Walk Through Fire

by Kristen Ashley

  “Sixteen an hour,” she answered instantly, then went on, “Which is ridiculous, but it’s the only place I could find that would do part-time and be cool when I had to take off to see to Raff because Ronnie can’t do that at her job.”

  I did quick calculations in my head, the extra clients I could take on, the raise I’d need to offer Claire with giving her more responsibility.

  I should pull up my accounts. Do it correctly. Make absolutely certain I could swing it, for me, for Claire, for Justine.

  All I could think of was Logan.

  “I’ll match your salary,” I stated, then went on insanely, “Or better it.”

  My friend made no reply.

  “Justine?” I called.

  “Are you serious?” she breathed.

  “I need to adjust my life,” I told her. “I need to make time for Logan. He has girls. I need to make time for them. I never like turning down jobs and it happens frequently. So yes. I’m serious.”

  “That’d be so cool!” she cried. “Ronnie’s company covers our insurance, so no worries there. And, babe, love you, would love to have this opportunity, you know I have fun working with you, but gotta share that I’ve got three weeks of vacation, two personal days, three sick, and Ronnie has almost the same, so I wouldn’t want to lose any of that.”

  Claire got three weeks of vacation.

  Justine couldn’t start on the same level with that as Claire.

  I’d up her personal days.

  “I can do that,” I said.

  “Holy crap,” she whispered.

  She could say that again.

  I needed to run some numbers.

  But in the end, it didn’t matter.

  Mental calculations told me any hit to my personal income would be minor, if it existed at all.

  Money was good to have.

  But Logan was better.

  “This is… it’s… it’s awesome, Mill,” Justine said.

  “I’m glad you think so,” I replied. “It meant a lot, you covering me while I had to go off and do my thing. But you’re also good at it. And it’d mean a lot to have you on the team.”

  “I have to talk to Ronnie.”

  She would. But Veronica wouldn’t say no. She loved her woman. She’d want her happy. And they weren’t losing anything out of the deal.

  “You talk. You tell me. I’ll run some numbers to see what I can do to make it worth your while. And then we’ll chat.”

  “It’ll be worth my while.”

  “Let me run some numbers, babe,” I said softly.

  It took a long moment for her to reply, “Love you, Millie.”

  I drew in a deep breath.

  “I’m happy you’re offering this to me,” she continued. “But I’m happier with why. I can’t wait to hear how it all went down with Logan. But you gotta know, official, I’m happy it went down, now for more reasons than one. The last time you had any joy, it was with him. I’m glad to know you’re not dicking around with getting that back.”

  “Me too,” I whispered. “And me too again with the love you thing. You’re the best, Justine.”

  I grinned again when she returned, “I so am.” My grin faded and my heart warmed when she finished, “You are too. Just hope Logan reminds you of that because I’ve told you, Dot has, Kellie has, Ronnie has, and you never got it. Logan gave that to you too. I hope he gives it back.”

  “Okay, we have to stop this because I have a ton of work and I can’t do it crying. I also don’t have time to fix my makeup,” I warned.

  “You’re such a freak. Babe, you have no appointments today. You’re sitting in a little house behind your big house. Who cares if your makeup is messed up?”

  “I do,” I retorted.

  “Such a freak,” she muttered.

  “This is better,” I declared. “You being annoying. A lot better.”

  “I give good annoying too.”

  “Go… take care of the Hubbles,” I ordered. “But keep track of the time. I’ll find time to run numbers today and I’ll call you tonight with a proper offer. Is that okay?”

  “Perfect. Later, babe. And, Millie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Pleased as punch for you, sister.”

  I drew in another breath.

  She hung up.

  I was grinning again when I put the phone back in its cradle.

  I checked calling Justine off my to-do list, hit the next up, and was working on the one after that when I heard the growl of a truck in my drive.

  I looked up, out the windows, and saw Logan’s truck.

  I smiled.

  He turned into the courtyard and I saw my SUV trailing him.

