“How old are you, Seth?” Bo gently asked.
The boy’s voice was shaking as he answered. “I’m twelve, sir.”
“I told you, Seth. You can call me Bo.” Bo was obviously trying to reassure Seth that he was in no danger with him. “My real name is Bogard, but my friends call me Bo. I’d really like it if you and I can be friends.”
Seth, visibly shaking, looked over his shoulder at Bo. “Yes sir, Bo.”
If Logan could have gotten his hands on the person responsible for this twelve-year-old’s demeanor, he’d be sorely tempted to beat him to within an inch of his life. While he was at it, he’d like to talk to Trevor’s parents. They might just have financial problems, though, and couldn’t give him what he needed through no fault of their own.
The photographer had been snapping pictures of Paul Findley and Kaleb putting their tent up. That wouldn’t do Haynes any good, but it might help the grocery store owner. Besides, Logan was already tired of worrying about his expression.
“What about the piece with Miss Scott? Anybody got dibs on her?” Spencer was addressing Mason again.
“I assume you mean Miss Michaels.” Logan knew that tone of voice. Mason was holding his temper in check by a thread. “How old are you, Spencer?”
“I’m thirteen. Older women dig me, though.” He was way too smooth for a teenager.
“Well, Spencer,” Mason continued, “it is not respectful to refer to any female as a piece. I also don’t want to hear you refer to, or call, any woman anything except their names while you’re with me. So, stop it with the women talk. Got it?”
Spencer lazily saluted Mason. “Whatever you say.” He smirked at Mason. “But it won’t be my fault when one of them comes after me.”
Personally, Logan wouldn’t have minded hearing a response from either Emily or Abby. From his own past experience, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be pleasant.
“Getting acquainted?” Pastor Rhinehart and Kent, flanked by the other two men and their charges, stood in front of them.
“I like Colton,” Andy, the “duh” boy, announced.
Colton looked flabbergasted. They had barely spoken two words to each other since sitting down.
“Brody and I are going to be friends,” Luke told his pastor. “Ain’t we Brody?”
Brody grinned at him and nodded. Maybe the giant of a kid was a teddy bear.
Austin stood up, defiance in his posture. “Jesse’s stupid, and he’s too bossy. I don’t like him. I want somebody else.”
“Too bad.” Where had this Jesse come from? “You’re stuck with me for the next two weeks, and you’re going to have to learn to live with it. I’m here to teach you how to be a man and, by toadstools, I’m gonna do it. So sit down and shut up.”
Logan waited to see what the pastor would say. When he smiled at Jesse with a look of satisfaction on his face, Logan began to wonder if maybe Pastor Rhinehart wasn’t as clueless as he first appeared.
“Let’s all go for a walk.” The pastor’s suggestion caused Logan to immediately rethink his position in regards to the man’s intelligence.
“I ain’t goin’ on no walk with him.” Of course, the speaker wasAustin, still standing, referring to Jesse.
“Where are we going?” Fletch asked.
“I saw a trailhead over there.” Pastor Rhinehart gestured toward the side of the campground past Emily’s site. “We’ll choose one of the trails leading off and take it. Each of you boys needs to stay with your big brother so you can share the experience. Activities like this will help you grow closer to each other.”
The boys and men slowly stood up and placed themselves in something resembling a parade. Other than Austin walking a good four yards from Jesse, it was an organized group that was soon walking on the Oak Leaf Trail, a two-mile “moderate” path.
It wasn’t until they were a good ways into the woods that Logan noticed the shoes Trevor was wearing. There was a hole in the toe of one of them, and the laces were so ragged if they came out, he’d never be able to get them back through the grommets. The soles were probably so thin that Trevor may as well have been walking barefoot on the clumps of grass, rocks, and sticks on the trail.
“What size shoe do you wear?” Logan softly asked him.
Trevor looked at him with surprise in his eyes. “I don’t know. Why?”
Because he was somehow going to get this boy some new clothes and shoes. “I just wondered.” Maybe Emily could help him.
“Where do you go to school?” It was too late for them to turn around, so they may as well have a conversation.
“Ransom Middle School.” Trevor seemed mystified as to why Logan would ask.
“I went there when I was your age,” Logan told him. “I bet it hasn’t changed much. Do you still have those desks with the book racks underneath?”
Trevor actually smiled. “Yeah. Some of ‘em are so old, they were probably there when you were. Maybe my desk used to be yours.” That thought seemed to please him.
“Maybe.” Logan decided he liked this boy. “What’s your favorite subject?”
“Math and computers,” he replied without hesitation.
Logan smiled. “You’ll have to talk to Miss Scott, then. She and I went to school together, and I’m pretty sure those were her favorites, too.”
Trevor smiled shyly at Logan. “Is Miss Scott your girlfriend?”
“No.” The denial sprang to his lips so fast he hadn’t even thought about it. He could never feel like that about Emily Scott, and even if he did, she’d never in a million years even give him the time of day. Yet, when he’d kissed her, she had definitely kissed him back…at least until she realized what she was doing.
“Why not?” Logan had forgotten Trevor was there for a moment.
