lay down comes over me but I know games over if I do that.

  Crap, I don’t feel good. Maybe I should find a garden to throw up in.

  I try to get to my feet but trip over my heels. An arm shoots out and saves me from eating dirt. “Hey, you ok?” a voice asks.

  I turn and see Max by my side. I blink a few times as his faces grows blurrier by the minute.

  “I don’t… Logan,” I tell him with the words struggling to come out. “I need Logan.”

  “Sure thing,” he says as he starts leading us away.

  I start losing control of my limbs and collapse my weight onto Max. “I don’t feel… good.”

  He doesn’t respond, just keeps leading me away. Something doesn’t feel right but I can’t work it out. Where’s Logan? Why isn’t he taking me to Logan? All the questions hurt my head. I force my eyes to stay open as my head gets heavier and heavier. “Where are you taking me?” I slur.

  “It’s ok,” he finally says as takes us into the shadows of the trees. “I’ll have you back to your boyfriend in no time.”

  What does he mean by that?

  This isn’t right. I need to find Logan and if he isn’t going to help me that I’ll have to find him myself. I try to push off him but he holds me tighter. “Let me go,” I slur.

  “You ain’t going anywhere until I’m finished with you,” he says as he finally stops walking.

  “I need Logan,” I tell him again. Why isn’t he understanding?

  He lets go of me and my legs instantly give out. I fall to the floor hard. My knees hurt and I’m pretty sure the sticks and dirt I’ve fallen in have ruined my dress but at least from down here, the world has stopped spinning, well, mostly.

  I find Max kneeling before me and I find my eyes growing heavy again. Sleep. I just want to sleep. Max? What’s Max doing here?

  “Max,” I murmur.

  “That’s right, baby,” he says as he reaches towards me.

  I hold my hand out so he can help me up, only he doesn’t reach for my hand, he reaches for the strap that holds up my dress. He pushes it down my arms and I try to pull away. “Stop it,” I slur.

  His hand comes out and slaps me hard across the face. I fall to the ground and scratch up my arms and chest in the process. I try to hold my hand against my face to stop the pain but I can’t control it.

  “Shut up,” Max demands.

  Why is he hurting me? He said he’d find Logan. I need to find Logan.

  Max grabs my dress again and with one simple twist of his wrist, tears the fabric away from my skin. “No,” I say but my voice is hardly audible. “Stop.”

  My eyes grow heavier and I know I won’t be able to fight much longer.

  “Logan,” I call out but once again, my voice is silent. Where is he?

  Max reaches for my underwear as a tear slides down my face.

  My body gives in and I find myself surrendering to whatever it is that’s in my system.

  My eyes close and I beg for this to all be a dream.

  Chapter 21

  Logan

  “Have any of you fine ladies seen my woman anywhere?” I ask Sara and Bri as I throw my arms over both their shoulders.

  “Nope,” Brianna says as she throws back the rest of her drink. “But when you find that little hussy, tell her to get her ass on the dance floor. Sara here is slowing me down.”

  “Shut up,” Sara laughs. “If I wasn’t pregnant, I would have drunk you under the table by now.”

  I ignore their banter and move onto the next crowd. Where the hell could she be? She took Brendan out half-an-hour ago and there is no way a taxi would have taken that long to arrive. I pull out my phone and dial her number but it rings out, though I’m not surprised. There would be no reason for her to have taken her phone with her, it’s probably still in her purse under the table.

  “Yo, Tony,” I ask as I pass him. “You seen Elle?”

  “Yeah,” he laughs. “She told me she was going to go find a real man.”

  “That explains why she walked right past you,” I throw over my shoulder as I continue my search.

  I head out the front and check there but as expected she isn’t here. I dash up the stairs and check my old bedroom but again, she isn’t there, besides, if she was tired, she would have come and told me so she could drag me along with her.

  Just to be sure, I bring up Brendan’s number and give him a quick call. “What’s up?” he answers.

  “Hey, you still with Elle?” I ask.

  “Nah, taxi came ten minutes ago. She didn’t look so great, she’s probably gone somewhere to lay down.”

  “Alright, thanks, man,” I say as I end the call.

  I head back downstairs and find Carter and Sean at the bridal table, each sitting back with a drink in hand, watching their girls on the dance floor, except there’s a strange, depressing look in Carter’s eyes. “You guys seen Elle?” I question as a hint of worry seeps into my voice.

  “Nah, have you checked upstairs?” Carter asks, turning his eyes on me.

  “Yeah, she’s not up there.”

  “Out the front?”

  “Nope.”

  With that, both their eyes begin scanning the room until those concerned creases appear between their eyebrows. “She wouldn’t have gone out the back?” Sean questions, knowing just how daunting the backyard can be at night, especially to someone who doesn’t know the area.

