Page 35 of Unmistakably Us

It was the look on Dax’s face that held the most judgment. No surprise there. Logan expected as much. Stacy was close with Tori and Michael, and Dax lived and breathed for his woman. Anything that upsets her was not okay with him.

What was a surprise was the lack of judgment coming from Frank. It was his son-in-law, after all. Walker finally found his voice. “Well, fuck me stupid. I can see it. How in the hell did we miss it? You two are practically fucking twins,” Walker added almost to himself, but Logan heard. “‘Cept the eyes.”

Thanks douche, I know. Mine are a lot harder, but then they’ve seen a lot more shit than I hope he ever does.

Dax was still glaring at him, like he was trying to control something in himself at Logan’s revelation. Logan turned his observation to Frank, who had gone still next to him. Of the men in the room, Frank’s reaction seemed to matter most to him.

It rankled Logan that he cared that much, or rather, why he cared. He had started looking at Frank in a father figure capacity, and he wasn’t happy about it.

Frank clapped Logan on the back, and instinctively, he flinched. No one had ever touched him favorably after he said something they didn’t like. The non-aggressive touch put Logan a little at ease, but he wouldn’t relax until he knew everyone’s reactions.

“Son, that is certainly a humdinger.” Frank’s voice was strained. Logan’s secret had hurt the older man, and Logan felt like a dick. A few months ago, he wouldn’t have given a shit, but now? Now, he actually cared about these people.

Shame brought his chin low. Frank was perceptive and gave him a reassuring pat before continuing, “I meant what I said about this garage being Vegas, but that doesn’t mean I…we, can hold this secret indefinitely. You need to talk to your brother. He has a right to know. Not only that, he deserves to have his brother as much as you do.”

Logan shot Frank a shocked look. “Did you miss the part where I said I’ve harbored ill feelings toward him for years. Feelings I know now he doesn’t deserve, yet, I still felt them for a long time. Not sure if I can just let them go and have them not leave a mark behind?”

“But—” Frank attempted to answer, but Logan cut him off. How could they just let him off this easy? It’s unnatural. Maybe they could let bygones be bygones and all that shit, but Logan wasn’t able to go that easy on himself.

“No one deserves me as a brother or anything else, for that matter.” Logan broke away from the car and the nearness of the men who seemed way too okay with him being the long-lost angry brother of one of their own.

He was almost free of the stifling atmosphere of the garage. Free to pack his shit and run. Leave them all behind. They’ll be better off without me, anyway. I’m poison, and this family doesn’t deserve to be poisoned. He heard Frank empathically insist that Michael does deserve him, but that isn’t what halted him.

What stopped his egress was a big fucking hand landing on his shoulder and not in a uber warm and fuzzy way, either. Logan turned to face the big man once again, praying he would take a swing. It was almost as if their reaction was too much for him. No one had ever been so accepting of him or his faults before. He wanted to feel physical pain. How fucked up is that?

Dax didn’t swing. Instead, he folded his arms, looking as intimidating as fuck. “You do not get to drop a goddamn bomb like that and then run like a pussy.” Whoa, he didn’t use a television detective or video game character mixed with some nonsensical exclamation. He actually cursed. In the months Logan had been here, he had yet to hear Dax curse curse.

“You need to nut up and tell Michael who the fuck you are.”

Logan couldn’t resist poking the bear. He convinced himself he did it for shits and giggles, but deep down, he kind of craved the kinship he was starting to feel here. “Don’t tell me you think he deserves a loser of a brother like me, too?

“No, I’m not one hundred percent convinced he does, but he does deserve the choice. You do not have the right to come in and drop this on us and then walk away and not give him the choice to know you as his blood or not.”

Dax’s honesty was refreshing. He was a straight-shooter, and that’s what Logan needed.

Walker interjected, “For the record, you’re not a loser. But you are custom-made for this family. You may not be comfortable with all this, and boy, do I get that. Hell, I was raised in this family, and I’m not comfortable with it half the damn time.”

Now Logan was getting angry, how could they just be all right with all of this. “Didn’t you hear me? I hated him. Blamed him for decades. I may have even come here with a little payback on my mind. How are you fine with that?” Before giving Walker a chance to answer, Logan turned his ire toward Frank.

“How the hell can you be flush with this? That’s your son-in-law I’m talking about. The man who married your daughter, who will raise your grandchildren? How can you just forget everything I said about him?”

His answer came from the one person in the mix who he thought was the least accepting of him—Big Dax.

“Because, this family isn’t about pasts, it’s about here and now. It’s about what’s in your heart at present. The Reids have taught me that no one is irredeemable as long as they’re still breathing. No matter what’s on your skin or in your past, you deserve love. You deserve family, and you deserve home. And as hard as it is to do sometimes, I have tried to live by that, and so does everyone else. Sometimes, it’s not so easy, and we need a reminder, but I can safely say, all of us feel strongly about what this family is all about.”

It seemed the words exhausted Dax emotionally. His body language changed completely from just two minutes ago. Obviously, he was using the words as a refresher for him as much as a lesson for Logan.

Frank approached them with a sheen in his eyes. He did a cursory nod toward Dax before speaking. He had to clear his throat a few times to expel the emotions that were choking his speech.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself, son.” Frank was clearly overcome. It was written on every line in the man’s face that he was searching for the right words to convey whatever it was he felt he needed to. Logan took that opportunity to observe things through a different lens. For the first time in his life, he looked around without his guard up.

Facing the others without a barrier of anger, without that layer of “reject them before they could reject him,” things looked a hell of a lot different. He saw genuine emotions—other than anger—directed outwardly and inwardly.

Walker pawed at his cheeks like he was removing some imaginary oil while Frank didn’t bother to hide the tears he was wiping away. Dax had no tears, but his face held a hurricane of emotions. There were so many swirling and whipping around like a cat five, most were foreign to him. One most certainly was not—self-loathing.

It was clear Dax was dealing with something other than how Stacy would feel about Logan being Michael’s brother. While he didn’t participate in many of their touchy-feely conversations, he was privy to them. It wasn’t like this family kept much hidden, one of things he found hard to believe at first.

Dax had struggled to accept his ex-wife into their lives after what she’d done. He only did it for his daughter’s sake and felt like he never truly forgave her. Logan didn’t blame him one damn bit, either. The woman ran with his kid and was gone for years. From what Logan had seen, Dax had accepted her more than he gave himself credit for, but it wasn’t like he was about to bring that shit up. He had his own bullshit, and he barely wanted others involved in it so he would be hard pressed to ever insert himself into someone else’s.

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