Accidentally Theirs (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)

by Lexie Davis

  “I called her sister. She said that she was flying out on the first available flight she could get.”

  “What about her father?” Aaron asked.

  Gabe stood there a minute. “He wasn’t taking calls. His secretary said he was in a meeting.”

  “You told her that his daughter could be seriously injured, right?” Logan was pissed and he didn’t know why. All the thoughts running though his mind did their best to keep him from worrying about the worst. He was angry and that was how he coped with things. He supposed it was somewhat natural having been beat most of his life.

  “I told her that his daughter was in the hospital and he needed to answer my call.”

  Logan rubbed a hand over his face. Blood stained his shirt from where he held her. God, he didn’t know how he made it to the house with her in his arms. Nick joked that he was in beast mode.

  “Maybe her sister will tell him. Convince him to come out here.” Nick licked his lips. “I can’t imagine a better reason to visit Kansas. Surely he hasn’t written her off like he did his mother.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure. The guy is a prick.” Logan wanted to punch something. Hell, he needed to punch something. Hours and hours of counseling had taught him very little when he got worked up. Talking through his feelings didn’t have the same reward as punching something.

  They sat in the waiting room for an hour before the doctor came out to talk with them. “We did a CT scan and she does have a concussion. Pretty severe. We’re going to keep her here overnight for observation. She also has a major gash in her head. We fixed that with staples. She’s going to be sore for the next few days, but she should make a full recovery. Your friend is lucky you found her in time.”

  Logan didn’t want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t found her. It was a supernatural whim that made him look in that direction. He saw the red plaid of her shirt in the green grass. He immediately knew something was wrong.

  “Do you want to go get something to eat?” Nick asked.

  “No.” Logan sat in the seat next to Cooper. “How long is a flight from Kansas to Atlanta?”

  “I don’t know,” Cooper commented. All four men stared at Logan. “Why?”

  “I’m ready to go there and drag his ass to Kansas.”

  “Don’t do anything rash.” Aaron was always the level headed one of the group. “I’m pretty sure that her sister will get him to come. If she’s anything like Harper, she will.”

  They waited around two hours before they finally let them go to her room. She had a bandage around her head and looked scared and vulnerable. Logan wanted to crawl in the bed with her and hold her close just to make sure she was all right.

  “How are you feeling?” Logan asked.

  “My head is throbbing.” She squinted. “Can you please turn off the light? And maybe not talk.”

  Someone killed the lights and plunged the room into darkness. Logan grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

  “I’m staying the night with you.” He decided to scoot in the bed after all, wrapping his arms around her body from behind. It wasn’t the most comfortable position but it suited him just fine.

  “I can’t go to sleep.” Harper smoothed her hand along his thigh. “They have to wake me up every few minutes to make sure I don’t have a bigger brain injury.”

  “I’ve got you, baby.” Logan breathed her in. “I’ve got you.”

  Cooper leaned down to kiss her cheek. “We’re going to get a hotel for the night. Logan is staying here and Gabe is staying here, too. We’ll see you early tomorrow morning, okay?”

  “Okay.” He kissed her lips. “Gabe can call our cell phone if you need us.”

  Logan smoothed his hand along her arm, careful not to pull on her IV. “Do you need another blanket? Your skin feels chilled.”

  “I’m freezing, but the nurse said that makes me go to sleep so she told me not to get too warm.”

  Logan didn’t like that. He tried to cover her with as much of his body as he could without crushing her in the small bed.

  The night was long. Not only did the nurses come in to wake Harper up, but they woke up Logan and Gabe as well. They tried watching a movie, but that only worked to their disadvantage.

  “What time was Ellie coming in?” Logan asked.

  “Morning.”

  “My sister is coming?”

  “Yeah. She’s the only one I could get a hold of. She said she was flying out on the first plane here.”

  “I can’t wait to see her.” Harper laid back in Logan’s arms. “I really miss having breakfast with her every morning before work.”

  Logan kissed her temple. “I know you do. Tomorrow you can have breakfast with her again when she gets here.”

  Harper closed her eyes. She didn’t talk about the elephant in the room. Her father hadn’t said anything about visiting and nobody knew if he would even come. He had a complete disregard for his mother’s funeral, and some wondered if he had that same disregard for his daughter.

  Logan wished it were different. Harper didn’t deserve that from him. She deserved to keep that relationship she valued even if she did run the ranch her father despised.

  By the time morning came, Logan was filled with fatigue. His muscles had stiffened from his position with her on the bed and he could barely move to go to the bathroom. Harper was worn out. Her twenty four hours was no where near being done and the poor woman wanted some sleep. Real sleep. He left her briefly to use the bathroom and came out just as someone knocked on the door.

  Logan answered it. “Can I help you?”

  “Is this Harper Tate’s room?” The woman looked confused as she glanced over at the room number.

  “Yes. Who are you?”

  “Her sister, Ellie.” She looked him up and down. “Are you one of the ranch hands?”

  Logan opened the door for her. “Yes.”

