An Act of Redemption (20 page)

I’m brought out of my thoughts when we turn onto his street and I see a familiar car parked in front of his apartment building. “Uh oh,” I whisper, my heart immediately kicking into overdrive.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think that’s my dad’s car up there.” I point to the Silver Mercedes that’s parked on the street, and sure enough, as we get closer I can tell it’s my parents.

My mom looks terrified and my dad looks like he’s about to commit murder. “Shit, this is going to be so bad. I haven’t told them yet.” It makes me wonder how they found out. I know Jaxson wouldn’t have said anything, not without telling me.

“What do you want me to do, Anna?”

My attention snaps to Logan at his harsh tone, his expression void of any emotion. “Nothing. I mean…just park and we’ll go in.”

He remains silent as he parks and doesn’t make eye contact with me. I swallow nervously, trying to gauge his mood but can’t.

Is he upset with me?

My parents exit the car the same time we do and my anxiety skyrockets at the way my dad starts toward us. “You are in big trouble, young lady.”

“Bill,” my mom cautions, running up behind him.

“Dad, listen, I can explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it. Get in the car now, you’re coming back to Summerland with us.”

I rear back at the order. “What are you talking about? Of course I’m not, I have exams coming up and—”

“I don’t care!” he bellows, his anger shocking me. I’ve seen him mad before but not like this. “There are rules that you agreed to follow and you broke them.”

“No, I didn’t!” I say through clenched teeth.

“Honey,” my mom starts, glancing at Logan nervously, “what’s going on? We drove to your dorm to surprise you and found out that you aren’t living there any more.”

“Instead we find out you’re living with a criminal!”

Logan tenses next to me at my father’s ignorant comment and my temper flares hot. I stand in front of him and glare up at my dad. “How dare you say something like that! Especially when you know better. I want you to leave right now. I refuse to talk to you when you’re like this. I am twenty-two years old, you can’t order me around like this.”

“Like hell I can’t. You are my daughter and you’re coming with us.”

Just as he reaches for me Logan knocks his hand away and steps in front of me. “Don’t put your hands on her like that. Not ever.” His voice is low and dangerous, and I’m terrified things are about to get worse.

“Get out of my way, boy, or I will bring you all sorts of trouble.”

“Bill, stop it right now! You’re way out of line,” my mom reprimands, pulling him back.

“What on earth is wrong with you?” I ask, my heart breaking at the way he’s acting.

“Me! You’re the one who has been lying to us.”

“No, I haven’t. I just haven’t had the chance to tell you yet. This is all recent, ask Jaxson if you don’t believe me.”

“Jaxson?” He rears back, seeming surprised that he knows.

“Yes,
Jaxson.”
I shake my head. “You know what, I don’t need your approval. I’m an adult and can make my own choices. I thought you trusted me, but guess I was wrong.” I grab Logan’s arm now, my throat growing tighter by the second. “Come on,” I whisper, not wanting to subject him any longer than necessary to my father being an asshole. He reluctantly lets me pull him away, but I stop next to my dad. “Don’t bother contacting me again, not until you can respect me and talk to me like an adult.” I pull Logan behind me, leading the way to his apartment building.

“Anna, wait,” my mom calls out.

Stopping, I turn to see her running toward me with tears in her eyes. The sight has mine beginning to fall, too. She pulls me in for a hug. “I’m so sorry, honey.” She steps back to look at both of us. “I’m sorry to both of you, your father is just angry, we were really caught off guard when your roommate told us you weren’t living there any more. But you’re right—he should trust you. Just…please tell me you’re okay? That you’re going to be okay?”

“I’m okay, Mom, I promise.”

She nods and cups my face. “Okay, will you please call me later and tell me everything? I know you’re upset right now so I don’t expect you to tonight, but tomorrow? Please?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“Thank you.” She leans in and kisses my cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I whisper.

She turns to Logan and pulls him in for a hug, taking him by surprise. “I’m glad to see you’re okay. I’m sorry for what just happened. Please take care of my daughter.”

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” he promises, his tone flat.

“I know you won’t, which is why I’m leaving her here with you.” She steps back and looks at me. “I better get going, call me tomorrow.”

“I will.”