He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to share a little of himself with this young man. “We’re too different. I was poor when I was a kid, and she wasn’t. She was always a good girl, and I always got into trouble. We’ve always been too different from each other to even really be friends.”
“But you’re not poor now,” Trevor hesitantly ventured.
Logan wasn’t wealthy by any means, but poor? “No. I do just fine now.”
“Do you still get in trouble?”
Logan chuckled. “Just with my mouth. Sometimes I don’t know when to keep it shut.”
Trevor’s grin widened. “My grandma says I always stick my foot in my mouth, so I might as well chew on it while it’s in there.”
“You live with your grandma?” Logan gently asked.
His smile faltered. “My dad died and my mom left. Grandma came to the police station and got me, so I live with her and Grandpa now.”
Logan didn’t understand. Trevor had no business being kept at a police station. “Why did she have to pick you up there?”
Trevor’s smile was a thing of the past. “My teacher found out I was livin’ by myself and she called the police. I tried to fool ‘em and make ‘em think Mom was still there but just gone shoppin’ or something. Know what I mean?”
Logan silently nodded, his heart in his throat.
“They saw I didn’t have no electricity or runnin’ water, and they just didn’t believe me. If Grandma hadn’t come and got me, I’d have had to go to some special home for kids without families. I’m glad she got me.”
“I’m glad she did, too,” Logan told him. “How old were you, Trevor?”
“Nine.”
Logan had always thought he had grown up in a difficult situation—until now. Here was a boy abandoned by his own mother when he was a still a small child. He still tried to cover for her. Now he was living with his grandparents, who from the sound of things, loved him, but were obviously too financially strapped to provide everything he needed.
“Do your grandparents have jobs?” He hoped they were at least trying to support their grandson.
“Grandma worked at the bicycle factory until she got laid off. Now she cleans people’s houses.” There was pri
de in his voice. “She works real hard. She has to ‘cause Grandpa can’t walk anymore. He was in a car wreck, and his back was hurt bad. He tries to get jobs where he can sit in his wheelchair, but nobody will hire him.”
So they were doing their best. Something told Logan that, despite his reluctance to participate in this program, the boy walking next to him was going to forever change his life. Trevor had unearthed something deep inside of him, and he didn’t think he would ever be able to rebury it.
Chapter 13
“Emily, wake up. Somebody’s knocking on the door.” Abby’s hushed voice penetrated the fog of sleep.
“What?” She sat up and looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight. “Who is it?” If she could just get her eyes to stay open…
“I don’t know. I didn’t bring my housecoat, and I can’t go to the door looking like this.” Emily finally focused on Abby, who was wearing a lacy set of baby doll pajamas—real camping clothes there.
She heard the persistent rapping on the door as she finally managed to untangle herself from the sheets and stand up. Since her cotton pajamas covered as much as her regular clothes, she left Abby in the bedroom peering around the nearly closed door, as she walked to the front door and looked out the window.
“What in the…?” She unlocked the door and swung it open.
“What are you doing here this time of night?” she demanded from Logan, who was wearing those pajama pants and that T-shirt again, and looking so good she wanted to go out there and jump…whoa, there. This was Logan Taylor in front of her.
“I need your help.” Urgency colored his tone. “Can I come in?”
Emily looked toward the bedroom, where Abby was poking her head around the door and shaking it vehemently. She sighed.
“Let me get my shoes on and I’ll come out there.” She couldn’t imagine what he needed her to help him with this late at night.
A few minutes later they were sitting beside each other at Emily’s picnic table, their backs against the top.
“It’s Trevor,” Logan began.
Emily gave him a disbelieving look. “I can’t do anything about getting your partner changed. I told you I don’t have any say in—”
“No.” He interrupted her. “I don’t want to be anybody else’s big brother. I like Trevor—a lot.”
“Well, that’s good then.” She patted her cheeks with her hands, trying to wake herself all the way up. “I’m half asleep here, Logan. You’re going to have to explain yourself.”
“He doesn’t have anything, Em. The kid brought two pairs of jeans and shirts most people would put in their rag pile. His shoes are falling apart at the seams.”
Emily had never seen Logan so sincere before and remembering Abby’s observations about the boy being hungry, tears came to her eyes. “There’s nothing we can do,” she said sadly.
“Don’t you have to go get groceries or something once in a while? I mean, you have to go to town, don’t you?”
She nodded. “I go every Friday. Aaron said something about a couple of you and your little brothers coming with me, but I don’t know how he picks who goes.”
He shook his head. “That’s too long. I don’t want him to go without decent clothes that much longer.” An idea hit him. “Your boss. Does he go into Ransom very often?”
She slowly nodded. Aaron took Sara in every day for chemo. He had told her and Abby that he sat and read while she was receiving it because he couldn’t bring himself to leave town with her there. “He’s there every day. Why?”
“If I give him my credit card, would he pick up some clothes and shoes for Trevor? Not much and nothing fancy—I don’t want the other boys here giving him a hard time.” He reached over and took her hand in his. “I can’t explain it, Em. I just have to help this boy. Will you help me?”
