The Mobster And The Cowboy (A Cowboy Romance) (32 page)

Ralphie just shook his head. “You also need to know Robyn gave you up. He was screwing her when she called you.”

Melanie sighed.
“I trusted her. Oh, God.”

“
I know you did. She won’t bother you anymore, either.”

He sat down next to her
and took her hand. “Mel, if you ever need me, call me. You understand?”

“Yes.”

Ralphie was just about to stand up. She grabbed him and hugged him to her. “I love you.”

“I know. I love you too.
Be well, sweetheart.” He gave Logan a look and rose from the couch. “Your grandfather is in the hospital.”

Lo
gan’s eyes grew wide. “What?”

Melanie’s jaw dropped as she looked from Ralphie to Logan.

“He’s fine. He’s got a little bump on the head. He’s a bit nosy,” Ralphie said chuckling. “I had him brought there for observation.”

Logan looked from Ralphie to Melanie.

Melanie had a hard time reading him.

“Nobody’s out there
,” One of the two guys who had just walked in said.

It was already
nightfall and Ralphie motioned for his men to pick up the baggage, one being Michael, the other being Vinnie, and with one last look to Melanie, he walked out the door.

Logan walked to the door.

“Where are you going?” Melanie asked.

He paused and Melanie just stared at his back for a beat or two. Then he turned around. “I’m going to check on Heath.”

“Ok
ay. I’ll see you later.”

He turned back around and walked out the door.

Melanie just stood there.

After stopping off to see Gabe, Melanie went straight to Logan’s. He wasn’t home yet, but she thought he’d stop by the hospital to see Gabe after he checked on Heath.

She was sitting on the couch and watching TV
, not really comprehending what she was watching, when she heard him come in through the side door.

Melanie jumped up off the couch and went to him with a small smile on her face. She went to put her arms around him but he pulled back. She tilted her head in question.

“I want you to leave.”

“What?” she asked. She was stunned.

“I can’t do this anymore. I’m done.”

“Logan
, what are you talking about?”

“Jesus Christ
, Melanie, they were watching my kid!”

Melanie
recoiled. He’d never raised his voice at her before. She didn’t know what to say. She just stood there.

“You brought this here.”

“Logan, it’s over. Ralphie is gonna take care of it. Please? I’m sor-” she started to throw her hands up and around him. He stepped back.

Again, she was stunned.

“Pack your shit and leave.”

Melanie stared hi
m in the eye, looking for a hint of humor or something. There was nothing. She slowly nodded her head.

Without saying a word, she went into the bedroom and once she
was there the tears came down. She stood there crying, not knowing what happened. Okay, she knew what happened. What went down was the scariest thing she had ever encountered. She knew it took a toll on him but she didn’t know why he was throwing her out. He knew. He knew what she was about. She was getting more and more angry with him just thinking about it. She gathered her stuff and crammed them in her gym bag. She couldn’t even close the zipper.

She left the chaps
, he bought her, on his bed.

She walked out
of the bedroom and saw him standing in the game room with a bottle of Jack in his hand. He was lifting it up to his mouth but paused when he saw her.

“I’m leaving, but j
ust remember. You knew what I was about, Logan. I was up front from the beginning. I even warned you. So don’t pretend to be shocked. I’m not buying it.” She turned and walked to the side door. She turned back to him. “I guess you chose Jack.” Then she walked out and drove away.

He looked at the spot she was
standing in not a moment ago. He put the bottle down on the table then started walking to his bedroom. He turned back around, picked up the bottle and then went to his bedroom.

Logan woke up to the sun shining through the window. He didn’t feel right. He had a rough night’s
sleep. He turned his head to the spot where normally he would be seeing Melanie still sleeping. He brought his hands up to his face and scrubbed.

He turned his head to his night side table and saw the still full bottle of Jack.
He rose out of bed and walked to the bathroom.

“Good morning,” Richie said as he walked through the office door with two cups of coffee in his hands.

Logan picked his head up from the paperwork he was going over. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too, buddy. Here, someone needs coffee,” he said as he handed Logan a cup.

Logan took it and sighed. “Thanks
, man. But, really, why are you here?”

“Aren’t we meeting with Doug and Jay in t
he small corral to do some riding?”

“Oh, shit. Is that this morning?”

“Yeah. What’s going on? You look like hell. You and Melanie have a fight or something?” he asked jokingly.

Logan just looked at him.

“Oh,” he said wide eyed. “Where is she? She at the house? Go to her and work it out, man. I’ll cover here.”

Logan sighed and looked all around his office then settled his eyes on Richie. “I threw her out last night.”

Richie was taking a sip of the hot coffee and some of it went down the wrong pipe and he began to cough.

“Easy
, there.” Logan said.

Richie nodded his head. “You threw her out?”

There was a knock on the door and Logan looked to Richie. “Shhh. Come in.”

“Hi
, Logan. Oh, hey, Richie.”

They both said hello to Cody.

“Logan, have you seen Melanie today. She was supposed to meet me at the gym this morning but she never showed up.”

“No.
What the fuck? Do I look like her keeper?” he snapped.

Cody was taken aback.
“No, I was just asking is all. Geez.” And he turned, and as he started walking out, he said. “Oh, don’t forget. I’m leaving at two today.”

“You leave early today then don’t bother coming back.”

