Logan's Woman

by Avery Duncan

  “You were going there alone?” he snapped again, slamming his hands on the table. “Claire, what kind of idiot are you.”

  “Logan…” Chase placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Get the fuck away from me, Chase. I cannot even believe for a second that you could be that stupid as to even think about going there. What the hell were you thinking?” he roared. Later, she would swear that the room shook because he was so loud.

  Her vision clouded and she got to her feet, hands clenched. “I was thinking that I didn’t want to see anyone die because of me!” she shouted back. His head fall back as his cold, short laugh shot around the room.

  “You didn’t want to see anyone die because of you,” he repeated, laughing again. She closed her eyes for a second, forcing herself to keep calm.

  “I should have thought it through, I know. I wasn’t thinking straight. Andrew is like my big brother and I don’t want him to die –“

  “And I don’t want to see you die, Claire. What would have happened if you hadn’t come in here and told me the truth? Tomorrow, you would have been on your merry little way to meet someone. Not only would he be dead, but so would you be.” His voice was nothing but a ragged growl as he faced her. He shoved his hand through his hair, and she could only watch him helplessly.

  “I came to you, though, didn’t I?”

  His eyes shot fire at her from across the room.

  “Did you doubt me? Was it because of how you had to run for your life the other night? Is that why you didn’t trust me enough to come and tell me this?”

  At that question, every single eye shot to her. Her face paled and she shook her head, moving to reach for him. He stepped out of her grasp. “No, Logan. And it hurts that you would even think that,” she whispered, dropping her hand. She was going to break her promise to herself. The tears were already stinging her eyes.

  “Then why wouldn’t you come to me?”

  “I already told you,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, looking away from him. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I was just going to go there, get my cousin, and then come back here.”

  “God, Claire. It’s never going to be that simple.”

  She jerked away from his shout, turning away from him completely.

  “Logan,” Nathan interrupted. “I think we should focus on the problem at hand instead of arguing over this. You two can take care of it on your own time.”

  She heard him breathe out roughly, and then a short, “Fine.”

  “Claire,” Nathan said, his voice soft. “Do you want our help?”

  She stared at the wall, blinking tears away rapidly. “I need your help. I can’t lose Andrew, too.”

  “Alright. It’s that simple.” The gentleness in his voice was odd, but comforting. She turned around and looked at him, catching the reassuring look in his eyes. “We’ll have your cousin back and you won’t even have to worry.”

  She frowned at that. “I still have to go, though. He was really serious about me coming alone.”

  “No,” Logan grated, staring at her. “You won’t be going.”

  Claire looked at him.

  “If you’re going to be an overbearing douche bag, I might as well do it myself.”

  “Douche bag?” Blake cut in, laughing.

  She bit her lip, ignoring the comment, and just watched Logan as he completely cut her out. His eyes were unreadable and she remembered seeing him like that the first day she had come here. Dark, dangerous, and looking like he was ready to kill something.

  Chapter 29

  Claire didn’t sleep at all last night.

  She slept in her own bed, the one she’d been in before Logan and her had gotten married. She hadn’t been able to find a reason why she should sleep with him last night – after all, he’d done nothing but snap and glare and tell her what she could and couldn’t do for the rest of the night.

  He was short with her, barely looked at her, and when she woke up at five in the morning to get a drink of water, he’d come downstairs, saw her, and then left.

  Thinking about it now, as she got dressed in the clothes that she’d brought over from Logan’s room, had her heart clenching. She prayed to God that everything went perfectly fine and that, once they had her cousin back, everything was back to normal. She’d hurt his pride – lied to him, flat out told him that she didn’t trust his ability to take care of her, and she hadn’t slept in their bed last night.

  What kind of person was she?

  It was ten till seven. She hadn’t had a wink of sleep since yesterday at ten, her nerves were frayed, and she felt like a cloud was settling around her. She’d taken her pill – actually two of them, just because she felt that she needed to – and now she was in the kitchen again, just sitting at the island.

  She didn’t have to wonder if anyone else in the house was awake. Marla would be showing up in a couple hours, and by then they would all be gone. Claire was positive that she wasn’t the only one that hadn’t gone to sleep last night.

  All night long, she’d been waiting for Logan’s steps to whisper across her door, waited for him to go to his own room. Either they hadn’t, or he had just been more quiet than usual – she was guessing the later.

  Even though it was seven in the morning, it was dark out. The rising sun was covered by thick rolling clouds and she’d even closed the back door in case it rained. Adjacent to the back door was a floor-to-floor glass window. She knew Logan was tight on security, so she guessed ruefully that it was probably bullet-proof glass.

  There was still a whole in the marble counter-top – she’d asked Blake about it right before going to bed because Logan had been refusing to talk to her, and he’d said that it was just an accident. Claire knew better than that, though.

  She stood to stiff feet, thinking that the least she could do was make coffee for everyone. Last night, Logan, Nathan, and Luke had come up with a plan to get Andrew back while still keeping Claire safe. There was no way that she couldn’t show up – the second the thing saw any one other than her, her cousin was, as they said, fucked.

