The second Grace heard the door opening, a smile she couldn’t stop stretched across her lips. She didn’t look up from the stove straight away, but goose bumps pebbled over her skin.
Talking to Courtney about Logan that morning had been just what she’d needed. It had reminded her that she was strong. That even though she’d suffered something terrible and recovery was slow, Logan was someone she could trust. And maybe he was worth her taking some risks.
When footsteps sounded behind her, she turned.
Her smile faltered.
Logan looked…angry. She hadn’t seen that look on his face since the night they’d first met.
The keys clattered on the side table as he dropped them.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
The man barely looked up, instead walking straight past her and opening the cupboard door to grab a glass from the cabinet. “Yeah. It’s just been one of those days.”
He filled the glass with water and took a sip, all the while looking out the window. She didn’t miss the way his other hand clenched the counter edge firmly, his knuckles whitening. Or the rigidity in his shoulders.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
The glass went to the counter. He didn’t place it down with force, but he didn’t do so softly either. “A woman was taken last night while she was walking home from work.”
Grace sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh no.”
“She was taken from Ketchum.”
The fine hairs rose on her arms. “That’s only one town over. Are you sure she was taken by the same—”
“Yes.”
Grace forced herself not to stiffen at the way he interrupted her. At his harsh tone. Anger rolled off the guy in waves, thickening the air around them.
“I’m sorry, Logan.”
He rinsed the glass before stacking it in the dishwasher. “Why are you sorry? You didn’t take her.”
“I’m sorry that your team worked so hard to dismantle this organization and yet women are still being taken.” Unbelievably sorry. Her heart bled for this new victim. Ripped away from her life and thrown into hell.
Taking a small step forward, Grace touched his back. “I can tell you’re angry and frustrated. But remember, you’ve saved several women. Because of your team, they’re free.”
She almost thought she heard him scoff. “Thanks.”
She frowned. His anger almost felt too…pointed to just be about the missing woman.
“Are you angry at me?” The words left her mouth before she could stop them. A question that, had she been smart, probably should have remained in her head.
When he turned around, Grace took an involuntary step back. On his face, there wasn’t just anger. There was agony and…hostility?
“I’m angry at everything, Grace. I’m angry that I have these enhanced abilities yet can’t use them to stop a sick bastard who enjoys taking and abusing women. I’m angry that my family found out about the hell that I lived through via an article plastered all over the internet. I’m angry that the last couple months were supposed to be spent settling into my new life in Cradle Mountain, a life of normalcy, but instead, I’ve been fending off reporters and pretending like I don’t notice every goddamn set of eyes staring at me like I’m a roadshow.”
For a moment, Grace was silent, words not coming to her like they normally would.
The man wasn’t just angry. He was enraged. At her.
“I’m sorry.” She’d said it before, but anything else felt inadequate. Disingenuous. She couldn’t change what she’d done—and if she’d thought she’d been forgiven, she was wrong.
Logan scrubbed a hand over his face, suddenly looking more tired than anything else. “Last week there was an online article speculating that half our team was away on a government assignment. Completing missions that normal men can’t.”
How did that relate to—
“I can’t help but wonder if that’s how Ice got the idea that it may have been us who broke into his ‘impenetrable’ compound.” He shook his head, glancing up. There was nothing gentle about the way he looked at her. “You shone a light on us for the world to see, Grace. Is it any wonder he’s taken a woman so close by? Taunting us?”
Her chest constricted. Her fault. “You’re saying that this particular woman was taken because of me.”
Saying that out loud felt like razor blades sawing at her insides. She knew the hell that awaited this woman. She couldn’t carry that weight.
“I’m saying that decisions have consequences.”
When he started to walk away, Grace’s words halted him. “You don’t think I know that? Logan, the last eight years of my life have been one big consequence of my decisions. Of not recognizing danger before it was too late. You think you’re the only one who’s been hurt? Who’s had time stolen from them? Freedom taken away?”
Christ, she wouldn’t wish what she’d lived through on her worst enemy. And even though she’d gotten out, she hadn’t been free. She’d been hiding, all the while a prisoner of her own mind. For years, the darkness had remained close, ready to consume her.
