Of Loss & Betrayal (Madison & Logan 2)

Logan shook his head. “No,” he said emphatically. “I don’t mean that. If what Kristina is saying is true, you wouldn’t have known about it.”

I was going to throw up. “If what she’s saying is true,” I repeated in disbelief. “Kristina is desperate. She’ll try anything to get back together with you. And you’re falling for it.”

Logan hesitated before speaking. “I’m just confused. Maddie, you need to understand that it’s hard for me to make sense of anything with my memory loss. I know that the me now, wants to be with you. But I can’t be completely sure that the me before the accident wasn’t thinking differently.”

“You’re not two people!” I exclaimed in frustration. “The Logan before and the Logan after the accident are the same person! And that person was done with Kristina. Finished!”

“The picture is hard to dismiss.” Logan put his hand up before I could speak. Or more accurately, scream. “I know that it’s possible that she somehow faked the picture, but I doubt it. Even photoshop couldn’t create a picture that looked so real and accurate. And I know there could be another explanation for that picture besides the one she gave. I’m just trying to think through it all.”

I was too desperate to be proud. I grabbed his hands, my eyes pleading as I laid myself bare. “Logan, please. I love you. And you love me. There’s no way you were going to get back together with Kristina. I would have known if something was off when you came back to Chicago.”

“Did I tell you about Kristina visiting me in the hospital?”

Fuck. I should have asked him about it when I had the chance. That way I could have told him why he had kept Kristina’s visit from me. I was sure there was a reasonable explanation. Instead, I had gone all private detective on him and tried to figure it out on my own, instead of confronting him. Now I didn’t know what to say to him. I wanted to lie and tell him that he had told me Kristina had visited him so that he didn’t think he had been keeping anything from me, like an engagement to someone else, but I didn’t want to start down that dangerous road.

“No, but I knew that she had. I’m pretty sure the only reason you let her visit you was because she kept pestering you, and you thought it was just easier to let her visit than keep stalking you.”

Even I thought my explanation was weak. Logan frowned but didn’t ask me how I knew she visited him if he didn’t tell me, for which I was relieved. I didn’t want to have to admit that I had been snooping on his phone.

“I wonder why I kept it from you. Maybe I knew it would upset you so it was better that you didn’t know.”

Logan didn’t say the next words, but I could almost hear him thinking it. Or maybe it was because I was planning on breaking up with you and running off into the sunset with Kristina.

I was exhausted from all this emotional upheaval. I didn’t know how much more I could take. “What are you going to do?” I asked wearily, feeling utterly drained.

“Nothing.” Logan pulled me close, kissing me deeply. I lost myself in his kiss, wishing that Kristina didn’t exist and that Logan and I could just be happy together.

Logan broke the kiss and leaned back to look at me. “It doesn’t matter what did or didn’t happen in L.A. All I know is that I’m here with you now. You’re the one I want to be with. I’ll figure out what to do about Kristina, but for now just believe in me.”

I nodded my head, but there was a niggling sense of doubt. Not just about Logan’s current desire to be with me, but about what had happened in L.A. Despite my protestations, a small part of me wondered if what Kristina claimed could be true. Logan had kept the fact the he had seen Kristina in L.A. from me. It was possible that he was keeping more from me.

I told myself I was being ridiculous. There was no way Logan had proposed to Kristina. I would have to be an idiot to completely misread his feelings for me. I would have felt that something was off if he had been about to break up with me.

I ignored the voice that told me it wouldn’t be the first time I was an idiot when it came to Logan.

Chapter Twelve

The rest of the day was strained. Logan and I both tried to pretend we were enjoying a lazy Sunday together, but every silence was filled with tension and our easy camaraderie was stilted. The one ray of hope I had was when Mack called and Logan invited him to come over for dinner. Mack had been pretty insistent that there had been nothing between Logan and Kristina. If anyone would have known about their engagement, it would be Mack, and he hadn’t mentioned it to me. In fact, he had spoken of Logan’s devotion to me more than once.

Mack was upbeat when he arrived, oblivious to the tense mood. He held up a bottle of wine as he strode into the apartment.

“I’m not sure what’s for dinner, but after a wee

kend of working fourteen hour days, I definitely need a drink.”

“I’ll take a glass,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. I was just glad to have someone else here to help alleviate the tension.

Logan took the bottle from Mack. “I’ll open it. Go ahead and relax.”

Logan disappeared into the kitchen and Mack sat down on the armchair next to the couch I was sitting on. “Thanks for inviting me over. It can get pretty boring eating room service in front of the TV.”

“Of course,” I said. “Although dinner isn’t going to be impressive. We’re waiting on our Chinese food delivery to arrive. We got an assortment of things to share.”

“Hey, I won’t complain about Chinese food. I never met a General Tso’s chicken I didn’t like.” Mack glanced towards the direction of the kitchen before continuing in a lower voice. “How’s everything going with Logan?”

I didn’t know where to start. Everything was such a mess.

“Kristina came over today,” I said. Mack raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment so I continued. “It was a shit show. She’s claiming that she and Logan are engaged. According to her, when she visited him in the hospital back in L.A., he realized that he was in love with her and the next day they went ring shopping. This would be just hours before he flew home and acted like nothing was wrong with me. She’s insisting that he was planning on breaking up with me.”