Walk Through Fire (Chaos #4)(151)
I delivered that speech, straightened away from her and the door, and took a step back.
She glared up at me a moment before she turned away, reached high, tugged open the door, and hauled her little girl body inside.
She slammed it.
I sighed and backed away from the truck.
Logan gave me a chin lift and Cleo gave me a wave that was back to hesitant before he instigated his multipoint turn to drive away.
As he did this, I moved to the door and stood in it until I couldn’t see them anymore.
Only then did I go inside.
* * *
I heard the truck on his return.
Therefore, I was sitting on the arm of the couch, facing the back door, when Logan got back.
He came in, eyes to me before he turned away, closed the door, unarmed and rearmed the alarm, and locked the door.
He then walked to me.
I spread my jeans-clad legs so he could get close but kept my seat.
He got close, walking to stand between my legs.
He then lifted a hand to cup my cheek. “You okay?”
I put my hands to his flat stomach. “You were hard on her.”
“Didn’t ask your opinion ’bout how I dealt with my kid,” he replied—not mean, he just had other things on his mind that took precedence. “You okay?”
“Chief’s all right and was never in any danger so, yes. I’m fine about that.” I shook my head but did it while he held his touch. “Not sure I’m fine with how you dealt with it.”
“Nasty’s escalating. No tellin’ where she’ll take it if I don’t nip it in the bud.”
“She told me outside your truck she hated me because now you hate her.”
His jaw got hard before he asked, “And what’d you say to that shit?”
“I told her I loved you and it was my job to make you happy and I hoped she’d help me do that.”
“Good cop, bad cop.”
I stared.
Then I asked, “What?”
“Babe, I lost it and I get that you think it was over the top but it wasn’t. That shit was not right and no way she should even have a hint of thinkin’ that was okay. Not to get what she wants from me. Not to get what she wants from a teacher. Or kids at school. Not ever. Through that, you didn’t pile shit on her with me. You were calm. You were nice. You were forgiving. She got it rough from me so what you were givin’ her didn’t sink in. My girl’s bein’ a snot but she’s not stupid. She’ll think on it and clue in.”
“So you were that hard on her because you wanted to make me the good guy?” I asked in disbelief.
He bent slightly to me to get his face closer to mine. “I was that hard on her because she deserved it.” When I opened my mouth, he stated, “Bottom line. Burns in me my baby girl’s even got it in her to do somethin’ that f*cked up. So, Millie, she deserved it.”
I had to admit, I saw his point there.
“Deb’s gonna hear about this,” he continued. “And she’s not gonna be happy. She doesn’t put up with crap like that. She offered to wade in. I’m gonna call her and tell her she’s up.”
That was a surprise.
“She offered to wade in?”
He dropped his hand from my face and straightened to look down at me from his full height.
“Talked to her after last weekend so she’d know I got this battle on my hands with Zadie and I intend to win it. She said she’s on board however I need her to help. She also said she wants to meet you and I’m thinkin’ that’s a good idea.”
That was also a surprise and a scary one.
Not the part that he’d talked to his ex.
One thing I knew for certain about men like Logan was, you trusted them. You didn’t invade their phones. You didn’t search their cars. You didn’t listen in on calls. You didn’t ask them to account for every second of their days. You trusted them to do right, if not all the time, at least by you.
He and Deb shared kids, so he was going to talk to her and I wasn’t going to be the woman in his life that demanded he detail every conversation they had.
No.
The scary surprise wasn’t that.
It was that she wanted to meet me.
I barely controlled my voice pitching high when I asked, “What?”
“You meet her. You two connect. Not sayin’ you guys are gonna be best buds. What I’m sayin’ is, you meet her, you connect, we do somethin’, the three of us with the girls. Maybe not dinner but maybe she drops ’em off here, comes in, you make her welcome. She has a drink and a chat, takes off before we take the girls out to do somethin’. They see you and Deb gettin’ on and Deb supportin’ what we got, they’ll move toward doin’ the same thing.”
This was actually somewhat ingenious.
“That’s not a bad idea, Low.”
His brows shot up in manly affront. “I know it’s not.”
“Are you... is she... ?” I shook my head and started again. “Are you sure she’s cool with meeting me?”
“She wants me happy.”
I stared at him again.
Then I muttered, “I seriously don’t get what you had with her.”
“Two kids. That’s it,” he replied, even though I didn’t expect a response. “It’s totally f*cked. Lived the whole time with her knowin’ that. It’s just the way it is with her. She’s not a woman you love. She’s not even a woman you try to make happy ’cause you’ll fail. She’s just a woman. And she’s good with that. She says she’s happy. Cleo says she’s happier without me there. She’s got what she wants, two daughters she can give what she’s got to give without tryin’ to pretend she has somethin’ with her man. But she’s also a decent woman and she says she wants me happy. I believe that because she’s a decent woman. Now we both got what we want so it ain’t f*cked anymore. It just is.”