“Mr. Fitzgerald, do you need assistance?” That was Gary.
“No, Gary. Thank you. I think I’ve made it clear to my brother that he’s not welcome here,” Logan said.
“Crystal,” Patrick muttered, walking away. He waited until he was by the door to say, “See you soon, little bro. I guess I’ll wait until you’re done with your plaything to have a go.”
I wrapped my arms around Logan just as he moved to charge at the door. It didn’t work. He dragged me with him. Gary ran over and Logan’s dad ran over and they both managed to form a blockade in front of him. I managed to unwrap my arms from around him and step back, waiting for him to calm down. I’d never seen him like this. Ever. At hockey practice he’d come close, when he’d played against his teammates, but this was something else. If he brought this kind of energy on the ice, I would hate to be his opponent.
“You should go,” his dad said. “We’ll take it from here.”
“Thanks. I’ll wait.”
“He’s right. You should go.” Logan turned around quickly.
He wasn’t breathing as hard as he had been a moment ago, but his eyes still looked murderous. He still looked beautiful. The urge to drag him upstairs and make us both forget this shitty morning was enormous. I licked my lips, wondering if I should offer, but stopped myself. His father was standing right there. Gary was standing right there, and I didn’t think he would report such a thing to my father, but you never knew. It was all it would take for him to fly over here and make me go home. My parents weren’t the most involved, unless they thought there was a chance I could get pregnant. Then, they were all over my shit. Just looking at Logan made my ovaries hurt, and kissing him last night had been . . . a lot. He watched me as I watched him. The longer I stood there, the less upset he seemed. I wasn’t sure if he could read my thoughts or not, but I swear I felt like he could. I felt myself blush. His mouth lifted slightly. Not a smile, but the tell of amusement.
“I left something at your door that you need to do. Someone will come pick it up shortly,” he said.
“Okay.” I frowned.
“And I’ll pick you up at five. For the thing.”
“Five. Okay. I have to take some pictures of the—”
“Football practice. I know. I’m picking you up at five, we’ll go by there, and then do what we need to do.”
“Cool.” I smiled. “Have a good rest of your morning.”
“So far, this has been the best part of my morning.” He scoffed. “See you later, Mae.”
“Later, Moriarty.” I winked as I walked away, smiling at the elevator doors as he chuckled behind me.
I heard his father question him about me calling him by his middle name, but the elevator doors opened before I could hear the rest of that conversation. When I got to my floor, I saw a bag by my door. I opened it as I walked in. There was a tiny blood strip, a saliva swab, pee cup, and a note.
Don’t worry, we won’t clone you. We need to make sure you’re clean.
X
Ps. We know this is really weird and promise we are not a sex club.
I looked at the contents again. Everything came with instructions. They wanted my blood, pee, and saliva. This was more extensive than hooking up with someone from an app.
Chapter 25
Logan
“You like her.”
I glared at my father. “You don’t get to talk about her.”
“Stop being so dramatic. I understand you not wanting your brother near her after all of the rumors, but—”
“You call him going to court and getting sued for rape by four different women rumors?”
“They all dropped the charges.”
“He paid them off.”
“Only to take the limelight away from him. He says he didn’t do those things.”
“Well, excuse me if I find it hard to believe either one of you.” I shot him a look.
It wasn’t like my father was the most innocent or respectful of women. He’d had two incidents with two different secretaries.
“Those were consensual.”
“It doesn’t matter. Forget I brought that up.” I threw my hands up.
I was tired of discussing all the ways he was a worthless man only to have him argue why he wasn’t. A foolish man made mistakes, but only a fool tried to justify them. My father was both, and the mistakes he made went way past cheating on my mother. His mistakes left marks and bruises, and often broken bones, at least when it came to my brother and I. So, was I happy to see him? Hell, the fuck no. Did I need to sign the papers that got me out of the contract in which I was currently listed as one of the owners? Yes.
It was something I should have never signed. Even as I did it, I knew it was a stupid mistake, but my father’s lawyer had driven a hard bargain—my signature for a quarter of the profit that would come in the first two years. They needed someone to oversee things and it had to be someone with their name on the contract. Because I was the one closest to the restaurant, that person was me. My brother couldn’t even have his name on it because of all of the disgusting things he’d done. I felt my blood boil again. It wasn’t enough that he was just as worthless as our father. It wasn’t enough that he’d gotten in trouble and almost arrested. He had to come in here and also try to hit on Amelia. This was after he started an argument with me about signing an NHL contract. He thought that because he’d played in the league, he should tell me what to do, where to go and who my agent should be once I graduated.
“This is ready.” Dad put the papers in a folder and set them in his briefcase. He closed it and snapped the handles as he stood again. “I hope I see you before next year. Maybe you can bring your friend to the island for a weekend.”
“No, thanks.”
“You know, your mother forgave me for all of that shit. I fucked up, yes, but she forgave me, why can’t you?”
I stared at him for a moment. “If you can’t answer that question yourself, you’re worse than I thought. I’ll see you when I see you.”
I turned around and headed back up to my apartment. He’d one-hundred-percent ruined my mood. As the elevator door was closing, I caught sight of Marcus jogging my way. I held it for him.
“Shit. I’m running late today.” He exhaled as we rode up to my floor. “I hope she already did all the stuff. I have to take it to the lab and run tests myself.”
“You’re running the tests?”
“Obviously. You know anyone else who’s pre-med with access to the labs?”
I glared at him. Why were all of my friends such smart asses? Couldn’t any of them be mild mannered and just nice? It was stupid, but I didn’t like the idea of him handling something so personal of Amelia’s. This girl had me tripping over everything. The elevator doors opened and I started walking to my apartment. I heard a door open behind me and Mae’s laughter made me freeze in my tracks. I looked back and saw her talking to Marcus as she handed him the bag. She’d just met him yesterday and somehow was acting like they were old friends. Maybe it was because I’d dealt with my dad and brother this morning. Maybe it was because of the little sleep I’d gotten last night, or the fact that hockey practice had been shitty the day before yesterday. Maybe it was the kiss her and I shared, and the way I couldn’t get it the fuck out of my head.