Burn (19 page)

“I’ll bring her home.” There’s a marked aggression in Logan’s tone and it racks up the tension in the room immeasurably.

The two of them stand there, staring one another down like they’re about to have some high noon showdown, until Gage says goodbye and leaves.

“That was awkward,” I whisper.

“Yeah.” Logan motions for me to take a seat at the table with him. “Things are getting a bit awkward.” He pulls a face.

“So you guys aren’t really getting along.” As evidenced by every single time they’re together.

He shakes his head. “No, but that’s not important. I got off the phone with my uncle a few minutes ago.” Logan wears a sobering expression. He looks lonely and distant and it badly makes me want to touch him. “He told me about your neck.” He presses out a sad smile. “Any idea
who
it could have been?”

“So I’m guessing, it wasn’t you,” I say, in a lame attempt to put a cute spin on it.

“My uncle thought maybe a Fem.”

“A Fem?” I’m almost amused. “What does that mean?”

“Counts still want them tormenting you—us.” He reaches over and brushes his hand over mine for a moment. “What happened to you last night? Michelle said she hurt you.”

“She thought it’d be entertaining if she made me eat worms.” I can just picture her running around telling everybody she kicked my ass. If she
wasn’t
with child, I would have beat the crap out of her.
 

An abrupt wave of nausea rolls through me. The room starts to feel like it’s spinning as a heavy feeling settles over my bones. I hang onto the edge of the table in order to catch my breath.

“You OK?” He helps steady me.

“I’m fine.” I try to shake the feeling away.

Logan rushes and gets me a glass of ice water.

“
Skyla
, my uncle said he discovered the puncture on your neck after he drew more blood for Chloe. He says your blood levels are way too low, that you’re running off minimal reserves. Let me take you home.”

“No. It’s my first day. Besides, I need the money for insurance and I want to pay for the car.”

An easy grin glides across his face.

“Monetarily,” I add.

“Of course.”
 

“So did you find out how to bind a Fem?” The thought of Logan hanging out with
Lexy
makes me sick. “Did she kiss you?”

The smile melts off his face. Something in him darkens before he answers. “No. I wouldn’t let her. And no, she didn’t tell me, but I made progress.”

“What did she say?”

“She said there is a way. It was made known to her by her dad. I guess they’re part
Nephilim
.” He shakes his head. “She said she would tell me if…” He looks away briefly. “Anyway, I’m not going to find out. We’re back to square one.”

“If what?” I think I know, but I want to hear it from him.

The table starts in on a violent rattle.

“What the heck?” Logan struggles to press it down before he stops its erratic quaking.

“Holden
Kragger’s
ghost,” I say.

I tell him what Marshall said about my new spiritual attachment and share my theory on the crash.

He lets out a hard breath.

“Marshall said he could get rid of him if I wanted.”

“I think I know what he wants in return.” Logan doesn’t look impressed with Marshall’s tactics.

“Is it the same thing
Lexy
wants?”

“Yes, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want a race of
Celestra
,
Deorsum
children running around.”

I twist my lips at the thought. “So
Lexy
is
Deorsum
. She never said anything before?”

“She didn’t know I was
Celestra
until after we weren’t together anymore.”

My stomach sinks when he says it.
Lexy
and Logan were together once. It’s probably only natural for him to still have feelings for her.

“The reason my uncle called was to let me know there’s an emergency faction meeting scheduled at Nicholas
Havar’s
tomorrow night.n> tomor

“What’s the emergency?” I’m almost afraid to ask.

“Something tells me you are.”

***

I hang out for three hours after my shift ends and help Logan close up the bowling alley. I’m beyond exhausted—my arms and legs feel like they’re going to fall off, and my head feels as heavy as a bowling ball itself.

Logan locks the main exit and turns off the florescent ceiling lights, leaving the alleyways glowing in soft purples and blues.

“You should always keep it like this.” I wrap my arms around his neck and peck a quick kiss on his cheek.

He leans in and relaxes into me. His face dims and his brows rise as though he were getting ready to ask me something.

“Well?” A small laugh rumbles from his chest.

“Well what?”

He looks intensely from one eye to the next. “You can’t hear me, can you?”

I straighten. I try my hardest to hear him telepathically, but nothing. I study his face intently and shake my head.

“What does this mean?” I’m panicked.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask my uncle.” A look of worry slowly dissipates. Logan draws me in and holds me, rocking me safe in his arms. “It’ll be OK.” He sighs into me and presses a kiss against the top of my head. “You ready to start our date?”
A seductive half-smile plays
on his lips.

