9
Logan
“Logan. Logan!”
“Fuck…”
I can’t believe I fell asleep. Three bikers were just pursuing us, and I’ve been around long enough to know that it means others are probably still out there, hunting us. How could I possibly have fallen asleep?
The wounds on my head and my arm must have made me drowsy. And then, there’s the girl in my arm, nestled against me, her breath tickling my neck. I don’t think I’ve slept this well in years.
“Can you hear that?”
I blink fast until I’m fully awake. Wincing, I gently push a sleeping Lia off me and onto the soft grass beside me, though I hold onto her hand. I’ll never let go of her again.
Then I notice that the makeshift tent is gone, the fire is out, and in fact, there isn’t any trace of our presence here… apart from ourselves.
Damn, I was really out of it.
“More bikes,” grunts Quill, answering his own question, and I hear the loud sound of engines in the distance. “Are you going to wake up or not, you lazy fuck?”
“Watch it.” I glare at him, but I know I deserve it. I can’t believe I fell asleep.
“Well, while you were fucking my wife’s mom…”
I stand up hurriedly, letting go of Lia’s hand just long enough to take a swing at him. He falls back, wiping away the trickle of blood that’s formed under his nose, then looks up at me, chuckling in that psychopath way of his.
“Quill!”
Piper runs toward us, her eyes throwing daggers at me, as she leans over to help Quill up. He takes her hand, but instead of letting her help him up, he pulls her down into his lap.
“Quill!” she says again, though this time it comes out in an embarrassed squeak.
“Since he fucked your mom, how about I return the favor, and fuck his daughter?”
“Oh, my god…” She buries her head in her hands as I glare at him.
“Oh wait,” he adds, smiling in a way that reveals his now bloody teeth, “I already did.”
“I swear to fucking god…” I throw myself at him, grabbing him by the collar, before being stopped by a hand on my arm.
“What’s going on, Logan?”
Lia’s voice is groggy, and when I look back at her, my heart twists to see the dark shadows under her eyes. All thoughts of my psychopath son-in-law are forgotten as I lock her in my arms.
“You look exhausted, baby. Didn’t you sleep?”
“I did… well, a little bit,” she adds hurriedly, when I raise an eyebrow. “I had a lot on my mind.”
“What kind of things?” I murmur, stroking her hair.
She looks up at me, and her expression makes my stomach clench, because I can’t understand it.
“Things like,” cuts in Quill, “the sound of motorbikes, all fucking night long.”
Lia blanches. “Really? But if they find me…”
I don’t let her finish the thought. “They won’t find you.”
“They probably will,” says Quill, “if we keep chatting like we have all the time in the world. Time to hit the road.”
I glower at him. “And how the hell do you suggest we do that, since my car got totaled?”
He yawns. “Well, while you had your mouth between Piper’s mom’s legs…”
“Quill!” squeaks Piper. “I’m so sorry, Logan. Quill has a thing for, uhm, parents…”
“A thing for what?” gasps Lia.
“Just for us doing things… like… uhm…”
“Don’t finish that thought, Piper,” I warn her, as Quill grins. “Finish your thought, Quill. But watch it, or a fist to the face will be the least of your worries.”
I know I have it in me to scare the shit out of just about anyone, but Quill’s grin only deepens.
“Well, when you were… reconnecting… I went back to get those bikes. That is, two of them, since I wouldn’t trust Piper to walk in a straight line, let alone drive in one.
And I expect it’s the same for her mom. Anyway, while I was gone, Piper packed our things like the good girl she is and—”
“Quill!”
“And now we’re all ready to go. Whenever you lazy bastards want to, that is.”
The glare I give him only makes him shrug. Again, though, I know I deserve it. I’m supposed to be responsible for my two girls, and I fucking slept.
Sighing, I help Lia up, my hand finding its old place around her wrist. But I’m a lot more gentle than I once was as I lead her toward the shrubbery where Quill hid the bikes.
“So what’s the plan?” he asks.
I hesitate. “Well, we have a bazooka, and…”
“And no plan,” guesses Quill. “You were too busy fucking Piper’s—”
“Shut up, Quill,” cuts in Piper. “So why are they after us, anyway?”
“He doesn’t know.” Quill grins again. “Too busy fucking your mom.”
My hands fist at my sides, but this time, I don’t punch him. I’d like to beat the shit out of him, but we don’t have time, Piper would never forgive me, and he’s right, after all. I was too busy fucking Lia to ask.
And now we’ve got more masked bikers after us, and I have no idea why.
Lia clears her throat. “I don’t know what they want. They’re connected to my father in some way. I don’t know why or how, though. Maybe I did, but…”
She interrupts herself, but I know what she was going to say. But I don’t remember.
“Maybe they want revenge for his death,” suggests Piper.
“I don’t think so, no.” She hesitates for a beat. “I think they were after us before then.” She frowns. “Yes, now that I say it, I’m pretty sure of it. I think they were hunting him. I heard papa say they’re trying to collect a debt. He owed them for something. I don’t know more than that.”
“Great,” grumbles Piper. “First the mafia, then this. Just how many assholes are after us?”
“Don’t worry, cricket,” murmurs Quill, stroking her back. “I’ll kill them all.”