  My smile got bigger.

  I had my car back and Logan sorted that for me.

  My smile started fading when the growl of the first two vehicles was joined by the roar of a number of bikes.

  I stopped looking out my window in order to stare out of it when I saw Tack, Hop, Tabby’s dark-headed guy who’d come in with Tyra the day of my scene at Chaos, and Boz, all on bikes, with Big Petey bringing up the rear on his Harley trike.

  “What on earth?” I breathed as my door flew open.

  Logan was storming in, storming in, face full of thunder, eyes to me.

  My back snapped straight and I vaguely noticed another young Chaos member with dark hair coming in behind him but the majority of my attention was focused on Logan.

  “Follow me,” he grunted.

  “I…” My eyes darted to the other man as I heard the roar of Harleys die in my courtyard.

  “Follow me!” Logan barked.

  I jumped in my seat and my eyes shot back to him.

  When they did, I caught only his back since he was prowling out of my office, apparently feeling he could storm into my place of business, bark at me, order me around, and I’d comply.

  “High.” I heard it said outside, that one word meant to be both calming and cautionary, the voice saying it was Tack.

  “You need to stay the fuck outta this,” Logan growled as I sat still in my chair and stared out the door. As I did, I saw Logan turn and clip, “Millie. Here.”

  He didn’t wait for my response to him calling me like I was a dog.

  He stalked away.

  Something was happening. I didn’t know what it was. I did know it was something big.

  And I didn’t give a fuck.

  No man stormed into my office, barked orders at me, then called me to him like I was his pet, a naughty one, and stalked away expecting me to obey his commands without question.

  No man.

  Hell, no woman.

  No way.

  No how.

  The problem with that was I had Chaos brothers congregating outside my office door, the young one that followed Logan still inside, and I couldn’t share that shit did not happen, no way, no how while sitting in my chair while Logan was somewhere else.

  So I got up quickly, my chair flying back, and I did my own fucking storming.

  I did that passing the young guy, marching through the bevy of brothers hanging outside the door, and I caught sight of Logan at the back door to my house.

  I headed right there.

  He opened the door and went in.

  I hurried my step and followed him in.

  He was about to close the door when a hand landed on it and we were both forced back so Chaos could file in.

  And they did.

  All seven of them.

  I didn’t have a mind to them.

  I had a mind to Logan.

  My voice was low and trembling with fury when I declared, “You did not just call me to you like I was a dog.”

  He slammed the door, lifted a hand, one finger stabbing in the direction of the wall behind the door.

  I looked that way and blinked at a security system box lit up there that wasn’t there before I left for Paris, and due to all the things that had gone down, I had not noticed when I got back.

  “You leave,
you arm this,” Logan snarled. “Four, nine, one, three, red button.” He jabbed at the red button under the keypad. “You come home, you shut the fuckin’ door, lock the fucker, and unarm it, four, nine, one, three, then you fuckin’ rearm it, immediately, four… nine… one… three.”

  “How’d that get there?” I whispered.

  Logan didn’t answer me.

  He leaned into me, nabbed my hand, his fingers tight around mine, and started stalking again, through his brothers standing around my kitchen, dragging me with him.

  “High,” Tack bit out impatiently.

  Logan didn’t hesitate an instant.

  He dragged me to the front door, yanked us to a halt, and thrust a finger at another security panel at the side of the door.

  Eyes to me, he stated, “Same thing. Four, nine, one, three. You leave, you arm it. You’re home, it’s armed. No motion sensors in the house. It’s all about the windows and doors. They’re breached, a sound goes off raising all holy hell but also a message is sent straight to security dispatch. They contact the police and send a man out immediately. A man will show at the door to ask if everything is fine. You have a code phrase to tell him it’s not. You say, ‘Everything is fine, sir.’ If everything is fine, you find different words. If it’s not, he’ll know and deal. This sinkin’ in?”

  “How did I get an alarm system?” I asked, then kept questioning. “And when?”

