Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
A second later, Logan Kade walked inside, scowling, and wearing shades. He wore a white dress shirt and dark pants. It looked like he left his business suit jacket in his vehicle. His dark hair was messily rumpled like he’d run his hand through it a few extra times. He had a firm scowl on his face, over his square jaw, and as he paused behind the tables, sweeping over them, he unbuttoned his shirt and began rolling the ends up until he could push them almost to his elbow.
Spotting us, that scowl just deepened as he made his way toward us. “Allen.” His gaze went to me and softened. “Ava.”
I held up a hand, my stomach one big knot by now. “Hi, Mr. Kade.” See, I knew them, knew of them, and it was the same from all the times they’d come to Manny’s, but I never considered seeing them in a social way.
At my greeting, Logan’s head jerked while Zeke barked out laughing.
He gave Zeke a look. “Shut it unless you no longer need legal counsel from me.”
Zeke turned away, but he didn’t “shut it.” He kept laughing, just quieter as he moved his head down.
Logan sighed, pulling a chair out across from us. He opened his mouth to say something, but an attendant came over. “Do you want bingo cards?”
“Uh.”
Zeke stopped laughing enough to straighten back up, and coughed, nodding. “Yes. He’ll take five cards.”
“Five?” came from Logan at the same time the attendant nodded and said, “Yes, sir.” And he ran off.
Logan leaned forward, shoving his shades up to rest on top of his head. His brown eyes were not happy. “This isn’t a social call, Allen. I’m in town and you said you had something to discuss with me.” But the attendant was back and placing the cards in front of Logan. He cursed, leaning back so the attendant had more room.
“I did.” Zeke’s lips were still twitching. “Bingo.”
Cursing again, Logan cut his gaze my way. “I heard you hitched yourself to this guy but was hoping it was a joke. I’m seeing that Jax wasn’t just imagining things.”
Zeke’s lips stopped twitching. His tone quickly went low. “You can be a jackass to me. I get it. I take that shit and it slides off my back, but don’t disrespect Ava. She’s tenfold the person you and I both are. Keep that in mind.”
Logan’s eyes cleared, his mouth turned down, but he was softening again. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that in a rude way. Just surprised. I thought you were with–”
Zeke lowered his head and focused on his bingo cards, but his words still came out, sounding casual, “Would you like me to start asking about your woman’s exes? I’m sure Taylor has a few.” Yes. His voice sounded carefree, almost cherry, but he glanced up and even I got a zing from the hard look in his eyes. He held Logan’s gaze for a full beat.
Logan’s shoulders rose up, held, and then lowered.
B10 was called out.
Logan began looking over his cards, placing tokens on two of them. “Oh, my God. I’m actually playing bingo. What is it you wanted to talk to me about, Allen?” His eyebrows shot up. “And if you called me here to play bingo with you, I will put you on the holiday blacklist because you and I both know you’re hoping to get an invite to Christmas.”
“You have a point, but…” Zeke stood up, and reverted to his almost giggling self. “One second. I’ll be right back.”
Logan frowned before saying, “He’s like a lovable gnat, and no offense because his crush on my brother sometimes alarms both Mason and me.”
I sat up straighter. “No offense back to you, but do you actually know him?”
He got quiet but held my gaze.
I added, “He could’ve gone down a much different path. That’s how he was growing up and he changed himself, decided he wanted better mentors. He did that. No one else.”
Logan cocked his head to the side. “I heard he got a nice push from his best friend and his father.”
“And your brother. You talk about him like he’s a fanboy. You’re wrong. He chose Mason to look up to, to help him into being a better guy. The idea of your brother, but he’s the one who made that decision to look for a guide. He’s the one who latched onto Blaise. He’s the one who didn’t get pissed off when his dad did what he did. The way I heard it, Zeke lapped it up and he used that to make himself a better person. Takes some intelligence and discipline to make the decision and then follow through with it.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” A different look edged into his gaze. “Other guys like Zeke might’ve gone a different way.” Those eyes were suddenly all-seeing, and I saw the sharp intelligence in them, a ruthlessness there that gave all those stories told about him some credibility. “Just as long as he treats you right.”