Page 28 of The Wanderer

She gently removed his hand from her shoulder. "So why don't you sleep on it? Deal with whatever's bugging you. And we'll catch up some other time."

Logan managed a terse nod, appalled he'd treated her so badly today but unable to salvage something from it, not in his current mood.

"I'll call you," she said, broaching the gap between them to place an all too brief kiss on his lips.

Then he watched the woman who invaded his every waking thought get out of his car and head inside her place without looking back.

Chapter Fourteen

Hope didn't have much time for social media, other than to post video clips of her music online. But she hoped it would provide fruitful when she researched Logan Holmes. Something major had gone down with his dad for him to act so out of character yesterday. The fun, flirtatious charmer had been nowhere in sight; instead, he'd turned into a brooding, glowering shadow of his former self.

It had unnerved her, the need to comfort when they weren’t emotionally invested so she'd responded in kind, feigning interest in the game while casting surreptitious glances at him every few minutes. It had been one hundred and twenty minutes of sheer torture. To make matters worse, he'd asked her out to dinner from obligation rather than any real desire to spend more time with her and it had been the last straw.

So she'd called him on it. Told him to get his shit together. But would he?

Guys weren't so great at facing feelings and it looked like he had a whole carousel of baggage regarding his father.

She knew all about the burdens of family. Even now, five years after she'd left England, her parents alternated between patronising and interfering, condescending and threatening. They would say anything to get their own way and she’d learned that way too young. Her parents lied without compunction and ultimately, that’s what had driven a wedge between them.

If she’d known the truth about her grandmother’s trust fund she would’ve cut ties earlier and followed her heart into a music career. Instead, they’d lied and said she’d be penniless when they cut her off if she persisted in her ‘frivolous nonsense.’

So she’d done what was expected of her, a stupidly naïve, frightened eighteen-year-old following the path set by her parents.

Ironically, it had been after another person she’d trusted betrayed her that she’d learned the truth. Willem had done his research well in order to ingratiate himself and in alerting her to the fact she had a small fortune waiting for her courtesy of a long-dead grandmother after she discovered the truth about him, he ultimately set her free.

She knew her parents loved her in their own way but their lack of compassion for what she wanted out of life and the lengths they’d gone to in order to control her never failed to grate.

It had taken her a long while to get to where she was mentally, being able to have some kind of relationship with them no matter how fraught, and her music had helped.

She hoped Logan would find peace with his father too. While it had nothing to do with her—getting emotionally involved with the rugged CEO wasn't on her agenda—she had to know what was bugging him so she wouldn't inadvertently tread on any virtual landmines again.

She'd resisted the urge to pry into his life last night but after minimal sleep she had no such compunction this morning. Firing up her laptop, she sipped at her favourite breakfast tea. A few seconds later, she put her cup down and typed in Logan Holmes in the search engine. A stack of hits popped up but most in association with his business. He had no social media accounts. Bummer.

Feeling like a snoop, she typed in another name, Stephen Holmes, and bingo. Stephen had a bio on a major entertainment website, considering he was a stand-up comedian. She clicked on the link and perused the scoop on Stephen, gleaning more from a few paragraphs than Logan had divulged.

Stephen toured the country, performing in small venues for the comedy club scene. Considering his extensive CV he must've started before Logan was born. He'd won a few awards in the early days for his routines and had performed in Vegas twice. There was mention of a son, but no name, and a snippet on a recent health scare. It also mentioned that Stephen currently resided in Melbourne.

She checked out a few more links but didn't learn anything new. If Stephen lived in Melbourne and had a recent health scare, maybe that call had been him reaching out to Logan? But what was so dire in their past that Logan couldn't forgive his father and a mere phone call rattled him to the point of withdrawing like he had yesterday?

She shouldn't interfere. She wouldn't. But she knew what it was like to resent a parent and sometimes it helped to share. Harry had been her sounding board; who did Logan have? For whatever time they screwed, maybe she could be his?

Picking up her pho e before she could second-guess her decision, she fired off a text.

Are you free?

The answering ping surprised her with its speed, as she'd expected him to leave her hanging.

Depends.

On?

What you’re wearing.

She smiled and responded.

Come over and find out.

His response came swiftly.

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