“I’ll come by tonight to talk to her.”
“Um,” she starts.
“What?”
Something in her tone didn’t set well with me. Either something was wrong or I was about to get pissed off.
“She’s really sick right now.”
I stiffen. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. She’s running a fever, looks real pale,” Lia starts rattling off how Faith is doing and I’m quickly packing up my stuff.
Confused or not about what was going to happen with us. I love her and she needs me, plain and simple.
“I’ll follow you,” I say as I force her out the door.
“I’m not taking you…” She starts to say.
“Damn it, Lia! I fucking love her, but I’m afraid that she’ll walk away again.” I yell in her face. Looking down at the ground, I mumble. “There are you happy?”
“I know hun and she’s afraid of the same thing. You guys belong with each other. Why is it that I’m the only one that sees it?”
After a moment or two, Lia finally agrees to take me to her house. I’ve never been there and didn’t even know where she lived. On the ride over, I looked back at how things went down in our split and my complete crash afterward.
Here I’ve only focused on my side of things. I need to think about Faith and what she may have suffered… No, what she has suffered because of all this.
When we arrived at Lia’s house, I was surprised. Her house isn’t at all what I expected. It’s grey stone on the outside, with a cobble stone path to match. The path leads up to a white wood recessed porch. It was a ranch style home. The windows had white wood trim around them really causing them to pop from the stone. Bushes lined the front of the house on either side of the path.
It actually looked like a place straight from a Home and Garden’s magazine.
“Wow, you live here?”
She laughs. “Yup. I’ve been fixing it up since I bought it. It’s slow progress, but I’m happy with how it’s coming along.”
“I’d love to see how it looked before you started working on it.”
“Sure, they’re inside. Fay’s room isn’t done and a couple of the others also, but it’s coming along.”
The mention of her name brought back as to why I was here.
“Yeah, I’ll look around and at those pics another time. I want to see Faith please.”
She smiles. “Glad to hear that.”
We walk inside and the stunning structure continues on the inside. The foyer was stunning. Dark heavy glossed hardwood floors ran the area with grey on the walls. A small chandelier hangs in the center of the room. Pictures and a couple small shelves for knickknacks dot the walls. A small rounded table sat center with a beautiful arrangement of flowers. There was a picture on the table that drew me in.
There were two girls in the photo. One looked to have been crying. I looked over my shoulder at Lia, silently asking my question.
“That’s Faith and I at boarding school. It was the day that I knew that Faith was someone I wanted in my life. She was crying because it was her birthday and when she called home to find out if her parents were coming up.” I watch her swallow hard.
“They weren’t going to make it?”
She shakes her head. “They told her they sent her there to forget about her not to have to go visit. When she said ‘you don’t mean that’, their response to her was to stop calling that she’d ruined their life enough.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” I gape at her.
She shakes her head again, not taking her eyes off the picture. “No, sadly I’m not. Her dad had told me once when I called to set up a party for her birthday that if he had anything to say about it she'd no longer be a burden to him or his wife, or anyone. I never told her about that,” she ends on a whisper.
I was floored. How could he be so callous to his own daughter, his own flesh and blood? They had her. They created her! Shaking my head, I shook the bad mood this revelation was starting to cause.
“Where’s Fay?”
“Straight ahead, through the living room, to the right second door on the right,” she answers distractedly.
Heading in the direction she told me, I looked around as I went. The living room was huge. Three couches form a U around the fireplace while a sectional curved around in front of a large flat screen hanging on the wall. Damn! She’s done an amazing job. On the other side of the room sat a large black grand piano and a single chair with a floor lamp on one side and a small book shelf on the other.
Finding the hall, I head down past one door then to the second like she said. Knocking lightly on the door, it opens.
“Oh, um, you must be Logan,” a woman says quietly looking down at her hands.
“Yes,” was all I could say.
The woman was beautiful just as Lia was, but still held nothing on Faith. But then again, no one ever has come close to her beauty.
“She’s asleep, but I’ll leave you two alone.”
I step back so she can leave the room. Just as she’s passing me she stops next to me.
“Don’t hurt her again. Or I’ll hunt you down and hurt you.”
All I could do was nod my head. What else could I say?
When she left, I walk inside the room. It was small and obviously has not been updated. Wallpaper hangs in pieces on the wall, showcasing some old wood paneling beneath it. The carpet has seen better days and in some spots looked almost burnt in sections. Upon closer inspection, I can see that it’s actually a mix of carpet and linoleum. The ceiling has that ugly popcorn thing going on.
There was an armoire on the wall by the door, a small desk and chair across from it and a side table next to the bed. The furniture looks old. Maybe even antiques. But as my eyes land on the bed, all thoughts evaporate.
Laying wrapped up in a blanket was my beautiful woman. Even sick she stalled all movements in my body. My lungs forget to breathe. My heart forgets to beat. Slowly, I make my way to her bedside. It’s really only like four steps, but to my body afraid to function, it seems like far more than that.
