The Logan Brothers - Books 1-4: (EXPOSURE, CRASH, TWIN PASSIONS, and ADDICTED TO YOU)

by Shorter, L. A.

  He nodded. “I guess we're better as friends. We are friends, right Alice?”

  “Of course,” I said, giving him a hug. As I pulled back he moved in to kiss me, his lips hitting mine before I had a chance to react. I hesitated for a moment, my lips lingering on his, before coming to my senses and pulling back.

  “Sorry, I couldn't help it. You're just so stunning Alice, I've never met a girl like you.” He was talking fast, his words uncharacteristically apologetic.

  I smiled at him and put my hand to his cheek, his skin soft and warm. “That's sweet Tom, but I'm not looking for anything like that.”

  His eyes straightened on me and he nodded lightly. “I get it.”

  He stood and turned, walking out of the booth gingerly. I'd never seen him looking so forlorn, so downcast. I doubt, though, that he'd remember much of this tomorrow, if any of it.

  I sat alone in the booth as he stumbled back into the crowd, disappearing like a drop of water into the ocean. I could see Tess dancing with a couple of guys over to one side, each of them vying for her attention. She was loving it, teasing them and taunting them. That was just her way. It wasn't for me, not unless under strict, paid, conditions!

  I stood and meandered back towards the bar and tried to hail the bartender.

  “Hey sweetheart, let me get that for you,” said a guy to my left. He had a roving eye, looking me up and down.

  “It's all right, I'll get my own. Thanks for the offer.”

  He winked at me with a smile on his face. “Can't blame a guy for trying.”

  I heard another voice behind me as the guy trundled off towards the other end of the bar.

  “Perhaps I could buy you a drink instead.”

  For crying out loud, why can't a girl just buy her own fucking drink.

  “No, it's OK, I'm good thanks.”

  “Perhaps a chat then. I really need to talk to you.”

  God, what was the deal with this guy. Creepy much. I turned to my right to see who it was and my heart hit the floor.

  “Kyle! What the hell are you doing here?!”

  “Like I said Alice, I need to talk to you.”

  He looked as stern as I'd ever seen him, his face cast from iron. A peppering of stubble shrouded his cheeks, making his complexion look even darker in the dim light of the bar. But his eyes, those bright blue eyes, nothing could keep them at bay. They shone out like stars on the black sky.

  “This way,” he said, “we need to find somewhere quieter.”

  Chapter 42

  He took me by the hand and walked through the crowd towards the back. There was a VIP area there, a small section away from the main bustle of the club. A large bouncer stood guarding it, a clipboard in his hand.

  I watched as Kyle stepped towards him and spoke. In the loud of the club I couldn't hear his words, but I saw him slip the man a note before he clipped the rope off the pole and let us through.

  We walked in, the boom of the dance floor quieter now, and sat in a private booth away from prying eyes and ears. I waited for him to speak first, my own words still lost.

  “You look beautiful Alice.”

  I had no reply.

  “If my father knows I'm here he'll probably have both our heads, so I'm sorry to put you at risk. But, I needed to see you.”

  He was speaking so officially, like it was a business meeting. There was no tenderness in his eyes.

  “My father - he told you what happened?”

  I nodded.

  “What did he say?”

  I finally mustered my words. I felt like I was being interrogated. “He said that he set the Michael Cooper killing up to kill two birds with one stone. To kill him, and to set me up, use it as collateral against me.”

  “To keep you dancing? To punish me by doing so?”

  I nodded again.

  “There's more to it Alice. Something I found out.”

  I listened intently, leaning in. “What?”

  “It's all linked. Me, you, Mr Cooper and....” he paused briefly...“Jen.”

  “Jen?” I asked, my frown increasing. “What's she got to do with it?”

  “The poor girl. It was her Alice. It was her who killed Mr Cooper.”

  I was speechless. Why? How could she do such a thing?

  He continued, seeing the look of shock plastered onto my face, my mouth hanging open slightly. “My father - he must have found her Alice, tracked her down. He probably knew where she was all along. He forced her to do it, threatened her family, her life.”

  “I can't believe it. Poor Jen. Why would he force her into it?!”

  “Because she ran out on the client when he'd paid to sleep with her. It was him - Mr White - who she ran away from. She told you this, did she not, when she came to you in the hotel that night?”

  I nodded.

  “It was a tidy way to close the loop then. Kill Mr White, or Cooper, and punish Jen for what she did by forcing her to do it. If she couldn't go through with it, or if she failed in her attempt, my father could pass it off as her own personal vendetta against him. If she succeeded, he'd win on both counts.”

  The depths to which this man would go shocked me to my very core. He'd manipulated the entire situation to punish everyone at once. Killing Cooper, forcing Jen to do it, setting me up, and punishing his son as a result.

  He'd not only killed two birds with one stone, he'd killed four.

  “He knew that Jen would be able to get close to him in the hotel room,” Kyle continued. “He knew they'd be no guards, no security to protect him. It was all under the table, all off the books. A man like Michael Cooper couldn't afford for anyone to find out that he indulged in such vices.”