She saw the look in his eyes, and her heart melted. With no forethought, she leaned over and kissed him. Logan reached up and tangled his fingers in her hair as he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. She had started it, but it was soon clear who was going to control it.
He reached over and grabbed her hip to swing her up and over until she was straddling him. His mouth left hers and trailed down her neck as his hand came up to the front of her shirt to cup her breast. She threw her head back and gave herself up to the feelings. She moaned as he pulled her top aside and kissed his way down her chest. She gripped his shoulders to keep from falling backward—or launching into space.
“Em…I…you are so beautiful,” he murmured against her skin.
The sound of his voice brought her back to reality. They were on a picnic table in plain sight of every campsite occupied by the boys and men in the big-brother program. If even one of them looked out, he would see them.
“Logan, we have to stop,” she protested. “We can’t do this here.”
He slowly came back to his senses, his desire-fueled actions stopping. Logan pulled away from her breasts and gently pulled her top back in place. Then he pulled her tightly against his groin once, showing her how much he wanted her before he resolutely pulled her off of his lap and slid her back on the bench beside him.
“Wow,” was all Emily could say.
“You can say that again.” Logan had to take a few minutes to get himself back under control. He finally found his voice. “I’m sorry, Emily. I didn’t come over here to do that.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she told him. “I’m the one who started it.”
“I would have finished it, though.” He smiled dryly. “I’d better get back—in case Trevor wakes up. Will you help me get him some clothes?”
She nodded. “I’ll ask Aaron and see what he says. If he can’t, maybe Abby can slip away long enough to do it. We’ll figure something out.”
He leaned over and tenderly kissed her one more time. “Thank you, Em. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Logan.” Her body was still humming from his touch.
“Goodnight.” He stood up and slowly walked away.
Emily floated across the site and let herself back into the camper. She about jumped a mile when Abby giggled. “That was better than a movie.”
“What was?” Emily already knew the answer.
“Don’t worry. I stopped watching as soon as I realized it was going from PG-13 to R. I’m not a voyeur, you know.” She turned the lamp on. “You and Logan—who would have thought?”
“Wait a minute,” Emily interrupted. “We’re not together like that.”
Abby chuckled. “I’d say you two were awfully close to being as together as a man and woman can get.”
Emily sank to the couch and put her head in her hands. “It’s his kisses. Once I feel his…once we’re kissing, all rational thought just flies out of my head.”
Abby’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve done this before.”
“Not exactly.” She raised her head and looked into her friend’s eyes. “He just kissed me once. We didn’t…like tonight.”
“Don’t bite my head off, but I think this has been building up for years.” Abby’s blue eyes sparkled. “I think all the orneriness and arguing have been foreplay—leading up to this.”
Emily could still feel his lips on her breast. “I don’t know what it is. I just don’t know.”
“Well, he’s here for two weeks. and you’re only forty-five minutes away from him after he goes home.” Her eyebrows arched. “It’s been easy to forget, but we do all live in the same city. You could have a real relationship with Logan.”
“Don’t go putting things away before they’re paid for, Abby. We kissed a couple of times and just had an…intense makeout session. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re each other’s soul mates.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not, either.” Abby’s grin was downright wicked.
“I’m going back to bed.” Emily stood up and walked to the bedroom door. “Please, Abby, don’t make this into something it isn’t. It’s too…new.”
She turned and walked to her
bed, closing the door behind her. That’s what these feelings Logan had stirred up were—new.
Chapter 14
Logan and Trevor had somehow made it to the final playoff in the horseshoe tournament. Who’d have thought the scrawny twelve-year-old could throw like that? He’d like to see what the boy could do with a softball.
“Come on, sissy boy! Let’s see you hit another one!” Austin, who was standing next to Logan, yelled at Trevor. Jesse stood at the other stake with him. Trevor was getting ready to pitch a horseshoe.
Logan started to say something to Austin about his mouth when Trevor took care of things by pitching a perfect ringer. Looked like “sissy boy” had hit another one just fine.
He had wondered if Trevor would choke when he realized the entire group was watching him, but the boy surprised him by appearing to ignore everybody and focus on the game. They needed one more ringer, and he and Trevor would defeat Jesse and Austin, winning the tournament.
And there it was. Trevor hit another perfect ringer. Jesse’s horseshoes had landed close to the stake, but not close enough. They had won! Logan met Trevor halfway between the stakes and high-fived him.
“Congratulations, Trevor and Logan!” Pastor Rhinehart was exuberant. “It stands to reason that our pitcher and his partner would win.”
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Logan told him. “Trevor scored most of our points.” And he had. Logan wished he could take the joy in Trevor’s eyes and bottle it up for him to keep.
“Good game,” Jesse said, shaking Logan’s and then Trevor’s hands. “Get over here and show good sportsmanship, Austin. Right now.”
If he lived to be one hundred, Logan didn’t think he’d ever get used to that stern voice coming out of Jesse’s mouth. He wanted a boy who needed his guidance, and had definitely gotten one.
“Good game.” It was said in a surly tone of voice and Austin’s handshake felt more like preparation for arm wrestling, but Jesse had managed to get him to do as he was told. Logan knew one thing. He wouldn’t trade Trevor for any of the other boys there.
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