Page 34

S tars impair my vision, but before the darkness can overtake me, powerful arms wrap around my body, and I fall into them.

“Sora?” Logan’s deep, frightened voice seems so far, yet I know he’s the one holding me.

As I’m being guided to a chair, my vision slowly returns.

“I’ll go get some water.” That’s Olivia talking, and I hear the water turn on.

“Slow deep breaths, dove. Slow deep breaths.” Logan’s face comes into view. His perfectly handsome face and his blue eyes. God, those eyes are magic. He’s kneeling in front of me, his hands gripping my knees gently but firm enough to bring me back to.

My mouth won’t form words.

“Here.” Olivia comes back, handing Logan the glass of water.

He leans in, taking my face in his hand. “Drink, Sora.”

Our hands brush each other and I’m okay.

I follow Logan’s words, taking calculated breaths. Then the room stops moving, and I’m left staring into a pair of crystal blues.

“Sora.” Logan’s hand caresses my cheek, and I lean into it, seeking comfort behind his touch. “Talk to me.”

Everything I fear is coming to life. But what did I expect? That I can just run away and live happily ever after in a new life, pretending that my old one doesn’t exist. It doesn’t work that way and I’m an idiot living such a lie.

In some ways, I thought maybe, just maybe, Jason would forget about me. Find another wife to tramp around with and finally let me go.

“I have to leave.” In hush words, my mouth is like sand.

Logan’s brows turn inward as he follows me to a stand. And when I go to make my escape, he grips my waist, bringing me close. “Wherever you’re going, I’m driving,” he demands.

I close my eyes for a second and take in the feathery breath on my skin. “No,” I tell him, my weight leaning on him. Seeking his strength. “I’m fine now.” But I’m not.

I push out of his embrace, and he lets me. Before he can think of stopping me, I’m gone. In my car. The quick thought tempts me to just keep driving. Don’t look back, but I need my stuff. Then I’m out.

It’s not safe here for me or anyone I care about anymore.

Making it to Lana’s, I storm inside. She sits on the couch, but it’s nothing but a blur as I race upstairs.

“Whoa. Sora, what’s going on?” she yells up, but I don’t pay any mind. I grab my bag from the guest room, stuffing it with whatever will fit.

Where am I going to go?

“Hey.” Lana comes in, pressing a hand to my back. “Sora. You’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“I have to go. I have to get out of here.” My voice trembles and unreleased tears burn my eyes.

Lana tries reaching for my wrist as I’m frantically trying to stuff my bras and underwear into my bag. “Stop. Sora, please.”

But I don’t stop. I keep going. Grabbing more clothes from the drawers and shoving them inside.

“Sora. Stop!”

This time I do. I pause with my hands tightly fisting a shirt. Tears roll down my face as my best friend pulls me to sit next to her on the bed. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I thought maybe—”

“Start from the beginning. What happened?” Lana soothes me by playing with a piece of my hair and I close my eyes, letting it calm me.

“He found me.” I glance at her and there’s a panic she forces away.

“Jason?”

I nod. “Yes. And I can’t stay here. Not when he knows where I am.”

“What kind of man is he that you’re so afraid of him?” Her eyes deepen with worry.

She doesn’t know a damn thing, and that’s my fault.

“The kind that holds a great power over me.”

She darts back and forth between my eyes. “I’m not letting you leave. I’m sorry. But you’re my best friend. My sister. You’re staying here. We’ll figure this out together.”

I shake my head. “It’s too risky. He came into the café while I wasn’t there. He knows where I work, Lana,” I say in a pleading, desperate voice for her to hear me out.

She darts between my watery eyes once more. “Sora. What aren’t you telling me?”

God. I want to tell her everything.

So, I give in, a sense of bravery taking over, but I don’t get the chance because there’s a harsh pounding at the front door.

What if it’s him?

Lana quickly rises from the bed, but I grab her wrist. She stares at me with confusion but understanding. “It’s fine. I’ll check first.”

I follow her closely downstairs, hugging my arms to myself and watch as she checks the security app on her phone.

“It’s Logan,” she tells me, awaiting permission to open the door.

I nod.

Logan stands there, a dark, worried expression falling over him.

All because of me?

Lana moves to the side, inviting the man I’ve grown to care about, a lot, inside. “I think she’ll do better with you right now.”

