Page 115 of The Lost and the Found

“It’s nice to meet you, too.”

She hooked her arm around mine and walked us to the living room. “You and I are going to be good friends. I just know it.”

My smile widened at that. Her happy mood was infectious. She pulled me over to the couch, while the men walked to the kitchen to make drinks.

She was definitely the outgoing one of the siblings, and I didn’t think there was anything about me, about my story, that she thought was off-limits.

I didn’t take offense, because she was just as open with her life, so she probably assumed it was okay to ask.

Her eyes softened when I told her about how I used to live on the street. The story coming out of me after just five minutes of meeting her should have surprised me, but it didn’t. Veena was very easy to open up to.

She told me about her own situation, too, some of which I already knew about thanks to Logan. But it was interesting to get everything from her perspective.

“We got home from school one day and our parents weren’t there. Logan didn’t think anything of it and, honestly, I think we were both pretty relieved for the few hours we might have to ourselves. But then three days passed and there still wasn’t a word from them. We went to school, as we normally would. Logan wouldn’t let me cut—I remembered how adamant he was that I did well in school despite everything that was happening with us.”

I smiled at that, imagining a younger Logan with a stern expression on his face. He had to take on the role of her caregiver when he was still a child himself. He was responsible. That was an admiral quality in the man that I loved. I didn’t say anything to Veena about it, though and listened as she told me about her meeting Mathew Ivers, their savior.

“What’s he like?” I asked. Surprisingly, Logan didn’t talk about Mathew much. I didn’t even know his name until Veena mentioned him.

“He is… the best man I know, second only to my brother. He’s big. When I first met him, I thought he was the biggest man I had ever seen. Bigger than even my own dad. But I think now it was because I was only a child when I met him. He’s tall, but not as tall as Logan. About six foot. He was in the army, and has the meanest scowl—even Logan is scared of it.”

I smiled then. I couldn’t imagine Logan being scared of anything. And I thought what Veena interpreted as scared was probably just respect.

“Do you miss him?”

She nodded. “He refuses to move to the city. He likes where he lives, and I visit him at least twice a week, but I miss him every time I have to go home.” She hesitated a while, before saying quietly, “You should ask Logan to take you to see him. He would want to meet you.”

“You think so?” She nodded. I was curious about Mathew. He earned the respect and love of two people who weren’t related to him. And one of them happened to be the man I love. “I’ll think about it.”

Veena nodded, on board with the plan. “You should. I think it’ll be good for you.”

Our conversation was cut off when the men made their way over to us. Logan handed Veena and me each a glass of water, while he and Grant sipped their scotch. I smiled my thanks, and Veena turned to her brother then. “I was thinking about taking Hayden out tonight.”

From the way his lips pursed, I knew he wasn’t keen about it. Me, I was surprised. “Really? Where are we going?”

“To this club that just opened not too far from here. I heard it’s a great place to socialize, and no, Logan, I will not let anything happen to Hayden, so stop looking at me like that.”

I turned to Logan then, and sure enough, he was scowling at his little sister. But it wasn’t as if Logan was going to stop me from going. The thought was just… well, disturbing. He might be crazy protective of me most of time, but Logan was not controlling, and at my smile, I saw the resignation in his eyes. His big shoulders sagged, and he bit his lip.

“There’s no convincing you of staying in tonight, huh?”

I shook my head. It was Friday night, and for the first time in two long years, I had taken Friday off. Aside from the Saturday I had asked for off because of Logan’s fundraiser, I had never taken a day off. But I had more than enough money saved in my bank account, and even more than I should have since I started dating Logan and he never let me pay for anything.

Logan was insistent that I let him pay every time we’d gone out, and I hadn’t had to pay for groceries, considering how much time I spent here.

So when John called and asked if he could take my shifts on both Friday and Saturday, I only hesitated a quick second before saying yes.

Veena clapped her hands loudly, and I almost winced when she let out a high squeal. “That’s awesome. I’ll consider this my last hurrah, because come Monday morning I will be entering the ‘trying to have a baby’ phase of life. I can’t go out drinking after.” She winked at Grant and he smiled at her, while Logan let out a groan.

“I’m glad to hear you’re trying to start a family, but do we really have to discuss that?” Logan asked, and I smiled over the slight blush on his cheeks. It was… endearing.

“Sex is a natural. It shouldn’t be something we avoid talking about.” Veena turned to me then, shooting a playful grin. “Did you know Logan was the one to give me the sex talk when I was in eighth grade?”

I shook my head. I didn’t know that, and I knew I shouldn’t be surprised but I was. “How did it go?” I was curious what his sex talk entailed. Did he gloss over the important stuff out of embarrassment? Or did he ramble off biological facts?

“Hayden.” There was a warning in Logan’s voice, and Grant let out a laugh. That earned him a glare from Logan.

“Excruciatingly detailed.” Veena said in all seriousness. The glimmer in her eyes gave her away, though. “I was like, fourteen, so Logan should have known I had heard all of this on the playground already. But he was adamant that we have the talk, so he sat me down and told me everything. It was the first time I ever saw my big brother blush. Just like he’s doing now, actually.”

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