Page 75 of Bloom: Part 2

It had to be my father. Who else could be behind this? It was too late. I had dragged Bloom into this mess, and now he’d killed for me. Again.

“Why did you come here?” I asked.

“Because he mentioned your father sent Joel here. You knew, didn’t you? That’s what you two were talking about earlier when I found you outside. I figured that he must have threatened you. You weren’t the same after, and I wanted him to pay.”

“I’m so fucking lost right now.” Crowe scratched his head.

“I’ll explain everything but once, so let’s go inside.”

“I don’t want to see his face.”

“Joel didn’t do anything to me,” I said. “All he did was give me a message from my father. I don’t believe he’s here to hurt me, and I do owe Grimm an explanation and apology for the misunderstanding tonight.”

In the mess hall, everyone sat quietly. Joel and Jamie sat on either side of Grimm, tense and stiff.

“Everyone, I’m sorry about this—”

“Cut to the chase, Doc. I don’t want your apology, but an explanation. It’s almost three in the fucking a.m., and I didn’t expect my home to be broken into and the lives of the people I love threatened. I understand Bloom has issues, but that’s not an excuse for what happened tonight. If you can’t handle him, hand him over to someone who will before he ends up pissing off the wrong people.”

I took Bloom’s hand in mine and squeezed. “Bloom got out of hand because he found out your son brought me a threatening message from his boss.”

“What?” Grimm spun his head around to look at Joel. “How could you possibly know Joel’s boss?”

“Because he’s my biological father.”

The ensuing silence was deafening. Everyone stared at me, even Joel, who already knew the truth.

“But Joel’s boss is Agosti,” Jamie murmured. “That means… you’re an Agosti?TheAgosti?”

“That’s right.” I swallowed, then neutralized my voice to remove the swirl of emotions slowly suffocating me. “I’m the youngest of my father’s three legitimate sons. And also the reason he’s behind bars. For years, I’ve lived as Logan Collier while under witness protection, but when the incident at the hospital happened, my face was all over the news. My father’s people tracked me down here and sent Joel to have a word with me.”

“Joel, is this true?” Grimm asked. “You said you came to Thanksgiving because you missed Smoky Vale, that you missed us.”

Joel cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact. “Both can be true.”

“Joel?” Jamie said softly. “Just what have you gotten yourself involved in?”

“I’m a defense lawyer.” He raised his head, chin tilted at a stubborn angle. “You already knew I was working for the Agostis. What’s different from you sleeping with a biker president? It’s not like Dad’s hands are clean. This is why I became a defense lawyer, wasn’t it? I’m just doing the work they hired me to do.”

“By threatening our friends?” Grimm demanded. “We have enough criminals in Smoky Vale already. We don’t need the Mafia here too.”

“Friends?” Joel’s voice raised an octave. “How is he your friend? He’s everything that you stand against—betraying the brotherhood. He turned his father over to the authorities. I know very well what the punishment is for that betrayal in this club. Didn’t that guy Zak almost lose a hand for working with the FBI?”

“You’re too young to understand the history between me and my father,” I said, even though I didn’t expect any of them to understand. For fear of what I might see, I couldn’t even look atBloom. They were all alike. No one cared about what I was going through at that time. That I’d had to get away from that life. For them, nothing was greater than their “clan.”

“I’m old enough to understand you don’t betray the brotherhood,” Joel cried. “I grew up hearing those words all my life. It’s the creed we live by, and you broke that with your family. How can anyone trust you? For all we know, you’re—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Bloom shouted. “Logan’s not a traitor.”

“He just admitted he’s the reason his father’s in prison. What more do you need to hear?”

Anger and tension radiated through Bloom. He was getting overstimulated again.

“Enough, Joel,” Jamie said, his voice waspish. “I think we’ve heard enough tonight, and we all need time to process this. Why don’t we all sleep on it and talk more tomorrow when our heads are clear?”

I let out a deep breath as Jamie’s gaze met mine. I nodded my thanks to him for intervening and giving me a break. Time to think about my next steps. If Bloom didn’t want me anymore, I understood. I still wanted to marry him and give him a name, to leave him everything I’d worked for in this lifetime so he would want for nothing.

“That’s a good idea,” Crowe said, his eyes on me. “I know there’s a lot I’m gonna have to think about now.”

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