  Ellie walked in and smiled at Harper. “You look pretty beat up, kid. Ranching is getting the best of you, hun?” Ellie was an older version of Harper. While she didn’t look much like her, they favored in mannerisms and personalities. She went to her sister and hugged her. “I’ve missed you. How are you, really?”

  “I hurt everywhere.” Harper’s eyes filled with tears. “My head feels like someone took a jackhammer to it.”

  Ellie kissed her cheek. “Is there anything I can do? Do you want something to eat? Drink?”

  “I’m starving.” Harper tried to sit up in the bed and ended up grabbing her head.

  “Honey, why don’t you just lay there.” Gabe came to her. “Logan and I will go get you something to eat.”

  A knock on the door came and Ellie smiled. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  She opened it and an older man stepped inside. He looked so much like Janine it was uncanny. Harper definitely favored him with the blonde hair and blue eyes. Logan felt a sense of relief to see that her father was actually man enough to come visit his daughter.

  “You still want to see your old man?” he asked.

  Tears fell to her cheeks. “Yes.”

  He hugged her, holding her tight as he kissed her cheek. “I love you, Harper. I want you to know that. All the bullshit is in the past. You’re my daughter and I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.”

  Harper clung to him. Gabe grabbed Logan’s arm and led him out into the hall. She needed her family and it was clear that they weren’t part of it. They went downstairs and called Cooper and the guys to go get some breakfast.

  Logan wasn’t sure what Hugh being here meant for the rest of them. They were having fun with Harper and they cared about her, but they doubted her feelings went any further than that. They promised her pleasure and they delivered.

  Settling in the booth of the restaurant, Logan looked at the menu.

  “So her dad came?” Nick asked. “At least he was man enough to do that.”

  “Her sister got him to come, just like I thought she would.” Gabe played with the edge of the menu.
>
  “So what does that mean for us now?” Aaron asked. “Is she still going to keep the ranch?”

  That was the fifty million dollar question. Logan didn’t think she really liked Kansas. She’d lived in the city her whole life and it made sense that she would sell this place and go back. Her business called for that even, and he saw no reason for her not to. He rubbed a hand over his face.

  “We don’t know, Aaron.” Logan sat the menu aside. “We gave her a fun time and now she’s probably going to get down to business and work on fixing the place up. And then she’ll probably sell it.”

  “What are we going to do about jobs?” Aaron stared at him. “About a place to live? The ranch is the only thing good about our shitty lives. Can she really force us to move?”

  “Yes.” Gabe had a grim expression that matched the rest of them.

  Logan wanted to believe that she wouldn’t do that to them. That she would keep the ranch and let them work and live there for the rest of their lives. He didn’t want to think about it.

  “She wouldn’t do that.” Nick sounded so confident that they all looked over at him. “She’s not that kind of a person. Her father is, maybe, but she’s not. She wouldn’t kick us out on the streets with no job and no home. That would take a certain kind of evilness and she doesn’t have it.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Aaron commented. “I don’t want to go back to living on the streets.”

  “None of us do,” Logan remarked.

  He didn’t want his thoughts to go down memory lane, but they went there without his consent. He’d been sixteen when he finally got away from the abuse. He grew up fighting and could do it well. One of his foster families, the only one he ever felt gave a shit about him, enrolled him in counseling to control his anger issues. It didn’t help much, but he did learn that people could care about you if they wanted to.

  Coming from the outside, he knew better than anyone that it was difficult to find a spot in an already made family. To some extent, he would always be the outsider because genetics ruled over anything else. It hurt most of the time, especially when he’d been younger and didn’t understand why people didn’t want him. Why people abused him. Logan glanced out the window and stared at the busy road. He didn’t want to go back to that lifestyle. He had to scrape by just to survive and he had to do plenty of things that he never wanted to do again. Like eat out of a garbage can.

  “Hey,” Gabe elbowed him. “Get that worried look off your face. We don’t know what she’s going to do until she tells us.”

  Logan nodded. The waitress brought them their food and they ate mostly in silence. They’d become a family of sorts themselves and he didn’t want to lose them since they were all he had.

  “Promise me that if she kicks us out, we’ll stay together.” Logan didn’t quite meet anyone’s eyes. “I mean, I know it’s more difficult to survive on the street as a group, but we’re family, right?”

  “Yeah, Logan,” Aaron agreed with him. “We’re family.”

  After they finished their meal they went back to the hospital. Harper smiled at them when they walked into her room. There were only two chairs so the men stood against the wall so her father and sister could have them.

  “Where did you go?” Harper asked reaching for Logan’s hand. “I wanted to introduce you guys to my dad.”

  Logan closed his fingers around her small hand. She was still too chilled for his liking, but she seemed okay with it.

  “Dad, this is Logan Collins.” She pointed at each of the men. “That’s Cooper Dalton. Gabe Bailey. Nick Montgomery and Aaron Hartnett.”

  They all waved at him.

  “Nice to meet all of you.” Hugh Tate was not at all what Logan thought he’d be. The older man had a head full of blonde hair and blue eyes that matched Harper’s. He wore a nice white polo shirt with what Logan assumed was his company logo and khaki pants.

