Chapter 31
I had to beg Declan to let me leave the house alone. Logan requested he wasn’t there, and as sick as I felt leaving him behind, he looked even sicker when I walked out of his house without him. We compromised when I shared my location with him through my phone. Even though he knew we were only going to the coffee shop, he said he didn’t trust Logan, and neither did I.
When I got to Mugs , Logan wasn’t there yet. I must have arrived first, so I ordered a much-needed coffee. Hannah remembered my order per usual. I tried to find the most secluded table in the busy coffee shop. Everyone was out and about doing their Black Friday shopping, so the options were scarce. I didn’t want to be alone with Logan, but I also didn’t want this conversation to be overheard. I found a booth in the corner that looked private enough.
I spotted Logan ordering his coffee, he arrived just a couple minutes after I did, and I hesitated to wave him over. With it being a small town, I didn’t want people to notice us here together and get the wrong idea.
I didn’t have to wave him over when he found me in the corner, looking as smug as he sounded through text last night. He made his way over and I internally beat myself up for ever finding this man attractive. Once you got to know someone’s true personality, it really worked wonders on how you perceived their appearance.
“Not even gonna stand up and greet me with a hug?” He looked down at me sitting with that shit-eating grin plastered across his face.
“Logan, we aren’t here to hang out and shoot the shit. There are things we need to talk about, and you know we aren’t on the level of greeting each other with hugs and pleasantries.”
“So why are we here then, Paige? You mean you didn’t want to grab coffee and catch up like old friends?” he asked as he finally took a seat across from me.
I spun my coffee cup around in my hands, feeling the comforting warmth escape the mug.
“I asked you to meet me to talk about your friendship with Myles Cooper. But I’m sure you already knew that,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Ahh, so I’m assuming he finally came out and talked with that boyfriend of yours…”
“What does Declan even have to do with this? Why force Myles to tell Declan over anyone else?” I asked, cutting in.
“I have my reasons. You being one of them.” He sat back, crossing one leg over the other, trying to give off the persona that he was relaxed and this was just a normal conversation between friends. What was that even supposed to mean? Why did everything have to be so complicated with Logan? God, he was infuriating.
“What do I have to do with this?” I asked, playing dumb.
He leaned forward with a serious expression on his face. “Myles ruined your family with his idiotic actions. He kept this secret to himself, and I was just trying to encourage him to tell the truth. That family isn’t good news, Paige. I’m just looking out for you, trying to do the right thing.” He never cared to look out for me before, why the fuck would he be doing that now?
“Are you on your meds, Logan?” I asked flat out.
“I’m going to try my best not to take offense to that question, but yes, Paige, as a matter of fact, I am and have been.” I needed to know which version of Logan I was going to get here today. How easy he would pop off if I said something he didn’t agree with.
“I just want your side of the story. What happened that night with Myles?” I begged, cutting to the chase.
He took a deep breath, fidgeting in his seat a little bit before he answered me, “Myles and I hang around some of the same people. We wound up at the same party the night everything went down with your dad.” He took a swallow, clearing his throat before he carried on.
“I hadn’t really gotten to know Myles much before that night. We ended up in the same small circle, passing around a joint. We got to talking, and before we knew it, we were both a few drinks deep just shooting the shit. So, when it came to the end of the night, Myles asked for a ride knowing I didn’t live too far from the party. I told him I couldn’t drive; I was fucked up. He offered to drive my car and get us back to my place. He said he felt okay to get behind the wheel. I was stupid not to press further because we both had plenty to drink together. I lived so close, I just didn’t think anything bad could happen. I told him to get me home and he could crash at my place.” I felt like I was reliving last night all over again hearing the details that matched Myles story so well.
I refused to cry in front of Logan, so I forced my tears back. “Why not call the cops? You could have saved his life if you didn’t leave,” I whispered through clenched teeth and took a look around, making sure there were no eyes on us.
“Um, I… I didn’t have my phone with me. I left it at the party. Myles was freaking out. We didn’t know it was your dad until the news broke the next morning,” he struggled to admit.
“That doesn’t make it okay. It could have been anyone in that car. But it was my dad —” my finger pounded my chest twice, “and you guys left him to die on the side of the road like a couple of fucking criminals,” I blurted out the accusation, trying to hold back my anger.
“Look, I’m sorry. I really am. I know I was there when it all went down, and I could have handled it better. But Myles was the one to truly fuck up here and I was trying to give him time to fess up. The guilt was eating me alive. I’ve been begging him for weeks to tell someone.”
“No. You were begging him to tell Declan. Not someone,” I corrected him sternly.
“When I saw you and Declan together at your dad’s funeral, it infuriated me. In the back of my mind, I knew what went down that night and I didn’t want you to get involved with that family.”
