“I’m fine,” he finally managed. “Nothing physical. I’mfine.” But he didn’t sound fine.
“All right, baby,” Logan said. “I want you to just walk outof the bathroom behind me, okay? I’m going to stay right here with your uncleuntil the cops get here. Because newsflash. They’re already on their fuckingway.”
Connor hated that he couldn’t throw himself into Logan’sarms. But the reason softened some of the fear. Thanks to Logan, his unclemight be leaving his life for the foreseeable future. But that meant he had tostay under the gun until he was in handcuffs.
The sight didn’t please him as much as he thought itwould, watching Rodney, his nose bandaged, escorted to a police car by twoOrange County Sheriff’s deputies as the few remaining reporters who’d stayed latetrained their cameras on him.
A few yards away, close to the valet stand, Logan was in ahuddle with the FBI agents who’d been by the day before.
Good timing had saved Connor, good timing and Logan’sdevotion and courage. Once Logan had convinced Scott and J.T. that Connor wouldnever fire them over their porn pasts going public, they’d agreed to see outthe rest of their shifts and discuss next steps the following day. Same withBrandon, who’d been off duty and resting at Logan’s place when his mom calledhim sobbing over the revelations. He’d promised—for now, at least—not to headback to San Diego.
“Hey,” Connor said once Logan was approaching.
“Howdy.”
“Your hero points are off the chart tonight, mister.”
“Thanks. I try.”
“How’s your shoulder?” Connor asked.
“The pain in my leg from kicking in the door is a good distraction.”
Connor winced on his behalf. “Oh, babe.”
Logan smiled. “I got two.”
“So what did the FBI have to say?” Connor asked.
“Rodney wasn’t armed, and when they breathalyzed him he practicallybroke the machine. We’ll review camera footage, see exactly how he got in andwhat he did before he broke into our room. Doesn’t really matter. He’s going tojail anyway.”
“If he didn’t have a weapon, what was his plan? Hide in ourbathroom all night?”
“He says he wanted to talk to you.”
“That couldn’t have been his plan.”
Logan gripped Connor’s shoulders. It looked like he was searchingConnor’s face for injuries or scratches that might have escaped his notice thefirst time. “FBI says his old friends were all giving him the boot and tellinghim to turn himself in. And he clearly didn’t have the means to get out of thecountry. He’d hit the end of the road.”
“Rodney has friends?” Connor asked.
Logan laughed.
“Speaking of friends, you all wrapped with your FBIbuddies?”
“Basically,” Logan said.
“That doesn’t sound final.”
“They wanted to talk about the gun.”
“Oh, yeah?” Connor asked.
“And I said I wanted to talk about the agents that weresupposedly watching the hotel for Rodney. We agreed to call it a draw.”
“Nice,” Connor said.
“So what did he say to you in there?” Logan asked.