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I chuckle. “As hot as that sounds, Brooke would kill me if I interrupted her bachelorette party. You’re going to have a great time, and I’ll be right here waiting when you get back.”
“You could grab a last-minute flight and join Liam in Vegas?” she suggests, and I shake my head.
“Nah, it’s not exactly my scene. I’m good. Besides, Logan messaged me earlier. He wants to come around and clear the air.”
“Oh, that’s great. I hope you can sort things out with him. I feel so guilty I’ve come between you two.” She gives me a sad smile, and I trace my fingers across her back.
“You have nothing to feel guilty about. I’m sure things will be fine with us.” I’ve no idea if they will be, but I don’t want her going away for the weekend worrying about it.
There’s a knock on the door, and Hallie bounces up and down in my arms. “That’ll be Jess,” she says excitedly. Pulling out of the embrace, she walks to the door, swinging it open.
“Jess!” she cries, hugging her best friend.
“God, it’s good to see you.” She looks over Hallie’s shoulder at me and smiles. Pulling out of the embrace with Hallie, she comes over and I’m taken aback when she hugs me.
“Thank you for looking after her,” she says quietly, her voice breaking. “And thank you for making her happy.”
“She means everything to me, Jess. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Hallie.”
Jess steps back from me and smiles, wiping a tear from her face. I can see Hallie feels a little embarrassed. Her eyes are trained on the floor, and her hands fiddle with the edge of her shirt, so I change the subject.
“Do you have everything you need, sweetheart?” I ask as I move toward Hallie and take her hand.
“I think so.”
“Call me when you get there?” I ask, hoping she won’t think I’m being too overprotective.
“Of course, and I’ll call you before I go to sleep.” Taking her in my arms, I kiss her, not caring that Jess is standing right behind us.
“Have a great time and drive safe.”
Jess loops her arm with Hallie’s, and I open the door, watching them walk with Hallie’s suitcase to the elevator. Waiting at the elevator doorway, Hallie waves, and I manage a wave back before the door closes. I go back into the apartment, and I’m alone for the first time in over three weeks.
An hour or so later, the intercom sounds, and I flick off the movie I wasn’t watching and buzz Logan in. I’m somewhat nervous about how this will go, especially after how things went down the last time we spoke. I want to straighten everything out between us. We were good friends, and I don’t want to lose that if possible.
Awkward doesn’t describe the mood when he arrives, and I offer him a beer to try and break the ice. He takes one, and I take a pull of mine, gesturing for him to take a seat in the living room.
“I need to apologize,” he says as soon as we both sit. “I was an asshole at the cabin, and you deserve to know why.”
“I’m listening,” I tell him, not prepared to let him off the hook just yet.
He sighs and drags his hand down his face. “I fell for a client once, years ago. She was only my second assignment. Some guy was stalking her, and she came to us seeking protection while the police tried to nail the bastard. She was young and beautiful, and I knew I was in trouble the minute I saw her.”
He closes his eyes and sighs before shaking his head and carrying on, “She was genuinely terrified of this guy. He was doing some freaky shit. He’d already broken into her place twice and shit in her bed. Then dead animals started arriving in the mail. Clearly a whack job, but a dangerous one. I moved her to a safe house, and we got close. You know how it is… hour after hour, day after day, just the two of you?” I nod, knowing exactly how it is.
I wait as he takes a pull of his beer before continuing, “We’d talk for hours, and she’d confide in me, things she said no one else knew about her. I fell hard, and she said she felt the same way. Things changed though, when the guy was caught and locked up. She went back to her life and wanted nothing to do with me. I tried to talk to her, but she said her feelings for me hadn’t been real. The situation we were forced into had blurred the lines, and she realized what she felt for me had been an infatuation rather than thereal thing. I was devastated. I couldn’t get my head out of my ass and walk away. It nearly cost me everything.”
“That’s why you have the rule,” I say, his overreaction to my relationship with Hallie suddenly making even more sense.
He shrugs. “I knew from speaking to you on the phone something had happened. I could hear it in your voice when you spoke about her. Seeing you holding hands at the cabin, I saw myself all those years ago, and I didn’t want that for you.”
“I’m going to marry her, Logan, and she feels the same way.”
“I know she does.”
“You do?”
“She called me this morning.” He must see the look of surprise on my face because I can’t hide it no matter how much I try. “You were in the shower. She told me exactly how she feels about you, and after speaking to her, I’ve no doubt she loves you.”
