Dread moved through me. “Clearly this is deliberate. It’s not like her. She enjoys school. And she’s happy with you, Logan. I know she is.”
“Then why?”
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s about her mother… or… We don’t know everything she’s been through. We don’t know what’s she dealing with. Perhaps she should see a school counselor.”
“I don’t want to force her to do something she doesn’t want to do. Well… except drag her out of this bloody nightclub.”
“Maybe we can try to be calm when we find her?” I suggested gently.
“Calm? Grace, it’s nine o’clock on a Thursday night. I’ve been trying to call her for the last two hours and was just seconds from calling the police when I knocked on your door.”
“When was she supposed to be home?”
“She said she was having dinner at Layla’s so she’d be home around seven thirty.”
“It took you more than an hour to come to me?”
Logan glanced at me. “Things have been strained between us. I didn’t want to bother you.”
“It’s Maia. You’re never bothering me when it comes to Maia.”
“Right.” The word was laced heavily in sarcasm.
We fell into an awkward silence, compounded only by the silence of the almost-empty park around us.
“Are you okay?” he said, no longer sarcastic but concerned. “Maia mentioned she was going to Layla’s instead of yours after school because you had a doctor’s appointment.”
I blanched. “Oh… yes. I’m fine.”
“That was the least-fine-sounding fine ever. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Grace —”
“Logan —”
“I will keep asking until we find Maia, and after I’ve dealt with her, I’ll make you talk,” he warned, sounding completely serious.
I looked up into his eyes and saw the steely determination in them.
Oh shit.
“Fine… It wasn’t a doctor’s appointment. I had an appointment this afternoon at the health clinic.”
“For?” He sounded impatient now.
“A sexual health check.” I stared ahead, not wanting to see his reaction.
After a moment’s silence he said, “Because we had sex without protection?”
I heard something in his voice I had never heard before. Something a lot like hurt. I couldn’t help but look at him, and I found him staring at me in angry incredulity. “Logan, you’ve slept with a lot of women.”
“I use protection.”
“You didn’t with me.”
“Only you though!” He clenched his hands into fists at his sides and picked up speed.