“You were trying to look out for me? None of this had to do with you? It was all just out of the kindness of your heart?” I rolled my eyes, having a hard time believing him.
“Believe what you want, Paige. You’re right, I didn’t want you to get involved with him because I knew how messy this could get. But yeah, there may have been a tiny part of me that wanted a second chance with you. I hadn’t seen you in years and you have been avoiding me left and right,” he admitted.
Why did something not sit right with me? Logan was so full of shit and had absolutely zero remorse and emotion about this situation. Every time he said he was sorry, it felt empty. He was blaming Myles and gave no fucks when it came to the fact that he watched my father die. Not just anyone, this was someone he once knew on a personal level. There was something missing here, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Logan, we had our time. There was never going to be a second chance. To be honest, I think I gave you enough chances back in high school. We are different people now. It was never going to happen between us.” I sighed. Only Logan would make this entire situation about him and I having an impossible second chance. I shook that thought out of my head when realization hit me. His phone was sitting next to his coffee mug…
“How did you get your phone back?” I blurted out, completely changing the subject.
“Huh?” He gave me a puzzled look.
“You said the night of the accident, you didn’t call the police because you left your phone at the party. How did you get it back?” I questioned.
“I went back over there to get it after we got back, and Myles passed out. What does this have to do with anything? I had to work the next morning and needed my phone,” he stated like he was still confused at where I was going with this.
“You said you were too fucked up to drive…” It was all starting to add up.
“Yeah, yeah, I was… But…” He scratched his head, starting to fidget just a bit more.
I cut him off before he could finish, “But Myles wasn’t really the one driving, was he? It just so happened he was fucked up and in the car with you, and you decided to put the blame on him, didn’t you?” Logan reared back in shock as I spat off question after question. He was so fucking concerned about getting a second chance with me that he had a slip-up and hadn’t even realized it.
“You covered your tracks by putting it all on Myles. You knew he had a drinking problem. You hung around the same group of people when you partied so you knew how fucked up he would get. You can’t be seriously trying to blackmail him, Logan.” Now he was the one looking around, making sure no one was listening in on our conversation.
He aggressively shook his head. “No. No, that’s not what happened.”
“How did you go back to get your phone? Did you take your car that was all smashed up? Did you even call the police first? Or did you go back to get your phone, passing the scene of the crime, not giving one second to feel bad for your victim? The victim that was my fucking dad, who was bleeding out.” The tears started to betray me, one falling after the other.
“Paige. I’m so sorry. I had to go back and get my phone so I could call the police. Myles had a dead phone. I had no way of calling for help without my phone. My car was fucked by the time I got it home and into the garage. I took my bike… But it took too long…” he said in a hushed tone.
I was starting to get hysterical. “It never occurred to you when you biked past the accident before you got back to the party that maybe, just maybe, the person in the car, in my dad’s car, may have had a phone you could have used to call for help?”
Taking a few deep breaths, in and out, I wiped the tears from my face, surprised I had any left after last night. “You’re telling me you felt the guilt pile on, and you tried your best to help, but when you didn’t succeed, you realized just how bad all of this could be for you. So you decided to pin it all on Myles?” I looked him dead in the eye, my face turning redder by the second.
His mouth popped open and closed like he was trying to decide what to say but couldn’t find the words to say. I was right and he knew it.
Logan Brooks killed my father all on his own.
Myles was innocent.
I needed to get out of here. I needed fresh air. My throat was starting to close as I felt a panic attack washing over my body. I needed Declan.
I got up to make my escape when I looked at Logan one last time. “I don’t want to waste another breath on you. My dad already struggled enough to breathe in his last moments all because of you. You’re dead to me, Logan,” I spat.
I walked as fast as I could out of the coffee shop without looking frantic.
The cold air hit me in the face, and I was finally able to breathe again. Frantically, I dug in my pocket for my phone as I continued to walk away when I hit what felt like a solid brick wall.
“Declan,” I whimpered.
“You’re shaking. What the fuck happened? What did Logan do to you?” he seethed with anger.
With shaky hands, I pulled my phone out.
“Myles is innocent, and Logan is guilty. I have proof. I recorded the entire thing.” My voice was mixed with excitement and fear, my teeth chattering against the cold weather.
Going into this, I needed both sides of the story. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to remember everything word for word, and I knew how Logan could be. There were so many times in my past I wished I would have recorded different things that happened, but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. He wasn’t going to get another opportunity to twist my words and manipulate a situation, especially one as serious as this.
Declan’s jaw clenched and his breathing picked up. I followed his laser-focused gaze as he looked behind me in the direction I originally came from. Before I knew it, Declan released me from his grip and stalked toward a scared-looking Logan.
It would be the last time Logan blackmailed or gaslit anyone.
Justice. Justice was going to be served.