She shook her head before he could answer. “You’re not. I know what I did wasn’t fair to you guys. It’s why I risked my safety by coming here. It’s part of the reason I’m still here. But saying this woman was taken because of me isn’t fair.”
This time, it was Grace who turned to walk away. But before she’d taken more than a step, Logan grabbed her arm.
Every part of her rebelled against being touched at that moment. She yanked her arm so hard he was forced to release her.
“Explain it to me. Make me understand why you did what you did.”
Understand? No. No one could ever understand unless they’d been through the absolute darkness and terror that had plagued her for longer than she could remember.
Her lips remained sealed.
A full twenty seconds passed before Logan sighed, turning away yet again. He was halfway across the kitchen before Grace spoke.
“If you knew there was a chance you could be taken again, what would you do?”
His feet stopped. Turning his head, he looked her square in the eye. “I would use whatever means necessary to eliminate any chance of that happening.”
Exactly. “So I didn’t act any differently than you.”
Logan lifted the beer to his lips, downing a third of the bottle. Every minute that passed left him feeling like more of an asshole.
Drowning his sorrows in beer was a dumb idea, which was fitting, seeing as tonight seemed to be the night for them.
What the hell was wrong with him? Letting his frustration about Ice and the kidnapping and Nicole build up, then stepping into the house and exploding on Grace. He hadn’t even meant what he’d said. Once he’d started, though, it was like he didn’t have an off switch. Christ, he could kick his own ass. He should be better than that. He was better than that.
Blowing out a long breath, Logan took another drink. From his peripheral vision, he saw Jason step into the bar and head his way.
Great. Just what he needed.
Jason slid into the booth opposite, his brow rising. “Need some company?”
“The GPS trackers on our phones are for emergencies, asshole.” Or maybe this was an emergency. Maybe he needed some emergency ass-kicking.
“When my calls and texts go unanswered, I start to get worried.”
He didn’t deserve friends like Jason. Or Grace. It was a wonder anyone put up with his jerk ass.
Jason lowered his gaze to the beer in Logan’s hand before lifting it again. “What did you do?”
He probably wore his guilt like a mask for all to see. “I was an asshole.” Which was putting it lightly. “I insinuated that it was her fault the woman was taken from Ketchum.”
Yep. It sounded even worse out loud.
Jason didn’t react. His friend may as well be a statue for how closely he kept his emotions to himself. But Logan could just imagine what the guy was thinking. It was likely no different to all the thoughts floating around his own mind.
“You were an asshole. So, what are you gonna do about it?”
“Well, currently, I’m searching for redemption at the bottom of this bottle.” Not that he planned to drink any more. He already felt like an idiot for coming here rather than doing what he should have done at home—apologize.
“How’s that going for you?”
“It’s not.” Logan leaned back in his seat, watching the small crowd of people drink and dance like they didn’t have a care in the world. “Do you ever think back to the moment you were taken? Wish you’d done something differently?”
Jason frowned. “For a while I thought if I hadn’t trusted the wrong people, told them about my suspicions, that maybe I wouldn’t have been taken at all.”
Jason had been employed in a lab when he’d started to suspect the drugs he was working on were being used for more than what he was being told. The day after he raised his suspicions, he was taken.
“But I’m starting to come to the conclusion that our cards were drawn long before they were played,” he continued. “And even if they weren’t, life’s too short to stop and wonder about what might have been. Because while we’re stagnant, the world will keep moving around us.”
Fuck, but the man was wise.
Logan had been taken in the dead of night. That’s why he woke at the tiniest noise now. Why his house had the best security system money could buy.
“It wasn’t all bad,” Logan said softly. “It led me to you guys. And I don’t plan to stop using what they gave me to end men like Ice.”
Jason nodded. “We just need to accept that we can’t kill them all.”
“But we can damn well try.”
“Damn straight. Now what is your dumb ass still doing sitting here?”
Pushing his beer forward, Logan rose to his feet. “Being an idiot again. But now I’m gonna do what I should have done an hour ago and apologize to the woman.”
He just hoped she’d forgive him.
Moving outside, he pulled out his phone and called her number.