The minute my hand touches her face, my knees give out and I collapse to the bed. Her head was hot. She groans and starts to roll over.
“Shhh, baby. I’m right here.”
“Why can’t you love me back?” She moans in her sleep. “You’re all I have. Please don’t give up on me. Please.”
Right then my decision was made. We still need to talk, but I know I can’t walk away this time, nor can I let her walk away from me.
“I’m not giving up on you.” I kiss her forehead. “I love you.”
“Logan,” she breathes as she slowly starts to open her eyes.
Cupping her face in my hands, I stroke her cheeks with my thumbs. “Yes, baby. I’m right here.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you and I’m not letting you get away from me again.”
“You… you do?” She asks as she starts to sit up.
I stop her with my hands on her shoulder. “You stay lying down. I’m here to take care of you,” I smile at her. “Baby I’ve never stopped loving you and if I couldn’t over the past six years, I’m never going to be able to. I love you so much. I can’t let any more time go by without you by my side.”
Tears fall down her temples and disappear in her hair line. “I thought you thought I was a whore and were disgusted with me.”
“I don’t like the fact that other guys have had what’s mine, but baby I don’t think any less of you for doing what you needed to do in order to survive. Hell, the only time I was able to not feel the pain of losing you was those moments of release.”
She starts coughing hard. Pulling her gently up, I stroke her back softly until her coughing fit passed. Lowering her gently back to the bed, I stroke the hair from her face.
“We’ll talk when you’re feeling better,” I whisper, kissing her forehead.
As I start to rise from the bed, she grabs
my hand and her eyes fill in panic. “Please don’t leave me.”
“Never,” I kiss her head again. “I’m just going to go get some more blankets to prop you up so you won’t cough as much. I’ll be right back I promise.”
She nods her head slowly and I get up and start toward the door. Just as I reached the door she whispers to me.
“I love you, Logan.”
Turning, I smile at her. “I love you more.”
Chapter Twelve
Logan
When I make it into the living room, I holler for Lia. She comes walking around the corner with a smile on her face.
“I’m going to take her to the hospital. Her fever is still high. She’s coughing up blood. I’m not risking it.”
“Oh, um, I can take her then. You probably need to get back to work.”
Looking at her strangely, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m an owner not an employee.”
Her face falls and she starts walking toward Faith’s room, so I follow. What the hell was going on here?
“Faithy, sweetie, are you okay?”
She opens her eyes and frowns. “Logan left, didn’t he?”
The sadness in her voice broke me. Moving over next to the bed, I sit down and take her hand.
“Baby, I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”
Lia looks at me and then back to Faith. “Sweetie, he wants to take you to the hospital.”
She says it like it’s a bad thing. Something tells me there’s more going on here than what I’m being told. Faith nods her head and Lia kisses her forehead and exits the room.
“Logan,” she croaks. “I need to tell you something.”
Moving down closer to her, I kneel on the floor in front of her. “What’s going on sweetheart? Is there a reason I can’t take you to the hospital?”
“Not as such, but you need to know something. I was going to tell you the other night, but then we learned who each other were and got into a long discussion about that.” She swallows hard.
“Baby, you’re scaring me. Just tell me so I can get you to the hospital.”
“I’m pregnant. Please don’t ask me if it’s yours because that will hurt. It is yours. Before the first time we’d been together it had been months before I’d had sex with anyone forced or willingly. Then after our first time together, no one until you again. It is your baby. I hope you believe me.”
Thinking about it for a minute, I couldn’t react to this revelation at the moment. She needed to be seen.
“We’ll talk about this too when you’re better. You need to be seen by a doctor, now more than ever. You don’t want any harm coming to the baby, right?”
She shook her head. “Can you give me my phone?”
Handing her phone to her, I grabbed her up in my arms. She dialed a number on her phone and waited for an answer.
“Beau? … I’m okay. … No, I’m sick. … What hospital can I safely go to? … What?” She turned pale faced to me with her mouth hanging open.
Her hands were shaking about causing her to drop her phone. Catching the phone as she squirmed out of my arms and bolts for the bathroom, I put the phone to my ear.
“Beau, it’s Logan. What’s going on?”
“Logan? You guys found each other again?” He sounds shocked.
“Yeah, we did. What’s going on?”
“She’s in a lot of trouble for running away. Tony has sent his crew out to find her. She can’t be found Logan. If she’s found… Look, I saw the beatings she received. I don’t even want to picture how she’d be hurt now.”
“I’m not letting anything happen to her, or my child.” I breathe.
“You were the one to impregnate her? She said she didn’t know the name of the guy because it was a mystery masked party or something.”
“Yeah well, I was the guy.”
“That’s great! She was very upset that it wasn’t with you and here it was,” he laughs.
“Not a funny moment,” I growl.
“You’re right, sorry. Get her out of town hide her some place they won’t think to look. Warn Lia, Hazel, Lexi, Bleu, Zoey, and Emma. They could be coming for them because she spent the most time with them.”
“I only know Lia…” I muttered, realizing the seriousness of the situation.
