Unmistakably Us (Imagine Ink Book 5)

by Verlene Landon

  A gasp, one she was intimately familiar with, pierced her soul. “Sunday, as in one fucking day from now?” The question seemed to be more disappointed and tortured than angry, which is what she expected from Logan. Anger, and lots of it, but it seemed to be absent.

  All eyes turned toward the man she loved, the man she loathed hurting, but had done so all the same. All eyes except hers. January knew if she looked at him, she would give up everything, even let her mother say what she would to her sister.

  Instead, she stared at her mother, willing the woman away. Willing her to not go after Logan, willing her to just accept the sacrifices she was making, had made as payment enough and leave. Of course, that’s not how her mother operated.

  The commotion inside drew everyone’s attention. Logan could see very little fine detail but with the open layout of Gus’ house and the incessant barking of Sixx and Mars from the run, it was obvious there was company. Company everyone was tense about, at that.

  John was the first to eat up the distance between the grill and the door. He was a man on a mission, which triggered Logan’s, oh fuck meter. John wasn’t a rash man. He was control incarnate, but one glance at the flurry of activity around the front door and he was the picture of chaos.

  Not bothering to close the door after he entered, John came up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her. She disappeared as his body enveloped her. Logan smiled a little for a moment. That's what happened when he hugged Jan from behind, too.

  His smile dropped as Jan’s sugary sweet voiced reached his ears. Those were her parents. Logan knew very little, but he knew he didn’t care for them. However, they were her parents, and he was curious. Also, he wanted to meet the people who created his very lifeblood.

  He had just stepped inside as that lifeblood crystalized and froze in his veins. She was leaving him. Logan knew she’d planned on leaving, but that was some distant future, one he had time to fight. Not Sunday. He couldn’t fight Sunday.

  “Sunday, as in one fucking day from now?” Surely, he heard wrong. Surely, January would turn around and tell him it was all a mistake…wouldn’t she?

  There it was, pity. He hated pity, all eyes on him, feeling sorry for poor, little, unwanted Logan. Not all eyes, not a pair of hazelly green ones that lit a fire in his soul. Not those eyes. Logan knew she’d heard him too, because her entire demeanor changed. It was like when Domino was in charge, and there was a palpable shift.

  The waiting was the worst. No, it was the rending of his heart that was the worst.

  Time stood still. It was like a bad scene from a low-budget movie. Even the dust motes floating in the air ceased all movement and just hung there…waiting.

  In slow motion, time started a sluggish march forward again, but it still felt stilted, not real time. January’s mother started to speak, but was overridden by Francis ordering everyone to the other room. Of course, her order was laced with sugar and phrased like a request, but it was obeyed all the same.

  John dragged Gus with him toward their bedroom. Everyone who had migrated from the yard melted back out the door. Everyone but January found somewhere else to be.

  “January, be a dear and fetch me some sweet tea. I’m feeling a little parched, and no rush, okay? I want to have a talk with our guests here.” Francis phrased it like a request, but it was anything but.

  January huffed but gave a quick nod and complied. She found her feet to be the most interesting things as she passed Logan, never once looking in his direction even though he was directly in the line of her mission.

  It hurt in a way that was indescribable, but what hurt more? The look on her profile as she passed and the way she hugged herself. The tears broke him.

  Why should they? She was leaving him. She made her choice so he would give zero fucks. Well, maybe one. He needed to know why. They had a good thing going, and he was positive she felt the same about him. At least she could with time, so why?

  His thoughts were interrupted when Francis transformed from a sweet, little ole southern belle to a petite mob boss in a designer pantsuit.

  “Melody, is it? May I call you Melody? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to know your name to know your type.” Francis was cool and scary as fuck as she leaned into the woman’s personal space, but she never dropped the sweet tea smile or the sugary pecan pie tone.

  “Let me make one thing crystal clear. If you hurt one of my kids, I will destroy you and not even break a sweat.”

  Francis seemed to give her a minute to digest the threat, but the lady was clueless and responded with the wrong answer. “Those two do not belong to you. They belong to me. They’re my daughters.”

  “Melody, Melody, Melody, you can’t own people. And just because you shot them out of your baby cannon, doesn’t make you a mother. There is so much more to it than that.”

  January’s mom opened her mouth to respond, but Francis halted her words with a finger to her mouth like she was a child.

  “Uh-uh, just listen. Do you know what we have in abundance here in the great state of Florida? Old people, golf carts, and gators. Do you know that the gators in some parts can damn near devour a human body and not leave a trace for the cops to even puzzle out what happened or who they were. Or so I’ve heard.”

  The look of indignation on Melody Thorne’s face was damn near comical.

  “Now, why don’t you and your mute husband there, head on back to your hotel and I’ll let my girls know where you’re staying and if they want to talk to you, they will.”

  Francis finally removed her hand from the other lady’s lips and grabbed the door, presumably to slam it in her face.

  Not to be outdone, Melody struck the death blow, at least for Logan. “January, don’t forget we need to be at the bridal store at ten Monday morning. We have you all set up with a dress consultant.”