  “And that would allow her to get near enough to stab him?”

  Kyle nodded.

  “He was expecting more than just a dance though. He'd paid for sex once more, paid to finish the job with Jen. So she wouldn't just be dancing under the spotlight out in front of him. No, she'd be able to get close, move in towards him. Then she'd be able to strike. The knife, it was taped underneath the armchair. When she bent down to unzip his pants, she took it and struck him in the heart.”

  He spoke as if recounting a story.

  “But how do you know what happened? How did you find out?”

  “Because I talked to her. I found her address on a file. I was encrypted, but I unlocked it. I suspected it might be her, so I went there. She didn't say anything at first, but I broke her down. She was distraught by it all. He told her if she ever stepped out of line again, he'd give her over to the police.”

  His firm look was beginning to disintegrate as he spoke, a look of guilt riding up on his face. I knew why, so I didn't say anything. There was no point. As with me, he must have been consumed with regret at bringing Jen into his world. Another innocent life ruined.

  A silence lay between us. It was as if we were the only two people in the club, its sounds drowned out by the weight between us. Eventually I spoke, looking at Kyle with his eyes trained on the floor.

  “So, what are you doing to do?”

  His lifted his head slowly, his eyes filled with anger, and stared right at me.

  “I'm going to kill him.”

  Chapter 43

  “You're what?!” I whispered through gritted teeth, leaning in close to him. “You're going to kill your own father?!”

  His eyes remained unblinking, filled with resentment.

  He nodded slowly. “It's the only way to free us all.”

  “But he's your father Kyle. How can you?”

  “He's no father of mine. Not since he tore my life down around me. I know what he has in mind for you Alice, I know what he's going to force you to do.”

  My breath sho
rtened. “What?”

  “He wants you to agree to have sex with clients. There's been lots of interest in you. He won't give you the option Alice. I won't let that happen.”

  I could almost feel the heat emanating from his body. He looked like a volcano, about to explode at the though. The lengths he'd go to to protect me, to keep me safe. Maybe his father did deserve to die.

  “What he's done to do, what he did to Jen. I've been walking with my eyes closed, turning a blind eye. Now they've been opened. Now it's all too real Alice. I can't let this continue.”

  “And your brothers? What about them? What will they say when they find out?”

  “They won't find out. No one will. I'll be setting them free as well, letting us all choose our own paths, rather than being forced down the one he's constructed. He doesn't deserve to live. Not any more.”

  I sat in silence. I could see his mind was bent on it.

  “We'll be able to be together Alice, away from all of this shit. It's the only way.”

  A moment passed before I spoke again, the idea settling in. We could be together. I could quit, return to my normal life, climb out of the seedy world I was falling further into.

  “How?” I asked. “How will you do it.”

  He looked me square in the eye. “With your help.”

  Chapter 44

  Oh my fucking God how had things come to this. I was about to be party to murder. If my mother could see me now I wonder what she'd say. I doubt she'd give many words of support. But then again, did I have a choice?

  I'd been forced into a corner by a fucking monster. Charles Logan, a man who appeared a pillar of the community to many, was a callous warlord in his own world: a man who'd manipulate anyone to get what he wanted. Unfortunately, he'd forced his own son into a corner as well, and you know what they say about cornered animals. They don't play nice.

  I sat in a coffee shop, my hands cupping a warm mug, waiting. I was dressed as ordered - sexy lingerie covered by a tight black dress, all obscured by a long overcoat. I wore my hair up, my neck adorned in expensive jewelry, sparkling silver against my warm colored skin.

  A man approached. Was it him? Surely not, he didn't look right.

  “You fancy some company love?”

  He was gruff and coarse, too long without a shave - or a wash. Not who I was waiting for.

  I waited longer, my mug running empty, the ceramic turning cool in my hands. I turned my look out the window, watching cars rush by on the busy street. Then, a black car pulled up outside and a man stepped out. He looked more appropriate, wearing a suit and tie.

  He walked through the door and set his eyes on me.

  “Miss Grey?”

  I nodded.

  “Your car awaits.”

  “Thank you.”

  I stood and walked out of the cafe behind him. He opened the door for me and I stepped in. The inside was covered in cream leather, the windows blackened. Just as I'd ordered.

  Without a word the driver pulled out and onto the busy street. I knew where we were going. I was a flower and Charles Logan was the honeybee. Tonight he'd get what he deserved.

  I was moving in a world of cloak and daggers, a world where anonymity was paramount, where you couldn't trust anyone. I'd booked the car under a false name, paid for it with cash, chosen a random cafe from which to get picked up from. Kyle had told me to leave no paper trail at all, nothing to connect me to the crime he was about to commit.

  We arrived at the hotel and I stepped from the car. It was a process I was familiar with - another hotel, another client, another job. Only this time, it would be my last.

  The order had come direct from Logan's mouth - what to wear, where to go, when to arrive. Kyle had been right, he wanted me to turn to prostitution, and he always liked to sample the goods first himself.