  “I don’t know, man. I don’t see why she would go there.”

  “It can’t hurt to look,” Sean says getting to his feet. “Come on, I’ll help.”

  “Yeah, I’m up for a stroll,” Carter says getting to his feet after downing the rest of his drink.

  “What’s up with you?” I question as we head for the back door.

  He looks back over his shoulder and waits until we’ve cleared the door to answer. “It’s Bri,” he says with a sigh. “I think the weddings getting to her. She keeps hinting that this is what’s next for us.”

  Sean scoffs at that. “Let me guess,” he starts. “That’s freaking you the fuck out.”

  “Fucking oath,” he says as he brings up his hand to rub the back of his neck. “What’s wrong with what we’ve got now?”

  “Nothing,” I say, “but a woman like Bri isn’t going to be satisfied with just that. She’s the commitment type. For some godforsaken reason, she loves you and staying with her is going to require a wedding and a shit load of kids running around.”

  “Don’t say that,” he grunts.

  “W
hat’s the problem with marriage and kids?” Sean asks as we start looking around the yard.

  “Nothing,” he says. “It’s just not what I’ve ever pictured for myself.”

  “Well you need to figure that shit out,” I tell him as my eyes continue scanning the yard. “She’s not going to wait forever and you don’t want to push her away in the meantime.”

  He lets out a frustrated sigh as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns on his torch app. We all follow suit as we get deeper into the yard.

  “Elle?” I call out.

  “It’s fucking simple,” Sean says continuing the conversation. “Do you love her?”

  “Yeah,” he says as it truly is the simplest thing.

  “Then I don’t see your problem.”

  Carter sighs again and this time I understand where he’s coming from. Carter and I have never been the commitment type, that’s changed for me but Sean, he’s a different story, he wanted to marry Sara the second he met her all the way back in high school. He practically proposed the second their ages deemed it acceptable.

  “Yo, what’s that?” Carter says as he points his torch in the direction of something near the trees edge.

  We all head over to the shiny object that seems to reflect against the torch’s light.

  The closer we get, the worse my stomach drops as I’d recognise that shiny little object anywhere, after-all, I was only starting at my woman in it all night. I dash over and confirm my thoughts. I pick up the golden high heel and turn to show my brothers.

  “You sure that’s hers?” Carter asks. “All the girls are wearing the same shit.”

  “Dude, you were just watching the girls dancing. They were all there except for Elle.”

  “She wouldn’t have wandered into the trees, would she?” Sean asks with concern.

  “I fucking hope not,” I grunt. These bushes are huge and it’s dark-as-fuck out here. If she has wandered in here, without her phone and after drinking all day, she could be in trouble.

  I do what any concerned boyfriend would do and dive straight into the trees. “Elle?” I call as the boys start doing the same thing.

  I walk deeper and deeper, searching everywhere. Come on, Elle, where the fuck are you? I hope she isn’t hurt or passed out. “Elle,’ I call out again, only to get no response.

  Babe, tell me where you are.

  Panic starts seeping, there more and more I hear the boys calling out for her and getting nothing in return. I spend another few minutes searching around when I see a golden piece of torn silk amongst the sticks and fallen leaves. I pick it up and there is no mistaking the material is Elle’s.

  “Carter, Sean,” I call out. They start making their way over but I keep searching deeper into the trees. I hear a rustling coming from my left and I head that way. I step around a bush and my heart sinks.

  Elle lays motionless on the ground, covered in grazes and bruises with Max hovering above her, desperately trying to strip her out of her underwear.

  I see red.

  “Get the fuck off her,” I demand before flying towards the fucker and throwing him as far away from my woman as possible. He gasps in surprise but doesn’t have a chance to react before I come down on him, nailing him over and over again with as many blows to the face as it will take until my rage subsides.

  “Fuck,” I hear Sean behind me. He races towards me and desperately tries to break me away from Max but I overpower him with ease.

  “Stop it,” Sean yells. “You’re going to fucking kill him.”

  “Good,” I grunt before I suddenly find both my brothers at my arms dragging me backward. I try to break free but against the two of them, it’s impossible. “Let me go,” I demand.

  “No,” Carter says, maneuvering me around so he can get in my face. “You need to check on Elle. We’ll deal with him.”

  Hearing her name has my eyes shooting in her direction. The fight instantly leaves me and the boys drop my arms as Max disappears from my thoughts. Fuck, I hope she’s ok. I rush towards her and pull her into my arms. “Babe,” I say, giving her a slight shake. “Can you hear me?”

  She doesn’t respond but at least she’s breathing. She’s clearly unconscious and I realise this is much more than just drinking too much. Did he give her something or did he knock her out?

