Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
PIPER
I work for the next couple of hours, doing my best not to fantasize about a helicopter date with my brother’s best friend. Staring work at Do It All has already contained more drama than my entire time at college. The heat, the connection, the lust, and now security trailing us in anticipation of an attack from the mob.
Not to mention the Ruby-Elliot bombshell. Oh, sanity, where art thou?
Elliot walks into the office, standing over my desk, with a tight smile. “Can we talk, Piper… alone?”
“Sure.”
I stand up, following him into the stairwell. When he takes out his vape, I know he’s been to see Ruby again. He sees me looking at the vape and puts it back in his pocket without taking a drag.
“Ruby told you,” Elliot mutters.
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Why haven’t you slapped me across the face, then?”
“Because I meant what I said to her, Elliot. I want you both to be happy. I want you to find somebody. Ruby’s never had much luck with men. You’ve never had much luck with women. I don’t want to stand in the way of something good.”
He runs a hand through his hair. “You’re something else, Piper. Seriously. All this time… I thought you were going to hate me, hate us.”
I shake my head. “I could never hate you,” I tell him. “Ruby’s face lit up when she talked about being with you. She tried to hide it, but she couldn’t.”
Elliot pulls me into a hug. His heart pounds so heavily I can feel it against my chest, thundering against my ribcage. “Thank you,” he whispers. “You don’t know how much this means to me. I love you, sis.”
Could this be the perfect moment to tell him about me and Logan? I try to blurt out the words, but they just won’t come. I’m not using this as a ploy, anyway. I genuinely support their relationship and want them to be happy.
“I love you too,” I say.
“Do you want a ride later? Or, if you’re working late, you can catch a ride with the security Logan has insisted on hiring.” Elliot shakes his head ruefully. “That man is too damn proud. He’s hired security for us, but not himself. He thinks he can take the mob alone, even after the stuff with The Clam.”
“Maybe he knows what he’s doing,” I mutter.
Elliot tilts his head at me. “He’s just one man.”
No, Elliot. He’s the best man I know. He’s fierce, confident, stubborn, and poetic, and he’s everything I’ve ever wanted .
“I don’t need a ride,” I murmur.
Once Elliot is gone, ignoring the guilt trying to swirl in my belly, I shoot a text to Logan. It contains no words, just a single emoji.
Piper:
“Don’t worry about the pilots,” Logan says, leading me across the roof with his hand on the small of my back, his palm warm as it presses through the material of my shirt. “They’ll say nothing. And I’ve already informed security you’ll be with me so they won’t freak out.”
I look up at Logan, loving the way he watches me, the attentiveness.
He leans down and kisses my neck, tingles shimmering over my skin.
“We’re going on our own adventure, Wrath -style.”
“Okay, but remember, I’m not breastfeeding any strangers.”
He chuckles, kissing me just under the ear, then whispering so his warm breath caresses my skin. “There’s only one person who gets to kiss and lavish attention on your perfect breasts, Hardcover. That just so happens to be a CEO.”
He helps me into the helicopter, then climbs in after me. As he straps me into the seat, his hand brushes over my breasts, my belly, and my hips. When I squeeze my legs together, he smirks and looks down, acknowledging my lust.
He sits opposite me, strapping himself in. Then he pulls his headset on.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I murmur.
He leans forward, touching my knee. “I’m right here.”
“I’ve never been in a helicopter before.”
His eyes glint playfully, dangerously somehow. “This evening’s got a theme, then: first times.”
That has me squeezing my legs together even tighter.
“It’s okay if you’re nervous,” he says.
“I know. I’ve been nervous about everything I’ve ever done. But it’s like you said, Logan. Who are we? We’re people who strive to do better, no matter how nervous we are, no matter how hopeless things might seem.”
He watches me with a mixture of pride and fierce desire. It’s a combination I’ve never seen before.
“Are you ready?” he asks, squeezing my knee.
I put my hand on his. “Yuh-yes. I think so.”
Logan flips a switch on the headset. “Pilots, destination one, please.” He flips the same switch.
“Destination one ?”
“I want to show you something,” he says, his tone growing dark and mysterious. Emotion grips his features.
I want to ask more, but then the helicopter blades begin to slice through the air, the engine whirring, the noise loud even through the headset. I grip his hand with both of mine, holding on tightly.
“Am I hurting you?” I ask.
“Hold as tight as you need,” he growls. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll always be here for you.”
His use of ‘always’ makes my heart shimmer as much as his touch makes my body ache. He’s talking about more than a helicopter flight.
“Open your eyes, gorgeous,” he says.
I peel my eyes open, laughing shakily. “I didn’t even know they were closed,” I admit.
