by Tijan
I explained. “I’m telling you for thanks.” My chest lifted, and I drew in a deep breath. “Thank you for bringing me up here. Thank you for showing me this.”
The corner of Logan’s mouth lifted in an adorable half-grin. He ran his hand over his hair and laughed softly. “If we’re being completely honest, I was hoping to check something off my bucket list.”
“What’s that?”
“Getting laid on a roller coaster.”
There was no pity in his eyes. There was no awkwardness, like he had no idea what to say. It was just—sex on a roller coaster. And the absurdity of it made me laugh.
The half-grin was still there. It was more of a half-smirk now. “So, does that mean there’s a chance?”
I shook my head, still laughing. “Not a chance.”
“I figured it was the best time to ask.” He winked at me. “Because you gotta be feeling close to me, right?”
That spurred another round of laughing, and I wiped tears from my eyes, but the happy kind of tears. Logan kept teasing me. I kept grinning like an idiot, and before I knew it, the evening slipped into nighttime. The lights of the city shone full, bright, and strong. They were breathtaking, and after a moment of comfortable silence descended on us, I snuck a look at him from the corner of my eye. He was staring out over the town, his jaw clenched.
“I came here before,” he said.
“Before?”
“When I was little.” He glanced to me, his eyes warming. “My mom was supposed to bring me. We didn’t do a whole lot together when I was growing up. I don’t really know why. I think it was because other stuff was going on already.” The lines around his mouth tightened. “My dad cheated on her a ton, and she started drinking because of it. Things got bad in the house, but she promised me one morning that we’d come here. I remember it so clearly because I heard this amusement park had elephants, and I really wanted to see one up close.” He grinned to himself. “I wanted to see how big their penises were.”
I wasn’t even surprised. “How old were you?”
He shrugged, still grinning. “I was young. I was in sixth grade, and Mason was in seventh.”
“What happened?”
“My dad brought a woman home. My mom found her underwear that afternoon. I think my dad had already snuck her out, but the damage was done. The whore left her underwear behind. They did that sometimes. They liked leaving things behind. They hoped my mom would find them, and she usually did.”
“Is that what ended things?”
“Not that day, no. They divorced later, probably after the fortieth mistress. No.” Logan’s grin faded away. “That day my mom got drunk at the kitchen table, then decided going to a spa was the best idea in the world. I came home from little league practice, saw the underwear, saw the wine bottles, and knew it was a wash.”
“But you still came?”
“Mason took me. He and Nate.” His voice sounded stronger. “I had fun that day.”
Despite his mother.
I heard the unspoken meaning and I didn’t have words, so I covered his hand with mine. He turned his hand, lacing our fingers together. When he looked at me, I could see the whites of his eyes, and I saw his mouth lift in the slightest of smiles. His thumb rubbed over my knuckles.
“My mom never remembered that day. Well, that’s not true. She remembers the mistress, and she remembers what color the underwear was, but not that she was supposed to take me to the park.” He cursed under his breath, leaning forward so his arms were folded on the bar. My hand was still in his, tucked firmly between his arms. It drew me closer to him. He turned to look at me, and our faces were so near. “She had no clue we went without her.”
My heart had lodged in my throat. “I’m sorry.”
He grinned, but it didn’t reach to his eyes. “You shared. I wanted to share something, too.”
The more I stared into his eyes, so close to mine, the more I could see the deeper pain hidden there. I was getting a glimpse few others had been granted. My heart picked up its pace, and the longer I stared into his eyes, the faster it beat. The world had melted away.
I was pulled even closer to him.
This was Logan. He drew people to him, and I was no different. My heart was perpetually pounding in my chest, trying to get to him. With another slight movement, my lips rested against his. Our eyes held, staring into each other. I wanted him to kiss me. I swallowed, and when his eyes closed, his lips pressed more firmly into mine.
Then we heard a gunshot below.
CAR BOMBS.
#HEREWEGOAGAIN
LOGAN
For a moment we were frozen, staring at each other, not sure what we heard. Taylor seemed paralyzed, and after that, I didn’t think.
I launched out of the car, told her to stay put, and headed to the ground as fast as I could go. She needed to be safe. That was my first thought, but I needed to know what was happening. If people were coming in here shooting, Taylor was going to be the farthest place possible. I ducked, weaved, and jumped from one section of the walkway down to another. When I got close enough, I leaped over the fence around the roller coaster, and once my feet touched ground, I ran toward where I thought the shot came from.
I kept low, running for my Escalade, and hugged as close to the buildings as I could. When I heard the yelling on the other side of the gate, I relaxed a little. Only a little.
“I told you to get the fucking money!”
“I tried, Rankin. Okay?”
“Not okay!”
