Wild Girl (Wild Men Texas #3) - Melissa Belle Page 0,43

you.” He leans closer. “And I know that Macey Henwood would never give her hand away to anyone—much less a two-bit reporter, unless—” Logan stops and stares at me. “It’s us, isn’t it? He’s got something on us.”

I shake my head, but Logan’s glaring now. “He blackmailed you? I’m going to fucking kill him.”

“Logan, please.” I grab his arm before he can stand up. “Don’t worry about it. You’re getting married tomorrow. I’m okay. I swear.”

He shifts gears. “But you believe you’re cursed? And you have since—when?”

“Since Mama hit me with the bottle. She showed me Vivian’s diary page that night.”

I suddenly realize how exhausted I am. I’m exhausted from keeping the secret for so long. Somewhere along the way, Mama’s shame became my shame, and I don’t know when I actually started to believe her, but the truth is that part of me did.

“You really think you’re cursed,” Logan says incredulously. “You seriously believe that crap.”

When I start to cry, he puts his hand on my arm and turns me to face him. “Macey Henwood, you are not freaking cursed. God has not jinxed you. You hear me? The whole legend is a fairy tale gone horribly bad. This town is so out of touch with real life it’s ridiculous. Your mother’s basing her daughter’s future on a hundred-and-fifty-year-old diary!”

I nod. “I know. Skip just got me really…thrown off. But in some ways, I’m glad. At least all my secrets are out there now. It helped me to let go.”

We go silent.

“So you gave him the story to protect—”

I save him from having to continue. “So you and Gigi wouldn’t have any drama.”

He doesn’t say anything, just looks at me. But his eyes tell me everything—thank you, but why would you care so much? You don’t even like Gigi.

“I didn’t think it was fair to you.” I pull at the thread in my cut-off shorts until it severs. “Skip strung a bunch of out-of-context pictures together to make a story look worse than it was. You weren’t doing anything wrong.”

“Macey.” Logan’s voice is strained. “You have no idea how much I appreciate you doing that. I wish I could explain to you exactly why, but someday you’ll understand.”

“It’s okay. I know your wedding means a lot to you, and I was happy to help make sure you get your happily ever after. Like you deserve.”

Logan’s gaze is knife-like, and as we stare at each other, I bite my lip and get lost in those dancing flecks of emerald surrounded by whiskey.

I know I’m not going to see Logan Wild unattached for much longer, and then I’ll have missed my chance.

So I stop biting my lip and go for broke.

“How much does Gigi know? About us?”

He blinks in surprise at my question and doesn’t answer me right away. Finally, he murmurs, “Some details.”

“How much?” I touch his knee.

No answer.

“How much?” I push again.

Nothing.

I grab him by the arm and shake him. “Tell me!”

“What are you asking for? What exactly did you want me to tell her?” His raised voice cuts through the quiet night. “That I’ve been in love with you since we were eight years old but I never had the guts to say it?!”

He stops short then, but his heart’s on his sleeve.

And I’m scared speechless.

I stand up when he does, and the tortured look in his eyes is the only thing that stops me from grabbing him and kissing him. He pushes past me and disappears around the cypress tree. And I stare up at the stars and wonder how I got my heart into such a mess.

But I don’t go back inside and try to find him.

Instead, I force myself to get into my SUV and drive away before I stop myself in that moment with Logan forever.

Because that moment would be entanglement, not love.

That moment would be my mother hanging on to my father because she doesn’t know what else to do with herself, because she’s not even sure it’s about him as much as it’s about not being alone. That moment would be me holding on to moments filled with pain.

All I know is that it’s hard, and I’m sad, and I wish I’d done more than screw around with Logan all these years. I wish I’d had more strength and more courage and more heart, rather than just making a teenage vow and holding onto it for dear life.

Because then who knows.

Logan

I let out a string of curse words as I disappear around