Chapter 15 #2
Oz chuckled. “No. Which means I’m gonna have to take two showers this morning. One now to take care of this,” he gestured to his cock, “and another after I run. I can see being with you is gonna make me the cleanest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Riley bit her lip, and her cheeks were pink with a blush. “I’ll check on Logan while you…er…shower then.”
“Sounds good. Ri?”
“Yeah?”
“I love having you here. In my bed. In my life.” It was as close as he could come to telling her how he felt about her without outright saying the words.
“I love being here,” she admitted.
“Right. I’m going to shower now,” Oz said, and forced himself to push off the doorjamb.
He entered the bathroom and shut the door firmly.
What he really wanted to do was ask her to shower with him, but he knew they didn’t have time.
Making another mental note for his future master bathroom to have a huge shower with some sort of seat in it to make fucking her there easier, he leaned over and turned on the water.
An hour and a half later, Oz was sitting on his couch with Logan. Riley had made omelets for breakfast after he’d returned from a long, hard run. She’d done her best to make Logan laugh and relax, but it was obvious the boy had something heavy weighing on his mind.
Oz had walked her to her door, and she’d hugged him and told him to relax. “Whatever he tells you, remember he’s doing so because he trusts you not to lose it.”
Which was true. Somehow his support of the boy after the incident at the school had shown Logan that he could truly trust his uncle. It had taken a while, but Oz had understood his reluctance.
“Sleep okay?” Oz asked Logan.
The boy nodded. “I thought of something last night,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Why Oz? I mean, Riley calls you by your real name. Mom did too. But everyone else calls you Oz. What’s it mean?”
Oz shrugged. “Back when I was younger, I listened to a lot of Ozzy Osbourne. I always had one of his CDs playing. Some of the guys I lived with at my first duty station with the Army started calling me Ozzy. It got shortened to Oz.”
“CDs? I think Mom had some of those around her house.”
Oz chuckled. “I’d forgotten that they’re almost obsolete. Yeah, CDs. I loved to put his stuff on in my car and blast it. I’m surprised I don’t have hearing loss as a result.”
“Would I like him?”
“Ozzy Osbourne?” Oz asked.
“Yeah.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s not for everyone, and his music is pretty hardcore. But you can take a listen and see what you think. I’ve probably got all those old CDs I listened to back in the day around here somewhere.”
“Uh, I can just go to YouTube or Spotify,” Logan said.
“Right. Of course. You kids and your technology,” Oz teased.
It wasn’t that he was clueless when it came to digital shit and technology, his Delta team used that stuff quite a bit, but he was feeling a little nervous trying to make small talk when he knew Logan had something heavy he wanted to discuss.
Logan gave him a small smile then looked away.
“You can tell me anything, Slugger,” Oz reassured him. “I might not have known you existed too long ago, but I love you. I’d do anything for you, to keep you safe, to make sure you’re happy and healthy.”
“I’m happy here,” Logan said softly. “And sometimes it makes me feel guilty.”
“You weren’t happy with your mom?” Oz asked gently.
“Not all the time. I don’t remember a lot of stuff from when I was little. But I know she was doing a lot of drugs. Lots of different guys would come over to our apartment and she’d tell me to stay in my room.”
“Did anyone hurt you? Touch you in private places?” Oz wasn’t sure how to handle this situation.
He just hoped he wasn’t fucking it up too bad.
He made a mental note to find a child psychologist, pronto.
But for now, he’d listen to whatever Logan wanted him to know.
He wouldn’t judge, and he’d try to keep his shit together.
“No! Mom yelled at anyone who tried to go into my room. Stuff was hard though. I had to take care of her, make sure she ate, and sometimes I had to steal money so I could go to the store and get food, stuff like that. But things got better. The last few years were good. She didn’t do as many drugs and was trying to stop.
But if she went too long without them, she’d shake a lot and throw up.
It made her really sick until she found some drugs again.
But she was trying,” Logan said defensively.
He was making Oz’s heart hurt. For Logan and for his sister.
Becky had always been independent, wanting to do everything on her own.
If she’d reached out, Oz could’ve helped her.