When the helicopter lifts from the pad, my stomach wavers, but I keep my eyes open, staring at my boyfriend, my man. Under these high-stress circumstances, thinking of him like this somehow doesn’t seem ridiculous.
“We can leave all our worries behind,” he yells over the sound of the helicopter. “Float away from the city. From the guilt.”
“Just for today,” I mutter.
“Piper?” he says louder.
He didn’t hear me. Good. I don’t want to ruin this. I want to forget. I just want to be with him.
“Let’s fly away, Logan,” I say, louder this time. “Just me and you. No guilt. No mob. Not anything. Just us.”
When the helicopter gets higher, soaring over the city, I breathe shakily and then look down. The buildings are growing smaller, everything drifting away.
“Beautiful, right?” he says.
“It is,” I agree.
“I’m not talking about the city. I’m talking about the look of wonder on your face.”
The helicopter surges out of the city toward the countryside. After only a few minutes, it descends. Logan’s mood shifts as if he’s descending, too. He sits back, interlacing his hands, his jaw pulsing, highlighting his manly features.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask.
“I’ve never brought anyone here before,” he replies. “Even Elliot doesn’t know I prevented it from being torn down. But I want to show you, Piper. I want to share everything with you.”
Even the rest of our lives?
It’s like a mental text that I leave unsent. That’s the tricky thing about being face-to-face. There are some things I’d shoot off in a text without even thinking about it, but are almost painful to say aloud.
The helicopter descends on a field next to a forest.
Once the blades have stopped slicing the air, Logan unstraps himself. I follow his lead. He jumps down from the chopper, then lifts his hands up, grabbing my hips and lowering me to the ground. He’s so strong, I feel like I’m flying, even more so than in the helicopter.
“It’s not far,” he says, taking my hand.
I sense he needs me to be here for him, though I’m not sure exactly what’s going on. We walk through a small area of the forest, then onto a country road that looks like it leads to a small town.
He says nothing. I don’t speak either. His body is tense like he’s mentally preparing himself. But for what?
Soon, we turn down a dirt lane. A rundown abandoned building sits in a clearing. All around, nature is overgrown. Trees and weeds and flowers, but for yards around the building, crews have evidently been working to keep it from encroaching.
“This was my home before CPS took me. Life wasn’t easy for me or Elliot… but it was hell here, Piper. It was…” He shudders, staring at the house like he’s seeing a ghost.
I wrap my arm around his waist and lean against his chest, knowing he just needs me to be here. He needs somebody to hear him. No, not somebody. He needs me .
“My mother died giving birth to me. My father, he was… he was the cruelest bastard you’re ever likely to meet. He hurt me, Piper. I thought he broke me forever. And then later, at the orphanage, I thought that just made the breakage even more permanent. This is why I’ll never let life break me. This is why I’ll stand up against the mob, against my own demons, against everything. The world tried to ruin me. I thought it succeeded on some level, deep down, but I could function, at least…”
He turns, wrapping his arms around me, his eyes glistening. “But then my determined, confident, gorgeous angel flew into my life, and you healed me. I wanted to bring you here so you’d know what you did for me. You’ve taken away this pain just by being you. You’re a miracle. You’re everything to me.”
His voice catches. My eyes go blurry with tears. I reach up and cradle his face in my hands. “I’m here for you if you ever want to talk about it,” I tell him. “I know it’s probably dark, evil, but I can take it. I’ll carry some of the burden for you.”
“That’s the thing,” he says, leaning down and kissing my cheek. “You’re already carrying it just by being here.”
He kisses my cheek again, getting closer to my lips. I sink against him as we kiss. A mixture of passion and heat and something else, like all the pain is draining out of him, marks every movement of the kiss. Then he groans and grabs onto my hips, holding me possessively, pulling me against him.
“I’ve kept this place standing as a reminder to stay strong,” he says fiercely. “But I don’t need it anymore, not now. I’ve got you.”
I wish this moment could be as perfect as it would be if something weren’t hanging over us. But when he says, ‘I’ve got you,’ my mind painfully spits out…
Yeah, until Elliot finds out .
“This isn’t why I coerced you into a helicopter, though,” he says, attempting to smile.
I match his energy. “You couldn’t coerce me into doing anything, tough guy. Anything I do with you, I want to.”
To prove my point, I throw myself at him. He laughs, but when he catches me and our lips meet, the laughing stops and turns into hungry moans. I wrap my legs around him, my ass tingling as he sinks his hands in, holding me up as if I weigh nothing.
“Enough misery,” he says between hungry kisses. “I’ve prepared a date for us.”
“Hey.” I put my hand on his chest. “If you wanted to sit here all freaking night, in silence, in misery , I’d be here for you.”
“I know,” he says, voice growing husky. “But are you going to turn down a glass of champagne?”