Not being in control of my body was terrifying and perplexing. There were contradicting thoughts battling in my head. But I had Logan to hold me through it. I tried to talk to him about it once, help him understand that I was okay. After a few minutes, he shut down the talk explaining that he would have to see it to believe it. So, every day I showed him I was coping.
I was dizzily happy.
I had Logan.
“You know after you were taken I was in our room thinking about how bare the walls were. There wasn’t even a picture of us together.”
Uh-oh.
His gaze came to mine and his eyes pinned me on the couch.
“Thank you, baby.”
I didn’t know what he was thanking me for.
I glanced at the shelf and looked at the picture of him and me that I’d had printed. It was from Quinn’s wedding. My dress was beautiful and Logan looked totally hot in his suit. Then I took in the one next to that. It was a group shot from a barbeque at Lenox and Lily’s house to celebrate Hadley’s pregnancy and the birth of baby Ford. Shiloh had been taking a picture of Matt, Logan, and Luke when I jumped on Logan’s back and photobombed the picture. Logan had a look of shock on his handsome face but the rest of us were caught mid-laugh. I had all sorts of family pictures around the house. We also now had guest bedrooms and artwork up on the walls.
It was our home.
“Why are you thanking me?”
Now that my boots were on and I was ready to go I stood up. As soon as I was on my feet Logan hooked me around the waist and pulled me close.
“Babe.”
“Babe, what?”
Logan dipped his head and kissed my shoulder. “I love this shirt.”
“You do?”
“You were wearing it the night of our first kiss. But you had on jeans instead of a skirt.”
I couldn’t believe he remembered that. I didn’t even remember what I was wearing that night.
“Replay?” I asked.
Logan’s eyes lit with humor and he smiled. “New rules.”
“Same game?”
“Oh, yeah, but this time that skirt’s gonna be around your waist, and your panties will be dangling from your ankle while I fuck you against that wall.”
“Scandalous,” I teased.
We arrived at Balls and I only saw familiar cars and trucks in the lot. Logan parked his new 4Runner and I jumped out. That was another part of the “a lot had changed.” I was surprised when Logan took us to the Toyota dealership and he got an SUV instead of a sports car like he’d had. His explanation was “You can’t put kids in a ‘Stang, baby.” My belly had done a flip-flop and I followed him home, me driving his new vehicle and him in the company Suburban.
“The door’s locked,” Trey said as we approached.
Over the last month, Matt had been behaving so secretively I was beginning to think he was hiding a girlfriend and he was using tonight to introduce us. What other reason could there be to invite all of us out for pool in the middle of the week?
It was odd.
“Are you sure?” Addy asked.
Trey stepped aside and motioned for his fiancée to try.
The door opened and Addy beamed a bright smile.
It was Matt’s appearance standing in the doorway that told me he’d unlocked it from the inside at just the right moment, but Addy wasn’t going to let an opportunity to bust Trey’s chops pass by with something as pesky as the truth.
“Just needed a woman’s touch.”
“I could use a woman’s touch,” Echo muttered, and Logan stiffened beside me.
There had been no word from Jackie or Echo about what had happened between them. I’d tried to gently coax it out of her but she blew me off. I asked Jill if Jackie had said something to her and Jill said Jackie wasn’t talking. And Logan refused to ask Echo straight out so I had to go to Shiloh. She reported that Echo was behaving like a bear with a thorn in his ass and anytime she brought up Jackie’s name he acted like he didn’t know who she was talking about.
But I hadn’t seen Echo with a woman since Jackie had left. Not that I’d ever seen Echo with a woman but it was good news he didn’t have a girlfriend.
“Come in,” Matt invited and opened the door farther.
Trey caught the edge and motioned everyone to enter before him.
The first thing I noticed was the pool hall no longer smelled of stale beer. The second was the inside was completely remodeled.
“Welcome to Balls Deep Billiards and Bar.” Matt excitedly pointed to the new signage above the bar.
“Holy shit, you did it!” Logan laughed.
Matt shrugged and smiled.
“Drinks are on the house,” Matt offered. “But don’t get used to it. I’m in the business to make money, not supply you animals with free booze.”
“Right, because you’re in danger of running out of money.”
“A rich man spends money. A smart man saves it.”
“And you just happen to be lucky enough to be both,” Trey put in.
The crowd dispersed to take in the newly remodeled space. Despite the raunchy play on words, Balls Deep was pure class.
“Holy crap, this place is awesome.”
Everywhere I looked my eyes landed on something new. The walls were a matte Navy blue. New faux wood flooring had been laid. The bar was completely redone in dark wood. A mirror was mounted behind the bar with glass shelves to display all the booze, with cool as hell up-lighting. The ceiling no longer had the dingy whiteish-yellow dropdown tiles; those had been replaced with distressed corrugated tin. The back wall was accented with horizontal planks of wood, Balls Deep stenciled over the wood. New billiard tables and high-top bar tables completed the room.
The remodel alone must’ve cost a fortune.
“You ready to check out the bathrooms?” Logan whispered.
I tilted my head back and to the side so I could see his face.
“I think we better. It would suck if Matt put so much work into the remodel and forgot to spruce up the restroom.”
“Yeah, that would suck, baby.”
Logan grabbed my hand and marched me through the space. We were at the mouth of the hall and I thought we’d gotten away with our bathroom rendezvous when out of the corner of my eye I caught Quinn smiling. With a quick wink, she went back to her conversation with Liberty and Chelsea.
Then I was in the bathroom. Logan flipped the lock and backed me up against the wall.
He went down to his knee but then nothing.
He just stared up at me.
“Marry me?”
Say what?
“What?” I whispered.
“The first time I saw you I knew. It took me a year to find the courage to kiss you. It took you by my side to realize what happiness is. It took me loving you to understand how beautiful it is. But it took you loving me to understand peace. Marry me, Lauren.”
“You’ve got the shittiest timing.”
Logan smiled.
“Marry me, Ren.”
“Yes.”
One could say my man liked my answer. He surged to his feet, shoved his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a beautiful ring. The diamond was so large I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Though I didn’t have time to comment after he slipped it on my finger.