Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Logan
H e should have known his siblings couldn’t keep from sticking their noses into his business.
Well, not his business. Harper’s business.
He sighed and pressed his lips into a line, schooling his expression into the unemotional mask perfected from years of practice.
It might be over a decade since he’d been in the spotlight, but Logan would never forget how having your every move critiqued could feel.
His chest tightened as he thought of what Harper must have gone through—must still be going through. It’s the least he could do to not make it worse for her. He would give her a place to stay until Mason got back from wherever he’d gone this time.
He held the door open for Harper, nodding in reply when she smiled her thanks. As they approached their table, both Cassie and Rowan stopped talking and pulled their heads apart.
Not suspicious at all.
They smiled in greeting and Logan glared at them over the top of Harper’s head.
Rowan picked up the loaned phone from the table and offered it to Harper who took it hesitantly.
“I got your SIM card out of your old phone and popped it in this one. If you’re okay with me taking your old one, I can see if I can dry it out for you?”
Harper looked up from the phone to Logan and he nodded.
Had she even realized she was already looking to Logan for support?
He shouldn’t feel so good about that. He really shouldn’t.
It’s only temporary. She’ll be gone in a few days—a week at most—and will forget about you. Don’t read too much into it.
“Thank you. That would be really great. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
Rowan shook his head. “Not at all. I tinker with stuff like this all the time.”
That was true. He might be most known for his brutal-looking, welded scrap metal sculptures, but Rowan also had a knack for fine details.
Logan pulled out Harper’s chair and shot a look at Rowan, daring him to say something. His irritating brother just smiled innocently.
He’d better not think this was anything more than helping a friend of a friend of Mason’s.
Anyone would do it.
If he kept telling himself that, maybe he’d start to believe it.
Harper sat and Logan took the only empty seat, which just happened to be next to her.
Cassie pulled her hand out from under her chin and stretched across the table to shake Harper’s hand. “I’m Cassie, Logan’s sister.”
Harper looked at her hand and hesitantly reached out. “Harper.”
“So, you need a guitar?” Cassie asked, chin resting on her hand as she glanced between Logan and Harper, one eyebrow flicking up in question.
“Yeah.” Harper looked at Logan with nervous eyes before looking back to Cassie. “But just for a loan. I’ll give it back, I promise.”
Cassie waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t be silly. It’s nothing fancy. It’s just been hanging around.”
Logan put an arm over the back of Harper’s chair, and didn’t miss how she moved ever so slightly toward him. He gave her a nod of encouragement.
“You don’t mind?” Harper reached hesitantly for the instrument that Cassie had taken from its case.
“Not at all. Take it for as long as you need.”
He might have only just met Harper, but he felt protective toward her in a way he usually only did toward his family. She just needed his help, that was all.
Sure, buddy. Keep telling yourself that.
Rowan nudged his sister with his elbow and grinned. “Was this the phase where you were certain you were going to be the next Isla Holden?”
Cassie rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Harper stiffened next to him, her hands, which had been moving gently over the instrument, stilled. He cleared his throat.
“Did you hear that Rowan has a commission for some big New York building?”
Turning in her seat to face Rowan, Cassie gaped. “Really? Why didn’t you say something?”
Logan stopped paying attention to their conversation and turned his head toward Harper so his lips were near her ear. She smelled like jasmine and some fancy perfume, and he almost groaned but managed to get ahold of himself. “You ok?”
She nodded and swallowed. “Yes—” she squeaked and then coughed. “I’m ok.”
The way she sat bolt upright on her chair, the guitar clutched to her chest as if it were a shield didn’t lend him confidence that she was, in fact, alright.
He sighed.
Sometimes, he wished he was able to be something other than himself. Able to know what to say instead of just being quiet. He absently lifted his hand from the back of her chair and slid it under her hair to brush a thumb over the nape of her neck.
She let out a little whimper and leaned her head to one side, pressing closer to him. He was so lost in her reaction, caught up in the web of Harper, that he didn’t notice that his siblings were no longer talking.
“So, I hear you had something of a mishap in that storm two nights ago?” Cassie asked.
Harper started, jumping a little in her seat. Logan pulled away slightly, feeling the loss of her as his hand no longer touched her warm skin.
Harper nibbled on her bottom lip as she relaxed her grip on the guitar to hand it back to Cassie, who placed it in its case.
“Yeah, I slid off the road in the wet, and your brother found me.”
“Really?”
Logan kept silent. He knew Rowan would fill in any gaps in the conversation.
“Well. I mean, he drove past me and sprayed me with mud.”
“Bro! Seriously?” Rowan shot him a look. “You didn’t tell me that part.”
Logan felt his cheeks warm and narrowed his eyes at Rowan. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him.
“You were in a car accident?” Cassie was suddenly all business. “Did you take her to the clinic?” She tilted her head as she looked at Harper, as if inspecting for visible injuries
“I’m fine.” Harper insisted, lifting her hands to fend off further questions.
Unfortunately Cassie was nothing if not persistent. “After any traffic accident you really need to get checked out.”
“If I felt like I needed to, I would.”
Cassie huffed, but Logan spoke before she could. “If she doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t have to, Cass.”
Cassie’s lips thinned.
Harper looked between them. “I really am fine. Just a couple of bruises, and some aches.”
She would have been in a lot worse state had she stayed in the car, but Logan pushed that thought out of the way. Harper had a job to do, and he was going to make it happen.
“You ready to go?” He asked Harper, cutting off Cassie before she could say anything else.
Harper nodded and Logan pushed to his feet, picking up the guitar case in one hand and gesturing for Harper to go in front of him.
“See you later, Cassie.” Rowan grabbed half of her muffin before she could stop him and grinned.
“Thief!”
Logan heard Rowan laughing as they left Wilde Buns.
They were just about to climb into the truck when Cassie dashed from Wilde Buns and stopped, looking up and down the street. When she saw them, she jogged toward them, her brown ponytail bouncing with her steps.
“Hey, Harper!” She called as she ran closer.
Harper turned, one hand on the seat of the truck as Cassie slowed to a walk.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be pushy.”
Harper smiled. “That’s ok. I really am fine.”
Cassie nodded and ran a hand over her hair before looking away and then back to Harper. “I overreacted.” She glanced to Logan and he knew what she was going to say before she said it. “We lost a brother in a car accident. I find it difficult…”
“I’m sorry.” Harper turned away from the truck to focus on Cassie. “I didn’t realize.”
Cassie nodded. “It’s alright, it was a long time ago. Kind of still surprises you with how much it hurts though.”
Harper nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“I just didn’t want you to be hurt and not get treatment, you know?”
Harper smiled and Logan’s heart lurched.
“How about I promise to go to the clinic if I notice anything out of the ordinary?”
Cassie considered her and then nodded. “Ok.”
“Good,” Harper said with a small smile. She turned to get into the truck.
“I’d just hate to see Isla Holden’s sister end up hurt,” Cassie said with a laugh.
Harper paused, one hand resting on the seat and one foot on the step ready to climb into the truck. “What did you say?” Her fingers on the seat curled into a fist.
“You are Isla Holden’s sister, right?”
Harper stepped out of the truck and turned to face Cassie. Taking a step backwards, she turned to face Logan.
The stricken expression on her face hit him like a slap.
“You lied to me.” Her voice was barely above a whisper as she took another step backwards.
“No, Harper I didn’t?—”
But Harper had turned and started running down the street away from Logan.
Logan ignored Cassie and took off after Harper. He had seen the look on her face. Harper was barely holding it together.
Logan’s booted feet hit the ground as he thundered after Harper.