  “Logan is the one that carried me from the field to the truck to go to the hospital. He also held me all the way until we reached the hospital.” Harper told her father. When Logan glanced over at her in curiosity, she shrugged. “The nurses talk.”

  Logan gave her a small smile. Hugh stuck out his hand. “Thank you. I appreciate you looking out for my daughter.”

  “They all look out for me, Dad,” Harper commented. “Gabe called Ellie. I’m guessing he called you too, but you wouldn’t take the call.”

  Hugh blanched. “You’re probably right.”

  Harper closed her eyes. “My dad said he’d help me fix up the ranch house. I want to completely redo the bottom floor to make it more functional. Ellie is going to stay for a week and help me get some design things going. It’s going to be a completely different place when we get through. I need a good builder. Do any of you know any good builders?”

  Logan glanced toward the men. “Maybe a few.”

  “Good.” Harper didn’t let go of his hand. “The doctor’s already been in. I get to leave at lunch time if no complications arise. I’m still not allowed to fall asleep until my twenty four hours are up so I cannot rest until at least three.”

  Harper rambled on and they let her. He could see the awkwardness she felt with the men being in the same room as her father. They had told her more than once that they didn’t like him. He was fairly certain that she remembered that well despite her condition. Logan rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.

  “Oh, I didn’t tell you what I was going to tell you.” She shifted in the bed. “I caught Derek stealing from the barn. He told me that it was his riding gear and that Janine let him keep it there, but I don’t think it was. He doesn’t strike me as the kind that rides.”

  Logan blew out a breath. “So you think he’s the one that took the money too?”

  “Probably. He’s slimy enough to. I told him to leave the stuff in the barn and he basically told me to fuck off.”

  “What did he take?” Cooper asked.

  “I couldn’t see all of it. I was in the house when I saw him carry it out. But it was riding gear. An expensive saddle. I don’t know what else.”

  Cooper shook his head, pissed.

  “What would he want with that?” Harper asked.

  “To sell it.” Gabe folded his arms over his chest. “The rodeo is in Cheyenne and it brings about a pretty good crowd to potentially sell anything cow and horse related. People barter all the time before the events. I didn’t realize he was attending this year.”

  At least if she caught Derek stealing, then that meant that they were off the hook. Logan felt some relief about that. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he got defensive when people tried to point fingers toward him. He’d been accused of enough because of his past. He didn’t like feeling the same way when he was an adult.

  “I think I’m going to report him to the police.”

  “It wouldn’t do any good.” Logan gripped the railing of the bed with his free hand. “He’s probably already got the money for what he stole.”

  Harper frowned. “What should I do then?”

  “We’ll take care of it.” Logan leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Get some rest and we’ll see you at the ranch after you get discharged.”

  They filed out of the room and walked to the elevator. “I’d love nothing more than to finally teach that punk a lesson.”

  “We’re not going to do anything and you know it.”

  “You may not but I am.” He stepped on the elevator. “If you don’t want to be involved then go home.”

  Gabe shook his head. “Fine. What are we going to do?”

  Chapter Seven

  “So this is the house.” Hugh commented as he followed Harper inside. “Not much has changed in the thirty years I’ve been gone.”

  “I redid the office. The sheetrock was put up wrong so we took it down and reinstalled it. Nick got me some hardwood samples too while he went to the store. I need to pick out a color and place an order for the entire downstairs.”

  “Is the plan still flippin
g it?” Her father asked.

  Harper licked her lips. “I told you that I cannot do that. Those men need their jobs and they need a place to stay. I can’t just leave them to fend for themselves when there is nothing else around here for them to do. It’s not reasonable to ask them to pick up their home and the only family they knew to go somewhere else looking for work.”

  “It’s not your job to take care of strangers you don’t even know.”

  “But I’m making it my job.” Harper met her father’s eyes. “I know you have a bad history with this place, but I like it. What happened in the past is in the past. Please leave it there.”

  A knock sounded at the door and Harper moved to answer it. Amanda stood on the other side with a casserole. “I just heard from Gabe about what happened. Are you okay?”

  She stepped in the foyer and stopped. “Hugh.”

  Hugh stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Amanda.”

  She didn’t know what to do so she simply stared at him. “I’m glad you came back. It’s been a long time. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again.”

  Hugh nodded. “I know.”

  Amanda glanced between him and Harper. “So how have you been? I don’t know where to really start since it’s been so long. Momma and I would have attended your wife’s funeral if we’d known about it. We didn’t find out until Billy Mason showed us her obituary about a week later.”

  Hugh cleared his throat. “It’s okay.”

  Amanda blew out a breath. “I’m sorry, Hugh. I don’t know what to say to you. Momma was worried sick about you from the time you moved out until the day she died. I’m glad Harper came to her funeral, but you should have been there, too.”

  Hugh didn’t say anything and Harper cleared her throat. “Let’s go in the living area to talk. It’ll be more comfortable.”

  “There’s a lot of things about my decisions that you don’t understand. I don’t regret most of them. I do regret not coming to her funeral though. I should have come with Harper and then maybe this mess wouldn’t have happened. Maybe she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”