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I hesitated to go. I didn’t want to leave Logan to deal with this alone. His eyes met mine and there was so much fear and sadness there that my heart ached for him.
“Just go, Mia,” Dylan said gently, his hand on my arm. “He needs to focus on Grandpa right now.”
I sighed, but nodded and allowed him to lead me into the other room. I couldn’t relax enough to sit, but I accepted some decaf coffee, just to give me something to do with my hands while we waited for Logan to come tell us what was going on and how Patrick was doing. His mom disappeared, but not until she made it clear that we were to stay put.
No one talked. Hayden sat in a chair with his elbows on his knees and stared into space. Dylan paced. Even Linda seemed to sober up a bit as she settled on the couch.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Logan’s face as he helplessly watched his grandpa having a seizure. It was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him, and I wished I could do something to help.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Logan
I was completely on edge as I drove Mia home from dinner at my grandpa’s house. Introducing her to the family could have gone better. My mom was clearly suspicious of the two of us, and my aunt was an obnoxious drunk, as usual.
I expected those reactions, but it was still disheartening.
Hayden was treating the whole thing as a joke, being as childish as he always was just to try to get a rise out of me. He’d always known just how to get under my skin, and he took advantage of it any time he got the opportunity.
The worst part of the evening came at the end, when grandpa had a seizure. It was the first time that had ever happened, but I knew it was a symptom of his glioblastoma. That damn brain tumor was causing him all kinds of trouble.
Of course, grandpa had insisted he was fine once he’d recovered, not wanting anyone to fuss over him. He was a proud man and profusely refused any medical assistance, but at least I’d gotten him settled up in his room in bed with Hilda insisting on staying with him through the night and check in on him periodically. Tomorrow, my mother promised to take him to his doctor, just as a follow-up precaution.
“Are you okay?” Mia asked softly from the passenger seat.
I glanced over to see that she was staring at my hands. I loosened my white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. “Yeah,” I grunted, which was a fucking lie.
“Are you sure?” she asked in a quiet tone. “You’ve barely spoken since we left your grandpa’s house. If you need to talk or vent, I’m a good listener.”
“I just don’t want to plan a damn wedding,” I mumbled, focusing on something other than the visions of my grandfather having a seizure still replaying in my head. “Hayden can be a real asshole sometimes.”
Mia didn’t say anything for a while, so I found myself continuing to complain about everything that was on my mind.
“It’s so annoying that I even have to do this at all,” I said irritably. “A fake wedding? Likethat’sa good use of my time. And you know what? As much as I love my grandpa and don’t want to lose him, I’m pissed at him, too. He’s the reason I have to jump through these hoops at all.”
“Yeah. But it was pretty terrible seeing him collapse like he did.”
My chest hurt at her words, but I didn’t say anything. The truth was that anger was only a very small part of what I was feeling. I hated seeing my grandpa sick and in pain. If anything, I was furious at the universe for cursing him with a disease that would kill him.
God, I hated feeling so helpless. All I could do earlier was wait for the seizure to end and help him get to his room and make him comfortable. It was all so unfair.
As if she could read my mind, Mia reached over and placed a comforting hand on my knee. “I’m really sorry about what’s happening to him.”
Out of nowhere, I had the uncharacteristic desire to talk about it. I wanted to tell Mia all about my grandpa, that he was the only real male role model I had growing up, and that I wanted to run the company after him from the time I was a kid because I looked up to my grandpa so much. He started the company, and I wanted to make him proud.
But I didn’t say any of that. I wasn’t the kind of man to open up like that. I didn’t even talk about my real feelings with my brothers. It was all because of my old man. My dad taught me that a man should have a stiff upper lip and keep his problems and emotions to himself. So, I kept everything I was thinking inside my head where it belonged.
I pulled into the parking lot of Mia’s apartment, parking next to the car I bought her just yesterday. Unbuckling my seatbelt I turned to face her. I might not have been comfortable saying all the things on my mind, but there was one thing I knew would keep this night from being complete shit, so I was going to go for it.
“Listen, before you go in, there’s one thing we should get out of the way now, just so it’s not awkward when it happens in front of my family.”
She arch a curious brow as I reached out, and didn’t protest when I slipped my hand to the back of her neck, pulling her into me as I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers.
My cock immediately grew hard in my pants as she molded her lips to mine and let out a soft, sensual moan when I deepened the kiss, my tongue gliding erotically against hers. She slid her hand up my leg to mid-thigh, her touch lighting me on fire in a way that had me wishing we were somewhere more private. I should have known that it would be hard to stop at just one kiss with Mia.
When she pulled away, we were both breathing hard. Mia’s cheeks were flushed with desire and her brown eyes darker than usual.
“I…I better go,” she stammered as she reached blindly for the door handle, unable to look away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