She takes back off to the car where my father sits. I don’t make eye contact with him because I’m too upset to even look at him right now. Letting out a heavy breath, I follow Logan into the building. He remains silent the entire time and the tension between us is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Once inside his apartment he slams the door harder than necessary and leans against it, his easy demeanor from the beach completely gone.

“I’m so sorry for how he acted,” I say, tears clogging my throat to think my father hurt his feelings.

He shrugs. “Why? He didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. You are shacked up with a criminal. Isn’t that why you didn’t tell him you were staying with me?”

“No, of course not. How can you even say that?”

“No? It’s not because you’re embarrassed to tell him that you’ve hooked back up with your loser ex who went to prison?”

My heart cracks at his obviously low opinion of me. Nice—first my father and now him, but just like with my father, I refuse to put up with it. “I guess you don’t know me so well either, huh?” Picking my purse back up that I discarded on the couch, I move to the door. “Get out of my way. I’m not staying here with you any more.” He stares down at me and doesn’t budge. “Fine.” I turn to go to the balcony, deciding I will crawl down the fire escape if I have to. But before I even make it to the sliding door he comes up behind me and slaps a hand on the glass, crowding me against it.

“Wait,” he says, his tone softer. “Please don’t leave. I’m sorry I’m being an asshole. I’m just…pissed off at the entire situation.”

“You have a right to be angry but not at me. If I really thought that of you I wouldn’t have gone up against my father like that.”

His arms come around my waist and he drops his head on my shoulder. “I know, baby, I’m not mad at you. Hell, I’m not even that mad at your dad, well except for how he spoke to you. I’m mostly mad that he’s right and I can’t do a goddamn thing to change it.”

I turn around in his arms and look up at him, hating the torment I see in his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“It’s the truth, Anna, you’re with an ex-convict. It will always be like this, you will always be associated with it and it’s the last thing I want to taint you with.”

“That isn’t the truth and I don’t care what anyone thinks.” He shakes his head but I don’t let him speak. “Yes. Look at me.” I grab his face, forcing his gaze to mine. “You know what I see when I look at you?” I whisper. “I see a man who was wrongfully convicted, a boy who fought to protect his sister and most likely saved her life.” Stepping closer, I press a soft kiss to his cheekbone. “I don’t see an ex-convict, I only see a man of honor.”

His breathing turns heavy, and instead of responding to me with words, his mouth finds mine. The kiss is slow, passionate and filled with something I can’t name, something I’m not sure I’ve ever felt from him. Fear? Hurt? I don’t know, but it has me pouring everything I can into it, wanting to take away whatever this pain is that’s coiling inside of him.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, baby,” he murmurs.

“I know.”

His cellphone goes off in his pocket but we ignore it and don’t break our kiss. However, when it starts ringing again right away Logan pries his mouth away with a groan. He drops his forehead on mine. “I’m sorry, I should answer it. It could be one of the agents.”

“It’s okay, I’m going to have a shower before bed.”

His eyes turn to liquid fire. I expect him to say screw it and follow me but he doesn’t. With a frustrated breath he gives me one more kiss then steps back. After I collect a change of clothes and head into the bathroom, I turn on the shower and get under the warm spray, letting the hot water soothe my inner turmoil from the fight I just had with my father. I make it quick, wanting to be back in Logan’s arms and find the peace we had earlier, when we left the beach. A smile lifts my lips as an idea forms. I know just the thing.

Logan

I
’m pissed off after my long-ass phone call with the agents to hear the water has been shut off. I was hoping to hang up with enough time to join Anna in the shower, but the assholes were yapping my fucking ear off about the fight tomorrow night. Something I don’t want to be thinking about right now but know it needs to be a priority.

Discarding my shirt, I throw it in the hamper as I walk into my room and drop down on my bed. I throw my arm over my eyes in an attempt to dull the ache that’s started in my head. From the shit that just went down with Anna’s parents to the plan for Ricketts, all I want to do is go back to when we were at the beach and I could forget about everything but the girl who eases my demons. The girl who makes me forget that I’m a criminal.

