by Lexi Blake
Nate flushed slightly. “Gemma, we’re going to need to run a 1220.”
“I’ll get the Lysol, Sheriff, but you’re going to do the cleaning. I’ve been very good. I only have sex on my own desk.” Gemma turned and disappeared into the kitchen.
“I already cleaned.” Georgia was a pretty shade of pink.
“He’s being a dick, baby. Don’t worry about him.”
Nate finally smiled. “Hello, Miss Dawson. It’s damn good to see you again. You got him in there?”
“She did,” Logan replied. “I’m good. I’m really good, but I have to talk to her and Seth. They need to know some things.”
Nate reached a hand out. Logan clasped it in his own. “If they’re going to be your family, then they need to know everything. Your family will understand. Your family will forgive you.”
Like Nate had forgiven him. Nate should have fired him, but instead he’d talked to Stef about getting Logan help.
“Speaking of family,” Nate continued. “There’s a shark running up and down Main Street screaming for his baby sister. Six foot six, killer suit, practically shoots laser beams from his eyes.”
Georgia’s mouth dropped open. “Win. What the hell? I have to find him before he goes after Seth again.” She gave Logan a quick kiss. “See you at home.”
Home. God, he’d come home, and he might manage to stay here if he was lucky.
She ran out the door, and he was left alone with Nate.
A well of emotion ran through him as he looked at Nate. Damn, what had that girl done to him? He’d felt dead inside for so fucking long. Anger and fear had been all he could feel, but then Georgia walked through the door and he came alive again. He suddenly had the feeling he needed to talk to a whole lot of people, starting with Nate Wright.
“You should have fired me.” He’d been a nutbag shithead after the incident. He’d pulled crap that should have gotten his badge taken away about ten times, and nothing had been worse than what happened at Hell on Wheels.
Nate put a hand on his shoulder. “That wouldn’t have solved a damn thing. It would have pushed you further into that world. And you got yourself out, Logan. I don’t know everything that happened, but I do know that I never once thought you wouldn’t make it.”
“I did some things I’m not proud of,” he admitted.
“And you made them right. You know a few days before you left for Dallas, a guy named Bernie came in and turned himself in. I don’t usually have dealers who turn themselves in. He said he needed a fresh start and that he knew he couldn’t do it on his own.”
That had been more about Hope than him. Sweet Hope had convinced his idiot dealer to turn his own ass in. He’d taken the ten grand Logan owed him and started a new life. Hope told him the worst Bernie did now was have the occasional beer at Hell on Wheels.
God, Nate knew. He’d known and he’d never said a word. “I heard that.”
“I wish I could have shut down that bar.”
“Sawyer’s not bad.” Sawyer had taken over Hell on Wheels a year and a half before, after his grandfather died. Nate had it out for him, but Logan owed the man. “Sawyer saved my life. He and Hope did. There wasn’t a big bar fight where I broke up the place. Sawyer made that story up because I’d gotten myself in trouble.”
Nate held up a hand. “I don’t need to know anything else. And my trouble with Sawyer comes from that MC tat he used to wear on his arm.”
Sawyer’s left bicep was now a mass of pure black ink, but at one time he’d belonged to the Colorado Horde, an outlaw biker club. Nate and Zane had worked for the DEA before coming to Bliss and had their fill of “one percenters,” as they called themselves. “I want you to know that I don’t bear any ill will toward the man. I’m grateful to him.”
He was shocked to find out he was grateful to a lot of people. He felt a little like the Grinch in that story his ma would read to him every Christmas. Somehow, his heart had grown back to its original size—or bigger—and he felt the need to share it.
“You know you’re meant for bigger things than this, Logan Green.” Nate nodded as he spoke as though this was something he’d been thinking about for a while. “You need to get out into the world, see what you can be.”
See the world and not because he didn’t want to be at home, but simply because the world was such a thing to see. And he could see it with his best friend and his girl. Their woman. “I’ve been thinking about that, but I have things I need to do first.”