  Claire was just about to pour herself a cup of coffee when she heard someone behind her.

  She turned around sharply, gasping.

  It was Blake, reaching for an apple from the center of the island. “Holy God,” she breathed, clenching her hand around the handle of the cup. “You scared me.”

  He flashed a cocky grin and took a crunching bite of the apple. “Of course I did. You’re tighter than a bow right now, little lady. Didn’t you sleep at all last night?”

  She set the cup down, sighing. “How can I? I feel like someone is digging bamboo up my finger nails right now.”

  Blake nodded knowingly. “I know how that feels. Not very pleasant. But you have no reason to worry. Logan and us would never let anything happen to you.” He grinned again.

  Oh, she had no doubt about that. It was them and her cousin that she was worried about.

  “I doubt Logan would care much right now,” she mumbled, turning back around to pour herself a cup. Maybe the coffee would wire her nerves so badly that it worked like ADHD pills. Work you up so tight that you’re calm.

  “Don’t think that for a second,” he scolded her. Blake came around till he was standing right next to her, munching on his apple. “Logan would give his life for you – hell, he’s preparing to do just that right now.” He smiled as if he found the notion enjoyable.

  “What?” she gasped.

  “Well he can’t just stand by and watch you get shot at if shit hits the fan.” Blake explained it to her as if she were a child. “You look really pale,” he said. Then he frowned. “I think I’ll go eat my apple in the other room and keep my mouth shut.”

  She nodded numbly, thinking over what he had said. He was preparing to die for her? Meaning he counted on it? Or was she just looking too far into it. Her heart crashed in her chest as Blake left her to her thoughts. God, why was this all happening now?

  Logan
pulled on his jacket, connecting the comm. link to the hidden frequency and slipping a gun in his holster. They’d be leaving in only a couple of minutes, and he had no doubt that Claire was already awake, even though he hadn’t bothered to check on her.

  Looking at her physically hurt him. The dark spots under her eyes, the worry he read in them every time he looked in them. The way her shoulders were curled, how vulnerable she looked. Last night, he’d slept in the basement with the men, just so he wouldn’t be tempted to go to her room and hold her. She wanted her space, she was going to get it.

  But damn, did it hurt.

  “We already to go?” Nathan asked from his spot on the couch. He was loading amo into one of the riffles.

  Logan nodded. “We just have to hook her up and then we can get going.”

  “Right. I’ll go get Luke. He’s locked up on his computer right now, doing some weird shit.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Nathan shrugged, standing up and slinging the riffle over his shoulder. “No idea. Didn’t you notice him leave last night?”

  “No,” Logan growled. “I’ll go find him.”

  He put his hand on the handle, but before he could do anything, it burst open. “You guys are not going to believe this,” Luke said, laptop in hand.

  “What is it?” Logan demanded. Nathan walked over as Luke set the laptop on the table. The screen was white at first, but after a few taps on the keyboard, a list of numbers appeared on the screen.

  “Those phone numbers?” Nathan asked, peering over the screen.

  Luke grinned, nodding. “The guy who called our Claire is pretty slow. I traced the call to his number and got a list of previous numbers he’d called. The only number he’s called beside’s the house phone is Senator Joey’s.”

  “We already guessed that they were connected,” Logan said, straightening up, indifferent.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t get bored so quickly. I took the liberty of tracking down Claire’s cousin — Andrew Baker. I also tracked his cell,” he said, looking at them as if they should know what he was implying.

  Logan raised a brow at him. “And?”

  “And, it’s snuggly moving around New York, his hometown. I rigged up a telemarketing call just to see if he was actually in New York… He answered a short survey for me, thinking I was telemarketing for the Senatorial election about his uncle.”

  Nathan and Logan looked at each other. “So he’s not here,’ Logan growled.

  “Nope. Safely in New York with his father and mother. Nowhere near us,” he said, straightening form leaving over the computer. “And, right now, our man is at the hotel we’re supposed to be meeting him at.”

  “Logan,” Nathan said, taking the riffle from his shoulder. “We leave Claire here and take care of the man. The sooner that happens, the sooner it’s over. Then we don’t have to worry about this happening again.”

  He shook his head, wishing it were that easy. “Joey won’t give up until the election is over — and he might not even stop after that. He’ll want Claire for revenge if he loses.”

  “We can at least take care of the main problem,” Nathan pointed out. Luke gave them a parting nod of his head before heading back to his room. The man was tall and lithe, and he had the computer skills of a mastermind. If he wanted to take over the government, he could with a simple click of a button — everyone knew it; that’s why he was on their team. The man could fight, but he was best known for his skills with a keyboard. Finding out the information he had just now must have taken him seconds, a piece of cake.

  “I take it we can’t just off the Senator and call it a curtousy of the nation?” Nathan asked drolly, moving to the door.

  “I don’t think that’d fly very well.”

  “I didn’t either.”

  They exited the room, both armed. Now all they had to do was face Claire with their new information…

  “What?”

  Claire watched through furious eyes as Logan’s face became, once again, stony.

