Of Loss & Betrayal (Madison & Logan 2)

I threw a pillow from the couch at her, but I felt a lot better after having talked to her. I could always depend on Emily to make me feel better.

We chitchatted for a little while longer about Emily’s trip, and then I left her apartment so that she could get some work done.

When I got back to my place, I quickly packed more clothes into my bag and headed over to Logan’s apartment. When I was settled into his place, a sense of loneliness overcame me. I wasn’t used to being in Logan’s apartment without him. Hell, I wasn’t used to being in my apartment without him anymore, since we were usually together in the evenings. At least at Emily’s place, Lola had kept me company.

Logan had texted me earlier to tell me he had gotten on his flight, and now I was restlessly waiting for him to come home. It was still a few hours until he was due back, but I found myself checking the clock every five minutes, willing time to go by faster.

I hadn’t realized I had dozed off until the sound of a key turning in a lock roused me. I groggily sat up on the couch where I had fallen asleep, and then was instantly wide awake when I saw Logan walk through the door.

He was a sight for sore eyes. He was as beautiful as ever, but there were several scratches on his face and a large bruise on his cheekbone. He also looked exhausted, but he smiled when he saw me.

I practically flew into his arms, melting into him when his arms wrapped around me. I breathed in deeply, loving the scent that was singularly his. I tipped my head back to look at him, and before I realized what was happening, I was lost in a soft kiss. It felt so incredibly good to be in his arms, kissing him. To think—he could have been taken away from me by some careless driver who had gotten on the road when he was too tired.

When our lips finally parted, I raised my hand and gently stroked his cheek, barely touching him as I frowned at the scratches on his face.

“This looks painful.”

Logan shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt. It looks much worse than it is.”

I took his hand and guided him to the couch, sitting so close to him that I might as well have been on his lap. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I snuggled into him, feeling at ease for the first time since he had left for L.A.

“Tell me everything that happened.”

Logan sighed wearily, and I knew that despite his reassurances, the events of the past 24 hours had taken a toll on him.

“I was driving back to the hotel when all of a sudden I saw a pair of headlights heading in my direction. I swerved but I wasn’t fast enough, and we crashed. That’s the last thing I remember before waking up at the hospital. I had a hard time staying awake and was out of it for most of the night.”

I squeezed his hand, as if I needed the physical reminder that he was all right and sitting next to me.

“But the doctor said you’re okay? There’re no serious injuries?”

Logan raised our entwined hands and kissed the back of mine. “No serious injuries, I promise.” He raised an eyebrow. “Now, enough talk about the accident. I can think of more interesting ways we can spend our time, especially since it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

I laughed, grateful that Logan had escaped a close call. “It’s only been a couple of days.”

He waggled his eyebrows exaggeratedly. “That’s a couple of days too long. I have plans for you tonight, and they involve doing things that are probably illegal in some states.”

I rolled my eyes and playfully hit him on the shoulder, but I couldn’t help laughing at the lascivious look on his face. The laughter faded when he pulled me to my feet and scooped me into his arms. Before I could say another word, he strode into the bedroom and did things to me that were definitely outlawed in some states.

Chapter Four

I woke up with a sense of contentment the next morning. Logan’s arms were wrapped around me and I was cocooned in his embrace. Everything felt right with the world. I lay there quietly for a while, not moving, just enjoying the warmth of his body against mine, but soon the call of nature became too insistent to ignore. I gingerly extricated myself from Logan, not wanting to wake him because he had to be exhausted from everything he had been through.

Including last night, I thought to myself, practically grinning like a buffoon as I thought about our intense lovemaking.

I managed to get up without waking Logan, and quietly padded to the bathroom. He was still sound asleep when I was done, so I decided to make myself a cup of coffee while I waited for him to wake up. I closed the bedroom door as quietly as I could behind me and walked into the kitchen. Unlike my old school coffeemaker that had a glass carafe and regular drip, Logan’s coffeemaker looked like it could launch rockets. He had shown me an assortment of drinks it could make, but I just stuck to regular old coffee. Froth seemed like such an unnecessary addition to life.

After I stuck one of the coffee pods into the machine, and it efficiently made just one cup of coffee, I took it into the living room and set my cup on the coffee table. I leaned back on the sofa with a sigh of pleasure. Life was so good at this moment. The man I loved was sleeping peacefully in the next room, my body felt pleasantly sore from an amazing night of sex, and I had a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee. What more could a girl ask for?

I watched the hazy morning through the expansive windows and nursed my coffee. I was halfway done when Logan’s phone that he had left out on the coffee table started vibrating. I saw a text notification with the name of one of Logan’s senior partners at his law firm flash across the screen, but I just ignored it. The phone kept insistently buzzing as two more texts came through. I frowned when the phone sounded again, this time with a call, but I let it go

to voicemail. I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to wake Logan, but I also knew he had a million things going on at work, especially since he had cut his trip short. He had mentioned that he was waiting for important client information and, as a result, would have to go into work today. I decided to check his phone to see whether the senior partner’s text was important enough to warrant waking Logan up.

I picked up his phone and opened up his texts, but before I could tap on the senior partner’s texts to open them, my eyes zoomed in on texts farther down. There was no name assigned to them, but it was a phone number with an L.A. area code. I held my breath as my thumb hovered over it, debating whether or not I should open up the thread of texts. I would be violating Logan’s privacy and it was probably just someone related to his work, but I had a sick feeling that it was something more than that. I couldn’t help myself and pressed my thumb down so that the thread opened.

My chest constricted and I felt like I was going to choke as I read the texts. A sense of unreality washed over me as I reread the texts over and over again, wondering if I was in some nightmare.

L.A. number: I just heard about your accident from Marcus. I’m coming down to see you.