Page 73 of Life After You

Chace is next. He flashes me a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes before hauling me into a bear hug, lifting me clear off the ground.“ I hate this.” I whisper against his shoulder.“ I know, sweetheart.” He murmurs, setting me down. His green eyes flick over my face before he smirks, “Try not to miss me too much.” I titter again, why the fuck is this so hard? “No promises.” My words are brittle, my resolve shaking.

Then Sam steps forward, his broad arms wrapping around me, a steady warmth in the middle of chaos. “Dunno what the hubbub is, you’d think we’re going off to war or something… I expect like thirty snaps a day, and if you meet any nice girls who dig the big bad vibe, send them my way.” His voice is thick, and when he pulls away, I see the tension in his jaw, the emotions he’s swallowing down. I fight back a snort, not fully convinced my body isn’t going to betray me. With a sniffle—a sniffle from the cool air and nothing else—I nod. “I will,” I whisper. “I promise, look after the boys, yeah? They’re kind of important to me.”

Now Sam’s the one looking misty-eyed as he backs away, something in his eye. He claps Logan on the shoulder as he passes.

Then it’s just Logan and me. And everything else fades away. I stare at him, my throat burning, my hands trembling at mysides. He looks like he wants to say something, but the words won’t come. What can I say? What can come close to covering the novels of words I want to throw at him?

I step forward, gripping his jacket in my fists, pulling him to me like I can keep him here just a little longer. His arms come around me, crushing me against him, his face buried in my hair.

His hands frame my face then, gently tilting me to look up at him. His eyes are stormy, full of love, pain, longing, and regret.“ You own me, angel,” he murmurs. “Heart, body, and soul.”

A sob shudders through me. Fucking pull it together, Mac. The fuck. My fingers tremble as I trace the ink on Logan’s knuckles—LOVE and HATE. He always said you couldn’t have one without the other. I swallow hard. “I never thought I would have what we had… my girlish crush tempered with time. Logan. You are my fucking everything.”

Logan quirks a smile, my legs turning to jelly. “This between us is just the start of our story, angel. It’s—”

“Oh my fucking god, can you two kiss already? Fuck, you’re making me horny!” Trey blurts out.

Chace, standing next to Trey, takes a moment to consider, looks at Trey’s groin, grimaces, then steps away. Sam slaps Trey around the back of the head, eliciting a cry of pain.

Logan has a pulse standing out on his neck, risking a coronary. He looks back at me, softening. “This isn’t good—”I hold my hand up, pressing it to his soft lips. “We aren’t using that word, remember?” I smile, a soft smile that brushes away all the tension.

Logan smiles back, nods, and kisses my hand, sending a wave of gooseflesh rippling up my arm. He pulls me in, hand fixing in my hair as our mouths crash on one another. Everything falls away as my fire stokes and begins to burn me up, and I welcome it. It’s not soft. It’s not careful. It’s real. A kiss that’s all teeth,tongue, and raw, aching need. A kiss that says everything we can’t put into words.

When he finally pulls back, we’re both breathless, wrecked, undone.“ I love you,” he murmurs against my lips. He looks at me with kind eyes, worry and regret replaced with calm reassurance, the way you look at something you hold dear—like your favorite song. Like it’s a secret that only you understand. A melody that’s for you only.

A horn honks behind us, snapping reality back into place.

Logan swallows hard, presses one last lingering kiss to my forehead, then steps back.

Then he’s walking away.

Just like that.

I wrap my arms around myself as I watch him climb into the van. The door slams shut. Chace leans out of the window, giving me a wink and a salute. Trey shoots me a lazy grin. Sam gives me a small nod.

Then the van pulls away.

And Logan…Logan turns in his seat, his eyes locking onto mine through the window until the van disappears around the corner.

And just like that…

He’s gone.

I stand there long after they’re out of sight, my breath shaking, my chest aching like something inside me has been torn apart.

Because it has.

He took a piece with him.

And I don’t know how to breathe without it. And then it dawns on me. Dread. Guilt. I was so caught up, so lost in him, that I realized… I never said Ilove himback.

Chapter Eighteen

Logan

The stage lights are blinding, the roar of the crowd deafening—but all I can think about isher.

Mac.

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