  “I said, you don’t have to come with us. We can take care of it.”

  “But…but my cousin!” she gasped, hands clenching into fists. Were they really going to be so arrogant as to risk her families life?

  “Isn’t even in this state. He’s safely in New York.”

  “How do you know?” she asked, snapping her arms over her chest. She glared at the five men standing in front of her, eyeing them.

  Luke raised his hand, grinning. “I got the info just a couple of minutes ago. There’s no reason for you to be put in danger, Mrs. Marshal.” Right them, she wanted to shoot his head in with the riffle he had slung over hi shoulder. They all had them, wearing them like some warrior with a prize, strutting around like they owned the place.

  She took a calming breath before shaking her head. “I want to go.”

  “That’s not going to happen —“

  “In all defense, there really is no reason for you to —“

  “Wouldn’t you rather be here eating some pie?”

  “I don’t are,” she snapped above their tirade of voices. Claire swept her hair back from her face with a huff. “I want to go. I won’t believe it till I see it.”

  “Claire,” Logan growled, taking a step forward. She met him halfway there, stabbing a finger into his chest. “If you guys don’t think he’s much of a threat, then I can go.”

  “That’s not how it works, Claire. Why can’t you just accept that you aren’t going?”

  He grasped her wrist, jerking it away from him. “I can’t just sit here while you go out there,” she said with force, yanking her wrist out of his grasp.

  “That’s too bad. If you want to get anywhere, you’ll be walking. And it’s too hot out to do that, so I guess you’re stuck with the option of just sitting here and waiting till we get back. We won’t be long.”

  He gave her one final, hard glare before stalking out of the back door, leaving her there. The men followed and she as left in silence.

  Furious, painful silence.

  So that was how it was going to be? Him fighting the bad guys and leaving her to sit here by herself, alone?

  Claire didn’t think so. She waited until she was sure that they had left. The truck hit the gravel road in less than five minutes. Outside of the window, the gravel kicked into the air, leaving a trail behind them.

  Yeah, Logan didn’t know her that well at all if he thought she was just going to sit here.

  She was running upstairs to get jogging shoes, trying to think of a way she could get into town, when she heard something downstairs.

  Her eyes flickered to the clock. Marla had an hour yet before she had to show up, and she never came this early. With unease settling in her stomach, she slipped off her jacket and quickly dressed into a short-sleeve Nike T-shirt that said, “Too much game.”

  Another sound, louder.

  What the hell… It was Saturday. Marla wouldn’t be here for a while, the cowboys were out doing their own things and never came into the house — even if they did, she always had a warning call from them — so what was going on downstairs?

  Looking around for something to defend herself with, just in case, she saw a large marble horse — just big enough to be as long as her forearm, and light enough that she could carry. The thing could have cost two-hundred dollars, but she promised herself that if she actually had to break it on someone’s head, she’d buy him another one.

  Taking a deep breath, as if the action would cause any sound around her to halt immediately, she began her creep down the stairs. She could hear shuffling from inside the kitchen — where the back door had been left open, like it always was.

  Holding the marble horse ready, she turned the corner and —

  “Oh fuck,” she gasped, a second before the horse was knocked from her hands with a clatter. As marble shattered onto the tile of the kitchen, Claire barely had time to register the bulbous figure that was somehow managing to stand above her —
/>   Her head slammed into the floor and she was out like a light.

  Chapter 30

  Logan moved in, pressing his body against the roof of the hotel that they’d planned on finding Claire’s threat. The sun was beating down on him, and he knew it was probably just as bad for the other’s. Thing was, though, that they were used to it. Being overseas meant you did a lot of missions in the heat — and this was no different.

  He could consider it hunting — because whatever he was going after wasn’t human.

  To be human, you had to have morals. A soul. The ability to comprehend wrong from right. If you didn’t have those qualities?

  You were nothing more than an animal.

  Eric and Nathan were, with permission from Darla, on her diner. She’d made sure to evacuate anyone in the restaurant the second she’d seen them coming in. Darla knew him, was practically his second mother, and she knew what his friends represented. Shit was about to go down, and she didn’t want any liabilities.

  In fact, it seemed as if the whole town somehow knew. It was barren, to the point that there was no one on the streets. The only thing with any movement was the dust bunny that rolled around the road just outside of the hotel.

  Logan checked his watch, Luke getting into place beside him. They were five minutes early, which meant they had better time to scope out the surroundings. He knew the backdoor and every ladder to the decrepit hotel was blocked off, unsafe for people to use, so the only way the fucker could get outside was through the front door. He’d make his way to the back, and that was when Logan planned on shooting — but not to kill. Seriously injure, but not kill. He had questions that he wanted answered, and since he knew the thing wasn’t much of a threat, the “shoot first, ask questions later” rule didn’t apply.

  He was glad that Chase had stayed on the ranch. Claire hadn’t been aware of this when they’d left, of course, but the knowledge that his brother was there to protect her made this a lot less worrying. He knew that with situations like this, all it took was one little slip-up to have spiraling out of control.