At the sound of the bathroom door opening I move my arm and look to see Anna standing at the bedroom doorway, staring at me. My dick jerks at the sight of her incredible body in nothing but her panties and one of my shirts. Our gazes hold as she walks over to me, my heart pounding at the look in her eyes, it’s one I know well. Kneeling at the bottom of the bed she slowly crawls up my body, stopping at mid-stomach to place her warm, soft lips on my abs. I sweep up her long, wet hair and watch as she licks the contours of my body, making her way back down to the band of my board shorts.

My muscles tighten in sweet, hot anticipation as she undoes my shorts and frees my aching cock.

The moment she takes me in that beautiful mouth of hers a groan erupts from me and my fingers fist in her hair. She strokes where her mouth can’t reach and runs her tongue along the underside of my cock. “Fuck yeah. You remember, Anna, don’t you? You remember how I taught you to suck my dick.”

Her warm eyes flare and she hums her response around my dick, sending vibrations throughout my entire body.

With a growl, I lean up just enough to grab one of her firm, round, lace-covered globes. “Without removing your mouth, swing your pretty pussy my way.”

She stills, knowing exactly what I want her to do. Keeping her mouth on me she moves her body enough for me to grab her hips and lift her so she’s straddling my face. The sweet smell of her invades my senses and has my body coiling so fucking tight I’m close to exploding already.

I waste no time shredding the thin lace from her hips. Her body trembles as I swipe my fingers through her wet slit. “Don’t stop, baby. Suck my cock while I eat your pussy.”

As soon as she starts sucking again I delve in and groan as her sweet taste explodes on my tongue. She cries out around my dick and thrusts back on my mouth. I lift her hips so I can have better access, licking her everywhere my tongue can reach. This I fucking love, it was one of my favorite things I would do with her while we waited for her to be ready to take all of me. I loved showing her all the different ways to pleasure each other, and she was always so fucking eager to learn.

Reaching down, I cup the back of her neck and pump up to hit the back of her throat. She whimpers at the control and her thrusts become more frantic, fucking my face as she would my cock. It drives me fucking insane.

Swirling my tongue around her swollen clit, I bring my hand back up and slide two fingers into her tight heat, stroking her G-spot. I suck her nub between my lips and it sends her over. Her cries of ecstasy explode around my cock and have my balls tightening painfully. Her rhythm never falters as she brings me closer to the release I crave.

Once her final tremors subside I lift her hips just enough so I can speak. “Anna, baby, move your mouth, I’m about to come.” She moans and sucks me harder and faster. With a groan I fist her hair again. “I’m serious, Anna. I can’t hold off much longer, baby.” She doesn’t let up, only gives me more. When she reaches down and cups my balls, with just the right amount of pressure, I fucking detonate. Groaning out my release, I come harder than I ever have in my life, and my sweet Anna drinks every fucking bit that I spill into her hot, wet mouth.

Once she’s done she turns to crawl back up me, but I flip her over, coming over top of her, and seal my lips over hers. Her arms wrap around my neck, welcoming me into her mouth. A growl escapes me at the way our flavors mix together—it’s fucking perfection. She’s perfect. This girl fucking owns me and she always will, but I decide not to voice that right now. Not much scares me, but the thought of losing her, of not having her for the rest of my life, fucking terrifies me.

I pull back when I sense her needing air, but keep my mouth close and stare into her warm eyes. Eyes that I saw every time I closed mine to escape to a better place than the hell I lived in for four years.

A small smile takes over her sweet expression. “That was fun,” she whispers.

I grunt. “Fun is a major fucking understatement, baby.” I press a kiss to her giggling mouth then move off her and pull her to sit up. “Lift your arms.” She does as she’s told, and I slip my shirt over her head, revealing the most beautiful fucking sight. It has my dick going hard all over again. Lying down, I pull her warm body against mine, chest to chest so she’s facing me, and rest my forehead on hers. We remain silent, not needing any words, and I soak in everything Anna, knowing I need this every single night for the rest of my life in order to survive.

Logan

T
ension fills the car while I drive Anna to Jaxson and Julia’s for a few hours until I’m done with the fight. She stares out the passenger window, avoiding my gaze, her knee bouncing incessantly. She’s been like this all day about the upcoming fight and I fucking hate it. I hate that she’s hurting because of me, and I can’t do a damn thing to make it better because I have an obligation to uphold.