It was Logan’s leather, police-issued motor patrol jacket that protected him when he was riding.
It was warm and heavy around my shoulders as I too stepped out onto the balcony.
The cold slapped me in the face, but I didn’t stop moving until I was leaning against Logan.
He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me in close, anchoring me.
That way, when Hastings said what he said next, I didn’t completely fall straight on my face in shock.
“Your ex-wife was attacked last night around ten in the evening,” Hastings said. “She’s currently in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.”
I gasped. “What about the baby?”
Bridges jerked his chin toward the car that was parked closest to the stairs. “In the car.”
Logan stiffened.
“Since you’re her father…” Bridges started.
Logan, however, started shaking his head.
“I’m not the baby’s father,” he answered. “Paydon Maxwell is.”
Bridges jerked like he’d received a punch to the chest.
Hastings’ mouth dropped open.
“W-what?” Hastings practically barked.
Obviously the two of them knew who Paydon was, because they were equally as affronted at the news as I was once I learned who Paydon was.
“She…”
“She slept with him while we were still married, got pregnant, and then tried to pass the baby off as mine,” Logan confirmed.
“Fuck,” Bridges groaned. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Shit,” Hastings cursed.
My mouth twitched at their lack of filter.
“My sentiments exactly,” Logan grumbled.
“All this time…” Hastings shook his head. “You do realize that everyone, and I do mean everyone, thinks that you left your wife when she was pregnant, divorced her, and then refused to help with your own kid, right?”
Logan nodded.
“Why would you do that?” Hastings asked. “And you do realize that that gives you even more motive to attack her, right?”
“He didn’t do it,” I insisted, not giving Logan a chance to talk to either man. “He was with me the entire night. You can look on the app and see exactly when the alarm was set. There are sensors on the windows as well that keep you from leaving out that way. Call the alarm company.”
Hastings waved my order away.
“We trust you. Though we’re going to get that information anyway, because the chief is gonna want this by the books,” he promised. “But seriously, man. There are a lot of men on the force that don’t like you based solely on what you did to your wife. Why the fuck are you allowing them to think this?”
“Because he’s a good man,” I answered for them. “And he’s protecting Paydon and that kid of hers.”
Hastings wrinkled his nose in annoyance.
“Paydon is still pretty fucked up,” Logan admitted. “It’s been almost two years, and he still hasn’t called me because he thinks I’m mad at him. Thinks that he did something wrong when all he ended up doing was falling for my ex-wife’s scheme. There’s a whole lot more to the story here, but I wanted to make sure that if Paydon wanted to meet his child, that he could. And by doing that, I had to keep my options open until Paydon was ready to fight.”
“What if he never fights for the kid?” Bridges asked.
“Then he never fights for the kid.” Logan shrugged. “But I know that he will. He’s all there. He just doesn’t think past a twelve-year-old’s logic when it comes to the situation. Plus, I plan on going up there soon and trying to convince him.”
Hastings looked toward the car. “You might want to make that ‘soon’ now,” he suggested. “And get him to run a paternity test while he’s here.”
“In the meantime,” Bridges said. “You’re going to need to watch this kid. Otherwise we’re going to have to relinquish her to child protective services, and shit will get a little tougher.”
Logan swallowed hard.
“Okay,” he said, sounding scared to death.
“Do kids scare you, Logan?” I wondered.
Logan’s ears turned pink.
“Kids are not my forte,” he admitted. “In fact, I think almost every kid that I come into contact with hates me.”
Bridges chuckled as he started walking down the stairs, I assumed, to go get the kid.
Hastings continued to watch us.
“I have a couple of theories,” Hastings murmured, his eyes on Logan. “I think that although y’all are innocent, there is more to the story than we’re seeing. And the story centers on the two of you. Somebody out there is hurting the people that have wronged you. It’s just too convenient that first Jakobe gets knocked off, then Tasia. People that y’all have both had problems with over the last couple of days. The question is, who is it that is witnessing these problems?”
I sat there for a few seconds and thought about his question.
“The people at my work,” I thought about it. “But the two women are married to cops, so I highly doubt that they would do anything like kick some guy’s ass until he was dead. Nor do I think I have that kind of connection with them. I just started this job. Hell, the only other person I talked to besides Zee, my mom and dad, my siblings and Logan, was the UPS guy.”