Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Aster tipped her face up toward him. A fire burned in her agate eyes. “Then take me away from here. Let’s just go. Disappear forever.”
He blinked. “We can’t just leave, Aster. How am I supposed to take care of you and the baby? What about my family? We have to play this smart.”
Moisture filled her fevered gaze. “Family is what we’re supposed to be now. And if I stay here any longer…”
She choked on her fear.
He stole forward, wrapped her in his arms, and breathed out a weighted sigh. “You are. And I’ll do anything for you. I just…what if we tell your father? Convince him you belong with me? I don’t want you to have to hide for the rest of your life. For the rest of our lives. There has to be a better way. I mean, I’ve been making him a shitton of money, Aster. He respects me. What I do.”
Pride carved itself into the middle of him. Logan’s cut had gotten bigger and bigger, and Aster’s father had told him he’d never met another so promising.
Aster edged back a fraction, and her gorgeous face pinched. “He’ll kill you, Logan.”
“And what if he doesn’t? What if he gives us his blessing?”
“He won’t.”
“Then I’ll ask Trent and Jud for help.” He didn’t believe it would come to that.
In despair, she blinked. “And how many members of our family have to die for us to be together?” Her hand fisted at the hem of his shirt. “Let’s just go.”
He rushed to gather her up, pressed his lips to her forehead, and murmured, “Okay.”
Okay.
Whatever it took.
He’d already promised her that.
Something rustled in the bushes about twenty feet away, and they jumped apart. Logan peered into the dusky shadows where the leaves waved and lapped.
He couldn’t make out anything.
But he felt it.
The grim darkness that flashed over the night.
Swallowing hard, he turned back to Aster, grabbed her by the outside of the arms, and squeezed. “If you really want to go? Then we have to do it soon. We’ll leave this week. Be ready.”
A fist pounded on his bedroom door, and Logan jerked upright in bed.
“Logan, get up, family meeting in two.” Trent’s voice radiated through the air, lined in a hard, manic edge.
Logan glanced at the clock. It was just after ten a.m.
Apprehension surged.
What the hell was going on?
Whatever it was, he knew it was big. He could feel it echoing through the house, banging the walls like a warning toll.
Logan scrubbed a hand over his face to break up the sleep, then he tugged on the pair of jeans he’d left on the floor, and he fumbled out.
Late morning light seeped through the drawn curtains, and Trent was pacing the living room.
Jud sat on the very edge of the couch with his hands clasped together, conflict tangled in his being. Logan moved to sit beside him as unease curled through his spirit.
Nathan came out from his room, his eyes wide and trained on Trent, in tune with his twin.
“What’s going on?” Concern filled Nathan’s question.
Trent roughed an agitated hand over the top of his head, and he inhaled deep before he swung back around. “We’ve got a problem. Pit’s girl is pregnant.”
Confusion bound everyone’s tongues.
“It’s mine,” he clarified.
Logan felt like he’d been zapped.
Shocked.
Stunned.
It seemed he wasn’t the only one who’d found trouble. The only one with a child on the way.
He knew this was different, though.
Trent wasn’t close to being in love. Wasn’t close to fighting for a family that’d barely begun.
He’d been sleeping with Juna as a way to get at Pit. Pit was the man Trent had been hunting since the day their mother had been gunned down. The man Trent believed ultimately responsible for her hit.
He’d been doing everything he could to get close enough to take him out since.
It appeared he’d diverged paths.
“She’s dead if he finds out,” Trent continued. “I’m taking her out of here to keep her safe until the baby is born. I’m gonna raise it myself. We’re leaving. This city and this life. We’re gonna disappear, start over. It’s a bad life, and I won’t bring a child into it.”
A sound pitched out of Logan without his permission.
Relief.
Stark, gutting relief.
He bent in two, trying to clear his head. To process it.
They’d just been offered an out on a silver platter.
“It’s okay, man. It’s gonna be okay. Promise.” Jud squeezed his knee, thinking Logan was upset while Logan wanted to shout with the out they’d been given.
He could have Aster and his family.
There was a better solution.
Logan barely processed the conversation that ensued. Nathan asking him if raising a kid was what he really wanted. If he would be happy.
“You make me happy. The three of you, that’s it. And…” Trent choked. “And this kid.”
This kid.
Logan understood it to his soul.
Trent cleared his throat. “Have a deal to see through tonight. Big one. I don’t show, our father will be coming to collect. Don’t want to raise any suspicion. Get ready. Pack only what you need. Meet here at four. We roll an hour before sunrise. That is if everyone is with me?”