My focus is on the ground, too scared to look up, but when a shadow appears in front of me, I know it’s Logan. Hard to miss his woodsy soap and large presence. I soak in his strength.

“I’ll be right outside.” Lana’s wearing a sad yet honest smile, grabbing her keys as she walks out the door.

She believes I need Logan right now. I’m not sure why, but she might be right. Maybe it’s security. Even though I feel safe with Lana, it’s different.

Logan carefully steps toward me, reaching out, but is hesitant. Screw it. I need his closeness—his strength. So, I finish the distance we share and throw my body into him. I must have taken him by surprise because seconds go by before both his arms enclose me, binding me to his chest.

My cheek buries into him. New tears fight to leave. I swallow, holding them back because I’m not ready yet. Just being in Logan’s arms is the right thing right now. Uncontrollable tears can wait.

We stand in the middle of the kitchen, while he holds me tightly. One hand finds the back of my head and the other runs tiny slow circles on my back. His body, solid and strong, is the saving grace I crave.

“I needed to make sure you were okay.” His low growl vibrates through me.

“Thank you.” My voice is muffled from being buried into Logan. But I make no attempt to move because this is too good.

Too right.

My body cries out when he breaks us apart only a small fraction to look me in the eye. “Talk to me, Sora.”

“I have to leave. I don’t know where to, but I can’t stay here.”

“Yeah, fuck that. You’re not going anywhere.” His sternness catches me off guard.

“You don’t understand.” I go to leave the security of his body, but he pulls me back in.

“Then make me understand. Let me in.” It’s a plea for me to finally be honest.

I sigh, defeat pouring over me, drenching me in guilt. “You were right. I am running from someone.”

Logan’s hand, the one previously rubbing soothing circles on my back, clenches. “Who, dove? Tell me who.” There’s desperation in his voice. Overcome with anguish. But it’s not like he can help me, and I don’t want him to get hurt trying.

“I’m married, Logan.” There it is. The biggest secret I’ve been keeping from him.

He takes a step back, and that’s when I think I’ve lost him. But he cups my face in tenderness, in understanding which makes little sense. I just told him I belong to someone else. “What did he do to you?” A dark shadow dances across his features.

“Logan. I just told you I am married,” I say again because I can’t possibly understand why he’s not upset. I was faithful to Jason. My relationship with Logan has painfully never gone beyond a flirtatious friendship.

“I heard you. And I don’t give a fuck. You’re running from him for a reason, and I want to know why.”

God, why’s he like this? So strong, taking charge.

“It’s a lot. Once I tell you, there’s no going back. You might look at me differently. Think less of me.”

His stare burns me alive. “There is nothing on this goddamn planet that will ever make me think less of you.”

“You shouldn’t say that until you know the truth.” When the wall presses to my back, I slink down to the floor, curling my knees to my chest. Here goes nothing. “My stepfather sold me to a man when I was seventeen.”

In this moment, the air turns thick, suffocating, and I don’t need to look up at Logan to know what his reaction will be. I feel it. It’s bone crushing and ruinous. The jagged breaths he lets out are also telling.

He joins me on the floor, our legs brushing, our arms touching, and it’s enough to help me keep going. He wants to say something but stays quiet, letting me continue.

“Right after my father died, I moved in with my mom and her new husband. He drank. A lot… and gambled… a lot. He was a terrible husband to my mom and one lousy stepfather.” I lay my head back against the icy wall.

“Anyway… he got himself into trouble. Borrowed money from the wrong people. Made promises he couldn’t keep.

Then one day, these men showed up at our door and basically told him he was a dead man walking unless he paid up. ”

Logan shifts next to me, his body tense, but I keep my eyes forward.

“When he couldn’t pay, he made a deal. A deal with the devil you could say.

” My voices shudders. “I came home from school that day to a black car waiting for me in the driveway and my stepfather sitting at the kitchen table with two men in suits. I still remember the coldness. The emptiness in his eyes when he told me I’d been sold.

I didn’t understand at first.” I tap my fingers on my knee nervously.

“The bastard was a coward and sold his own stepdaughter to get out of a debt.” I snort with a chuckle because of how ridiculous it sounds.

Logan casts a glance at me, and I turn, meeting his stare. If a look can kill, his would. His eyes hold a glacial, threatening appearance and I shiver from it. “You were seventeen,” he says through gritted teeth.

