Cowboy Logic - B.A. Tortuga Page 0,74
broken her brother’s heart.
“Okay. Have a good one.” She hung up with a sigh, and he stood there, looking at his phone.
Wanted to marry him.
Like it was just that easy.
Like life happened that way to men like him.
Jericho rubbed a hand over his face. He had some work to do before it got dark.
He reckoned he’d better get to it.
Chapter 27
“Jesus Christ, I’ve never seen anyone who looked like you that wasn’t in a movie!”
“Mal, get me the fuck out of here. If a picture ends up in a tabloid, I’m going to beat you.” He’d never hurt so bad in his entire fucking life, and he wanted to die. His arm cast gave the impression he was signaling a turn on his bike, and his fingers looked like boiled bratwurst hanging out the end.
“Come on. Oh my God. You didn’t have a checked bag?”
“No. Bailey is shipping everything because I can’t pull anything. I just have my laptop and word processor.” He held up a tiny bag in his good hand. It was Darcy’s, so it was pink with a unicorn horn.
“That is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I want one. I want one for every fucking man I know. I know what I’m doing for Christmas.”
“My niece will be ecstatic.” He rolled his eyes, but even that hurt. Jesus. “I’ll send her a check and let her go to the Walmart.”
“You’re a queen.” Mal took the bag. “I want to hug you but… damn.”
“Later. Please, honey. Please. I need to go sit. Now.” He was about two seconds away from losing his goddamn mind.
“Of course. I got special permission to leave the car in the loading zone. You should have gotten a wheelchair.”
Sure enough, Mal’s little SUV was right there in the loading zone, airport security hovering around it. The guy was cute. Mal must have offered a phone number and a blow job.
“Jesus, man. What happened to you?” The guy opened the door and loaded him in.
“Texas. Texas happened to me.”
“Damn. Was it worth it?”
He didn’t know about that. He’d never been so hurt, not since he was a kid, but he’d fallen in love… “I’d do it again, if I could.”
“Well, good on you.”
Yeah. Right. Soon it would feel good. “See you Friday, Mal.”
Mal wiggled. “You know it, sweet man.”
They got the doors closed before he glared. “Horn dog.”
“Hey. You got to take it where you can, and I didn’t get all serious with a cowboy in—”
“Don’t. I can’t, Mal. Just don’t.” He didn’t want to talk about Jericho. He didn’t want to think about Jericho. He wanted to pretend that he wasn’t broken inside.
“Sorry.” Mal went quiet, but out of kindness, he thought. “Do you want anything on the way home?”
“A milkshake? Please?”
“You got it.” Mal sighed softly, shook his head. “I’m sorry, Logic. Seriously. I have your back.”
He nodded and closed his eyes, and if his cheeks were wet all the way home, neither one of them noticed.
Not only that, but Mal didn’t tell him how many calories were in that shake.
Chapter 28
When Bailey came by to drop off the letters for him and the kids, he was out picking up Travis, who’d stayed an hour late at school to work on some project.
The crisp envelopes were sitting on the bench on the porch when he got home.
“Dammit.” He wanted to kick something, because he wanted to ask how Logic was, to see if maybe the man had said something to her.
He sure hadn’t answered the phone when Jericho had called.
“Dad?” Travis looked at him, frowning deep. “What’s up? What’s this?”
“Come on, guys.” He led the way inside, where he got out a package of cookies. Damn Bailey and Logic for the coping mechanism, anyway. “They’re letters from Uncle Logic.”
“Why would he write us? What does he want?” Travis handed him the letter back. “I don’t want it.”
“Hey, come on.” He took it, but held it, because Trav would regret not reading it. “I told you, he was hurting real bad and had to go home. I bet he wanted to say goodbye.”
Ellie crossed her arms over her chest. “He could call.”
“Honey, only one of his arms… works.” Which was a really, really genuinely good reason not to call or answer.
“Then how is he writing letters?” Travis snorted. “No, he’s a jerk.”
“Travis! He got beat up really bad. He needed to go home. This isn’t about us.” No way did he want his kids to think Logic hated them or something. “I’ll