Page 107 of Wicked Devotion
“They won’t. He’s just trying to intimidate you.”
Logan snorts, raising his eyebrows. “Me?”
“Us.”
“Looks like he’s succeeding.”
We should all have turned the other way the day Logan was smacking the shit out of Sanders. Loyalty and irrationality, two sides of the same coin, becoming so much more evident now that Cantrell is momentarily out of the picture.
Cleaning up the kitchen doesn’t take long since Logan’s idea of a breakfast spread wasn’t aesthetically pleasing but very efficient, and not even an hour later, we’re all squeezed together in my truck.
While I was waiting for Logan and Lily to get ready, I called Ruby, who not only was kind enough to agree to let Lilystay with her but also took care of the plane ticket and promised to personally pick her up from the airport.
I would have preferred if Dom, Vinny, or anyone else above 5’3” was with them to make sure both girls are safe, but Ruby would call me terrible things for even thinking something like this, and I really don’t want her to feel like I don’t trust her with protecting Lily.
We’re stuck in traffic for hours, and as we reach the airport, the boarding process has already begun.
Hasty kisses are shared in the car, along with whispered promises to come back as soon as possible, and with a heavy heart, I watch Lily disappear in a sea of strangers.
The second she’s gone, my mask begins to crumble, and the prospect of a seventeen-hour drive during which I can’t let my frustrations out in any way feels like torture.
“You can’t drive the entire time,” I say, hoping that Logan takes the bait and gives me a fuckingreason.
“I know. Gonna drive for a few hours, then you can take over until it gets dark.”
“We can switch now. I know you haven’t slept much.”
“You neither,” he says, and the way he winks at me confirms yet again that he has no idea I heard him talking to Lily. “C’mon, get some rest, sunshine.”
39
LOGAN
The drive back to base felt like a seventeen hour long waterboarding session, and I would have preferred actual torture over whatever was going on in that damn car.
It wasn’t Max’s private karaoke show, his babbling, or him pointing out every drive-in we passed. No, it was the complete lack of it.
Ten hours in, I started to be thankful for the rattling interior of his truck. At least something filled the silence between us. Max seemed unfazed that I let him drive and didn’t even turn the radio on.
As if something had happened back at the cabin, and I was sitting in a car with somebody who was only wearing Max’s skin.
It’s still dark outside as we enter the base, and I had hoped Max would calm down once we safely reached our quarters. He doesn’t. If anything, his mood had soured even more in the past hour. The only time a smile flashed over his face was when Lily texted him to let him know she and Ruby were back at home.
“I’m going to talk to Rockwell, find out what this shit isabout,” Max says as he gets out of the car, tugging on the handle of his bag so hard I’m surprised he doesn’t rip it off.
“Should I come with you?”
“No.”
I storm around the truck, gripping his arm so tightly that he stops moving.
“What’s going on with you, sunshine? You’re acting weird.”
When he turns to look at me, it’s like someone else is staring back at me. Wearing an expression so cold, as if his face was carved out of stone, causing such an uncomfortable sensation in my chest that my hand goes lax.
Puzzled, I try to figure out when the change in his behavior happened. But he can’t be this fucking mad at me just because I made breakfast. Actually,Iam kind of mad that this is the reward I get for trying to treat him better.
“I’m fine,” he says, smiling at me.