  “You got it ’cause I had it put in. And you got it while you were in Paris.”

  “I… what… why?”

  He tugged on my hand, my arm jerked in the socket and I fell the step toward him that separated us.

  Then he bent only his neck to stare down at me from his superior height, doing this still ticked way the hell off and keeping hold of my hand.

  And staring into his infuriated eyes, feeling the stretch of the muscles in my arm that lingered after his pull, not painful, but still, I realized I was not astonished I had a security system. I was also not pissed at the way he was treating me.

  I was scared.

  I was scared because he was scary.

  I was scared because Logan was gone. There was no trace of him.

  This man was High.

  And he was terrifying.

  “’Cause I fuckin’ told you you got windows in your doors and that shit’s unsafe,” he ground out.

  I shifted away from him, pulling at my hand but failing to get free.

  “Let me go, Logan,” I said carefully.

  “High, brother, calm down,” Tack ordered from the direction of the hall.

  Logan ignored me and Tack.

  “I didn’t arm the alarm once you got it because you didn’t know you had it and I didn’t want you or Dot settin’ it off. Now you know,” he stated. “And now you fuckin’ use it, Millie. Anytime you leave, I don’t give a shit you’re walkin’ next door for a cup of sugar. And anytime you’re home. Do you get me?”

  I again tugged at my hand. “You need to let me go.”

  He moved forward and I scuttled back until I hit wall and Logan held me there with the bulk of his body and the intensity of his rage.

  “Brother,” a voice I didn’t know called, and I felt Chaos moving in all around Logan and me in my foyer.

  But I didn’t tear my eyes from him and he didn’t tear his from me.

  “You know that shit doesn’t happen to old ladies,” Logan snarled.

  “Logan, you’re scaring me,” I whispered.

  He dropped his face farther so our noses were nearly brushing. “You know, Millie. You fuckin’ know that shit doesn’t happen to old ladies. And if it does, the first fuckin’ thing you do is tell your old man.”

  His tone was deteriorating to abrasive, scratching at my skin.

  “Logan—”

  “You had a man in this house that was enemy to Chaos, a fuckin’ gun pointed at you, and you didn’t tell your old man.”

  Oh shit.

  How could I forget about my visit from Benito Valenzuela?

  I stared into Logan’s livid eyes and did it knowing he was right.

  That shit didn’t happen.

  But in the highly unlikely event it did, an old lady, or anyone associated with the Club who had the protection of Chaos, went right to their old man or someone in the Club.

  I’d done the latter.

  But I was Logan’s.

  Going to Tack was unacceptable.

  It was Logan I should have told.

  “I told Tack,” I informed him of what he now knew.

  “You’re not takin’ Tack’s cock,” he growled.

  “High, cool off and back off.” I heard, and that was Big Petey.

  I heard it but I didn’t process it.

  I was busy dealing with Logan’s words pinging around in my head.

  And as they did, I wasn’t afraid of him.

  I remembered the many reasons in this scenario I was pissed like fuck at him.

  So I retorted sharply, “I wasn’t your old lady then.”

  “You’ve always been my old lady,” he bit back.

  This was true.

  Whatever.

  “You are very aware that it’s more complicated than that, Logan Judd,” I snapped.

  “I am. Very aware, Millie. And I’m very aware that I had two fuckin’ days in this house with you and you didn’t say a goddamned word.”

  This was also true.

  Shit!

  “Other things, things that were extremely important, I’ll note, were taking my attention,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah. They were. But instead of you bawlin’ your eyes out last night ’cause some bitch who doesn’t even fuckin’ exist bit it on TV, you coulda been tellin’ me you’d had a gun pointed at you.”

  He was right again!

  Shit!

  “I told Tack,” I repeated.

  “And Tack is not me,” he fired back.

  “Logan—”

  He moved in even closer and I snapped my mouth shut.

  “You did wrong,” he whispered menacingly. “And you know it.”

