Insider (Exodus End #1) (67 page)

“Do you want them?” Grandma waved the garment at her.

“Yes, please.” Toni leaned back, one arm across her bare breasts as she attempted to roll down the automatic window and keep Logan’s lap covered with hers. As the car wasn’t running, the button didn’t respond to her persistent fingertip.

“Can you get me a robe?” Toni asked.

“Is that your boyfriend?” her grandmother yelled at the glass.

“Nope. I always meet strangers in the driveway for sex in unfamiliar cars.”

Logan’s jaw dropped, but her grandma just laughed. “I’ll leave these here,” she said and tucked Toni’s panties under the windshield wiper. “And go get a robe.”

“And some shoes, please!”

Her grandma nodded, offered a coy wink to Logan, who wasn’t sure if he should be mortified or amused, and then headed toward the house.

“I’m glad it was Grandma who discovered us and not Birdie or my mom,” Toni said.

“You’re glad?”

“Relatively speaking,” she said as she slid off his lap. She winced when she attempted to straighten one leg. “Let’s agree to never fall asleep in that position again.”

“Deal.” He cringed as he peeled his ass off leather. “If Justin finds out what’s been on his back seat, I’m afraid he’s going to have to burn his car.”

Toni laughed and leaned over the front seat in her journey to recover her panties. Logan groaned at the glorious sight her bare ass presented to him as she scrambled to get behind the wheel. The car started with a loud
vroom
, idling with the low ferocity only an eight-cylinder could produce.

“And if he finds out what’s been on his front seat,” Logan said, “he’s going to get a boner every time he drives.”

Toni snorted. “I highly doubt that.” She rolled down the window and rescued her panties from beneath the windshield wiper, then squirmed into them. With one arm over her boobs, she eased the door open and grabbed some of Logan’s clothes from the ground outside, tossing them into the back before closing the door. Visibly shivering, she fiddled with the heater while he acrobatically donned his underwear, jeans, and one shoe.

“Did you find my shirt?” he asked, grateful that his junk was covered. But her grandmother was headed back in their direction, and he still wasn’t what he’d consider respectable.

“I couldn’t reach it. If I could, I’d be wearing it. I’m f-freezing.” Her teeth chattered as she shuddered.

He leaned over the seat and kissed her chilled shoulder. “I can’t believe you aren’t upset about this.”

“I’m too happy that you’re here to care. I’m just glad Birdie didn’t catch us. Her questions would have been endless.”

Still holding her boobs with one arm, Toni rolled down the window when her grandmother reached the side of the car. Toni took the proffered fluffy pink robe and slid her arms into the sleeves. Next she wriggled her feet into a pair of slippers.

Her grandmother leaned into the car and extended her hand to Logan, who took it uncertainly.

“I’m Joanna. You must be the guy with all the flowers.”

Logan felt a blush rush up his neck to his cheeks. “Yeah. That would be me trying to get your granddaughter’s attention.”

“I’d say it worked.” Joanna chuckled and released his hand.

“I’m Logan, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Logan. Come on inside for breakfast,” she said. She picked up Logan’s shirt from the ground and instead of handing it to him, she carried it with her into the house.

“She took my shirt,” Logan said.

“Can’t blame her,” Toni said. “You look scrumptious in nothing but those jeans.”

Toni rolled up the window and shut off the car before climbing out into the chilly, damp air. She flipped the seat forward to let him out, and he hopped around in the gravel on one foot as he rescued his other shoe from beneath the car.

Once he had it on, he drew Toni against him and ran his hands over her terry-cloth-encased ass to pull her closer. He leaned in for a kiss, but she turned her head.

“You do not want to kiss me right now,” she said. “My breath is toxic.”

“I do want to kiss you right now,” he said, capturing her jaw in his hand and turning her face toward his. “I want to kiss you every morning.”

She buried her fingers in his hair and smiled up at him. “Okay, but no tongue until I brush my teeth.”

“A little tongue,” he bartered. He closed the distance between their mouths, stroking her upper lip with the tip of his tongue as he drew away.

Staring up at him with wide eyes, she took a step back. And then another.