  The shattering of glass and January’s gasp punctuated the statement, pretty much summing up what was happening inside Logan. Shards of glass were rapidly pumping through his blood stream, shredding his heart and slicing his veins to ribbons.

  For the first time since this nightmare began, January dared to look at him. Her hands were thrown in front of her betraying lips, and her lying eyes begged forgiveness, but there was none to be had. Once again, Logan Chotkey wasn’t good enough. Even January was choosing someone else; not even becoming Logan Chapman had changed anything. He was still second choice and always would be.

  “WHAT THE FUCK?” Old demons rose from where he had recently buried them, and anger, red and all consuming, washed over him. Even when she recoiled at his fury, he didn’t try to rein it in.

  For a man who never thought he could have it all or even deserve a portion of it, he had lost everything he had convinced himself he could live without…until Domino came dancing into his life and dragging January with her. It was actually the other way around, but to admit that, even to himself, would be fatal.

  The door slammed, and January whispered his name, but it was all just noise to him. It meant nothing.

  Nothing.

  That was what he had and what he gave a shit about now…nothing.

  Sixteen

  Logan was gone. And not just because he left. He was gone. It was clear in his dead eyes. Sure, there was anger but when that drained away, so did everything else. The passion, the laughter, the…love, everything. All of it, wiped out by Melody freaking Thorne. Just when January thought her mother had done the worst she possibly could, she upped her game.

  January didn’t know how, but she would fix this. Even at the cost of all else. Her mind was reeling, and her heart was shattered, but when Francis held her like a real mother should have, January relished it, even with all the warring taking place in her soul.

  “Let it out, child. I do not know how such a vile woman gave birth to two such beautiful souls.”

  “Oh, Francis. I hurt him so bad. He doesn’t deserve that. He thinks he’s some broken person, but he is capable of love beyond what
he was ever shown. Now, he’ll never give love a chance. I did that to him. I broke him when all those who tried couldn’t do it, I did it without even trying.”

  “Hush now.” Francis led her to the sofa and curled her into her body, her head on her lap like a baby, stroking her hair and making her feel loved. “You said it yourself, he is capable of love beyond what he thinks. He’s angry, I mean, that was a doozy of a bomb she dropped. Give him time, especially if you come clean, he’ll forgive you.”

  January sat up and looked at Francis in terror. “NO! I can’t tell him. Don’t you see? It would be me choosing someone else over him just like everyone else he’s trusted. It’s better if he thinks whatever it is he thinks. He can recover from this easier than...just, no.”

  She didn’t believe her own words, but January was determined to fix this, without help. She made this fucked-up shitstorm, so she’d be the one to shovel the aftermath, alone.

  “Francis, thank you for treating me the way my mother never did. Always ready to defend me or advise me or just listen to me, but I made this mess, I have to be the one to fix it.”

  When she didn’t speak but threw her hands up in surrender, January wasn’t sure she actually received Francis’ cooperation, but she’d take the temporary reprieve. Especially since everyone came filing back into the living room from elsewhere.

  Frank made a beeline for his wife with a questioning look on his face. That look broke her just a little bit more.

  “Who was here?” Michael looked around. “And where’d Logan go?”

  Gus was the first to answer part one of the question. “The people who mixed their DNA to create us.” She motioned between herself and January.

  Thank God, Francis stepped in to answer part two because January wasn’t sure she could even utter the words he left.

  “The Thornes said some things that upset our Logan, and well, he went to get his head straight.”

  Dax looked suspicious; maybe he knew something January didn't. “And what could they have possibly said that would impact him in any way?”

  The truth was about to be known by everyone. They would hate her. Not more than she hated herself, but still, she loathed the idea of them looking at her with that disappointment.

  “It seems there are some impending nuptials—”

  A cacophony of voices interrupted Francis with whooping and hollering. Then the words started to register in her brain.

  “I can’t believe he moved that fast.”

  “Congrats.”

  “I didn’t think Logan had it in him.”

  Confusion was the understatement of the century. As far as January thought, no one knew her and Logan were more than just really close friends until he hauled her up against him outside earlier.

  Gus’ gasp was the sound that broke through. “Oh, January.” She knew, everyone else made assumptions, but she knew. She’d had enough clues from when she first arrived. January had hoped she’d forgotten, but no such luck.

  By extension, John did too, and his look crippled her. He was not happy, but he didn't understand. January knew if he did, he would respect her for her reasons. He himself would do anything, kill anyone to keep Gus from harm.

  That’s all she was doing; she just couldn’t tell anyone. If Gus ever found out, it would wound her beyond measure. Not that her parents were grade-A dicks, she knew that already, but that they had used Gus to elicit Jan’s cooperation.

  Francis commanded the room once again. “Pipe down. All y’all making assumptions, and you know what they say about assuming things. It seems that January’s parents have chosen another groom for her, but I’m sure there is more to the story than what that witch dropped on the doorstep.”

  Turning her attention to January, Francis was giving her the floor to explain.

  “Oh, snap.” Leave it to Stacy to sum it up in a few words. Francis shot Stacy a withering glare. Seems that was the only person who could cow Stacy.