Cody turned back around and looked at Logan then shifted his eyes to Richie.

“That’s all right
, Cody. Do what you have to do at two, today. He’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.”

Cody nodded his head at Richie, glanced at Logan a
nd walked out of there so fast before Logan could say anything more.

Logan took in a breath
and let it out slowly.

“What happened
, Logan?” Richie started the conversation again.

“Some heavy shit went down last night. Her ex boyfriend showed up.”

“The gangster?”

Logan nodded and
proceeded to tell him the story, all the way up to throwing her out. And, as he replayed the story, he came to terms with the fact that he had fucked up, hence the reason he had a bad night’s sleep.

“Logan, not
for nothing, man, but she’s right. She was up front with you. You knew and you offered her protection.”

“I know
, damn it. I know.”

“Call her.”

“I tried. She’s not answering. She’s probably still pissed at me.”

“Gee, you think?”

“I thought maybe I’d give her some more time to calm down. She was really angry with me last night.”

Another knock and before Logan could say come in, Jay opened the door and walked in. The boys stopped talking about it.

****

When Melanie got home, she paced the house for hours. Not knowing what to do.
She cried, she grew angry then she cried some more. Then she got on the internet and bought a one way ticket to Florida. It would be good to see her parents. It’d been a while. But part of her knew she was running to mommy and daddy for support.

All she had was some clothes
to pack. She only had one suitcase that her sister had lent her when she first came to Texas. Whatever didn’t fit, she placed in the car. On her way to the airport, she would stop off at a store and buy another suitcase.

Yep. All she had was some clothes. It hit her that she was on
the run again. Well, at least no one was after her this time. Yeah, Logan wouldn’t look for her, she was sure.

She had a r
ough night’s sleep. Not only did she toss and turn with what went down with Logan, God, she loved him and knew she’d never get over him. The ache in her heart was wrenching, but what she witnessed in that house made her feel very uneasy. She did not want to be there.

She was ready to leave by 6:00 am
, even though her flight wasn’t until noon, but she waited for a respectable time to call Charlie to thank him and tell him she would not be living in his home anymore. It was only right to keep him informed.

For the next few hours, she cl
eaned his home from end to end, ignoring the phone, when it rang, after seeing Logan’s name on the ID screen.

As she left the house for the last time, she thought about Gabe, that sweet, sweet man. She would have loved to stop off and see him one last time but he would try to talk her into staying, claiming his grandson’s an asshole and to forgive his stupidity. She smiled sadly.
She reasoned that the hospital was in the opposite direction of the airport.

“You ever gonna shave?” Richie asked Logan as he walked into Logan’s living room.

He always let himself in. It was funny
, he thought, while Melanie was around, he stopped doing that.

It had been
two weeks since the incident and Logan was looking scruffy. Logan just grunted. He was lying down on the couch with the TV on, not really watching.

On the floor by the couch stood a box with the lid half opened.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing.”

Richie ignored him and opened the box. He pulled out a little black dress. He cocked his eye at Logan. “It might be a little tight around your waist.” He joked.

Logan didn’t even crack a smile.
“Geli told me Melanie was admiring this dress the day Linda came in. She said Melanie really liked it and was going to buy it but Linda fucked that up, so I had told Geli to put it aside. I bought it for her. I was going to give it to her the night…..” He couldn’t even bring himself to say he threw her out.

Logan went through the motions of living but he was dead inside, numb. He went to work, came home. Heath always looked at him like he knew something was wrong. He got so used to seeing his father with Melanie that he kept asking where she was and when they were going to get married.

Logan would ignore and deflect, but for how long could he do that?

He played conversations he had with Melanie over and over again in his mind. She wanted children, she wanted to settle down, and she loved being here in Texas. She never said it but he knew she loved him or at least had deep feelings for him.

He had her, he had her but he fucked it up.

He’d sit for hours, replaying the events in his mi
nd. Thinking at the time he made the right decision. He was fighting for full custody, damn it. If he got into any kind of trouble with the law, he was afraid he would lose joint custody.

He replayed his stupid decision to give her some time. If only he went to her that next morning.

He remembered telling Richie, he was going to give her some time to cool off. It killed him but he waited two days. He wasn’t sure if that was enough time for her but it was more than enough for him. He called her. She didn’t answer. He texted her, she didn’t text back. He went to her house, rang the door bell and banged on the door. He sat on the little porch and waited and waited and waited. He went home past midnight and was right back at her front door the next morning and waited and waited. Around 6:00 p.m., he went next door to his grandfather who called Charlie. Charlie told him that Melanie left about three days ago. He said she didn’t tell him where she was going, when Gabe asked.

Logan’s heart fell. He hadn’t been right since. Always nervous, jumpy
, and edgy. No one wanted to be around him. Richie was the only one to put up with him knowing what he was going through.

****

One month later……

Logan sat there, at his kitchen table, staring at the opened package that came that day. He had them specially made. In fact, it was Heath’s idea way back when.

‘It’
s Melanie’s favorite colors; Heath pleaded his case, which he didn’t need to. Logan was on board from the moment his son asked him.

The pain in his heart was still strong. It seemed it was getting stronger and stronger as time passed by. Wasn’t it supposed to get easier? Wasn’t his heart supposed to heal as time went by?