Page 83 of Broken Prince

“No!” Pure fear flashes in Logan’s eyes.

“Logan.” I keep my voice as calm as I can. His eyes flick to mine. “Let her take him.”

“Laney.” I’ve never heard my name sound so broken. Tears sting the back of my eyes, and I feel like I’m going to puke. But Stacy doesn’t care about Benny; she only cares about hurting Logan. And I don’t want her to harm Benny to make that happen.

“She’s not going to hurt him. You have to let him go.”

“Of course, I’m not going to fucking hurt him. He’s my son.” She looks at me with a disgusted look.

“You don’t even have a car to bring him home. You took the bus with the cheer team,” Logan says through gritted teeth.

“I’ll find a way,” she replies. “Now, hand him over.”

“I’ll bring them home,” Elijah offers.

“What?” Logan snaps his eyes over to his brother. “No, you won’t.”

“You want Benny to get home safe, right? Well, this is the best way. Give him to Stacy, and we can go back to the hotel and get Benny’s stuff, okay.”

Logan looks around like he’s looking for a way out. If he fights this, it’s only going to make things worse for him. My heart is shattering for him.

“Come here, sweet boy.” I take Benny from Logan’s arms, and he lets him go willingly, most likely because he’s in shock. “You be a good boy for your mama, okay?” I kiss his little cheek, breaking inside as I hand him over to Stacy.

Logan looks gutted, like I just betrayed him, and God, I feel like I want to die right now.

Stacy fusses over Benny, acting like a caring mom. “We will meet you back here,” Elijah says, grabbing Logan’s arm.

He has to forcefully pull him away as Logan looks like he wants to resist him, leaving me here with Stacy.

I don’t go with them, mostly because I don’t want her alone with Benny right now. At least in the car, she will be with Elijah, and he can make sure Benny is safe until they’re back in their hometown.

“You're going to make his life hell because of me, aren't you?” I ask her.

“I don’t know what you're talking about.” She shrugs. “Wouldn’t be an issue if you just stayed away from my son.”

I look down at Benny. He’s looking at me like he wants to be in my arms. I want to take him so bad, to snuggle him to my chest. He's my little man, someone who’s taken up a place in my heart.

There's no reasoning with this girl. No matter how much I tell her that I’m just the aunt, she’s not going to care. She doesn’t want to care.

“Don’t do this to Logan, please,” I beg her. “That little boy is his whole life. He would be destroyed if you kept Benny from him for almost a month.”

“He should have thought of that before he was an asshole to me,” she scoffs.

“I’ll make you a deal. If you don’t keep Logan from Benny, I’ll stay away.”

She looks at me, her brow raised. “How so?”

“I’ll move out of the house and into student housing. I’ll stop babysitting Benny. And I won’t go near him anymore.”

It’s taking everything in me to keep it together because I feel like I’m ripping my own heart out. The idea of never seeing this sweet boy fills me with a pain I’ve never felt.

“I’ll do my best to stay away from Logan, but we are family now. So, I’ll have to see him for things like holidays and some sports events as I am in the photography club.”

She narrows her eyes. “And I want you to stay away from the other guys.”

“What?” My brows jump. “Why?”

“Because if you're around them, you're around Logan.” I don’t even know how that makes sense.