She rolls her eyes, but I can tell he’s serious.
“Alright.” Quill places a leather satchel containing a few rockets he recovered from the bikers at his feet, then shoulders the massive bazooka, latching onto Piper with his other hand. “As much as I’m enjoying this, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“And how the hell are you going to hold that thing if you’re holding onto my daughter too?” I growl.
“There’s more than one way to hold onto your daughter,” he smirks, pushing her over the front of the seat of the bike so she’s lying across it. “Just like there’s more than one way to hold a bazooka.”
“Quill!” gasps Piper.
For someone who’s spent the past hour warning us about bikers hunting for us, he sure looks unaffected about the whole situation. But I can remember being his age once. Feeling invincible.
“Where to?” he questions, revving up his bike.
“Well, away from them, first…” I begin.
“Yeah.
“And then, to Belfast.”
“Oh, nice!” squeaks Piper, as he lays a leg over her to pin her into place. “I’ve always wanted to visit Belfast. Can we go sightseeing?”
“We can get into a plane, that’s what we can,” I tell her. “Everest is sending us one, and I’m getting you the hell out of here.”
“Oh, come on… just a few days,” pleads Piper. “I want to climb up Cave Hill.”
Quill shakes his head, laughing silently, then drives back onto the road, steering with one hand while the other one holds the bazooka steady.
I grab the other bike and sit Lia between my thighs. She twists around, her arms wrapping tightly around my middle, as I turn on the engine and join Quill on the road.
Soon, we’re driving fast, and I almost forget about the danger behind us as the wind whips my hair and the girl I thought I’d lost nestles against me.
My head aches and so does my arm, but that can’t be much worse than a flesh wound, because I can bend it. I let go of the handlebar to crush Lia to me.
I feel young again. In love. Invincible, just like Quill. Everything’s possible now that Lia’s back where she belongs, in my arms.
But suddenly, Lia lets out a shrill scream.
A moment later, gunfire erupts behind me. I squeeze her harder, trying to shield her from it.
But it’s getting closer, while the dust kicked up by the bikes reaches me and makes my eyes water.
“Duck!” yells Quill, his bike screeching to a halt. Moments later, an explosion makes me nearly drive off the road and into the steep ravine.
“Goddammit! Fuck!”
The idiot just fired his fucking bazooka.
I frantically steer back onto the road, but I overcorrect, and the bike topples over. I let out a string of curse words, somehow managing to hold Lia to one side so that when the bike crashes, I’m the only one who touches the ground.
Fucking hell, it hurts. My body feels like it’s been scalded. The skin all along my right side must have gotten ripped right off. I lie on the dusty ground, stunned from the sudden fall.
“Logan! Logan!”
Lia’s panicked cries force me out of my daze. In the cloud of dust that’s risen up around us, I can just make out Piper running and collapsing at my side.
“Logan! Papa! Are you hurt? Are you very hurt?”
Not with that word spilling out of her lips. How can I be hurt when she calls me papa?
By now, Lia’s kneeling beside me too, and I pull both of them into a bear hug.
It does hurt when I press Piper to my bad side, but it doesn’t matter. In fact the pain feels good, because it reminds me she’s here, and she called me papa. I press her to me even harder, until she lets out a gasp that tells me I need to loosen my grip.
“Oh my gosh,” she cries, touching my shirt. “You’re bleeding. Your shirt is soaked with blood!”
“It’s okay, Piper… Aurora… it’s okay…”
It probably isn’t okay. Between the shards of glass against my temple and the gunshot yesterday, and the fact that half of my torso is currently skinless, it probably isn’t okay at all. Physically, at least. Emotionally, though, I’m feeling better than I have in a very long time.
But emotions can only get you so far. I lie back down on the dusty ground, my breaths coming out in pained spurts.
“I don’t know what to do,” murmurs Lia, letting me pull her all the way down so she’s lying on the ground beside me. “Logan, I don’t know what to do. You’re hurt, and… and I don’t know how to take care of you.”
“Shh, baby. Shh… just stop… talking…”
I close my eyes, squeezing her hand. As long as I feel it in mine, I know I’m going to be okay.
My mind grows foggy again, and Quill’s low growl reaches me from far away.
“Should’ve known I couldn’t trust him with a motorbike… he’s lucky he’s your daddy, Piper, or I swear to god… you gonna hold his hand much longer?”
“Don’t be jealous! And don’t call him daddy!”
I reach out to her, trying to feel her hand in mine again, but she must have stood up to join Quill. My chest throbs, but I guess that’s how it is, isn’t it? By the time I got to know her, another man had already claimed her.
I sigh, and then stop sighing, because it fucking hurts. My insides feel like they’re burning up along with my skin.
“Look at that biker,” continues Quill, his voice even further away than before. “I just took off his mask, and his head is leaking brain.”
“Ew, Quill!”
“Are those his intestines, do you think? I’ve often thought about intestines, but I’ve never seen them before. Up close, I mean.”
“That’s so gross! I’m gonna be sick!”
“Sorry, cricket. Sorry. Please don’t be sick. I love you. It’s just intestines, though. You want to touch them?”
Those are the last words I hear before I lose consciousness once more.