Page 78 of Consuming Logan

“Logan, he and Max are great brothers to have. Tyson has been very supportive. And Max’s security woman, Detective Young, arrived hours ago.”

“What? Where is she?”

“To use her words, outside somewhere. Tyson’s blood saved your life. His endowment helps you change people’s lives. Think of Monique and all the patients you’ve helped. We have so much happening. Tyson and Maximus have taken some of the stress off our plates.”

“They made our lives better?”

He tried to corner her with words, but Ava pushed back.

“Yes,” she said, unrepentant. “And I’m grateful.”

Logan angled his head, giving her a masculine scowl of outrage. “You’re on their side, aren’t you? You think it’s in my best interest to let go of Brooke. Then turn around and accept two men I barely know?”

“Yeah, babe,” she released a breath, the tension easing from her limbs. “That would be nice. And let’s not pretend that you didn’t like both your brothers before you learned they were family.”

“Do you realize I haven’t held a scalpel in months. That my fucking lab has been shut down. I don’t even know my place in my own family. Everything that’s important to me is gone.”

“Not everything,” she retorted. Ava thought of all the disastrous events they’d overcome. Logan was so wrapped up in what he wanted, that he minimized what they had accomplished…together.

“What?” he snapped.

Ava flashed her palm in warning. “Logan, let me just say this. You are pissing me off. This,” she gestured wildly with her arms, “has been hard on all of us. Let’s just stop before one of us says something we don’t mean.”

“I never do,” he growled.

“Whatever,” she mumbled under her breath. She couldn’t have another argument with him in this state. “You haven’t lost what’s truly important in life.”

They had each other, their parents, and siblings. She looked up to find him glaring at her.

“How the hell do you know what’s important to me?” he asked, a cruel twist to his mouth.

“Because I’m your partner,” she bellowed. “I love you. Job. No job. Two hands. One hand. We’re in this together,” she screamed. “You don’t have the right to trample on my damn love for you.”

“I would never do that,” he waved off the comment. Ava felt blindsided by Logan’s callousness.

“Oh but, you are.” Had he ever seen her? He trampled on her contribution, her very existence in his life. Or was she merely an extension of his success…a trophy.

“I’m in a living hell, Ava.”

Oh my God. This darkness pouring out of Logan felt too heavy to lift from him or herself. Pulling on everything she learned from her parents’ marriage, from her well of faith, from her love, she pushed against the chasm threatening to come between them.

A moment later, Ava sat beside the man she loved. “And I’m living through this hell with you,” she pleaded raising her voice. “You…we have so much to be grateful for in all the turmoil.”

“Bullshit.” Logan came to his feet. The swift movement temporarily throwing him off balance.

“Damn it,” he bellowed, his voice rough with frustration. “My life. My career. My parents’ marriage. The very foundation of who I am is wrecked. A couple of billionaire brothers waltz in town and you’re grateful to them? Have I not protected you?” he asked, incredulously.

“Of course, you’ve been there for me,” she stared unbelieving at a version of Logan she’d never dealt with. “But, acknowledging Tyson and Maximus as family takes nothing from you. You’re my hero, Logan.”

He leaned over pulling her into his arms. Ava turned in the warmth of his body inhaling the scent of him. She couldn’t believe how undone Logan felt because of this revelation. He had chided his mother for rejecting Marianne. Ava circled her arms around his waist, squeezing. “You can handle this, babe.”

He gave a humorless chuckle before placing a kiss to the top of her head. “Like I’m handling your pregnancy?”

Ava stilled. Silence blanketed the room. Tiny spindles of ice began to form in her veins, her limbs suddenly rigid. A light extinguished inside her. In a burst of fury, she shoved him away from her. “What the hell did you just say?”

Logan stumbled back. He caught his balance yet fell on his sword.

“I had a plan for us,” his tone distant, almost reflective. “A plan, Ava. You were pregnant with my babies on that damn warship. I never wanted you in harm’s way. For sure, they should have never been in that environment.”