Chloe
“Thank you,” I whispered and laid my head on his shoulder. Thank goodness that was sorted out. I hated the thought that Logan would be hurt or disappointed because of something I’d done. We were too close now. Besides my parents and Cass, he was the most important person in my life and the sole reason I wasn’t still hiding out in my room between work and university.
“Anytime. I am going to check this guy out, though. You said he works with you, right? Do I know him?”
“Logan,” I groaned. “I’m twenty years old. I think I can take care of myself now.”
“I know you can.” I sighed in relief. Logan quizzing Rhys would be really awkward. “I’m still doing it, Chlo. I don’t want you to get hurt, you’ve been hurt enough.”
Okay, that was sweet. “It’s a completely different thing. If anything happened with Rhys and he broke it off it wouldn’t be on the same level as losing Jace.”
“I don’t care. I was there when you cried so much you were sick. I don’t ever want to see you cry again and if that fucker thinks he can just play around and use you, I’ll ball his eyes out with a spoon.”
I laughed. What was that? “Ah, she laughs. Your face is hilarious by the way, sweetheart. I meant it, though. I don’t want you to get hurt again. That was hard to watch.”
It was hard to go through.
“I don’t want that either. I’m not going to rush into anything or do anything stupid. It’s just one drink to see how it goes.”
He nodded once. “And you like him?”
“He’s a nice guy, but I don’t know if I like him in any way other than a work colleague, sort of friend. Hence the drink.”
“When are you next working?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m working Monday morning.”
“And Rex?”
“Rhys,” I corrected.
“Whatever.”
Laughing, I rolled my eyes. “Monday as well.”
“I might be thirsty on Monday.”
I swept my long hair out of my face. What a surprise! “I have no doubt you will.” Christ, he was acting like my brother. Was that what he was trying to be? No. We weren’t like siblings. Not once had I ever seen Logan as a brother.
“Hey, I just want to make sure the guy isn’t a prick.”
“He’s not. I wouldn’t even consider going out with him if he was, but thanks for looking out for me, as always.”
He was always there. I’d always been able to talk to him about absolutely anything. Even when Jace was alive I went to Logan more, not that I didn’t tell Jace my problems, I did, but Logan was able to look at situations logically and find solutions quickly. Until Jace died and he didn’t have any answers anymore, not for himself or me, not until he saw me disappearing in grief and loneliness.
“I thought you’d tell me to stop stressing over it and let you make your own decisions. What’ve you done with Chloe?”
“Funny. You do stress about me, far too much. I’m okay, Logan. You need to concentrate on you now.”
“What’s wrong with me? I think I’m pretty close to perfection.” He frowned and pouted his lip adorably.
Deflecting, always deflecting and making everything seem okay. Truth was, he was still a little lost. Logan had all these plans for the future, too. He should be in his own place by now but Jace’s death had taken over his life for a while as well. Now Logan had a big hole where his savings used to be and he was stuck at home until his bank balance looked healthier.
“You’re alright, I guess,” I said, turning my nose up. Logan was pretty perfect, as much as a person could be anyway. He was loyal and if he loved a person there was nothing he wouldn’t do for them. If it wasn’t for him I don’t know what I would be like now. Probably still curled up in bed, stuck grieving a life I’d never have.
“Fuck off, you love me.”
I hugged him because I did love him. “You know I do and that’s why I’m going to be as annoying about you achieving your goals as you are about me achieving mine.”
“Oh, good,” he said sarcastically. “Seriously, I don’t need saving. I’m fine, will be back on track soon.”
“Uh huh. So the girl at the gym the other day wasn’t pissed at you because you’d slept with her and ditched her?”
He held his hand up. “That happened months ago. I’m laying off women for a while, you know this.”
“I do. I just worry that while you’re so busy pushing me and holding Cassie together you’re going to relapse.” It was only six months ago that he was drinking himself stupid and sleeping with anything that crossed his path. I’d forced him to a sexual health clinic once – thankfully, he hadn’t caught anything – and was not keen to repeat the experience.
“Not gonna happen, sweetheart. I have no desire to wake up feeling like I’ve been run over or worrying who the fuck is next to me ever again. I can keep myself on the straight and narrow.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise,” he said.
“Okay. And you’ll come to me if you ever need to talk, right?”
He smiled tightly. Logan wasn’t a load his problems onto someone else person. It was one of the things I loved about him, but it frustrated me to no end. I wanted to be to him what he was to me. I wanted him to know he could rely on me for anything and to get him through anything.
“Sure. Now we gonna eat so much Chinese food we need to run an extra fifty miles tomorrow, or what?”
“Yes to stuffing our faces, no to running more. I’ll deal with the extra pound. You should still run though, you’re looking a little fat,” I joked, poking his very toned, very not fat chest. Practically the entire female race converted to the Church of Gym when they saw Logan’s body. Male fitness was a religion I really could get on board with.
“You wound me,” he said, smirking and bumping my shoulder with his.