Page 31 of Unmistakably Us

An apology was poised on his tongue, another first for his collection, but for all the facial hair and deceptive grinning, it was clear Dax meant it was all-good between them.

“Besides,” Dax added as if he could read his mind, “you’ve got way bigger fish to fry.”

For some reason, Logan was wilting under Dax’s appraisal. Lowering his chin, he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while the other went to his pocket to thumb the turquoise stone Lucinda had tucked into his palm the night before she left.

It was something she had done every night when she put him to bed. She told him he could transfer all his bad emotions, nightmares, and fears into it just by rubbing it. In the morning, she would take it back and tell him she’d wish them all away during the day so the stone would be empty for him the next night.

Logan knew it was complete and utter bullshit, but for some reason, he had kept it with him all these years. But instead of rubbing the quarter-sized stone, his hand reached for January’s blood red garnet thumb ring. She had left it in his room the first night she’d come over.

Initially, he had pocketed it to return it, but she never asked, and he had forgot about it until he’d slipped his hand in his pocket and it slid onto the tip of his pinky. After that, she’d never asked, and he never mentioned it.

“No, that’s not weird at all. Perfectly normal to steal jewelry from the women you sleep with,” Devil Gene quipped sarcastically, and Devil Kip laughed in solidarity.

Yeah, I’m not fucking crazy at all.

Comfort and a measure of peace washed over him as the ring once again circled the end of his pinky. There was still a lot of shit nagging at him. Now that he had effectively accepted that he might want a normal relationship with January, he had an ass-ton of other issues rear their ugly heads.

The fighting over the toilet seat he was kinda looking forward to became a point of terror. It felt like he had swallowed that socket wrench instead of tossing it. Logan didn’t know anything about fighting that didn’t end in an ER visit for someone. No one in his life ever taught him productive fighting, if that was a thing.

If anyone in this little group could understand anger management, it would be Walker. But how the hell do I bring that up to the guy? Sure, we’ve bro-ed out a dozen times or so, but asking about that still seems personal as fuck.

Logan hadn’t noticed Frank stepping away until he slapped a cold beer in his hand. For some reason, Logan just stared at it as it chilled his fingers.

“Drink up, son, and then tell us what’s troubling ya?” Frank commanded, and Logan mindlessly obeyed. He was still in shock with his own revelation of the depth of his feelings for January.

After a long pull from his beer, followed by a satisfied sigh, Frank spoke again, “It’s clear you care about our girl, but what’s also clear is that scares the shit out of you. Why?”

Logan lowered his empty bottle and just glared at it, as if he could make Frank give up if he pretended to care about the ingredients of the amber brew he just chugged.

“Just think of this garage here as a slice of Nevada—what happens here, stays here. So anything said goes no further than us here.”

“Unless it’s illegal,” Dax and Walker added damn near in unison. But their laughter and toast to like minds, Logan guessed, told him they actually wouldn’t break whatever this garage code was. Kick ass maybe, but not blab.

Frank exchanged his bottle for his abandoned socket and shooed him toward the front of the car. Logan allowed it. This would be way easier without eye contact. The wink Frank gifted him before Logan disappeared under the hood was reassuring. It was as if the older man got him somehow. He seemed to know being face-to-face and open was too confrontational for Logan.

Note to self, send the man a thank-you six pack or some shit.Even if they didn’t help him resolve his problems at hand, this was helping him manage some age-old issues, and that was something.

“Fighting. How do you do it without it being…violent?” Shit, Logan didn’t even know how to word it without making it sound like he would punch her in the face the first time they disagreed. That wasn’t it at all, but Logan didn’t know how to explain it. Damn it, I’m fucking up my one chance to figure this shit out. “I mean—”

Walker interrupted him. “You mean, how do you fight fair and not see her as your enemy?” Logan was right, Walker did understand.

“Yeah.” That was all he could manage. He didn’t need to elaborate. Besides, as unified as Logan felt with these men right now, this still wasn’t a comfortable place for him to be. As much as he wanted to be entrenched in this family, and he genuinely did, he would never be a super touchy-feely person with everyone. It wasn’t who he was.

“I had the same concern when I finally had a shot with Erika. Hell, I treated her like the enemy after the very first thing she told me that I didn’t like. I didn’t let her explain, and I immediately went into combat mode. I wanted to destroy her, and I said something that damn near cost me everything.” Walker paused, and Logan stole a glance through the small opening of the hood behind the hinge.

Walker looked broken, like the memory of it brought back more than he could bear. But with a sigh, a small smile teased his face.

“Anyway, you’ve already heard the public results of that, but I made a lot of personal changes in the way I view things and my behavior with how I react. It’s not a miracle cure or a one-and-done type thing. It’s like an ongoing work in progress. I work at it everyday. I just don’t have to work as hard as time goes on. It’s becoming my new normal. However…” Walker trailed off as he grabbed another non-alcoholic beer.

Instead of returning to the other side of the garage where Frank and Dax stood quietly listening to what Walker had to say, Walker leaned on the fender closest to Logan and finished, “In the mean time, just get naked.”

“Fuck,” Logan cursed when his head contacted the hood. Walker’s words caused him to lean up faster than he should have.

Logan looked toward Frank and Dax as they exploded in laughter. Judging from their reactions, this wasn’t unexpected. Walker joined with a chuckle of his own as he pointed his green bottle toward Logan.

“That’s the key. Get naked. It was a bit of advice given to me at a time and place I didn’t need it.” Walker dramatically shuddered.

“Hey,” Frank broke in, “you walked in and asked what was going on. What were we supposed to say?” Walker effectively ended further explanation with a shake of his head and a gagging motion.

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