  I was not going to be menaced.

  “You’re right,” I retorted. “Absolutely, one hundred percent right. I did wrong. I should have told you. I thought about it but other things kept coming up. Then, I don’t know how, maybe it was having the love of my life back in my life, I forgot about it. But bottom line, I was wrong. That doesn’t negate the fact that now you’re doing wrong by storming in here, barking at me, dragging me around, and attempting to intimidate me.”

  “Men broke into my woman’s house, threatened her, held a gun to her, and she didn’t tell me that shit,” he returned.

  I knew that couldn’t stand. I knew with any of these men that was intolerable.

  But the fact remained, I was unaware at the time I was his woman.

  “You need to dig deep, Logan, and remember where we were when that happened regardless of where we are now, where we’ve discovered only in the last two days we’ve always been…” I rolled up on my toes so our noses actually brushed, and finished, “And cut me some slack.”

  Although a low, sexy growl rolled up his throat, I was able to beat back the tingles at the sexy part because I was just that ticked.

  Other than that, he didn’t move, didn’t reply, just scowled down at me.

  I realized with this I’d finally scored my point but I was too pissed to care.

  So I didn’t move, didn’t say another word; I just glared up at him.

  This went on for some time.

  It only stopped when the guy who came into my office with Logan got close to our sides and, his voice shaking with humor, stated, “Think the biker and biker babe standoff is at a stalemate, brother. Probably a good time to stand down.”

  Logan turned only his head to the guy. “I’m not feelin’ amused, Joker.”

  “Think the rest of us are amused enough for you, High,” he replied.

  Logan’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

  I decided th
e biker and biker babe standoff was at a stalemate.

  At least that one.

  We had another one to contend with.

  I got Logan’s attention back when I demanded to know, “How did you manage to put a security system in?”

  He didn’t move out of my space when he declared, “Shit went down at The Roll. You were gutted. My boys were the ones who gutted you. Kellie laid it out. I jumped on my bike to sort shit out between us once and for all, got here, you didn’t answer. I was tweaked because you were fucked way the hell up and when you didn’t answer, that tweaked me more. So I broke in like I told you anyone could break in, did it easy, in about two seconds, breaking your glass.”

  I gasped.

  Logan kept talking.

  “None of your neighbors heard and if they did, none of them called the police. I was in your house long enough to search it, make calls, come back, and board up your door. Then I swiped a key and came back again when the glass guys came to fix your door. And I came back when the security guys installed the system. No one around here fuckin’ knows me and not a fuckin’ peep from anyone.”

  I had to admit to some dismay about this information.

  However, my attention was caught at something else.

  My boys were the ones who gutted you.

  I jumped on my bike to sort shit out between us.

  I stared up at him, remembering something that hadn’t dawned on me in the slightest at the time.

  That being, when I’d gone to Chaos and Logan had showed, he wasn’t nasty. He wasn’t hard. He wasn’t cold.

  He was watchful and guarded.

  And he was gentle.

  He also wanted to talk in his room.

  I jumped on my bike to sort shit out between us.

  I was tweaked.

  He’d come after me.

  He’d been worried about me.

  He’d got to the point he was going to end our insane game a different way.

  And when he saw something he felt made me unsafe, he’d paid for a security firm to install a system.

  Our reunion had not been triggered with me coming clean about why I broke us apart.

  Our reunion had been triggered before that, when his brothers hurt me to the point I lost it and he’d been worried about me.

  Now that was my Logan.

  “How did you know I was in Paris?” I asked quietly.

  “Babe, told you,” he answered sharply. “I was tweaked. Got a guy I know who’s a magician with shit like that to track you. Worried like fuck, was gonna follow you but thought you needed a chance to get your head together. So I waited it out. Was also gonna be here in this house when you got back. But you got back early. Still got an emergency passport partly ’cause I was that worried about you. Now that you’re back, I figure it’s mostly because I was pissed you went there without me.”