Cowboy Logic - B.A. Tortuga Page 0,13
smoke signals. Talk to the kids and tell them if anything is ever weird, they can come to me over the back fence, huh?”
Anderson stretched up tall, a little tanned line of belly appearing. “I’m going to be here for a few days to suss out the situation. I’d appreciate it, if you’re asked, of course, to say my name’s Logic.”
“You got it. Never hurts for Morrow to think Bailey has herself a champion that no one has ever heard of.” He winked. “Might not be so scary, he knew who you were.”
“I do have a champion. He’s my hero.”
Anderson patted Bailey’s shoulder. “I’m your brother. It’s my job.”
That was too damn cute. “Thanks for the coffee.” Jericho got up, and Bailey gave him a quick hug.
“Thanks for checking on me.”
“Sure.” He grabbed his hat again.
“I’ll walk you out,” Logic said, his expression brooking no argument.
“Okay.” Jericho had a feeling he was about to get chewed on a bit. Maybe he deserved it some. No one liked to be reminded of their crap teenage years.
They headed out the door. “I appreciate you stopping by, man. I’m sticking around until… until she doesn’t need me.”
“She needed you way before this.” Shit. Shit, he hadn’t intended to say that out loud. He meant it, though—Bailey had been through hell, and where had this asshole been? Playing with robots?
Logic’s face hardened. “Yeah, because you’re a fucking knight in shining armor, cowboy. I guess it’s fine to snuggle up to the ladies, but a skinny, pimply gay kid is not okay. You don’t know shit about the situation, about my situation. It’s assholes like y’all that drove me out.”
“Assholes like me.” Jericho shook his head. “I was a stupid kid, but I never did anything to you. And you know dick about me, so let’s agree to disagree.” Jericho knew he would never, never, let his momma die without coming to her funeral. Not even now.
“You’re right. You never did anything. Have a good one.” Anderson turned his back and walked off.
Jericho gritted his teeth, holding in all the things he wanted to shout. Suddenly he was sixteen again and desperate to hide that other boys gave him a hard-on. That was no excuse. What the other kids had done to Anderson was awful. Still, he’d never hurt anyone. Not ever.
He hadn’t. He’d been… quiet.
Dammit.
He whirled and stomped to his truck. God, he hated feeling like the moral high ground had been swept out from under him in a mudslide, especially when he wanted to do the right thing for Bailey and her kids.
Maybe the right thing was to leave them alone while Anderson, no Logic, was in town.
Chapter 5
Logic turned off his phone. He was hiding. From his agent, Mike. From Mal and Evan. From Bailey.
He needed to get some edits done, like whoa, because if he didn’t, Jeannie would come and bite his toes off, one by one.
His editor was a biter. He knew it.
After plugging in his earbuds, he opened his laptop. The garage apartment did afford some privacy. He wasn’t going to meet anyone in the hall on the way to the bathroom.
He ran through deleting just and looked and a few zooms. He had his pet words, the ones he overused over and over. And over. Snorting at himself, he tapped out a new scene where he’d left a serious dangle in the plot.
“Goddamn editors and their insistence that shit make sense. Where did the gun go? How did he reload? What? Why?”
He made notes on his little word processor so he didn’t have to keep switching windows. That saved him time. Which was handy, because he was scattered as chicken feed today.
God, this whole returning to Texas thing was bringing terrible memories to the forefront. His stomach churned with stress, so he sat back for a moment, breathing deeply. In. Out. Yoga breath.
He didn’t live here.
He didn’t belong here.
He was here to help.
It sure didn’t matter what Jericho Yeager thought of him.
His own little mantra.
Logic knew he would get to go home soon. Right now—
His phone buzzed, then buzzed again. He had it turned face-down, but that kind of persistent grind or quick succession made him curious.
That was a text from Bailey.
“Oh dammit.” He saved everything and closed the screen down. He turned off the processor too, since it would autosave that way.
Breathe. Right. Logic went to unlock the door, knowing he couldn’t shut out whatever kids showed up at his door.
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