Does he feel it? Does Logan feel the perfection he’s given me? That I was cracked and broken before he found me, but he was the only medicine I ever needed. The balm to my broken heart after I lost my mother and my father’s rejection.
And, feeling all his heart muscles beneath my soft body, I know he’s so much more than that. He’s the igniter of passions, the storm that shook up my staid, colorless world, and he’s been my hope and strength at times these past few months when I couldn’t manage any on my own.
He’s the love of my life. My partner on this journey. The other half of my soul.
I tip my head back to look at him and see everything I’m feeling reflected in his dark eyes.
I can’t help drawing his head down to mine. He’s still careful, but I’ve been more desperately physical lately than ever. I think both of us need it. To prove to ourselves that we are real and still here together.
And when his lips touch mine—
Heaven.
There’s a tent full of people watching us but that doesn’t stop Logan. He teases at the seam of my lips with his tongue and when I open to him, I only barely manage to stifle my moan, even though we’re in the middle of the dance floor. But I’ve never been able to manage restraint when it comes to Logan.
He’s just started to deepen the kiss when there’s a shrill whistle. Like someone blowing on an actual whistle. What on earth—?
I pull back from Logan lips in confusion. Is this some kind of gag before Armand gives his toast?
Whatever I expect to see, it’s not a brigade of serious-faced policemen, along with some men in scrubs behind them, barging into the wedding. It’s not hard to see where they’re headed.
Straight for Logan and me.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Armand demands, trying to step in front of the most senior-looking policeman.
“Are you the groom?” the hard-faced policeman asks.
Armand’s face registers confusion but he doesn’t answer. Apparently he doesn’t need to.
Because rounding the corner is Adam Archer.
“No,” Adam stands arrogantly and points to Logan. “That’s him. That’s the man you’re here to arrest.”
Sixteen
Daphne
“What?” I screech just as Logan finally drops me to the ground and steps in front of me, shielding me from Adam.
“What’s this about, Archer? You here to finally have it out with me like a man?” Logan sneers, looking around at the huge posse Adam brought with him. “Or like always, are you getting others to do your bullying for you. Can’t damage that manicure, can you?”
Adam’s face goes red and the hand he has pointed at Logan starts to shake a little, but he just repeats, “There he is. Arrest him.”
“On what grounds?” Armand demands, trying to get in front of the policeman again.
“We have a warrant for his arrest,” Adam crows.
“On. What. Grounds?” Armand repeats, looking like he’s barely keeping his temper, even though during every interaction I’ve ever had with him, he seemed like the most even-tempered man, almost lackadaisical in his approach to serious life.
“On the grounds that he’s a dangerous psycho,” Adam says. “He’s attacked me and is a mentally unstable public threat. He walks around in a serial killer mask, for gods’ sake. He’s already violated one restraining order and I have multiple witnesses who heard him threaten my life. The fact that he’s gone this long unpunished only highlights the corruption in the underbelly of this city.”
The way he’s going on, it’s like he’s trying out a run for mayor. But he’s not nearly finished. “So it is the opinion of the great city of New Olympus that he be remanded into the custody of the state for a period of observation for criminal psychosis.”
And that’s when the camera flashes start to go off.
Son of a— He brought the media, because of course he did.
I should have known he was grandstanding for an audience. And certainly not for our wedding party, all of whom obviously side with us. No, he’s speechifying for a much bigger crowd. Maybe even using this as his launching point for a political bid, going on about corruption at a wedding where the Ubelis are present, when everyone knows that they are the King and Queen of all Underworld activity on the East Coast.
Destroying Logan’s reputation in the meantime by using him as a scapegoat? Now I know this is classic Adam. This is how he works. Who he is.
I feel Logan tense in front of me and my arm shoots out to restrain him. “He’s baiting you,” I hiss. “If you beat his face in like you want, you’ll just be giving him everything he wants. Please, babe.”
I intertwine my fingers with his. “Not today. We won’t give him what he wants today.”
Logan swallows hard, really hard, but he gives me an almost imperceptible nod.
And he manages it, too.
The policeman and medical staff get to us and begin reaching for Logan.
“I’ll come quietly,” Logan says, keeping his voice measured and calm. “There’s no need for a scene.”
But it’s as if he didn’t even say a word. I’m just about to let go of his hand when I’m suddenly grabbed by my left arm and yanked sharply away. My arm is wrenched in such a way that I can’t help crying out in pain.
And that, apparently, is Logan’s breaking point.
His head snaps my direction. “Leave her be.”
But the asshole cop, who I now realize must be working in cahoots with Adam, just chuckles in Logan’s face and then spits at his feet, at the perfect angle so the cameras can’t catch it.
“Boy, where you’re going, you ain’t gonna have no say about what happens to Little Miss here back home. Cuff ‘im, men.”
Two other men approach with cuffs and that’s when all hell breaks loose.
Logan lets out a roar and, standing almost a foot taller than all the other men around him, he starts to fight. At least that’s what it looks like from outside the circle that starts to grow around him.
“Logan!” I scream, but I don’t know if he can hear anything above the uproar.
Men in uniform start to fly backwards but almost immediately another takes their place.
I start forward but I’m grabbed on both sides. “Let me go,” I shout but Armand at my left and Cora at my right refuse to let me go. And then it’s the Ubeli’s men in black dragging me backwards away from the fray.
“Logan wouldn’t want you anywhere near that,” Armand shouts in my ear and that’s the only thing that makes me back away. Which unfortunately only gives me a better view of what’s happening to Logan because we head a little ways up the hill and now I can see down on the unfolding tableau.
There must be twenty men surrounding Logan and he’s swinging and brawling like an enraged animal. He’s past reason. That man threatened me and I know, I know that all Logan could see in that moment was that he wouldn’t be able to protect me if they succeeded in taking him away from my side.
“Stop it, please you have to stop them!” I cry, slumping to my knees, my beautiful wedding dress all but ruined by the wet grass outside the tarped area.