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“Give me a minute,” Logan said. I couldn’t hear him, but all of a sudden he was at the bottom of the stairs getting ready to call up to me. When he looked up and saw me eavesdropping, his jaw clenched. “Can you come down here?” his voice was tense and I didn’t like it.
Caught, I wrung my hands together and slowly moved down the stairs, stopping in front of him. “Sorry,” I whispered.
He arched a brow and then grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together as he led me into the living room. “Juliette Foster, meet Ronald Hart. This is the guy I was telling you about.”
I looked up at him, startled. “The cop?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ronald responded and stepped forward, engulfing my hand in his. His skin was dark and his face was friendly, a slight gap in his front teeth.
He was also pushing six foot five and without a doubt the broadest man I’d ever laid eyes on. Even though he was wearing a thermal, I could see the bulge of his biceps and he had those big muscles that connected his neck to his shoulders.
Ronald was huge.
“Nice to meet you,” I said politely as Logan led the three of us to the couch.
Sadie, who had been sitting quiet and alert on her bed, moved towards me when I sat down, resting her head on my knee while I scratched behind her ears. Mac, always the attention whore, shook his head like a maniac with a toy in his mouth.
“Alright, lay it on me,” Logan said and leaned back, extending his arm along the back of the couch. I eyed him carefully and noticed him wince before looking at Ronald to see if he caught it, too. But he didn’t.
Because I was the only person who knew.
Something fiercely primal bloomed in my chest at the knowledge that I was the only person who knew Logan’s secret. I couldn’t explain it, but I liked it, liked knowing that he was comfortable enough to have a certain level of vulnerability with me.
That meant something, right?
Ronald cleared his throat and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He seemed to hesit
ate for a moment, perhaps trying to choose his words carefully before he finally blurted them out. “Nicole’s back.”
Logan’s nostrils flared and his jaw clenched, but he said nothing as he waited for his friend to continue.
“It must have happened yesterday or the day before. I was doing a drive-by last night after my shift ended and saw her standing on the lawn. The girl looked good, man. Put together, like she had her shit together. I don’t know what brought her back.”
Logan was already shaking his head and he stood up, pacing around the living room. He ran his fingers through his unruly blonde locks, bare chest heaving.
I couldn’t imagine what was going through his head. He must have felt betrayed. Angry. Disappointed in his friend’s choice to go back to her abuser. He’d worked so hard to get her out of a bad situation, stood by her side and gone to her rescue so many times. Logan had risked his life, was still risking his life for Nicole and how did she repay him? By coming right back to Boston because she was too weak to stand on her own two feet.
I couldn’t fight off the anger that speared me. I was angry for Logan and wished there was something I could do. Frustration was coming off him in waves and all I wanted to do was get up and wrap my arms around his waist, but I felt that with Ronald there it wouldn’t be appropriate.
“Logan,” I started, but the look he gave me shut me right up.
With eyes that looked black, his cheeks were flushed and his posture was tense. He turned in a circle once, twice, looking a little lost before focusing on Ronald. “You end up getting anything on Conlon?”
“I’m working on it. Give me a few days.”
“You said this would be done in a week,” Logan practically snarled.
Ronald’s eyebrows raised and he stood. “Greg Conlon isn’t my only fucking job, Logan.”
They stood there staring at each other while I sat on the couch, and I’d never felt so small being surrounded by so much testosterone. Logan was practically vibrating with anger and Ronald didn’t look too happy either, and I imagined this wasn’t an ideal situation for anyone involved.
Anyone other than Nicole, anyway.
Finally, Logan relented and then shook his head. “Look, my bad, okay? I just… I wasn’t expecting this shit.”
“I don’t think any of us were. Get in touch with Nicole and tell her to figure her shit out.”
“Trust me, I will.”