There were more shouts, but they were muffled, and I slowed down so they couldn’t hear my approach. I went to the gate. Thank shit I’d decided to park on the inside, not out on the street like normal. I moved so I could see through a tiny hole in the wall. I couldn’t make out their faces, but there was a group of them. They surrounded one guy in the middle.
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and said, “I’ll get the money, okay?”
The other voice replied, “Fuck that, Delray. You’ve been missing payments for three months. It won’t fly anymore.”
“Delray?”
No—I glanced behind me and Taylor was there, her eyes wide, her mouth open. As I watched, the blood drained from her face. She’d braked suddenly a few feet from me, and I went to her and grabbed her. Pulling her to my chest, I held her close and froze in place. Not one move. Not one word. When she pulled back to speak, I shook my head. My finger went to my mouth, and I pointed at the gate. They were ten feet from us. Ten fucking feet. They couldn’t know we were here.
“Logan?” she said, so quietly that I almost didn’t hear her.
I looked down and shook my head. It was all I could do; my mind was spinning. She heard her buddy out there. I didn’t know Delray well, but I knew enough to know he was screwed. He did illegal shit for Sebastian last year, and word from Blaze was that he’d gotten into even worse shit this year.
But even if I hadn’t known that stuff, I still would’ve known those guys out there were bad news. The gunshot must have come from them. I didn’t want to think about whether they’d already shot someone.
I held Taylor’s shoulders. She started to say something again, but I shook my head. I mouthed No to her and moved back enough so I could pull out my phone. No calls. No talking. I texted Mason instead. My phone buzzed back in seconds. Got it. Coming.
I showed Taylor the text, then pointed to my vehicle. I wanted her to get inside.
She shook her head.
I pointed again.
She shook her head again.
I thought about carrying her in there, but could tell from the set line of her mouth she wouldn’t go for that. As if sensing what I was thinking, she crossed her arms over her chest. I was still considering what to do when I caught a tear in the corner of her eye. Her hand whisked up and brushed it away as quickly as it had appeared. She raised her chin, and her eyes cut to the gate.
She wasn’t hiding. I rolled my eyes. Girl drove me crazy sometimes. I’d kno
wn from the beginning that she had trauma in her life. I could sense it, and instinct had me holding back. I wanted to swoop in and take her home with me that first night at Blaze’s party, but I refrained, a very unLoganlike quality.
But tonight, after hearing what she went through, I knew it was worth it. I’d been right to move slowly, and I knew another thing about her: she wasn’t going to hide. I couldn’t begrudge her that. Delray was her friend, her family. If it had been Nate, Mason, or Sam—no fucker would hold me back.
I gave her a reluctant nod. Her relief was evident immediately. Her arms dropped from her chest, and she nodded back to me. I saw the silent thanks on her face.
I looked back to the gate. I didn’t know what Mason was planning. He did the planning and I did the talking. Then we both did the busting. I figured I could improvise until he showed up. I could feel Taylor’s anxiousness behind me. She wouldn’t look away from the gate, but she was waiting for me.
I sighed and looked again through the little hole. No one was leaving. A few of the guys sat on the curb. A couple sat on two abandoned cars, and Delray was still smack in the middle. The leader dude was facing him.
They were waiting for someone.
Well, fuck.
I felt something nudge my hand and looked down. Taylor had typed out an unsent text message to me: Police?
I took it, erased the word, and typed: Mason might’ve called them, but your buddy’s screwed then. If he goes in, they might think he’ll narc on them.
Her forehead wrinkled, and she nodded. She wrote back, Mason is coming? That’s your plan?
You have one?
She shook her head, typing, Jason’s in trouble no matter what. I just don’t want him to get hurt right now.
I know. Let’s wait and see.
She nodded and put the phone away, turning back to the gate. She moved until she found a little eyehole to see through, too.
I took a moment and studied her. Taylor was a little thing, but she was tough. Most girls would run, hide, or cry. She was doing none of that. She was white-knuckling it out with me.
Nate had been digging at me. He knew I had feelings for her. I don’t know why he gave a shit, but he did. I hadn’t been willing to talk much, at least partly for the sheer enjoyment of pissing him off, but honestly, after dealing with Tate and being the one who hurt Kris, I was over talking about girls. I didn’t even want to talk chicks. Never had. If I liked someone, if I wanted to screw someone—bang her, get a quick dick suck—that was always my decision alone. Nate too. He bagged girls all the time and rarely talked to us about it. I knew some guys liked to gab about vagina. They bragged about past pussy or their future pink taco buffets, but we didn’t.
That was one thing I’d learned from Mason. That was beneath us. We did our own thing. If there was blowback on the group, we felt bad, but that was how it was. So Nate wanting to know about Taylor was pissing me off. If he wanted a go at her, he’d get a good beating, but I didn’t have to talk about whatever was going on with her and me.
Taylor sucked in her breath and stretched up on her tiptoes for a better view.
