Page 30 of Make Me Burn
Logan gazed out the tall windows. “It was the summer before I started at Penn. Miranda, his new wife, used to eye rape me all the time and I had to dance around to stay away from her. No way would I ever touch her or even want to. But one day I overheard a phone conversation she had with another man, and it was clear from the tone and what was said that he was her lover. Because my father had cheated so much on the mother I loved, I had no intention of telling him about this, figuring he deserved it. But Miranda didn’t know that. She’d caught a glimpse of me in the hallway when she was on the phone and must have assumed I’d go to him. So, I guess she needed to get rid of me. She told my father I had forced myself on her, and when he confronted me I told him about the phone call I heard. Of course, he took her side and threw me out without a dime. After beating the shit out of me.”
“But he wasn’t as strong as you, was he?”
“No, but I was not going to strike my own father, especially at his advanced age, although I did allow myself to pull the cane he was hitting me with out of his hand and toss it aside.”
“Did he hurt you?” Jinx asked, both furious and sad.
“Yeah, but believe me, it was much worse when I wouldn’t fight back with Victor because that guy could pack a heavy punch.”
She looked him in the eye. “You never had sex with Darla, did you?”
“No. I told you that.” He snorted. “And the repeat of what happened with my father made it seem like some kind of Greek tragedy play. I couldn’t believe it was happening again, and up to that point I would have bet my life that my best friend would take my side in any situation. But he didn’t. He turned against me just like my father had.”
“I’m so sorry, Logan.” Jinx reached her hand out to cup his cheek, and he took it and kissed the palm, then held her hand in his lap.
“So, was that why you wanted to ruin your father’s company?” she asked, taking a sip of seltzer and set the glass down.
“It was partly payback for hurting my mother and the way he’d taken all her money and given nothing back to her but pain and sorrow,” he said. “But it was also because later, when my father had gotten cancer, he allowed a man Miranda had convinced him to hire to run the company. I’m sure the guy was her lover. And they are the ones who were ruining the company. I was working for Sam Meyers at the time so I’d heard the rumors of it going downhill. I assumed I would still inherit the company when my father died and figured it would be close to worthless by then. I didn’t expect much else from him, but he had drilled into me the company handoff legacy of our name my whole life, so I expected he’d want me to have it. But when he took a turn for the worse I got a call from Miranda, and she said I had to get to the hospital because my father had some last words for me.”
“And you went?”
“Of course.” He shook his head. “Naive me, I even hoped he might have some regret. Or some kind of father-son sense of dignity. But the reason he called me in was to tell me Miranda was getting everything, including the company, and that if I contested the will, Miranda would bring rape charges against me.”
Jinx gasped. “For the attack she made up.”
“Right, but even when they are false, criminal charges like that can ruin a man’s career. So, I decided to go on the offensive and take back what was rightfully mine—before she could inherit it and try to entrap me. To take it out from under their noses before they even saw what was happening. Miranda and her lover boy were sluffs and were bleeding clients as well as personnel who did not want to work for them. So, maybe it sounds ruthless to those who don’t know the whole story, but as my father was slowly dying, Sam and I began courting their clients and even some of the staff. And when the company was on its knees we moved in for the kill.”
“How did your father react?”
“He was so heavily sedated by then that he did not even know. That was when I learned that family is where you find it, and Sam Meyers was the only man I would ever call Father, because he had been a true father to me.”
Jinx reached out and gave him a heartfelt hug, then pulled back, saying, “Thank you for telling me all that. I know it can’t be easy to talk about. And I am so glad you have a friend like Deena. She seems like a wonderful person.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “You were looking daggers at her earlier tonight.”
“Only because I was jealous of who I thought she was.”
“You’re okay about that now?”
Jinx nodded and felt her cheeks go pink. “I’m really sorry I made such a scene.”
“Hey, it was kind of fun, not that I’d want it to happen again.”
“Thanks for chasing me down. And catching me.” She got up and stepped closer to Logan and lowered herself into his lap, her arms going around his shoulders.
He pulled her head down, and when his lips met hers, Jinx was in heaven. And she knew this was where she belonged. She hoped she had not broken Logan’s trust with all her questions, but if they were going to have a future together, then they could no longer hide secrets from each other.
Even the secret love for him she’d held in her heart for so long.
Still naked in the bed after a night of lovemaking so tender it put her in tears, Jinx awoke to the sound of Logan on the phone telling someone from his company that he would be taking some personal days, then laughing and saying, “Yeah, I guess it’s been years since I did that. Or maybe never.”
He still had not put any clothes on either and was looking as gorgeous as ever.
After he ended the call and turned to her, she said, “Sounds like we’re going to spend the day together?”
“At least the day,” he said, perching on the edge of the bed and dropping a quick kiss on her lips. “Can you stay through the weekend?”
She said yes so fast he laughed and hugged her.