Page 13 of Wicked Love
I dragged in a breath. “Okay. I’m not saying anything about what’ll happen between you and me until I’ve had more time to process all this and see what happens next. But if you’re ready to—”
Before I could finish accepting his offer of help, my dorm-room door burst open, slamming into Beckett’s back. As he stumbled forward, Logan hurtled into the room with Slade and Dexter at his heels, all of them tensed with protective fury.
CHAPTERSIX
Madelyn
Logan threw himself straight at Beckett. He slammed the other man’s body into the wall behind the door with the full force of his massive frame and whipped a dark object out from the waist of his jeans. As he pushed the thing against Beckett’s throat, the bottom of my stomach dropped out.
It was a gun. Logan was holding a pistol to the underside of Beckett’s jaw, glowering at him with so much brutal fury my pulse stuttered at the thought that he might use it.
“Logan!” I burst out. “What the hell are you doing?” Where had he even gotten the gun? I’d never seen him or any of the other Vigil guys packing anything like that before.
Slade and Dexter had stepped close around me as if to shield me, Slade touching the small of my back protectively and Dexter looking me over as if checking for injuries. Logan’s attention stayed focused completely on Beckett.
Beckett stared back at him, his jaw tight in the uncomfortable position but his expression cool. His voice came out shockingly steady. “I can tell you don’t have much experience with that pistol. If I wanted to, I could take it from you and you’d be the one with a gun to your throat. But I don’t want this to be a fight.”
“Too late for that,” Logan snarled. “What the fuck are you doing here? Maddie told you to leave her alone. We’re not letting you mess with her head any more.”
“So, what? You’re going to kill me here in her dorm room?”
Logan gave him another shove, his hand clenched around the front of Beckett’s shirt and the other holding the gun in place. “Fuck you. Ishouldkill you after all the shit you’ve pulled, and now this.”
“If we can’t trust you to stay away from Maddie, how can we trust you about anything else?” Slade demanded.
Beckett’s gaze slid to me and then the man at my side. I couldn’t imagine how he was staying so unfazed, but then, who knew how many times he’d had guns pointed at him before?
“She needed to know the truth,” he said evenly. “She needed to know that I can help her figure out what really happened to her father.”
“Bullshit!” Logan snapped. “You’re trying to turn this around so you don’t take the blame, when you’re a lying piece of shit who—”
My nerves were jangling with apprehension, but I’d had enough. I pushed past Slade and Dexter and grabbed Logan’s arm by the elbow. He flinched at the sudden contact, and my heart lurched at the thought of him squeezing the trigger.
“Stop, Logan,” I said, unable to keep my voice from shaking even as I spoke as firmly as possible. “Put the gun down.”
“I’m not dropping the only thing that will have this motherfucker thinking twice before touching you.”
I grimaced at my stepbrother. “He wasn’t touching me before either. He really did just come to talk. And after everything we’ve seen and what he said, I believe him that he wasn’t involved in covering up my dad’s murder. I don’t think he wants to hurt me—he honestly wants to help.”
Finally, Logan let his eyes meet mine. His voice came out only slightly softer than when he’d been talking to Beckett. “Did you invite him in here, or did he sneak in like a weasel and—?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I broke in. “I understand why he came. He knows more about the kind of people we’re dealing with than any of us, including you. If we’re going to find out whohasbeen targeting my family, we need everything he can offer. Isn’t that what really matters?”
Logan’s gaze flicked between me and Beckett, his expression hard. “He’s been playing you. You can’t believe anything he says. He’s fucking dangerous, and I don’t want him anywhere near you.”
I dug my fingers into my stepbrother’s arm, wishing I could wrench his hand away from Beckett with a yank. “I’m not saying I totally trust him. I’m not saying I forgive him either. I’m just saying he’s on our side when it comes to this investigation, and we could really use his help if he’s going to give it.”
“After everything he’s done—”
My temper frayed. “Oh, please. You’re in no position to rant about hiding things from me or treating me badly. Do I need to remind you how the last two years went down? And you’re the one holding a gun on an unarmed man—a gun I’m going to guess you didn’t get by any legal method? You’re the only one who looks dangerous right now.”
Logan’s jaw twitched. “That’s not the same. I’mprotectingyou.”
“And so is he. Maybe he screwed up along the way, but so did you. I know Beckett—I know him a hell of a lot better than the rest of you, and you should know you can trust my judgment by now. His family wasn’t involved in the murder, and Beckett has nothing to do with the cover-up. Whatever else he might be guilty of, those things aren’t part of it. He’s been framed, and we need to figure out by who, because they’re our real enemy.”
Logan growled and turned back to Beckett, prodding his neck with the gun. “I don’t know what you said to her to pull the wool over her eyes, but—”
Dexter cut in with a clearing of his throat. “Actually… it’s obvious he didn’t hurt Maddie in any way when he came here. They must have been talking for a while for him to have convinced her, but he was still at the opposite end of the room from her when we came in. And we all know that the logistics don’t add up as far as Beckett being responsible for the recent threats. We saw that last night.”