“Yeah, you take care of what you need to,” Nate said. “You always have a job here. But I think you’re going to find something better.”
“There’s no place better than here.” Gemma was smiling as she walked out of the break room. She had a spray bottle of Lysol and a roll of paper towels. “We have everything here. We have nudists and actors and protesters and vegans and aliens and whatever the hell Henry is. But seriously, everyone should see New York and Paris and London. Go see them and then you come back here and happily live in Bliss.”
“Whatever the hell Henry is?” Logan asked.
Nate rolled his eyes. “Gemma’s become one of our premier conspiracy theorists. She believes Henry is hiding his background.”
“Caleb does, too. I’m not alone in this. We have our own club now. We both saw what he did to my needle-dicked ex.” Gemma turned to Logan. “You weren’t here for that party. Twelve-Second Patrick. I call him that because of how long he lasted during sex. He was my fiancé, and then he tried to kill me with strawberries and oops, suddenly he spends some time with Henry Flanders in the woods and his head pops off. Oh, sure he was only internally decapitated, but he was decapitated all the same. Henry said he tripped. Yeah, like I’m buying that one.”
Nate patted her head. “Sure, vegan Henry Flanders is a super assassin.”
But Nate hadn’t met Henry before he’d gotten together with Nell. Logan had. He’d been a kid when Henry Flanders had first come to town, but he remembered being afraid of the man. His eyes had been cold, and he’d nearly killed Seth the first time they’d come in contact.
Seth. Seth had been in contact with Henry all these years. It was a weird relationship, but Henry was the man Seth was closest to after Logan. It hadn’t made sense then, but years and experience had lent a different light to his eyes.
Henry wasn’t what he said he was—or he wasn’t what he’d said he’d been. Gemma was right. Caleb was right. They were new eyes looking at something that seemed normal.
Seth knew. Damn it. Seth knew the truth. Seth had something to do with this. There was a cover-up, and Seth was right at the heart of it.
“Nate, I need a couple of hours.” This couldn’t wait. He needed to talk to Seth. He needed to figure out a whole bunch of things.
“Take the rest of the day.” Nate had a smile on his face. “We’ve had our crazy shit happen today. Max was damn near bent in two, I tell you. I have no idea how he kept a hard-on through that. And he kept calling her ‘Rachel, Mistress of Pain’ through the whole episode. What’s wrong with them?”
He didn’t think there was a damn thing wrong with them. There was probably a Hurricane Rachel out there and Max loved the winds. It took a special kind of man to take on that much woman, but he was up for the task. And he knew Seth was, too.
Logan hit the door at a run and went straight for his SUV. He had questions to ask and stories to tell.
* * * *
Georgia ran from the station house, up Main and past Stella’s, and she caught sight of Win almost immediately. He stood out in any crowd, much less the jeans-loving cowboy crowd. He was still wearing his Armani suit and Louis Vuitton loafers even at nine thousand feet plus above sea level.
“Win!”
He stopped and turned, his whole being laser focused on her.
Win. So much of her life fell into place as he stalked toward her. She’d spent a lifetime depressed because her mommy and daddy didn’t love her. They’d been shitastic parents, but that didn’t matter. Biolo
gy didn’t mean anything in the end. It was a starting point, a place on the map, but in the end as long as the destination was reached, it didn’t matter which route a person took.
Love was the be-all, end-all of existence, and now that she looked back at her life, she’d had it in spades. It didn’t matter where it came from, only that she’d had it.
“Win!” She screamed his name, not to stop him from searching for her, but to let him know she saw him, wanted to be with him. Win. Her rock.
Win had a grim look on his face as he stalked toward her. Damn. She had some work to do, but now she was ready to do it and as a woman, not a girl.
She reached for him, her arms open, because no matter what happened, he was her big brother. “It’s so good to see you.”