  I gently scoop her up into my arms, making sure to protect her precious head. I start making my way out of the trees and back up to the house, knowing the boys will do whatever it is they need to do to deal with Max.

  I go in through the back entrance so I don’t disturb the wedding and take her up to my old bedroom. I lay her down on my bed and find her some clothes. I head into the bathroom and wet a washcloth before sitting down on the edge of the bed and cleaning her up as best I can. Preferably, I’d like to get her in a shower but that’s going to have to wait.

  The more scratches and grazes I clean over, the more that rage starts to return but knowing Elle needs me right now is the only thing keeping me from going back out to the bushes and annihilating the fucker.

  I sit beside her in the bed watching her sleep and getting some sort of relief knowing she’s safe. A knock sounds at my door and I find Carter and Sean, each with bloodied knuckles.

  “She ok?” Sean asks.

  “I think so,” I tell them. “Is he dealt with?”

  “Yeah. We took him up to the front gates and called the police. He’s gone.” Carter says before cringing.

  “What is it?” I demand.

  “We found pills in his pocket,” he says.

  “Shit,” I curse. “Do you know what they were?”

  “No,” Sean says. “You should get her down to the hospital. They can run her blood and check her over.”

  “No,” I tell them. “Let her rest. Can we get a nurse out here?”

  “Yeah,” he says as he looks past me into the room. “The police want her to give a statement.”.

  “Ok, I’ll take her down in the morning.”

  They each nod before turning away. “We’ll call when the nurse comes.”

  “Thanks,” I say to their retreating backs. “Hey,” I call out and wait as they turn back. “Don’t tell Cass about this. I don’t want her worrying on her wedding day.”

  “You got it,” Carter agrees before they disappear.

  I close the door and climb back in bed with Elle. I pull her unconscious body into my arms and hold her, willing her to wake up but seeing as though it’s the middle of the night and she’s been drugged it probably won’t happen for a while.

  I lay awake, listening to the music from downstairs seeping up through the massive house, unable to find enough peace to close my eyes. The more I think about what happened, the more I need to do something.

  I tuck the blanket over Elle and slide out of the bed. I grab my suit jacket and pull it on before I dash downstairs. I head into the party and look around for the one guy who will be able to give me the peace I’m searching for.

  I find him amongst the other guys from my team and head over.

  “What’s up with you?” Tony asks. “You look like shit.”

  “Don’t I know it,” I grunt. “Listen, can we talk for a moment?”

  “Sure,” he says.

  I nod and lead him away to another room, where we can have a proper conversation without one of my teammates coming and slurring about how fucking wasted they are.

  “What’s up?” he asks as I close the door behind me.

  “It’s Max,” I say before explaining everything that has gone down tonight. The more I talk, the more horrified his expression becomes.

  “Fuck,” he finally grunts as he slams his drink down on the table. “How’s Elle?”

  “Sleeping. We have a nurse coming to check her out and see what’s in her system.”

  “Good.,” he says. “If it’s ok with her, could you let me know those results.”

  “Sure,” I say with a grim nod.

  “You spoke with the cops?” he asks.
>
  “Not personally but my brothers dealt with them.”

  “Ok,” he says, slipping into manager mode. “We’ll deal with it in the morning but rest assured, effective immediately, he’s on suspension pending an internal investigation.”

  “Good,” I say, knowing exactly what’s going to come out of that investigation. Denver Thunder have always been known for their excellent reputation. We don’t put up with bullshit and never have. At the moment it’s just my word against his but as soon as Elle can give a statement and they find out what’s in her system, his ass will be out of there and I’m sure locked up for attempted rape.

  How dare that fucker pull that shit on my woman?

  “The press is going to have a fucking field day,” Tony grunts as he picks up his drink and throws it back. “Tell Jax thanks for the invite. I’m going to head off, I have a shitload of work to get done now.”

  “Sure thing,” I say.

  “Thanks for bringing it to my attention, had you waited till the morning, it would have been all over the news and too late to do much damage control.”

  I nod and watch as he leaves the room.

  I wack on a smile and head back into the party. As much as I want to be upstairs with Elle, I know she’s safe and sleeping. Right now, Cass needs me to be present for the best day of her life. I’ll stay for another half hour, give her a few more dances before slipping out again. By then, the nurse should be here.

  Just as expected. I stay at the party for half-an-hour, pretending that my mind is solely on enjoying Cassie’s day before heading upstairs with the nurse. She goes about her business and requests that we get a doctor to check her over once she regains consciousness.

  She heads out and I find myself climbing in beside her once again. I pull her to me and find that relief of having her safe in my arms.

  I can’t believe I let this happen. I knew Max was into her and I knew he was a fucking weirdo. I should have looked out for her. Gone with her to send off Brendan. Where the fuck was I when she needed me the most? Fucking around getting drunk with my friends.