“Say my fucking name!” Guy roared.
I hit the cabin door with my shoulder. The flimsy door gave way and my blood instantly boiled.
Lauren on the bed wearing her panties and my t-shirt, twisting and moaning loudly. Guy only in a pair of boxers. My gaze zipped around the room, praying I found a weapon—a knife, a gun, a plastic fucking fork would do. Anything to justify killing this motherfucker in self-defense.
“Logan,” Lauren whined and thrashed around.
I was shoved from behind, propelling me toward the bed, and Matt rushed by me. Guy slammed into the wall, taking the full impact of Matt’s power punch to the jaw.
I pushed aside my need for vengeance and rushed to Lauren.
“Ren, stop twisting for a minute.”
Drake tapped me on the shoulder before a handcuff key appeared.
Always prepared.
“I can’t,” she panted.
“I know, baby, just let me get this off you.”
The moment I did she launched herself at me and attacked. I went back on one foot before I regained my balance, then I twisted so I was sitting on the edge of the bed with Lauren’s limbs wrapped around me.
Fucking hell.
“You’ve gotta control it.”
“Can’t,” she moaned.
Jesus Christ.
“Grab that motherfucker and clear the cabin.”
Matt unceremoniously yanked an unconscious Guy off the floor and dragged his ass up the three steps without care or concern of causing bodily harm.
“I’ll call Liberty in. We’ll get off the boat.”
Thank God, Drake understood without me having to tell him.
There was zero chance I would give in to Lauren’s pleas, but her body would do things she didn’t want it to do, and I’d be damned if anyone heard.
The cabin cleared and the door slammed shut. Lauren hadn’t stopped rubbing herself against me.
“You’re safe now, baby.”
“Logan!” she mewed.
“I know, Ren. I got you.”
“I can’t stop it.” Her breath was coming out in short choppy breaths.
“I know you can’t.”
She shoved her face in my neck, tightened her legs around me, and sobbed while she lost control.
“I love you, Lauren. So damn much, baby.”
Her breath hitched and she moaned while clawing at my back.
My vision blurred and my anger soared.
I was utterly helpless. There wasn’t a fucking thing I could do but hold her until the drugs cleared her system.
“I…love…you…only…you.”
Her teeth sank into my skin and I relished the pain. Needed it to keep me grounded. Needed it to prove to me she was in my arms and alive.
31
“Explain to me again why Matt wants us to meet him on a Wednesday night to play pool.”
I waited for Logan to answer but he didn’t. I looked up from zipping up my boot to find him staring at the new bookshelf he’d put together last night for me. He hadn’t seen it adorned with frames and knickknacks yet since I’d gotten home from work before him and gotten busy.
A lot had changed in the two months since Guy kidnapped and drugged me.
Everyone had rallied around me. Once the girls ascertained I was good and wasn’t burying any trauma they backed off. The men—that was all the men I worked with, the Uncles, but mostly Logan didn’t back off. They’d pushed protective to such an extreme I lost my mind. They were freaking me out and making it worse by hovering. Jasper had words with the men and they slowly eased back, even Logan. But I suspected that was because for the first two weeks after he’d saved me, Logan didn’t sleep. He watched over me waiting for me to wake up in the middle of the night in the throes of a nightmare. When that never happened and each day he saw me going happily about my business he realized I was telling the truth and I was okay.
I had him, the best friends anyone could ever ask for, a great job, great bosses who were more family than employers. I also had Logan’s family and they were awesome. After talking to Emily I decided to call my parents and give them a modified version of what happened. She explained that no matter how distant the relationship they loved me and should be told. That conversation led to my mom sobbing but quickly pulling herself together. It also led to my dad speaking with Logan. I didn’t hear the conversation but it lasted awhile. Whatever Logan said to my dad put him at ease and they decided to come out to Georgia during the next down-season. That didn’t make me feel bad, or unloved, or anyway at all really. That was just how it was with my parents.
And the house had been completely transformed. It was no longer empty. I’d been on a mission to make Logan’s house our home.
I had to admit at first this was in an effort to keep my mind occupied so I wouldn’t think about what happened. It was also my way of wiping away the bad memories—not mine, Logan’s. I couldn’t remember how I got on the boat. I wasn’t sure if I heard Guy break in, or if I was scared or tried to get away. Guy had admitted he gave me a sedative and when I was checked out at the hospital that was confirmed. The doctor had explained that memory loss was normal and most likely I’d never get back those hours before I woke up on the boat. I was almost thankful, I couldn’t remember. What I struggled with was, Logan feeling the terror of walking into our bedroom seeing what he saw, knowing I’d been taken and I didn’t. My first clear memory was waking up on the boat and being terrified.
I also knew that Logan had rescued me before Guy could violate me. And I remembered Logan holding me while the drugs took over my body. Through it all he told me he loved me, he whispered that I was safe, he told me it was okay to give in to what was happening. It was that permission, the reminder that no matter what, I was safe with Logan, that allowed me to not feel shame. I had no control over what was happening. And the harder I tried to stop it the more painful it was.
It had taken longer than I’d thought for Logan to snap. And it happened in the weirdest of ways. Me, Chelsea, Liberty, Quinn, Hadley, Shiloh, and Addy were in the conference room at TC talking about our plans for Inspire—that was the name of our new business venture. Liberty had given up the ghost of naming it Women, Inc when she realized Hadley would never budge. We’d finished going over the plans for our first fundraiser when Quinn was scrolling through Facebook looking for non-profits we could partner with when she stumbled upon a meme. She got out the first sentence, “Did you know a woman can have twenty orgasms in one go?” when in an unfortunate stroke of bad timing Logan stepped into the room. His face turned a shade of red that was close to the color of a strawberry. His jaw locked, his eyes turned glittery in a scary way, and his fists clenched.
Then he was gone.
He’d spent two hours in the gym with the men. I didn’t interrupt and I didn’t question his response. I was just happy to see he’d wrapped his knuckles seeing as the heavy bag was no longer hanging when he was done.
The one positive from the whole experience was Logan and I grew closer. For me, it was knowing he’d been there for me during the worst moments of my life. From the time the power was cut to when Logan had found me it had been a little over three hours and it had taken another thirty minutes for the drug to wear off. Apparently, that was the ‘downside’ of Guy’s date rape drug—the short lifespan of the drug meant the woman or man had to drink more and more and that was when the overdose happened. None of the other women interviewed remembered drinking more. But they reported their ordeals had lasted hours and I could understand that. If Logan hadn’t told me it had only been half an hour I would’ve said the same thing.