Logan busies himself setting up a picnic right there on lane number five. The music is soft, and the lighting is perfectly enchanting as we take a seat Indian style across from one another with our knees touching.

“Since we had dinner a few hours ago, I thought maybe we could skip right to dessert.”

“Was dinner the pizza you catered in and sold to your customers for five dollars extra a box?” I tease.

“That’s how I stay in business.” He winks. “Kitchen opens near the end of the month.”

“Just in time for my birthday.”

“And what’s the date again?” He brightens as he pulls a mini chocolate éclair from out of the basket.

“Twenty-second.”

“Really?” He deflates a little. “I guess you know Gage is the twenty-third.”

“No, I didn’t know that.” I’m surprised, actually. “When’s yours?”

“It was the week before you came.” He takes up my hand and gently traces my fingers. “You were the perfect present.” There’s a familiar looking sadness in his eyes. “So you and Gage seem to have a lot in common. How are you getting along?” He massages my hands with his thumbs, staring down at them intently.

Logan is perfect—he glows from the inside with his own special light. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as majestic as Logan.

“Gage is fine.” I don’t like where this might be going.

“I don’t want to ruin our time together, but I want to let you know…” His eyes shimmer with moisture as he looks over at me. “Um, I walked into his room this morning and saw you with
Gage
.” His features smooth over as he depresses out a sigh.

A visual of what he must have seen runs through my mind, me kissing Gage, me on top of Gage. “I…” Shit. “I thought he was hurt. He said he was tired, and he went to lay down, so I—”

“It’s OK.” He presses his fingers to his lips. “There’s nobody to blame, but me.”

A spring of tears comes up unexpectedly and I blink them away. I want to say that nothing happened, that it didn’t mean anything, but my vocal chords clamp shut, forcing me to swallow the lies.

“I’m not being fair to you or Gage,” he starts. “I threw you together and this is something that I’m going to have to live with.” Logan nods into this as though he’s already considered it.

“You don’t have to live with anything. I won’t kiss him, I won’t be with him.”

He tilts his head a little. “I’m not asking you to do that. You need
Gage
to protect you. I’m not going to give the Counts any extra excuse to hurt you.” He swallows hard. “I’ve been thinking.” His eyes light up like sorrowful embers. “I don’t think you need the added pressure of me hanging around.”

“What are you talking about? Everything is about us. That’s why I’m with Gage, so we can be together in private—that’s why there’s a faction war, so we can knock the Counts off their pedestal and be free to be together. It’s going to be you and me, Logan.” It comes out more of a question.

“I know that’s what we planned and I really do believe you still want that,” he pauses pushing into me with an unwavering look of despair. “But I think Gage and I have confused you. I should’ve known Gage would fall in love with you. It’s hard not to.” He gives a short-lived smile. “I can’t have you with the both of us—it’s not right. I’m the one that suggested you be with him, and I think I should be the one to step away, remove myself from the situation. I don’t think it’s OK for the both of us to pursue you.”

“Yes it is.” It speeds out of me.

“No.” He tugs at my fingers playfully and gives a slow smile. “I love you, but I think your feelings for Gage…” He shrugs. “I think maybe they blossomed unexpectedly.” He floats his thumbs over the back of my hands in an even sweeping motion. “It’s me you need to keep away from,
Skyla
, not him. I’m the one who could cost you everything.” His eyes glitter with tears as he offers a hesitant smile. “I think maybe for now—we should just be friends.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Heartbreak

Alone in my bed that night, I drench myself in tears. It all unfolded just like the vision Marshall had given me.

Logan’s rationale meant nothing. They were empty words on a nonexistent platform. He wouldn’t admit the real reason he was leaving me was because I cheated. Instead, he shouldered the majority of our demise and pinned the rest on the Countenance.

I apologized beyond reason
for ever
touching Gage, for ever thinking I might have loved him, but Logan was emphatic we part ways—and that once the faction war was over we could see how things go.

A war. I have to fight a war to even hope to have Logan as a part of my life again. I pull the covers up around my blotchy face, hot from rivers of tears, my chest still heaving with ragged sighs and hiccups.

I listen to the sad drizzle of rain patter against the wood-covered window as I nestle deeper in my bed, feel the arctic breeze snake its way in through the cracks, and meditate on what a mess my life’s become.

Unsteady dreams take me captive. Seductive images fed to me in pieces.
An entire catalog of events unfold
in random order, each one beseeching the next.

I can hear Logan’s voice, the tenor lost in perfect octave—the rumble of his chest as he whispers hot into my ear. I am enslaved by his presence. He is magnified by an aura of irrational calm, an undeniable peace as easy as dying.