I looked, too.
A pair of headlights swept over the group, lighting up the area, and my gut sank. There were more guys than I’d thought. I started to reach for the gate, ready to run out if that vehicle was Mason, but when a different voice joined the group, I pulled my hand back.
“This is the guy who owes you?” The leader moved forward, and this time I saw his face: Square jaw. Big, thick eyebrows. Scraggly cheeks and tattoos that covered his neck. He had a scar next to his eye, like a bullet had grazed him there. He was an ugly motherfucker.
“What is this?” The newcomer’s voice was high. He was nervous.
“Did you bring the money?” Delray asked.
“What money?”
Okay. This was going nowhere fast. I had to think.
Putting myself in Delray’s shoes, his problem ran deep. I could tell. He owed money, or he wasn’t getting payments. This dude, whoever he was, obviously didn’t have the money. We probably had another few minutes before something popped off. What I typed to Taylor was right. If cops showed up, the pressure would be on Delray. They’d push him to narc, and even if he didn’t, these guys would worry that he had. That was the best-case scenario in my head. There’d been a gunshot before… I still didn’t have it in me to sweep the area for a body. I didn’t want to know.
The best way to help Delray was a distraction. I needed to get him out of here. Remove him from the situation and give him a day or two, and he might be able to make things right with these guys. I looked around at what we had on our side of the gate.
I had my Escalade. And…an entire amusement park.
I started off. I had to find something fast. Taylor stayed right next to me. When we got to the first building, she watched me bring out some dirty rags and spray cans. Then we trotted back to where I had some booze in the back of my Escalade. When she saw all the ingredients together, her eyes got even bigger, but she nodded.
I pressed my mouth to her ear. “I’m going to go farther down and toss these into the street. I’m hoping it’ll distract them. When they run to check, be ready.”
She nodded and moved her lips were to my ear. “What do you want me to do?”
The gate was locked. I needed it unlocked. And I needed my Escalade ready to go. Everything would have to happen within seconds, and I bit back a curse. Mason was the thinker. I wanted to text him, see where he was, but I didn’t have time. This shit had to happen now.
I pressed the key to the gate into her hand. “Be ready to unlock the gate as soon as the first bomb goes off.”
She nodded.
I kissed her and went to my vehicle. I opened the doors and put my keys in the ignition. Everything was good to go when we had to move. I could hear shouting now from the other side, but I wasn’t listening to them anymore. I liked a good brawl. I liked going in alone or with my brother—either was fine with me. But those brawls were against dickheads from high school or fraternity boys—not real thugs like these guys. I didn’t think Delray had been involved with this crowd last year when I approached him. I’d just been looking for a little fun. This was not fun. If I stayed to fight for very long, I knew it wouldn’t be good. Everything had to move at an almost breakneck speed, and I’d need to go as far as I dared.
And now it was time.
Everything turned off in me then. I couldn’t think about Taylor or those guys. This had to be done. I let out a breath and grabbed a lighter. Jesus. God. Christ. I prayed to all three. We needed to get out of this alive.
Opening the liquor bottles, I stuffed rags into the necks. Before lighting them, I pulled out everything else in my pockets. There had been some firecrackers left behind. I closed my eyes.
I was going to die someday. I hoped it wouldn’t be tonight.
I lit the first rag and tossed it as far as I could over the gate and toward the assorted abandoned cars on the other side. I didn’t wait before lighting the next, then the third and throwing them as far as I could. I heard the crash of the bottles breaking, then the shouts. They’d seen the fire. I braced myself, hoping a boom was coming, but I kept moving.
I lit and tossed the firecrackers, which sounded like gunshots. Someone cursed on the other side of the gate, slamming against it. “Get down!”
The spray cans came next. These things were going to light up the sky. I didn’t light them, as they would’ve seen it coming from inside the gate, but I tossed ’em and hoped they landed close to the soon-to-be-bombs.
After that, fuck being quiet. I sprinted back toward Taylor. I was halfway there when the first car exploded. The air filled with shouting. Taylor saw me coming, and I gestured to the gate.
She unlocked it and pulled it back as I raced to the Escalade, diving in and starting the engine. She threw herself into the passenger seat just as I hit the accelerator.
The only two still outside were Delray and the leade
r fucker—Rankin, I think Delray had called him that name. I pushed Taylor down. I didn’t want the leader to see her face as I braked between him and Delray.
“Get the fuck in!” I yelled.
Delray’s eyes were wide, but he wasn’t in shock. The street behind him was filled with smoke, different colored smoke, too. It was covering up his guys, but it was helping us, too. They couldn’t see us. That meant it was only Rankin to fight and he knew it at the same time I did. Delray threw himself into the backseat as Rankin came charging and tried to open Taylor’s door.
“Fuck no!” Delray’s boss growled.