by Kim Fox
“So, where do we go from here?” she asked, wanting to know everything. About him, about their future, about all of it.
“First, we drink our coffee,” he said, taking a sip as he smirked. “Then we’ll have breakfast. Then, whatever we want. We can do anything as long as we’re together.”
As long as we’re together.
Elodie liked the sound of that.
Logan’s phone started buzzing and Elodie reached over to grab it off the dresser. “It’s Brian Jones,” she said with a gasp.
“Answer it.”
Logan leaned forward, perking up with interest as she dragged her thumb across the screen. “Mr. Jones,” she said in her most professional voice. “Elodie Fournier here.”
He began talking fast, saying how much he enjoyed the show.
“I spoke to my colleagues at Sandstone Records.” Elodie’s stomach did a little flip. Was this going to be good news or bad news?
“Yes…”
“And we see a really promising future for Predatone. We’d like Logan, Jordy, Dane, and Caleb to become a part of the Sandstone family.”
“Great,” Elodie said, giving Logan a thumbs up. “Although, Matt Carter did feel the same way.”
She heard Jones suck in a breath on the other line. “We’re confident that we can help Predatone grow into a household name and we’d like to be on the journey with the band. We’d like to offer Predatone a three-record contract for five million dollars.”
Elodie felt like the wind was knocked out of her. She lurched forward, grabbing onto Logan for support.
“What is it?” he whispered.
She could barely talk, and Jones was waiting for her answer on the other end of the line.
“I’ll have to speak with the band,” she said, already knowing their answer. “But I think that it’s going to be a yes.”
“Great!” he said, sounding excited. “I’ll be at the bank in town at two o’clock with the contract and with a check for five million dollars. Do you think everyone can make it?”
Elodie swallowed hard. “Yeah, I think they’ll be there.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
He hung up the phone and Elodie looked at Logan as the room started spinning. Five. Million. Dollars.
“What did he say?” Logan asked.
“He’s ready to sign Predatone for a three-record contract.”
Logan’s face lit up. “For how much?”
She said it slowly, dragging out each delicious word. “Five million dollars.”
He lunged forward and wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her in a tight hug as he kissed her cheek a million times, thanking her over and over again.
They worked out the math and screamed in excitement. Logan would be getting $1,125,000 and with Elodie’s 10% commission, she’d be getting $500,000.
“You’re the one that created the music. I just set up the deal.”
“You’re our manager,” Logan said, looking amazed as he pulled back and stared at her. “We’d still be a garage band if it wasn’t for you.”
“What are you going to do with the money?” she asked. She already knew what she was going to do with hers.
Logan ran a hand through his messy hair and grinned. “I’m going to put it toward the ranch. Hopefully one point one two five million dollars will be enough to hold William Reyes off for now, until we can make up the rest. I mean, it’s almost enough.”
“We have enough.”
He tilted his head, looking confused. “How do you figure?”
“I’d like to contribute my share to help pay off the ranch.”
He looked stunned. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know,” she answered with a smile. “I want to.”
These guys had given up so much for her. They had lost one of their own, and Logan had lost his arm while fighting to free her. She was more than happy to do it.
Plus, she had grown to love this ranch with the gorgeous mountains and the amazing pool. She wanted to wake up here every morning and didn’t want to lose it either.
It was the only place that felt like home anymore.
Logan thanked her with a kiss, pulling her down onto him as their hands started to wander.
The boys were all huddled around the bank manager, waiting eagerly as the money came through. Brian Jones had just left after the contract had been signed, and now they were waiting with bated breath as the manager refreshed Jordy’s bank account over and over again.
Until…
“Yes!” Jordy shouted, throwing his hands into the air. “I’m a millionaire!”
Right there on the screen was $1,125,340.56. The $340.56 was what he had before.
He immediately withdrew ten grand and started fanning himself with the thick stack of crisp one hundred dollar bills.
“Check mine,” Caleb said, elbowing Jordy out of the way to get a better view of the computer screen.
The bank manager clicked over to Caleb’s account and it said the same thing. The boys were making a huge scene with all of the hooting and hollering, but Elodie wasn’t embarrassed. It was a time to celebrate.
Jordy pulled a bottle of champagne out of his bag, shook it, and then popped it open. The cork sounded like a gunshot and it must have fooled some of the patrons because they dropped to the floor like they were in the middle of a bank heist.
“We’re rich!” Jordy shouted as he ran around the bank, pouring champagne into people’s mouths as he shoved hundred dollar bills into their pockets.
“Sir!” the bank manager shouted. “You can’t do that in here!”
“I can do whatever I want,” he shouted back. “I’m a Rock God!”
Logan turned to Elodie and the boys with a grimace. “This is going to go to his head.”
Caleb was already shaking his head. “You think?”
A security guard came out of nowhere and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back. Jordy cried out in pain as the guard who was definitely a shifter yanked his arm up even higher. He dropped the bottle of champagne and it shattered on the floor.
“Let’s go!” the guard said, dragging him to the door.