“My stepfather signed for us to get married. My soon to be husband was older than me. In his late thirties. His father had all the money, but as years went by, his father handed him the business. I won’t lie and say it was horrible because truthfully…

at times, it was better than living with my stepfather. ” The words sound deranged.

“You were groomed, Sora. He was a grown fucking man. And you were a minor.”

“I know that now.”

“Where was your mom? She just watched as it happened—allowed her daughter to be taken away.”

I glance down at my chipped manicure. Funny, if I was still living with Jason, he would tell me to go get my nails done. “My mother was dead. Drug overdose six months before. I had no other family, so the court considered my stepfather fit to keep me.”

Logan’s jagged breaths shake in my ear.

“I lived a life of safety and luxury for years. I was led to believe it was perfect, and that he was my hero. When in reality he was the devil in disguise. My husband owns a nightclub, amongst other things, and it all changed after I turned twenty-one. He made me dance for his friends and colleagues in private rooms. They were never allowed to touch me… until they were.”

“Jesus Christ.” Logan breathes out what seems like fire, flexing his fists that lay on the tops of his knees.

I wipe a fallen tear, then another and before I know it, it’s complete waterworks. I can’t keep up. So much for holding it together.

Logan pulls me to his side and a strong arm wraps tightly around my shoulders.

“It wasn’t until he started hinting that I’d soon be pimped out to those men that I knew I had to get out. I couldn’t stay any longer. No matter the circumstances.”

The man sitting next to me takes in a sharp breath—one I experience down to my bones. “I’m going to kill him.”

I shake my head, leaving his comforting embrace. “You won’t. I won’t let you near him. He took my life, my youth. He stole enough from me. I won’t let him take you too.” Tears I can’t control roll down my face and there’s dread in my voice. Despair.

I hate Jason. I hated him because he made me believe I was safe. Shaped me into thinking he cared for me. Loved me. But it was false. In some ways, I realize that, but I knew I had nowhere else to go. So, I stayed.

“Is he the reason you’re so afraid?”

I nod. “He came looking for me at the café. Which obviously means he knows I’m here.”

Logan pulls me to him again, and I lay against his warmth, listening to his heartbeat. But it’s nothing short of calm. “You don’t need to fear anyone or anything,” he says with such intensity. His voice is low and hidden with rage.

I wish that to be true. The thought of going back now… makes my stomach turn.

“I can’t even go to the police. How do you take down a man who’s higher than the law?”

Logan says nothing. Doesn’t question it as if he almost trusts me—trusts what I’m saying is true.

I breathe in, taking the smell of Logan with me. With his arms enclosed around me like this, he keeps my monsters at bay.

“And your father… how did he pass?”

I miss him .

“A heart attack. But I believe his death was from a broken heart. He was never the same after my mom asked for a divorce. She was already using, and I think she cheated on my dad with my stepfather.”

Logan kisses my temple, his warm lips seeping into my soul.

I’m not sure how long he sat there with me in silence, but I must have fallen asleep because when I woke, it’s my bed that sits beneath me. With Lana sound asleep next to me.

It’s the middle of the night, so I let all the exhaustion consume me. I’ll let my past stay in the past for just one more night.

Logan

A rage I’ve never felt before rushes through me as I kick my door closed, waiting for Crew to answer.

He better fucking answer.

“Hey, man, right now isn’t a good time. I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“I don’t give a fuck who’s in your bed. I need your help.”

There’s shuffling and a loud noise on the other end, like his cell phone hit the ground.

“Shit. Hang on.”

In the background, I can’t make out much except hushed voices and then quiet.

“Okay. Hit me.”

“Are you still able to contact Spencer? In private?” There’s a quiet pause and I know it’s a lot to ask, but this is the only way. “Crew.”

“Fuck, man. What’s up?”

“I need you to give him a name. Jason Whitlock. I want to know everything. Where he does business. Where he eats. Down to his favorite fucking color. Got it?”

“Yeah. I got it.” Another pause and I’m about to hang up when he asks, “Does this have anything to do with Sora? Is she okay?”

“She will be.” I hang up, grinding my molars together in a fury that has me begging for that man on a silver platter.

I’m more certain about this than anything else in my life. I will make him pay and regret the things he’s done to her.

Simplicity suits me. I keep to myself. Mind my own business. But for Sora, I’d burn down the fucking world.