  January’s attempt at a cleansing breath failed. With the toxic air that was available, it was no wonder. This family that she’d grown to love, need, were clearly disappointed, hurt, dumbfounded, you name it, by the revelation. Nothing to do at this point but to rip it off like a Band-Aid.

  “Yes, I am supposed to get married soon. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to pack and meet my parents.”

  She spun on her heels before anyone could possibly corner her. January didn’t know if she could hold up to any scrutiny right now, but she needed to be strong. She’d come up with a plan. She’d fix this, but right now, she couldn’t handle anything but the pain. That took all her focus.

  Tori’s voice floated down the hall as she made her way to her room, followed by the others’.

  “Something’s not right, Michael. This is not right.” Francis was telling Gus to leave her be. Andrew was threatening to follow her down the hallway and demand answers, but she heard Marco halt him. Stacy spoke to Gus in a semi-hushed tone, telling her to not stress that January was sharper than she was credited with. That gave her pause, high praise from Stacy. There were other agreements, arguments, and questions, but January shut the door on them all and began to pack.

  When the last of her belongings were packed in her oversized duffle and backpack, January fell onto the bed and let the tears flow. When she had indulged enough to make her look utterly horrible, she dried her tears and stiffened her spine. There would be plenty of time for crying. Now, she needed to leave, get to her parents and relax them with her cooperation if she had any hope of finding a way out of this.

  She left the tank top she bought for her sister on the bed. FIGHT LIKE A GIRL with a cute pinup tattoo-style picture. It was Gus. Letting her fingers glide across the design, she vowed to take it to heart.

  Shouldering her bag and backpack, she opened the top drawer to double-check all the papers marked for Stacy were where she’d told her they would be. She’d given her most already, just a few loose ends. With any luck, it wouldn’t matter, but in case she wasn’t quite clever enough to figure it out, this would have to do. She penned a quick note and added it to the envelope.

  With one last sigh, she walked out of the room and headed toward the most uncomfortable goodbyes she could imagine.

  Francis was the first to hug her and whisper words of love and encouragement. “Don’t you worry about what anyone says. This will work out. Don’t you ever doubt that. And don’t let that woman get into your head, you hear me? She is poison. You do what’s right for you, not anyone else. The good Lord will take care of everyone else and until he does, I’ll do what I can to help them along.”

  As convoluted as her words always seemed, somehow, they made sense to January. Not only that, Francis spoke with such conviction, January wanted to believe.

  One by one, everyone embraced her and said kind words. Not a single one mentioned what a horrible person she was; that was a small comfort. Of course, Francis probably put the hammer down while she was packing.

  Saying goodbye to Michael was harder than she expected. She clung to him a bit more than the other members of the Reid family. She prayed she did not cost him his brother or Logan his. Besides, even if few others could see the resemblance, she could, and there was a measure of peace in embracing him.

  It was almost as if he sensed something deeper too because he let her hold the hug, and he squeezed her just a bit tighter.

  The goodbye that would tear at her soul was the only one left. Gus. Her sister clung to her and bawled her eyes out, but true to the standard set by the room, she didn’t mention the wedding. She said goodbye in true Gus form.

  “You are more than a result of a few decisions. There is nothing you can do in this life that makes you unworthy of love. You deserve everything, sis. I love you and nothing you do or don’t do will ever change that.”

  Just when January breathed a small sigh of relief, her sister added, “Our parents are morons, and you do not have to follow their path. Blaze your own. Find your own joy and have no regre
ts.”

  With those last words, the tears burst through once again. They were both blubbering so loud, Francis’ added declaration was almost missed, almost. “The worst thing to live with is regret. It’s easier to live with damn near anything else, even heartbreak, but regrets will gut a soul over time.”

  Married? His January was getting married. No, obviously not his. She never was. Logan had never felt so unworthy as he did in that moment. Considering he had spent his whole life in that state, that was saying something.

  He felt like such a fool. Yet again, he didn’t measure up and someone he allowed himself to care about deemed him less than and chose someone else over him. Would this cycle ever end?

  Logan chided himself for believing he could measure up. He’d totally bought into the illusion that he could be loved, especially by someone as amazing as January. Fucking idiot.

  There was nothing to do for it now but see if he could reverse all the pipe dreams he put in motion and then get the hell out of Dodge.

  Usually, he had some idea of where he would go when it all when to shit, but not this time. This time, he had let the Reids get into his head, and he didn’t have a contingency plan, and that just infuriated him more.

  His whole life had trained him not to get comfortable, and he’d be damned if he didn’t let an upper crust piece of ass that was slummin’ change all that.

  When he met January, he never even dreamed she’d ever sleep with him. Not that he didn’t want her, it was just not what his goal was in the beginning.

  Believe it or not, he actually wanted to get to know her and the more he did, the more he really liked her on a level he had never gotten to know another female.

  But once he saw her dance, that was all she wrote. His whole mission became to experience that same rhythm, but horizontally.

  And vertically, and diagonally.

  For a while, he was a king among men. He had January, he had the Reids, and he was on the path to having his brother. It was never something he wanted, to be a part of a family, but somehow, January had made him want. Want more than he had ever dreamed of, including being a part of a family like the Reids.