But if he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure how he would’ve reacted.
He’d already basically disowned her for doing drugs in the first place.
If she came to him and asked for help getting clean, would he have done anything?
He would like to think he would’ve, but it was a moot point now.
“That’s good,” he told Logan, meaning it.
“She met a guy, and I thought he was nice for a while. But then he and Mom started fighting. A lot. He didn’t like that she was trying to stop using drugs.
He still wanted to party and have tons of people over and stuff, and she didn’t.
She broke up with him, and I was happy. But he still came over a lot. ”
“He did? If your mom broke up with him, why was he still coming around?”
Logan swallowed hard and looked down at his hands. “Because…he wanted to see his daughter.”
It took a second for Logan’s words to sink in.
When they did, the ramifications struck Oz hard. “What?” he whispered.
Logan looked up into his uncle’s eyes. “That’s my secret.
I have a sister,” he whispered. “We have different dads. Her name is Bria, and she’s six and a half.
When Mom was killed, she went with her dad and I came here.
I miss her a lot. I looked after her, protected her at our other place.
And I haven’t seen or talked to her since we were taken away.
Do you think you can find her and let me make sure she’s okay? ”
Oz’s head spun—and it took everything within him not to throw something.
He not only had a nephew he hadn’t known about, apparently he also had a niece. Who lived God knows where with a guy who was a drug addict.
“Are you mad?” Logan whispered.
That was all it took for Oz to lock down his emotions. “No,” he told his nephew honestly. “I’m thrilled that I’ve got a niece, and I’m sad that you’re missing her. I know she’s missing you too.”
The relief on Logan’s face was worth the effort it had taken not to lose his shit.
“Our plans for the day have changed,” he told the boy.
“They have?”
“Yeah. We can look at schools later. Today, I want to see if I can find where your sister is living and take you to see her.”
Logan’s eyes widened. “Today?”
“Yeah, Slugger. You miss…Bria, that’s what you said her name was, right?”
Logan nodded.
“Right. So, you miss Bria, and I bet she’s probably missing you, because you’re an amazing kid and I know you’re an awesome brother. But I need to make some calls. Can you entertain yourself while I do that?”
Logan nodded, but he looked worried again. “You don’t want me to hear you when you talk to people?”
Oz sighed. “Here’s the thing—you did the right thing in telling me about your sister, but I should’ve been informed that I had a niece from the second you were brought to me.
And I wasn’t. I’m probably going to use some not-so-nice words when I call CPS.
I’m trying to do the right thing by shielding you from that. ”
“I’m ten,” Logan scoffed. “I’m not a baby, I’ve heard swearing before.”
“I know, but you shouldn’t hear it from your uncle,” Oz told him.
Logan kept his eyes locked on Oz for a long moment before he nodded. Then he asked, “Can Riley come with us? I know she’d probably like Bree.”
“That’s what she likes to be called? Bree?” Oz asked.
Logan nodded.
“Right. First, there’s no probably about it, Riley’s gonna love Bree.
And yes, I can ask her if she wants to come with us.
But I’m going to wait to tell her until after I make my calls.
She has work she needs to get done, Slugger.
I want her to come too, but it might take a while for me to get ahold of the right people so we can go say hi to your sister. Okay?”
Oz could see his nephew thinking about that for a moment, then he nodded again. “Okay.”
“Why don’t you go into my room and turn on the TV in there. I’m sure you can find something to entertain you while I try to get through the red tape that is Child Protective Services.”
“Why’s the tape red?” Logan asked with an adorable tilt of his head.
Oz chuckled, which was a miracle because he definitely didn’t feel like laughing. “It’s just a saying,” he told Logan.
“It’s a weird one,” Logan said.
Oz reached out and put his hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “Thanks for telling me your secret, Slugger. I know it wasn’t easy. Can I ask you something though?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why now? Did you just get to the point where you missed Bree enough to say something?”
Logan shook his head and looked his uncle in the eye. “It’s because you agreed with me that it was okay to hit Gary. I didn’t know if you would even want to meet Bree or not, especially since you were mad at Mom, but when you talked about the consent thing, I knew I could trust you.”