Page 54 of Bloom: Part 2

A hand pressed to my shoulder. “What the hell’s gotten into you? Why the hell are you frightening my men? And they’re not easily frightened.”

I shoved Crowe off me. “Frightened?” I laughed, the sound chilling. “Had he not come back to me alive today, I’d be smashing more than this fucking car with this hammer.”

I unlocked the rental, and nodded at Bloom. “Get in.”

“No way are you taking him away when you’re in such a pissy mood,” Crowe said.

“Crowe, stay out of it.” Bloom walked over to me, wincing slightly, his movements slower than usual. “I’ll go with him.”

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Crowe snapped.

“It doesn’t matter where.” He wrapped an arm around me and buried his face in my side. “He would never hurt me. I’ll follow him anywhere.”

Ah, goddamn. Just when I wanted to stay mad at him.

“We’re going home,” I said, softening my tone. I combed my finger through his hair. “It was a mistake bringing you back here. I thought you’d be safe. Not that one of them would do something this dumb and risk your life.”

“What the hell did I miss?” Crowe yelled. “What happened to Bloom?”

Ignoring the lot of them, I helped Bloom get into the car. I hopped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. The roar drowned out whatever Crowe was shouting at Gunner.

I put the car into Drive, my grip on the steering wheel shaking, still heavy with the echoes of the hammer’s impact.

“You’re bleeding,” Bloom murmured. I looked at my hands, the fresh smears of blood on my knuckles, the tiny shards of glass embedded in my skin.

“Now you care about how I feel?”

“Logan, that’s not fair.”

I didn’t answer. Just drove away. With each passing mile, the silence between us grew heavier, and I gripped the wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. I felt Bloom glancing at me, but I kept my eyes fixed on the road, jaw tight. I needed this silenceto calm down, to gather the pieces of myself that had shattered back there.

I’d only ever lost control like that once before. When my family went to the extreme to prove they owned me. I’d been so livid I’d driven myself to the nearest FBI headquarters. And it’d cost me everything.

When we finally pulled up to my house, I cut the engine and got out. I rounded the car to open his door and scooped Bloom out in my arms.

“Logan, I can walk!”

I merely grunted. He gave in and wrapped his arms around my neck. I let us inside the house and climbed the stairs to my bedroom.

“Are we…going to have sex?” he asked.

“S-s-sex?” I spluttered. “You are talking about sex at this time?”

“Sorry?”

He didn’t sound sorry enough.

Once we were in the bathroom, I placed him on the vanity. It reminded me of the night he’d reopened the wound in his thigh and I’d brought him home with me. The night everything had changed.

“Logan,” he said as I rummaged through the medicine cabinet. “Jamie already checked it. I don’t need—”

But I didn’t let him finish. Gently but firmly, I took off his shirt, then peeled away the bandage, careful not to hurt him further. Beneath it, his wound had bled again, a line of angry red where his skin had been forced to endure yet another assault. It wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, but still…seeing it brought back a fresh wave of that sick dread that had nearly paralyzed me at the hospital and today at the clubhouse.

I applied a fresh bandage, my hands steady, even though my heart pounded. Only after everything was done, after the laststrip of medical tape was in place, did I allow myself a breath of relief.

“Logan, I’m fine.” Bloom brushed my hair back from my face.

I caged him in by placing both my hands on either side of him on the vanity. “Why did you disobey me, Bloom?”

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