Page 50 of A Cowboy's Claim
Logan stood quietly in front of them. “Jake said something happened today that you need to talk to me about?”
“Deck, you go ahead. Easier for one person to tell it all,” Petra suggested.
Logan listened quietly as Declan gave a quick summary of the day’s events, the young man’s face growing whiter and whiter. “I’m so sorry. I really don’t know why they want Dean.”
“They’re looking for something,” Petra suggested. “Has he ever sent you anything? Asked to visit?”
“He has no idea where I am. And if he did message, I sure the hell wouldn’t have given him directions on where to find me.” Logan met Declan’s gaze. “They didn’t drop me anywhere near here, I swear. I walked forever before I collapsed.”
“I believe you,” Declan said.
Logan straightened up, resignation on his face but pride as well. “I’d never do anything to hurt any of you. Never, so I’ll just get my things together and leave.”
The front door flew open and Jinx stormed in. “Bullshit.”
Declan rose to his feet. “Jinx?—”
“He’s not leaving. He didn’t do anything wrong,” Jinx all but shouted as she raced to the table.
“Hello to you, Jinx.” Petra raised a brow. “Eavesdropping again?”
“Bad habit,” Jinx admitted. “One I learned long ago to protect myself the best I could.” Before anyone else could speak, she got right up in Logan’s face. “So you’re saying that if the guys who abused me showed up at High Water and caused trouble, you’d want me to leave?” she demanded.
“Of course not. You didn’t?—”
“Exactly.They’rethe assholes, not me.” She jabbed a finger right into his gut. “Figure it out, hotshot.”
Logan gasped but didn’t take his eyes off her.
She rolled her eyes massively. “Youdidn’t do anything wrong either, except maybe be related to someone who is making bad decisions.”
“But Tansy and Petra could have?—”
“They didn’t,” Declan cut in before Jinx could. “Jinx? Come here and let someone else get a word in edgewise. Because we never intended to let him leave.”
“Oh.” Jinx blinked. “Okay.”
She bumped Logan’s shoulder hard as she passed, stopping beside Declan to offer a brief, fierce hug. “He’s an idiot,” she whispered.
“Who means well. Now sit and be polite,” Declan ordered.
Oddly enough, it was Tansy who took the lead. “Like they said, you’re not leaving. I get where your head is at, but you’re not responsible for anyone’s actions but your own. The things thatyouchoose to do. And right now, it seems you’re choosing to be a part of High Water. Yes?”
Logan looked as if it was a trick question. “I don’t want me being here to cause problems.”
“Ditto,” Petra said brightly. “I don’t want my presence to cause problems, but it’s entirely possible at some point, someone will show up and muddy the waters. And if that happens, we’ll deal with it.”
Jake cleared his throat. “Tansy has a broken leg right now because of my past coming to visit. You want me to leave?”
The kid looked closer and closer to tears. “You guys use two by fours when you want to get your message across.”
“We can use something even bigger if it hasn’t sunk in yet.” Tansy leaned back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest. “The only way you get to leave High Water is when you’re a hundred percent fit and you have somewhere else you want to go. We’re not going to keep you forever if this isn’t right, but stop trying to run away. It’s exhausting for us.”
For a second, Logan’s lips twitched. “I’ll do my best to stop being tiresome.” He turned his attention to Declan. “But can we put some safeguards in place to stop this from happening in the future?”
“We’ll do the best we can, but like Petra said, life is unpredictable.” Declan glanced around the table at his family. “Let’s talk about vetting our ranch hands a little more thoroughly.”
“We talked once about having some of my friends from the force get to stay for a while,” Jake reminded them. “Extra people on site who we can trust explicitly would be okay. We can brainstorm what other kinds of additional security we’ll need to put in place as time goes on.”