“You can’t do this!” Jordy shouted at him as he was thrown onto the sidewalk. “Do you know who I am?”
“We better go calm him down before he finds himself in jail,” Dane said with a laugh as he followed them out.
“Celebration tonight?” Caleb asked as he turned to follow Jordy and Dane out.
Logan grinned. “Come over and we’ll have some drinks by the pool.”
“I’ll bring the Cuban cigars,” Caleb said, rubbing his hands together. “Are you guys coming?”
“Not yet,” Logan said, shaking his head. “We have some business to take care of.”
Caleb waved and left the building.
“We need a certified check,” Logan said, turning back to the manager.
Elodie grinned. “A big one.”
“I’m going from broke to millionaire and back to broke in a total of fifteen minutes.”
Elodie laughed as Logan dropped his head.
“That’s so depressing,” he said as they pulled into the parking lot of the Governor’s office. “Especially considering I have to give it to this asshole.”
Elodie turned to him with a smile as he parked the car. “Just think of how happy your alpha will be when he finds out that his family legacy will be intact.”
“I do love that ranch,” he answered as he stared out the window. “And it’s even better with you on it.”
Elodie leaned over the parking brake and gave him a fat kiss on the cheek. “Let’s go spend all of our money!”
They each took a deep breath and walked into the office building, heading to the second floor where the Governor’s office was.
“Can I help you?” the secretary asked when they arrived.
Logan’s back straightened. He looked uneasy. “We’re here to see William Reyes.”
Reyes’ door wa
s open and he walked out at the mention of his name. Elodie couldn’t help but gasp as she stepped a little closer to her mate. Reyes was enormous.
She was used to being around big men now after a year and a half of being surrounded by all sorts of shifters, but this guy still gave her pause.
His brow furrowed as he glared at Logan. “Did you come to hand over the deed to the ranch?”
Logan shook his head as he pulled out the check. “I came to settle the score.” He dropped the certified check onto his secretary’s desk with a triumphant grin. “That’s what we owe you.”
Reyes glanced down at his secretary who was bitting the end of her pen nervously. “Martha why don’t you go take a break.”
The lady wasn’t about to argue with that. She bolted out of there.
Instead of taking the check, Reyes crossed his arms over his massive chest and sneered at them.
“Take it,” Logan said. “Today we’re settling all our debts.”
“Nothing is getting settled today,” Reyes snapped back. “I have a nine-figure deal all set up. You think I’m going to throw that all way because you brought me peanuts?”
“It’s what we owe,” Logan answered. He put his finger on the check and pushed it toward the Governor. “It’s finished.”
Reyes’ eyes turned so cold that it sent a chill racing through Elodie’s body. “This isn’t finished.”
He stormed back into his office and slammed the door.
Elodie looked down at the untouched check on the desk with an uneasiness in her stomach.
It’s not finished, she thought. It’s just the beginning.
Chapter Thirteen
Logan
“I guess he’s not much of a Rock God after all,” Dane said with a chuckle as he looked down at Jordy. The grizzly bear shifter was passed out in the back of Dane’s pickup truck, snoring loudly.
“Not after guzzling a case of champagne, he’s not,” Caleb said, shaking his head.
Their night of celebration was coming to an end. It was late and the girls were getting tired.
“Goodnight, guys,” Abigail groaned as she leaned on Caleb’s arm. She was barely able to keep her eyes open. “Thanks for the party.”
“Time to get you home,” Caleb said as he looked down at her with a warm loving smile. She didn’t resist as he leaned down, picked her up, and carried her off, holding her close to his chest. “I’ll see you guys soon!”
Dane came over and hugged Elodie, thanking her again for making the deal happen.
“You guys are the ones with the talent,” she said modestly.
“Maybe, but we were about to self-destruct as a band until you walked in,” he answered. “And you have the kind of talent that we don’t. The kind that gets us paid.”
Logan nodded as well, knowing that he was right. Predatone was signed to a record contract—he still couldn’t believe it—and it was all because of Elodie. They definitely lucked out in getting her as a manager, and they all knew it.
“Your manager is ordering you to go home and get some sleep,” she said with a sly grin. “We’re going to have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks.”
“Yes, boss,” he said, giving her a salute.
He said bye to Logan and then hopped in the truck to drive Jordy home.
Logan wrapped his arm around Elodie as she waved at the two departing trucks.
“I like them.”
Logan was grateful for that. It was always easier when your girlfriend liked your friends.
“They like you too.”
She turned to him with a hopeful look on her face. “Really?”
Logan smiled as he leaned down and kissed her. “Really.”
“Abigail is nice,” she said as she turned back to the truck’s lights that suddenly disappeared as Dane drove around the bend. “She’s a lifeguard at the lake?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it a nice lake? Can you take me there tomorrow?”
Logan grinned as he pulled her into his embrace, enjoying the fact that they were now alone. “Are you going to wear your sexy bikini? The black one?”
He loved how her cute little cheeks always turned red when he talked to her like that.
“Maybe, if you…”
Lights coming down the road caught her attention. Logan huffed out a breath. Which one of his cock-blocking friends had forgotten something?
