Page 72 of Neat
This job shouldn’t be mine. It was nevermeantto be mine.
It belonged to Logan, and I wasn’t the only one who knew that.
The man I’d had in my bed all weekend looked like a stranger under that pale blue light. And when his eyes found mine, he looked at me likeIwas a stranger, too — like everything between us was a lie.
I pleaded with him as much as I silently could to wait, to not draw conclusions, to let me think, to let mefixthis. But he pursed his lips, shook his head, and then he was shaking his brother off him and tearing through the crowd.
I pulled out of my father’s grasp, running down the steps and chasing after him. I didn’t give a fuck what anyone said about me, aboutus, because at this point — they were talking, anyway.
The only thing I cared about was getting to Logan and making him see that I had nothing to do with this.
It was snowing lightly when I shoved through the doors that led to the parking lot, and my breaths racked through my chest painfully as I searched for Logan. I found him storming across the wet concrete toward his truck, and I ran, feet screaming in my heels the entire time.
“Logan!” I called, but he didn’t so much as stutter or pause. “Logan, wait!”
He spun then, and I nearly crashed into him, skidding to a stop with just a foot between us.
I held up my hands, trying to catch my breath. “Logan, I am so sorry. I had—”
“You hadwhat, Mallory?” he fired back, standing tall. “You had no idea that was coming? You had nothing to do with it? You had no intention of hurting me?”
I gaped at him, because of course that was exactly what I was going to say. But when those words rolled from his lips, shame shaded my cheeks, because he knew as well as I did that somewhere, in the back of my mind, I suspected this might happen.
He suspected it, too.
And I did nothing to stop it.
“Do you know how long I’ve fought for that job, Mallory? How many hours I’ve put in, how many years of my life I’ve dedicated to this company, justtryingto keep my own family’s legacy alive,tryingto fight for my father — who has no voice to fight for himself anymore?”
“Of course, I do,” I said, reaching for him, but he pulled away like I was poison. I swallowed, letting my hands fall limp at my sides. “Logan, of course I know that. I knowso muchabout you, and I want to know everything. I’m falling in lo—”
“Don’t,” he warned, his voice a thunderous growl. “Don’t youdaresay that to me — not right now. Not when you just ripped my fucking heart out on that stage in front of everyone in this goddamn town.”
My throat closed in, emotion strangling me from the inside.
“Itrustedyou,” he breathed. “I let you in like I’ve never let another woman in before. I told you things about myself that not even myfamilyknows. And you know what?” He laughed, fist hitting his chest hard. “It’smeI’m pissed at the most. It’s me who was the fucking idiot, trusting a Scooter, giving myself to a woman who has showed this whole town time and time again that the only thing she cares about is herself.”
I gasped. “Logan… you don’t mean that.”
“You’re going to tell me you hadnoidea that this was coming?” he asked, stepping into my space. I took a step back. “You’re going to look me in the eyes and say your father never hinted at this, that you never thought to talk to him about it, or to talk tomeabout it — especially after everything that’s happened between us?”
I swallowed, body trembling as more snow fell down around us. Little flakes caught on his lashes, in his hair, and he looked so devastatingly beautiful in that moment that I had to cross my arms to keep from reaching out for him.
I wanted to pull him into me, comfort him, tell him I would never hurt him…
But he was right.
Therewasa part of me that suspected my father had this in his plan. I wondered why the timing was the way it was, why he wanted me in the tour department out of all the departments there were at the distillery. I was anartmajor — I should have been in marketing with my brother.
The truth was — I knew.
Deep down, I knew.
And I’d been too chicken shit to do anything about it.
“I can fix it,” I breathed, sniffing against the cold. “Please, just give me a chance to fix it.”
“Youcan’t,” he said, stepping into me again. This time, I didn’t move away. I looked him right in the eyes as he gave me the lashing I deserved. “Your dad just announced that you’re the new manager in front of everyone. You can’t convince him to go back on that, and you can’t doanythingwithout him taking the studio away from you. Admit it, he played you, and a part of you knew it would end up like this.” Logan shook his head. “It’s actually kind of perfect, isn’t it? Playing with me the way you have been the past month. Was it one last dig at your father? One last way to piss him off before he locked you into a life you never wanted?”
