Page 98 of Consuming Logan

“You have a family?” Logan asked, eyeing his opponent. “What woman was desperate enough to reproduce with you?”

The question seemed to enrage him.

“Had,” he snarled. “You remember, Brooke, don’t you Logan? The woman that you stole from me.”

Brooke hadn’t belonged to either of them. His mother had tried to warn him away from Brooke, but he’d been too stubborn. He had a plan for his life. At the time, Brooke fit the image he wanted. Logan no longer wanted an image of a well-planned life. He wanted Ava and a lifetime of being well-loved. Valued for the man he was, arrogant, flawed, but teachable.

“I distinctly remember walking in on you and my woman.”

“Who do you think had her first? Me. She was mine until you came along.”

Logan fell silent. Brooke had never mentioned being involved with Ash first.

“I had no idea.” Ash’s head seemed to spin on its own axis. Pure insanity shone behind his stormy eyes.

“Why would you, you self-centered prick?” Ash ground out.

Ash grabbed Ava, hauling her upright. “You never noticed she was mine because you saw her and had to have her. You,” he spat, “have a one-track mind.” His former best friend looked to Ava. “Doesn’t he, sweetheart?”

He yanked Ava’s hair harder. She cried out in pain. The sound grabbed hold of Logan’s heart and squeezed. It was his fault she was in danger. His fault that she’d walked away from him. His fault he’d lost the only woman he’d ever loved. Holding onto a past that never held the future he wanted. He met Ava’s watery eyes.

In the pained-filled lines etched in her features, there was something there just as prominent, a resolute strength. He watched as her eyes slid lower, and then stopped at her exposed belly, rounded with his babies. In that one gesture, he knew what she wanted.

The babies were her priority. Not herself. Not him. She would sacrifice herself for their children. And, Logan would sacrifice every drop of his blood for the woman who held his heart and family. He coiled tighter inside, ready to strike.

He looked into Ash’s cruel face. “Let her go and I will kill you fast.” Logan tensed ready to defend his family. He couldn’t risk Ava and the babies, but he could give his own life to spare the woman who pulsed in his every heartbeat.

His laughter was dark and haunting.

“And risk your precious surgery hand?” Ash bristled. “We both know that’s a lie. Look at her beautiful face, Logan. I look forward to carving Brooke’s features onto her flawless skin, but you interrupted.”

That’s when Logan noticed the stainless-steel tray holding the surgical supplies. The bastard was serious.

“Sounds challenging for a med school dropout,” Logan taunted, thinking through a possible plan.

“Asher,” a female voice called as the sound of a disengaging lock sounded in the suite.

Kylie Rivers the reporter with the Shell Cove Courier walked through the side entry door. How was she involved in this?

“Hi, Logan,” she waved.

Logan turned back to Ash, and then to the reporter who’d eagerly interviewed him a half-dozen times.

“Kylie, what the hell are you doing here?” he scowled.

“You’re still demanding for a surgeon who can’t make a cut,” she mused before pointing at Ava. “She’ll pay for your abandonment of Brooke.”

Logan jerked at the venom in her tone. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“My real name is River. Ring any bells?” She smirked. “We were almost family, after all.”

Logan studied her features, the deep blue eyes, and the high-cheek bones. Realization dawned. Why hadn’t he noticed before now the similarities between Kylie Rivers and Brooke Tyler.

“You’re her cousin.”

Logan remembered how close the two women had been. Kylie would have been in high school at the time of Brooke’s death.

“Ding. Ding. Ding,” she yelled. “You just earned yourself a bullet.”