“Lia will know the others. They are her girls.”
“Can I still take her to the hospital?”
“I’ll send a private doctor that I trust to her. You can’t risk it, Logan.”
“I’ll figure it out then. Thanks for warning us.”
“Take care of her.”
“I will don’t worry about that.”
Hanging up the phone, I called Lia’s name again. This time she told me she was in the kitchen. Great because I know where that is, I think as I roll my eyes.
Making my way back in the opposite direction I took to Faith’s room. Walking through a formal dining room, I followed the noise. After taking the door straight ahead off the dining room, I entered the kitchen.
This kitchen was incredible. Counters and cupboards lined all the walls. Double wall ovens, a stove top, stainless steel fridge and pull out drawer freezer. There was a center island with sink and wine fridge.
“What’s up?”
“I’m taking Faith away from here. Beau just said that she’s in danger. Beau said to tell you, Hazel, Lexi, Bleu, Zoey, and Emma need to hide as well. I’m assuming you’ll know who they all are.”
“I’m Hazel,” the girl I met in Faith’s room says softly.
“Oh. It’s nice to meet you.”
She looks down at her hands and scurries out of the kitchen. Turning back, I look at Lia questioningly.
“She doesn’t trust people. When she joined Hawthorne’s Angels, I was honestly shocked. She barely spoke and was skin and bones. It was a good six months before she actually went out on appointments. Her past isn’t pleasant, but then again the women that work with me are here to escape not because they enjoy having men use them.”
I drop my head because that’s exactly what I did after I lost Faith. It was the best way for me to not get attached to anyone.
“Not you Logan. Not you. All the guys at your little ‘party’ treated all of us with respect.”
“Yeah, but the result was still the same. We needed and we paid to get what we wanted. I’m no better.”
“You aren’t like them,” Faith says behind me.
Turning around, I see her leaning against the door frame. “Are you okay?” I ask as I hurry to her side.
“You’re not like them Logan. You wouldn’t believe how some of them treat women just because they are spending money on them.”
My body tenses at her comment. Was she harmed by some of these men? Shaking my head, I need to focus on the present not the past.
“Are you okay?”
She smirks at me. “You aren’t listening to me, are you?”
I kiss her forehead. “You know me well, beautiful. We are going to go on a vacation for a little bit. Just you and me. Is that okay?”
She tries to glare at me, but fails miserably. “You know Beau already talked to me right?”
God I love this woman!
It was my turn to smirk at her. “Yes, I know. But I like the sound of a private vacation for the two of us versus running away and hiding. Don’t you?”
Faith hugs me and that was all the answer I need. My mind starts going over our options for places to run. I want her relaxed. She deserves to not have to worry. Then a place occurs to me.
Pulling out my phone, I call my brother.
“What’s up Lo? Are you doing better?”
“I’m good,” I look down at Faith. “I’m really good. Uh, I need a huge favor Levi.”
“Of course. Anything. You know that?”
“Can Faith and I stay at your house on that secluded island?”
“What’s going on? You’re voice has me concerned. And when did you get Faith back?”
“Faith and I are
in a bit of trouble that we need to hide out for a bit. If it’s too much trouble…”
“No not at all, bro. Take it. You have the keys. I’m gearing up for my next tour so I won’t be using it anyway. Just take care of it. Oh and if you could look at some problem areas while you’re there. The last storm caused some damage.”
“It’s the least I can do. Thank you. There might be a few others out there too. But there are ten bedrooms right?”
I hear his breath hiss out. “What kind of trouble are you in?”
“Remember how Faith had to leave me because she was being forced to marry some guy by her father?”
“Yeah,” he says warily.
“Well, she finally got away and they are after her, but because the last person she was seen with was Lia… Well, their coming after Faith and Lia and all her girls.”
“Fuck! Have you told Leif?”
“No, I haven’t said anything to Leif yet, but I will. I think I need to tell Joey too.”
“Joey’s hooked on one of her girls too? Damn maybe I’ll be making an appearance,” Levi laughs.
“I’d love that. It’s been far too long.”
I haven’t seen Levi in a couple years now. When his career took off four years ago, he’s been pretty much on the go since. I’m happy for him though. He’s living his dream.
“I know brother. We’ll see what I can do? Maybe we could get all of us down? What do you think?”
“Yeah, I’ll call them and see what we can work out and call you back. Sound good?”
“Great. I’m glad you’ve got your girl back. You sound happier.”
“That’s because I am. Want to know some other bit of great news?”
“God, just hearing you this carefree… If I were a pussy, I’d be all teary eyed right now, but sure tell me,” he laughs.
“You’re going to be Uncle Leevee,” I grin big at the silence on the other end.
“No fucking way bro!” He finally breaks his stunned silence.
“Yeah, I just found out today. Kind of weird to think I’ll be a dad soon.”
It’s the first time I’ve really thought about it since she told me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Faith staring up at me biting her lip. In her eyes, I could just make out her nervousness.
Forbidden Paths Page 9