He enveloped her in a bear hug. “You, too, sis.” He pulled away, and his handsome face became a mask of implacable will. “You will get your things, and we’re heading to Colorado Springs and catching a plane.”
Oh, how she loved him. And she wasn’t about to tell him yes. “What’s wrong now?”
His jaw clenched, a sure sign he was upset. “Logan Green. He’s not who he says he is.”
A deep serenity fell over her. Of course. Win loved her. He’d been her everything for so long. He was just being the superhero he was. “He says he’s a fuckup who got into a shitload of trouble.”
Win’s eyes narrowed. “He’s been in a lot of trouble.”
Don’t engage with the Neanderthal. It was a lot like the granola except with fangs and claws. “He’s so sweet. Did you see our cabin? Ten thousand square feet of pure paradise.”
She didn’t mention the moose. It would only throw Win off. Then he would be worried about her being killed by a moose.
“I don’t care about the cabin, Georgie. And that’s Seth’s doing.”
So Seth was good and Logan was bad. It was good to know the score. “It’s beautiful, and you should see the closet. It’s huge. I need to fill it up.”
Win looked down, catching sight of her feet. “What the hell? I haven’t seen you out of heels since you were sixteen.”
She’d been trying to fit in with the upperclassmen. So much time spent trying to get to a place that she didn’t even like. “I let a friend borrow my shoes. It’s totally reminding me of what it means to walk without pain. Maybe that’s why I’ve been so grumpy the last couple of years. My feet always hurt.”
Win shook his head. “You’re not doing this to me. Do you think I don’t know all your moves? I’m not going to let you distract me.”
“I wish you would.” By this point in the conversation, Ben would have handed her a credit card. Chase would have been fixated on something shiny. Mark and Dare would be scratching their heads wondering how to get the conversation back on track, but Win never got the chance to play it dumb. He couldn’t.
“Not happening. Now let’s go to this amazing cabin and grab your things.” He glanced down at his watch. “If we hurry, we can make it to Colorado Springs before dark.”
She reached out and took his hand, leading him to the bench that sat right outside of something called Blissful Art. There were lovely pots and ceramic work in the window front along with a bunch of flyers someone had taped on the “public forum” section of the store. From the words “tofu sit-in,” “cruelty-free,” and “fair wages,” she was betting on Nell.
“Georgie, we don’t have time for this. I have a meeting in the morning.”
Of course Win had a meeting, but he’d made time to ride to her rescue because that was what he did. “I’m not going home with you, brother.”
His hands went to his hips—his dad pose. “I don’t want to have to tell you this, but Seth’s gotten you involved with a rather unsavory character.”
Logan was totally savory. He was a big old gorgeous hunk of man meat, but she thought pointing that out to her brother might not be the best way to go. “I was involved with Logan before I ever met Seth.”
“Did you know he’s been hooked on drugs?” Win asked the question with the gravity of a man dropping a hammer, about to shatter her life.
She wasn’t that fragile. And Win’s statement didn’t surprise her. After what he’d gone through, she was surprised Logan wasn’t still involved with them. “He’s perfectly sober now.”
If she didn’t count the tequila incident.
“I don’t care. He was apparently in to a drug dealer for ten thousand dollars.”
She felt her eyes widen. “Seriously? Damn. Well, Seth can cover it.”
“From what I can tell, he already did. Not that he knew it. Your friend lied.”
“My boyfriend lied,” she corrected. So much of what Win was telling her didn’t make sense. She’d known Logan back in Texas, and he’d been a solid guy then. “And this incident was a while back, wasn’t it?”
Win frowned. “It was last year, yes, but people don’t change. If he was an addict once, he’s always going to be one.”
