Page 47 of The Hero I Can't Resist
He laughs darkly. “Better off how? Better off without you? Better off with some other man? How exactly is she better off?”
I lift my chin. The thought of her with another man makes me crazy. “She deserves better than me.” I slap my hand to my chest. “Look at me, Logan. I couldn’t even protect her. I couldn’t?—”
He interrupts me. “You fuckin’ saved her life!”
I grit my teeth and fist my hands at my sides. “He shouldn’t have been able to touch her. That’s on me. That’s my fault.”
Logan laughs. “Zach, we’ve been friends for a long time, but ever since that incident in Afghanistan, you’ve been different. Any time you’ve had a chance at being happy, you’ve fucked it up. You act like Randall dying that day, our friends getting hurt… I don’t know. You carry that shit like it was your fault. Like you were the one that set the bomb off.”
I turn away from him, not wanting him to see how much just thinking about that day still devastates me. “I was the only one not hurt that day. I was?—”
He throws a hand up. “You are alive and uninjured! You helped save them, Zach, but I’m tired of seeing you punish yourself, and now… Now you’re punishing my sister. You think she deserves a better man? Well, I don’t think there is a better man. You think I would have you protect my sister if there was someone better? I wouldn’t.”
He takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. “Listen, Zach, we’re partners in Stronghold, and you’re not going anywhere, regardless of whether you’re with my sister or not, but listen, do something for me.”
I turn and look at him. “What?”
He puts his hands on his hips. “I’m going to say this, and I need you to believe me. That accident years ago was not your fault. This with my sister was not your fault. You saved her.”
I want to argue with him, but I stay silent, and he continues. “Do you love my sister?”
I nod as the ache in my chest intensifies. “Yes, but?—”
He doesn’t let me finish. “Okay, you love her. Well, she’s young, beautiful, smart, talented, she’s all the things. Do you really think she’s just going to be single forever? Alex told me about all the men dropping in her DMs. This is Whiskey Run. You’re going to run into each other. You going to be okay seeing her with another man, seeing her pregnant with a child that’s not yours?”
Anger fuels me until I see red, and I’m shaking my head. “No, no, I won’t be okay with it. I’ll lose my damn mind.”
Logan slaps me hard on the chest. “I know you will. Figure this shit out, Campbell, and you better figure it out quick. I don’t like knowing my sister is sad.”
Before I can answer him, the front door jingles, letting us know someone has come in. Logan looks at me, and my stomach drops. Shit. I should have warned him. I should have prepared him for this, but I’ve been caught up in my own shit. “Logan—” I start just as Bree walks up to my open door.
Logan tenses next to me, and I watch as he and Bree stare at each other. Logan’s voice is thick. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Bree lifts her chin and walks into the office, setting down the folders in her arms on top of my desk. “I mailed out the forms you asked me to send and opened a PO box.” She looks between Logan and me. “I’ll be at my desk.”
Without another word, she walks out, and Logan turns to me. “What the hell was that? What’s going on? What is my ex-girlfriend doing here?”
I brace myself. “I hired her.”
“You did what?” he bellows.
I nod and decide to just give it all to him at once. “And there is a contract. She’s guaranteed a job for a full year.”
His mouth drops before snapping it shut. “You know what?” He shakes his head. He’s practicallytrembling with emotion, and I want to tell him why I did it, but he’s not ready to hear it. He holds a hand up. “I came straight from the airstrip. I need to shower and get my shit together before I do something I’m going to regret. I’m going home, Zach. I’ll be in tomorrow, and hopefully, you have shit fixed by then.”
I follow him through the office, and we pass Bree on the way. She’s looking down at some papers on her desk as if she doesn’t even see us. “I told you there’s a contract, Lo. Bree is employed at Stronghold Security for a year.”
He stops and glares at Bree and then back to me. “I mean my sister. Fix this with my sister.” He waves his hand toward Bree. “I’ll deal with her tomorrow.”
He slams his way out the door, and I turn to Bree. She’s still looking at the door Logan walked out of. I’ve wondered if I made the right decision hiring her, but seeing the look between the two of them earlier, I know I did. Whether they fix it or not, they need to deal with it. I try to reassure Bree. “It’s going to be fine.”
She blurts out a laugh. “No, it’s not. It’s going toblow up in all our faces.” She sits up a little taller. “But I can handle it.”
I nod. “Okay, well, let me know if you need anything.”
I walk back into my office and drop into my chair, exhaustion pulling me down. I lean my head back and close my eyes. For the first time since yesterday, it’s not Skyler with a knife to her throat that I see. It’s Skyler with a swollen belly, carrying a child… our child. The sight hits me hard. I want her. I want us. I may never be enough, but I will spend the rest of my days trying to be. I have to because a life without Skyler is no life at all.
CHAPTER 22
