I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or relieved and that knowledge just fucks with my head even more.
“I should probably go check on Logan,” I tell her, clearing my throat. Backing away.
“Running away already?” she taunts softly.
Maybe, but I’ll be damned if I let her know that. “Being a responsible brother.”
“Oh, right.” She lifts her chin, and those crazy, hazel eyes of hers are gleaming darkly at me. “Hey, Logan!”
Her sudden shout echoes down the hallway.
“Yeah?” he answers after a second.
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” A pause. “Thanks for the tea.”
“No problem. You need anything else?”
“Nope. Just watching a movie.”
“Cool. Call if you need anything.”
She’s good, this girl. In more ways than one. And that scares the hell out of me. Fucks with my head and my body because as she stands there, arms crossed and lips curved in a small but triumphant smile, something stirs inside of me. Something that has nothing to do with want
ing to get off and everything to do with her. Just her.
I take another guarded step back, ignore the fact that I’m running away from something, someone, for the first time in my life. It’s not my typical modus operandi—I’m usually more of a take everything, head-on kind of guy—but Tansy makes me cautious even as she makes me want.
“I should still check,” I told her. “He’s been known to lie about shit before.”
“I think that’s pretty obvious, considering I’m standing here in your kitchen right now.”
Fuck. I walked right into that one. “Look, I can’t—”
She holds up a hand to stop me. “I know why you think this is a bad idea now. I get that you can’t be away from Logan for longer than a day. I never would have asked it of you if I’d known.”
I study her suspiciously. She seems sincere, like she really gets where I’m coming from, and I feel myself relax just a little. Maybe getting rid of her is going to be easier than I thought.
“It’s fine,” I tell her, feeling magnanimous now that she finally understands. “I should have told you why I can’t do it.”
“But you can!” she says, and she sounds both excited and determined. “The anonymous donor who provided the package included a lot of incidental money. Certainly enough to bring Logan and a nurse along, plus any medication or equipment he might need. So you don’t have to leave him here. He can come with you.”
Then again, maybe she doesn’t understand anything. Does she really think I’m going to drag my brother—my paralyzed brother—halfway across the world, just to snowboard in South America? For the second time tonight, I curse Z with everything in me. Because I know that “anonymous donor” is him. I know it with everything in me and it makes me want to hit something all over again. Preferably his face, but another wall might do.
I want to give Timmy his wish, I really do. But not at the expense of Logan. I know he’s the one who set this whole mess in motion, but I don’t think he’s thinking clearly. Not about how a trip like this will affect him—he’s still recovering from major surgery, after all—and not about how he’ll feel seeing me on the slopes again. Boarding, when he’ll never be able to do it the way he wants to again.
It’s my fault he’s in that chair, my fault he’ll never be able to do what he loves again. There’s no way I’m going to rub that in by dragging him to Chile and snowboarding right in front of him. And no way I’m going to leave him here, either.
My hand is actually clenching into a fist before I force myself to relax. To take a couple deep breaths and focus on what needs to be done. Which, namely, is chasing Tansy out of my kitchen and out of my house.
“What is with you?” I demand, stalking toward her. “I’m speaking English, right? And you do understand what the word no means?”
I’m pissed now and I know my anger is written all over my face. I expect her to flinch, to back away. After all, I’m at least a foot taller than her and probably weigh a hundred pounds more than she does. She should be intimidated. She should be worried.
Instead, she just tips her chin up and stares at me, eyebrows raised sardonically. It’s a challenge if I’ve ever seen one and while part of me wants nothing more than to yank her against me and kiss her into submission, there’s another part that loves the fact that she’s standing toe-to-toe with me. That she’s giving as good as she gets.
“Can we just talk about this?” she says as I tower over her, giving her the nastiest glare I can muster.