She reached out and put her hand in his. “Oh, Win. We’re all addicted to something.” She’d been addicted to fitting in rather than making a place for herself. Seth was addicted to plotting and being the king of the mountain, and Logan’s real addiction for the past year had been his own misery. “It’s how we handle it that makes us who we are. It’s easy to get addicted to being the victim, you know.”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Logan. He was brutalized, and I think it was probably the first time he’d had something really bad happen to him so he decided the world was a piece of crap for a while, but he’s strong. He’s going to come out of it.” He’d started today. By the time they were done, he’d been relaxed and happy, as though something had settled deep inside. “I’m also talking about me, though. Logan hasn’t been able to let go of what happened to him, but I’ve been the same way all my life.”
Win leaned in. “What happened to you?”
“Mom happened. Dad happened.” Vitriolic mother and cold, distant dad hadn’t made for the best childhood. “But you happened, too, Winter.”
“What are you trying to say?”
She looked at her big brother. He’d been twelve when she’d been born, and from what she could tell, he’d already been looking out for their brothers, keeping them together when all the odds had been against them. “Why didn’t you move out when Dad cut you off? Why did you stay and pay him rent?”
Win turned his head, staring off into the distance. “My trust kicked in at eighteen. I had plenty of money, and I was comfortable staying where I was.”
“No, you weren’t. You could have gone to college anywhere in the world. You could have walked right out of that house and had your own place. You could have partied like a rock star.”
“I was never a big partier.”
Because he’d had a family to raise. She turned her face up to the sun, letting it warm her as much as the truth did. It was so easy to see now. She’d wasted years playing at being the poor little rich girl when she’d been given everything she’d needed. It hadn’t come in a perfect package, but her family had been there all the same. “I’ve spent years being angry that I didn’t have a dad. I need to apologize for that.”
Win sighed. “We were all in the same boat. Dad was a bastard. You have nothing to apologize for.”
“Oh, yes, I do because never once did I acknowledge how well I was raised. You were the best dad I could have hoped for. I love you so much.”
He could have walked away and no one would have blamed him. He’d been a child trying to fill a man’s shoes and doing the best he could. He’d been the one to keep his brothers in line. He’d been the one to make sure they had the things they needed. Win had taught her what it meant to love someone. It meant standing with them, fighting beside them—sometimes even fighting with them. Win had done the one thing a true father always did—he’d stayed. He’d done whatever he had to do to stay involved in her life.
Her brother squeezed
her hand, his face flushed. She’d never seen him so emotional, but he was Win and it was gone in a flash, replaced with pure Dawson calculation. “I love you, too, Georgie. That’s why I’m taking you home with me.”
She stood up, a sense of peace invading her bones. If Logan had lied to Seth, then he’d had a reason. He’d been ashamed, but the time for that was over. They were going to be a family, and there was no room for secrets or anything so useless as shame. He’d made a mistake. He’d cleaned up his act. They were moving on.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not a kid anymore. I’m staying here and I’m fighting for what I want. I love Logan. I love Seth. This is my life, and I’m taking charge of it. No more calls to you or Ben. No more screwing up to get attention. No more throwing fits. I’m going to make you proud of me and that starts by telling you that if you try to come between me and my men, we’re going to have trouble. This is my relationship and my life and I want you in it more than anything, but Logan Green is my Dom and he’s going to be my husband whether he knows it or not. Because I’m a Dawson and we fight for the people we love. We never give up. My big brother taught me that.”
Win went still. “Georgia, are you sure?”
She’d never been more sure of anything. She’d loved Logan Green from the moment she saw him, and whatever he was going through, they would get through it together—with Seth. “Promise you’ll give me away at my wedding.”
Win reached for her hand, squeezing it tight. “He better be worthy of you. If he’s not, if either one of them steps out of line, they should know that you have five brothers willing to kill them. And by kill, I mean take the maximum amount of pain before they’re no longer breathing.”
“He’s already been there. He’s tougher than he thinks, and he’s going to pull through. We’re going to be a family, and I think that means spending a lot of time here.” It wasn’t so bad. She was starting to become rather attached to the community. “I hope you’ll visit. Whether it’s New York or here or California, I’m always going to want to see my big brother.”