“Oh my God!” she cried. “My breath really is toxic. Your face is melting off!”

She dashed up the steps, and laughing, Logan chased after her. In the kitchen, her mother’s harsh stare drew him to a halt. His smile faltered.

“Logan is here!” Birdie yelled, running in his direction with three dogs on her heels. She looked him up and down, her eyes overlarge and inquisitive behind her thick glasses. “Where is your shirt? Are you going swimming?”

Logan covered his chest with one arm, similarly to the way Toni had concealed her breasts in the car. “Someone took it.”

Joanna grinned as she handed his shirt to him. “Someone misplaced it,” she corrected before she returned to the stove to stir a pan of scrambled eggs.

Logan gratefully tugged his shirt on over his head, and he swore he heard more than one disappointed sigh in the room.

“I’m going up to shower,” Toni said. “Keep Logan company while I’m gone.”

And then she left him there. With her family. He would have tried to join her in the shower if three pairs of eyes weren’t watching his every move.

“Do you need help with anything?” he asked Toni’s grandmother, glancing toward the stairs in hopes that Toni had just secured the world record for fastest shower ever.

“You’re a guest,” Joanna said. “Have a seat.”

He’d much rather have had some mundane task such as buttering toast to keep him occupied, but he sat on a stool at the kitchen island and fought the urge to pull out his cellphone to pass the time and avoid awkward questions.

“Not there, silly,” Birdie said. She took his hand and urged him from his perch, leading him to a square blue-gray breakfast table in a corner nook. “We eat over here.”

“As you wish,” he said with a cordial nod, and Birdie giggled in delight.

He watched her collect plates and set one in each spot while Joanna manned the stove. Eloise hadn’t moved since he entered the room. She was watching him so closely that he considered hiding under the table. After several uncomfortable moments, he met her gaze and held it, which apparently was her cue to sit at the table beside him.

“I’m not sure what Antonia told you about the incident with the tabloid,” Eloise said.

“Just that she wasn’t the one who sold our stories.”

“It wasn’t her,” Eloise said, licking her lips. “I didn’t act alone, but ultimately, I am responsible.”

“You!” Logan blinked at her, unable to fathom what she’d just told him.

“I wish I hadn’t done it. I don’t want this incident to damage Antonia’s future career prospects or her um,
friendship . . .
” Eloise tilted her head toward him as if waiting for him to qualify what she was saying. He shrugged and shook his head, not sure what she was going for. “Or damage her friendship with you.”

Oh, she was baiting him for relationship information. “I wouldn’t be here if it had damaged our friendship,” Logan said. “I knew she wasn’t capable of hurting people she cares about. She isn’t like that.”

Eloise closed her eyes and nodded. “I always worry that she’s too soft, too good, too gentle for her own benefit and that the world will chew her up and spit her out. But maybe instead of her changing to try to appease cruel reality, the rest of the world would do better to become more like her.”

Yes, exactly. He was surprised he and her mother saw eye to eye on something like that.

“I’ve got her back,” Logan said.

“Do you think it would be best to break our publishing contract with your band—”

“No!” He hadn’t meant to shout, but if there wasn’t a contract, there would be no reason—besides him—for Toni to return to her place on tour.

“—and let Toni pursue the book’s publication independently?” Eloise finished.

Logan rubbed the back of his neck. He had no clue what would be best for the book or the band or Toni in that regard. All he cared about was that she would be at his side.

“I don’t know,” Logan said. “Why don’t you ask Toni? Or Sam. He’s the one who thought your publishing house was best for the job. There has to be a reason for that.”

“It’s because Toni does excellent work,” Eloise said with a smile. “I don’t give her enough credit. I’ve been trying to get everything in order so I can retire and hand the reins over to her—”

“You’re retiring?” Joanna said, dropping a bowl of biscuits on the table with a thud. A few popped out of their container and rolled toward the floor. Luckily Logan had fast reflexes.

