Page 55 of Winter's End

It had taken a full week of pleading. While I wouldn’t say she had become anything near motherly, we’d spent the last few months tentatively forming a relationship. She might never be anything more than Darlene, but she wanted to be in my life.

Right now, that meant messages and occasional chats over coffee, but she was starting to mean more to me than just the woman who birthed me. Under her prickly persona, she had a kindness deep-rooted in Southern hospitality, and a sense of humor that caught me off guard more often than not. She had chosen not to be bitter, even though life had not been kind to Darlene Knightly. I wanted her safe.

I was about to kidnap her myself, not caring about her consent if she was only going to get herself killed, when she’d suddenly agreed to let us get her away from Carlisle for a few weeks. I could guess that a convincing violet had something to do with it, but I wouldn’t question the gift horse.

Kellan agreed to provide a safe house on the other side of Kensington; I was supposed to drive her there tonight in Drew’s Corolla—the least conspicuous vehicle of all our cars. Because Pop’s Chevelle stood out like the beauty she was, we couldn’t take the risk of someone noticing anything out of the ordinary.

It might be a misplaced sense of paranoia, but I was going to trust my—brother—on this one.

Logan sneered, his arrogance back on full display. “What a good little brother. Kellan having you do his bitch-work again?”

I stiffened as all the somewhat pleasant thoughts of my opponent disintegrated under his ingratiating tone.

“That depends. The Feds still making you their little bitch-boy?”

His jaw ticked and his glare could have melted another man to syrup. I let my ire dissolve as soon as it had come. Loganwasn’t my enemy, as much as he had the tendency to get under my skin.

“I’m choosing to trust him right now,” I said matter-of-factly. “Just like I’m choosing to trust your prickly ass.”

Logan’s gaze was calculating as he assessed me. He blew out a noisy breath and threw his towel in the laundry bin across the mat.

“Do you need help?”

My brows melted into the evenly shaved fade of my hairline. The only time I had ever seen or heard Logan offer his help was in protecting our auburn-haired beauty. I briefly wondered if he was on the drugs again, or as desperate for the feeling of a family that I realized was in my own heart.

“It could be dangerous.” I shrugged, tossing my towel in the laundry in acknowledgement that we were done for the day. My muscles were aching the longer we sat, anyway.

I shifted my body into a stretch, working out some of the lactic acid before I stiffened up. After a moment’s hesitation, Logan dropped beside me to do the same.

“Seems to be the theme of our lives these days,” he muttered darkly. For a few minutes, we remained silent, working our muscles out in a familiar line-up of poses.

When he said nothing else as we left the building, I sighed in acquiescence. We were both too filled with pride to seek help or extend it. I would also be foolish to turn the blind faith offer away.

“I’m going to shower and then I’m headed to Drew’s to pick up his car. If you want to join me, it’s probably better to have someone who knows how to fight with me.”

The comment hadn’t been an attack on Drew. I had come to like and respect him and he gave Winter the world. To my knowledge, he couldn’t shoot a gun, and while I was sure he could throw a punch with his sheer size alone, he wasn’t a trained fighter.

Logan’s cruel smirk lit up his face. I also hadn’t meant to stroke the man’s already inflated ego, but if that’s what it took to get him to do some good in the world, I’d play that card tonight.

“You can shower in my spare bathroom.” He gestured to the elevator as he strode toward it. “Come on.”

Dumbly, I followed him. We stood like sentinels in the gold-painted box as it skyrocketed to his penthouse. The last time I’d been here was when Winter was drugged and unconscious. My fists clenched at the memory. I never wanted to see my little violet vulnerable like that ever again.

I watched my unlikely companion for the evening from the corner of my eye. He had proven he would take care of our girl as well. Protect her when I couldn’t. His demons held him hostage like my own, but Winter lightened their burden—only a blind man wouldn’t see the changes she was making to his darkened heart.

The changes she was making to all of our stained souls.

He unlocked the door with his fancy keypad and left me in the foyer. Okay, then. I made my way to the bathroom on the other side of the condo and cleaned up. In twenty minutes, we were washed, dressed, and making our way down to his parking garage.

He’d insisted on taking his car, arguing mine was too conspicuous. Instead of the silver Audi he usually drove, he unlocked a shiny black Land Rover parked in a hidden slot at the back of the underground concrete compound.

I climbed in, overtaken by the new car smell and the sheer luxury of the vehicle. Logan and I may have similar dark spirits, but our lives couldn’t be any more different.

The drive to Drew’s was quiet, but not unpleasant. My body was still buzzing from the endorphins of our sparring session, and adrenaline had seeped into my veins by the time we arrived at his garage apartment.

I had never been here before, but Drew wasn’t here much, anyway. Shane’s apartment, as cramped as it was, was more the home base for our group of misfits.

Logan stayed in the car while I walked up the steps to Drew’s door. It was fully dark now, and the cool June evening air calmed the building inferno of my skin.

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