They watched as the truck made its way onto the ranch, but Logan leaned forward, confused. It wasn’t Caleb or Dane’s truck.
He stepped forward and gasped when the lights turned off and he saw who was behind the wheel.
“Shit! Elodie get out of here!”
William Reyes stepped out of the truck, looking bigger than ever and meaner than ever.
Logan placed a protective hand across Elodie and gently pushed her back. “Go!”
She looked too shocked and too scared to move.
“What are you doing here?” Logan growled as he flexed his arm, getting ready for a fight.
His inner lion was no longer cowering under the scent of the Black Death. His mate was here now and that meant everything had changed. Logan was relieved to feel him alert and ready to go.
Reyes flexed his huge hands in and out of fists as he stormed over. “Do you really think I’m going to just let my sixty million dollar commission go?”
“We paid the money we owe you!”
“The money you owed the state,” Reyes snarled. “None of that goes to me! I’m getting my commission no matter who I have to go through. If you two die, the check disappears, and my deal will go through.”
Logan’s stomach dropped. Reyes was even crazier than he thought.
“That’s a big if,” Logan said as he narrowed his eyes on the enormous shifter. “You’ll have to get through my lion first.”
“Your one-legged lion who is all alone?” Reyes laughed. “I’ll take my chances.”
“Then let’s go.”
Logan pulled off his shirt and circled the big man, wishing that Elodie would start running and never stop.
Reyes raised his big hands and grinned as he threw a few warm-up punches into the air. His fists were the size of cannonballs and probably hit just as hard.
He looked like the kind of shifter who could bring Mack to his knees and Logan had to face him all alone, with only one arm.
“Come on,” he whispered to himself. “Mount up!”
Grant wasn’t here to say it, so he said it to himself.
They got closer and closer to the pool as they circled each other with their fists in the air. Logan threw the first punch—a straight right jab that Reyes easily batted away.
He was at a clear disadvantage. Having only one arm meant that Logan couldn’t fake with the left and then strike with the right. He couldn’t throw any combinations. He couldn’t do much of anything.
Logan lunged forward and unloaded with a heavy right hook that Reyes saw coming a mile away. His hand snapped out and grabbed Logan’s wrist.
No!
Logan tried to yank his arm free, but Reyes was much stronger and he held on with a firm hold. It felt like his arm was trapped in cement.
His stomach dropped as Reyes yanked him forward—he knew it was going to be bad.
There was nothing he could do as Reyes held Logan’s only arm with one hand and cocked his other hand back. The fist came hard and fast, slamming into Logan’s face with a ferocity that rocked and staggered him.
His senses were gone. Blood poured out of his nose, black spots slashed through his vision, and a constant pounding boomed in his ears.
The fist kept coming over and over again, slamming into his cheeks, his nose, his mouth. His legs buckled, but Reyes held him up, not finished with him yet.
His lion growled and snarled, hating the threat to his mate, but Logan was too staggered to phase.
The punches were relentless, smashing into him like violent ocean waves crashing onto rocks. He tried to yank his hand away, but Reyes
held on tight, and Logan was losing strength by the second.
But suddenly, Reyes’ grip loosened and Logan ripped his hand free. He tried to rush back, but his legs were like jelly and he stumbled backward, falling onto his ass.
He shook his head, trying to clear the darkness spotting his vision and saw Reyes staring at Elodie with a pissed-off look.
His face and shirt were wet, and it took Logan’s cloudy mind a few seconds to make sense of what he was seeing. Elodie was holding a broken champagne bottle in her hand as Reyes towered over her. It was only then that he realized she must have smashed it over his head.
Logan watched in horror as Reyes palmed her face and pushed her away. His inner lion roared in fury as she went flying into the pool chairs, crashing over them and waking up Sloth.
Reyes turned to finish her off, but seeing his mate in danger sent a surge of adrenaline rocketing through Logan’s battered body. He pushed himself back up to his feet, gritted his teeth, and charged.
The Governor turned as Logan threw a punch and it landed hard on his thick chin. He grinned as Logan threw another, then another. They landed hard and clean—on his jaw, on his lips, on his nose. But they weren’t doing anything.
Reyes was just grinning with amusement as he watched Logan throw everything he had at him. Blood was trickling down the Governor’s nose and from his split lip, but it was already healing and Logan was feeling sick with dread as his punches began to slow.
Logan clenched his jaw and threw everything he had left into one more punch, but it hit nothing but air as Reyes leapt out of the way. He came flying forward, and grabbed Logan, putting him into a headlock.
“I’ll kill your whole useless crew if it means keeping my deal,” Reyes hissed as he flexed his arm around Logan’s neck. He was squeezing so hard. Logan couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. The bright turquoise lights of the pool began to dim. The pile of crashed pool chairs began to spin.
“I’ve been setting this up for years,” Reyes continued, but Logan wasn’t hearing any of it. The only thing he was hearing was a faint voice telling him to breathe, breathe, and that voice was getting fainter by the second as his air ran out.