“That’s the plan. I was going to wait a few years, but something Toni said last night convinced me that it’s time to sell the company and pursue other ambitions.” She glanced over at Birdie, who was pouring orange juice into five small glasses with strict concentration and aided, apparently, by her protruding tongue. “Toni doesn’t want to run the company. She wants to continue to create. It’s what she loves. What she’s good at. I don’t want to be responsible for squelching that spark in her. I want her to be happy.”

Logan hadn’t been sure he liked Eloise until that moment. A few minutes earlier, he was sure he didn’t like her. But anyone who wanted to ensure Toni’s happiness was a champion in his book.

“So maybe
you
could ask her what she wants me to do about the book,” Eloise said to Logan. “I think she’ll be open with you. I’m not sure she trusts me much right now.”

Logan shrugged. He didn’t really want to be sucked into Toni’s family problems, but he did want her to follow her dreams. Especially if they included him.

“Birdie?” Joanna said from the stove.

Logan leaned around Eloise to see what the sweet child was up to. She was standing at the counter, a puzzled expression on her typically smiling face.

“Birdie?” Joanna said again, louder this time.

The pitcher of juice dropped from Birdie’s hand as she clutched her chest. Orange liquid spread across the tile at her feet. “Somefing . . . Somefing’s not right, Mommy,” she said, just before she crumpled to the ground.

Thirty-Eight

Toni hoped her family hadn’t managed to scare Logan away in the twenty minutes she’d taken to shower. She traipsed down the steps, tugging a handful of red balloons behind her, hoping they’d bring a smile to his face, just as they’d brought one to hers. In her other hand she carried a copy of the tabloid paper. She wanted to know if Logan recognized Susan in Steve’s wedding photo. Toni still didn’t know how the woman was connected to the band or why she seemed bent on hurting them all, and Steve in particular. Toni was pretty sure Reagan and the rest of them had been caught in the crossfire. Or maybe Susan got off on destroying lives. She’d certainly tried to ruin Toni’s.

When she rounded the corner to the kitchen, all the joy she’d felt at reconciling with Logan was ripped from her in an instant. Her feet rooted to the floor. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The words coming from Logan’s mouth as he knelt over Birdie’s crumpled body and held his ear close to her mouth sounded distant, as though Toni was watching the nightmare in her kitchen from a different dimension.

“She’s breathing,” he said, “but I can scarcely feel her heartbeat.”

“Joanna, call 9-1-1. Have them send an ambulance,” Mom said. She dropped to her knees next to Birdie and pressed her ear to Birdie’s chest. “She was born with a heart defect. They did surgery soon after she was born, but she hasn’t had many problems since.”

“Should we start CPR?” Logan asked while Toni stood frozen in the doorway.

This was not happening. Not happening. Not happening. She couldn’t lose Birdie. Couldn’t lose her. No.

“Her heart’s beating,” Mom said. “Doesn’t sound regular to me. Go get Toni. She’s taken CPR classes; she’ll know what to do.”

But she didn’t know. She didn’t know anything.

Logan jumped to his feet and noticed Toni standing in the doorway, clinging to the ribbons of half a dozen balloons.

“Toni?”

She sucked in a panicked breath. This was just like Dad. She was too late. Daddy was gone. He’d been gone before she’d arrived. She’d been too late to help him. Too late to save him.

Staring wide-eyed at Logan, she shook her head repeatedly. “Not Birdie.”

“Toni! Snap out of it,” Logan demanded. “What should we do?”

The ribbons slipped from her grasp, and the balloons rose to the ceiling, bouncing off the rafters with soft thuds.

“Ambulance is on its way,” Grandma said. “They said if her heart has stopped, we should start CPR.”

“I’m starting chest compressions,” Mom said, linking her hands in a fist.

“Wait,” Toni said. “You said she was breathing.”

Logan nodded. “She is.”

“Then she doesn’t need CPR. It could do more harm than good.” Toni rushed to her sister’s side and dropped to her knees. She could see Birdie’s chest rising and falling. She placed her hand over Birdie’s chest and she could feel her heart beating, but the organ was stumbling over itself irregularly. Something wasn’t right, but this wasn’t like what happened with Daddy at all. Birdie wasn’t gone.