  For all his rules, for all the standards he set his own staff, his own sons, he wouldn't adhere to them himself. He told me that he needed to make sure that any potential girl was good enough for his clients, that they'd do a good enough job. Only once he'd 'approved' them would they be able to take the next step.

  It was something Kyle had only just become aware of, and presented us with the most precious of opportunities. Charles Logan was keen to ensure that no one knew about his secret, that no one knew he took the girls for himself. If those who worked for him found out, it would shatter the foundations of his business.

  Tonight Mr Logan would be in a hotel room, under a fake name, and no one would know of his whereabouts, no one would know what he was doing. He will have made sure nothing could trace him to the hotel room he was currently waiting in, just like I'd done the same.

  As I sat in the car I felt my phone buzz in my purse and drew it out. The text simply read 801. I knew it was the number of the hotel suite I was supposed to go to. I relayed the information to Kyle and shut the phone off. The pieces were coming together.

  I walked straight through the lobby of the hotel and towards the elevators. I kept my eyes from the concierge behind the front desk, walking with purpose. It was a big hotel, and he wasn't to know whether I was a guest or not.

  I could feel the sweat on my palms as the elevator rose through the floors. I had grown used to foreign hotels and random suites, but not like this. I knew the man, I knew what he wanted of me, and I knew how the night was going to end. It made my heart do somersaults within my chest.

  As I stepped from the elevator I could see the suite right there ahead of me - 801 - the number bright in my mind. I ducked my head as an elderly woman walked by and entered the elevator behind me. I wanted no one to see my face.

  I checked to the left and right to make sure that the corridor was clear before knocking on the door.

  “Come in,” said the voice, deep and cold.

  I walked through the door and looked upon the suite, large and luxurious, a massive open plan living room ahead of me with huge windows looking down over the sparkling lights of the city. It was a new hotel suite, but a common sight. The only clients I ever saw were those with pockets as deep as the Mariana Trench.

  “Alice,” came a voice in the shadow, “so nice of you to come.”

  I looked over to see Charles Logan walking casually towards me from a darkened corner of the room, two glasses in his hands.

  “Have a drink, settle down.”

  He passed me the glass and ushered me over to sit in a chair. He sat opposite me, a coffee table between us, and crossed his legs. He wore a suit, as he always seemed to, and a look of detachment on his face.

  “Tell me Alice,” he said, his eyes not moving from mine, “how is it that you agreed to take the step to prostitution so easily when only a few weeks ago Kyle had attempted to wrest you from from my clutched altogether?”

  His words hit me like a bus. They were completely out of the blue. I thought that fact that I'd offered myself to take the next step was enough. Clearly he didn't trust me.

  He looked on at me suspiciously as my mind searched for an answer. I shut down my emotions and hardened my tone, equalling his indifference as best I could. “It was never me who wanted to quit. Kyle didn't want me dancing. I was happy to keep doing so.” That much, at least, was true.

  “I need the money, and I'm not ashamed to use my body to get it.”

  “Good,” he said, nodding lightly. “So Mrs Jones did her job well then. She has completed your sexual liberation. She truly does work wonders on even the most delicate flowers.”

  His words made my skin crawl, the thought of his hands soon upon me turning my stomach. But for now, I must maintain the illusion.

  “She did,” I said, “I was nothing before I met her.”

  “And now?” he asked. “What are you now?”

  “A seductress,�
�� I answered, without thought.

  “That you are,” he said, dragging his eyes down from my face towards my body. “You truly are something. Please, stand up.”

  I obeyed his command. That was my part to play in this.

  “Remove your coat.”

  I slid out of it and placed it to the side.

  “Now, stripping is one thing Alice. Sex is quite another. It is a totally different performance, one that I will test you on now. I understand how you must see the hypocrisy in all of this.” He let his words hang.

  “Hypocrisy?”

  “Yes,” he smiled. “That I punish my son for having a relationship with you only to indulge in your flesh myself. It is a contradiction, is it not?”

  “I haven't thought of it like that,” I lied. “You're the boss. You can do as you like.”

  I saw his smile widen, my words convincing. “Yes. I am the boss. Now, remove your clothing.”

  I stepped into my alter ego's shoes - the confident stripper without sexual constraint - and began slipping out of my dress. I didn't dance or perform, it wasn't what he'd ordered. I merely removed my lingerie and stood there, naked, in front of him, wearing nothing but my silver necklace and a fake smile of excitement.

  His eyes washed all over my body. “Even better in the flesh,” he said.

  Please Kyle, where the hell are you.

  “Now come here to me, I want a closer look at you.”

  I walked towards him and stopped, his outstretched hand sliding up the outside of my leg, his fingers moving over the bottom of my ass as it curved out. I couldn't help but shudder at his touch and close my legs tighter.

  He breathed deep and looked up at me. “That will not do Alice. You must never react like that with a client.”

  He stood, his body raising up above mine, my eyes now in line with his square jaw and strong chin. He took my face in his hand and dragged me in for a kiss, his lips cold and dry. I tried to be natural, tried to let myself go, but I couldn't. I couldn't do this with him, not even a kiss.