AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I laughed nervously. “You don’t have to try to impress me.”
“Not trying to do anything,” he said. “I’m giving that fucker what he deserves.”
“Trip? You don’t even know where he lives.”
“447 Mockingbird Court,” Logan replied immediately.
I jerked in surprise. “How do you know his address!”
Logan sat on the edge of the bed to put his socks on. “Looked him up after meeting him at your kennel.” He glanced at me, and frowned. “What? He almost kicked Loki. So I added him to the list.”
“What list?”
“The list of guys whose ass I would love to pound.”
Braden chose that moment to return from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn. The four dogs followed behind like he was the Pied Piper. “Woah, buddy. You might want to rephrase that.”
Logan rose from the bed, shoulders squared and hands tightened into fists. “Don’t fuck with me right now.”
Of the three dogs, Loki darted toward his owner and turned around, leaning against his ankles and facing Braden. He let out a little snarl, matching Logan’s mood.
“What the hell?” Braden asked the dog. “I just gave you some popcorn!”
Loki responded with another little growl. The other three dogs were sitting on their haunches behind Braden, hoping for some popcorn of their own.
I jumped up from the bed and wrapped my arms around Logan from behind. It was like embracing a marble statue at a museum, cold and sturdy. “Logan…”
“What?” he snapped.
I gently caressed the back of his neck. “I like that you’re acting protective of me, baby.” I tasted the pet name on my tongue and decided it fit. “But I don’t want you to go beat up Trip.”
His eyes were red and full of rage. “Why not?”
“A month ago, that text would have caused me to crawl under the covers and cry for the rest of the night. But now it just makes me laugh. I’m over Trip. He’s just some asshole I dated for two months. He doesn’t have any power over my emotions anymore. But if you go to his house and threaten him, it will let him know that hedoeshave some amount of power over me. Even just a little bit. And then it will be harder to keep him out of my life, because he’ll always remember that he caused a stir with only a text.”
“Plus you’ll go to jail,” Braden chimed in. “Which would totally fucking suck for you.”
Logan shot him a glare, so Braden rolled his eyes and went back into the kitchen. Odin, Heimdal, and Freya followed him. After a few seconds, Loki glanced up at Logan and then trotted into the kitchen after them.
Logan sat on the edge of the bed. I sat next to him and rubbed his back. “Sorry for making this about me.”
“That’s not how I took it at all. I appreciate your enthusiasm to defend my honor.”
“Your ex is a bully.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I don’t know how I didn’t realize it before.”
“I hate bullies,” Logan said fiercely. He stared straight ahead, body tense despite my comforting touch. “They made my life, and Emily’s life, miserable growing up. We drew them to us like magnets. I guess we were easier targets because we were so much smaller, and poorer, than the other kids. We didn’t have parents to protect us; our foster families never gave a fuck.”
Logan was smaller than the other kids?I tried to imagine that, but failed.
“Once I grew up, I made sure the bullies at school didn’t get their way. I got a reputation for being a difficult student, for always getting into fights. But it was only because I was sticking up for the smaller kids. Forcing the bullies to pick on someone their own size.”
He shook his head. “I thought there wouldn’t be any bullies once we grew up, but I was wrong. There are more adult bullies. A lot of them play hockey. A lot of them look for fights. I make sure they pay for that.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his shoulder, hoping the gesture was comforting. Slowly, the tension left his body.
“Sorry,” he said with a sigh. “When I see someone acting like a bully again, I just… I see red.”
