Logan Kade (Fallen Crest #5.5)(55)

“He wanted to run, but I could only think about my mom. She was back there somewhere.”

“Taylor,” Logan said.

I shook my head. I heard the sympathy in his voice, and I knew he was going to say all the right things: I didn’t have to talk. I didn’t have to share. I didn’t have to fill-in-the-blank. He was wrong. I did have to. I had to get it out now or I never would.

“It didn’t matter anyway,” I continued. “Even if Eric had tried to drag me out, I couldn’t move. The big guy had f*cked my knee up bad. And then…” The fourth gunshot. It had sounded right around the corner. “The gunman was coming toward us. We could hear him.”

I heard the screams again.

“Eric left me there.” I flinched. “There were bathrooms across from us; we could’ve gone in there. It didn’t matter, though. Eric left. He ran while I was pleading for him to help me.”

“What happened to the gunman?”

“A cop got him. They’re always called when there’s a GSW. They just didn’t get there in time. They came in through the emergency entrance, so they were behind him. He was leaving, you see. He had just come around the corner to the hallway where I was when they shot him.”

“This happened at Cain Memorial?”

I nodded. “The whole thing was kept quiet by the cops. The gunman was involved in another shooting so there wasn’t any media coverage. The media respected their wishes.”

“I had no idea that happened last year.”

“A lot of people still don’t know all the details, and now the hospital has better security. I think they have metal detectors.”

“Taylor.”

Logan’s voice was so soft. “I’m not telling you for sympathy,” I explained. “I’m telling you for thanks.” My chest lifted, and I drew in a deep breath. “Thank you for bringing me up here. Thank you for showing me this.”

The corner of Logan’s mouth lifted in an adorable half-grin. He ran his hand over his hair and laughed softly. “If we’re being completely honest, I was hoping to check something off my bucket list.”

“What’s that?”

“Getting laid on a roller coaster.”

There was no pity in his eyes. There was no awkwardness, like he had no idea what to say. It was just—sex on a roller coaster. And the absurdity of it made me laugh.

The half-grin was still there. It was more of a half-smirk now. “So, does that mean there’s a chance?”

I shook my head, still laughing. “Not a chance.”

“I figured it was the best time to ask.” He winked at me. “Because you gotta be feeling close to me, right?”

That spurred another round of laughing, and I wiped tears from my eyes, but the happy kind of tears. Logan kept teasing me. I kept grinning like an idiot, and before I knew it, the evening slipped into nighttime. The lights of the city shone full, bright, and strong. They were breathtaking, and after a moment of comfortable silence descended on us, I snuck a look at him from the corner of my eye. He was staring out over the town, his jaw clenched.

“I came here before,” he said.

“Before?”

“When I was little.” He glanced to me, his eyes warming. “My mom was supposed to bring me. We didn’t do a whole lot together when I was growing up. I don’t really know why. I think it was because other stuff was going on already.” The lines around his mouth tightened. “My dad cheated on her a ton, and she started drinking because of it. Things got bad in the house, but she promised me one morning that we’d come here. I remember it so clearly because I heard this amusement park had elephants, and I really wanted to see one up close.” He grinned to himself. “I wanted to see how big their penises were.”

I wasn’t even surprised. “How old were you?”

He shrugged, still grinning. “I was young. I was in sixth grade, and Mason was in seventh.”

“What happened?”

“My dad brought a woman home. My mom found her underwear that afternoon. I think my dad had already snuck her out, but the damage was done. The whore left her underwear behind. They did that sometimes. They liked leaving things behind. They hoped my mom would find them, and she usually did.”

“Is that what ended things?”

“Not that day, no. They divorced later, probably after the fortieth mistress. No.” Logan’s grin faded away. “That day my mom got drunk at the kitchen table, then decided going to a spa was the best idea in the world. I came home from little league practice, saw the underwear, saw the wine bottles, and knew it was a wash.”

“But you still came?”

“Mason took me. He and Nate.” His voice sounded stronger. “I had fun that day.”

Despite his mother.

I heard the unspoken meaning and I didn’t have words, so I covered his hand with mine. He turned his hand, lacing our fingers together. When he looked at me, I could see the whites of his eyes, and I saw his mouth lift in the slightest of smiles. His thumb rubbed over my knuckles.

“My mom never remembered that day. Well, that’s not true. She remembers the mistress, and she remembers what color the underwear was, but not that she was supposed to take me to the park.” He cursed under his breath, leaning forward so his arms were folded on the bar. My hand was still in his, tucked firmly between his arms. It drew me closer to him. He turned to look at me, and our faces were so near. “She had no clue we went without her.”