Sacrifice (Heart of a Wounded Hero)

"This is Ella."

The gruff voice suddenly turns pleasant. "Oh, you're the renter. Right?"

I barely resist rolling my eyes. Of course, that's what I'm known as, the person that rents his apartment. "Yes, that's me."

"Is Logan around?"

"Yep. He's right here."

"He's not answering his phone," he says.

I nod. "I know."

The man blows out a breath. "Fine, we'll be there in an hour. We're going to take him out."

"Okay," I answer him chipperly.

As soon as I hang up the phone, Logan looks at me. "Who was that?"

I shake my head. "He never really did say."

Logan looks at me skeptically and then lays his head back on the couch. I probably should give him some kind of warning, but I don't want to. He seems to have withdrawn into himself, and that's probably the worst thing for him. Not even an hour goes by and there's a knock on the door. I bolt from my seat and run to go and answer it. There are three big, barrel-chested men standing there, all looking at me with smiles on their faces. Without warning, they all reach for me and take turns hugging me before walking past me into the house.

Logan is looking between the guys and then back at me. He sits up and swings his feet onto the floor in front of him. "What's up, guys? What are you doing here?"

And as if realizing that maybe I don't know who they are, he introduces me, "Tommy, Bryce, Jeremiah, this is Ella. Ella, this is Tommy, Bryce, and Jeremiah."

I wave at them before walking out of the room. "I'll give you all some privacy. Nice to meet you." I go as far as the kitchen and then sit back down at the table. I don't know how much privacy I'm giving them since I can hear every word that they say. It isn't long before I realize that they have convinced Logan to go out with them. I start to worry. A few seconds go by, and Logan walks through the dining room to get to the bedroom. "The guys want to go out. Would you like to go with us?"

I look at him first with alarm and then shake my head. Although I’ve imagined going out with Logan probably a thousand times, there’s no way I’m going to impede on his time with his buddies. If anything, he really needs them now. "No, you go and have a good time."

He stops and puts his hands on the back of the chair. "I feel bad just leaving you here."

I shake my head. "Don't feel bad at all. I have tons of work I need to catch up on," I tell him as I point to the laptop in front of me.

He looks as if he's going to say something else but then must change his mind because he nods and walks away. As soon as he shuts the door to the bedroom, I'm grabbing his bottle of pills and running into the living room. The first one that I come to is Bryce, and I pull him to the side. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He winks at me. "Honey, you can talk to me as long as you want to."

My eyes round at the flirty sound of his voice. "I'm not sure what all you know, but I need to be quick." I keep one eye on the doorway that Logan will be coming back through, not wanting to be caught tattling on him. I know he wouldn't appreciate it.

"I don't know what all you know, but Logan has a head injury, and he's supposed to be looked after. If he starts to get dizzy, has any vision problems or complains of a headache, you need to make sure that you keep an eye on him. He hates to take pills, but if it gets too bad, he'll need to take one.” I open the pill bottle and pull one pill out before handing it to Bryce. “Here, put this in your pocket." It all comes out in a rush.

Bryce is looking at me with amusement. "Don't you think it would be easier if you just went with us?"

I think about his offer to join them, and then I shake my head. No, that’s definitely not a good idea. I pull my phone from my back pocket. "No, I'm going to sit this one out. What's your phone number?”

He wiggles his eyebrows at me. "You move fast, don't you?"

I laugh and roll my eyes. "I'm going to text you my phone number so you can call me if anything happens to Logan."

Tommy and Jeremiah both laugh from across the room. I thought I was being discreet, but I guess not. Bryce is still smiling at me, unfazed. I'm sure he doesn't have any problem getting women to notice him, but I'm not interested at all. I already have one unattainable man on my mind.