“I’m just gonna go, then you can have the whole house, okay?” Logan reached behind him towards the handle, cursing the day he’d discovered he had a twin. “No harm, no foul. You’re just going to sit right there, while I—”
“THAT’S HIM!”
A swinging fist came out of nowhere, catching Logan right in the eye. The world around him tilted and spun, as he fell to his knees—blinking back a stream of blood.
The last thing he remembered was a streak of fur, followed by a piercing shout, followed by a muffled profanity as the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen drifted into view.
“Are you okay?” she seemed to say.
He couldn’t tell. He couldn’t even tell if he was awake or dreaming.
“You’re pretty.”
Oh god—did I just say that out loud?
Then the whole world went black.
Chapter 13
“For fuck’s sake, Bill—he’s had enough!”
Logan woke up to a sharp kick in the ribs. A piercing pain shot through his entire body, radiating out from his chest, as he sucked in an involuntary gasp of air. Slowly, the world around him lightened. Slowly, he was able to make sense of what he was seeing.
Or he would have...if what he was seeing made a lick of sense.
A burly man was standing on one side of the room—chest heaving like a rogue water buffalo who’d escaped from his cage. His beady eyes were locked and dilated, and his knuckles were red with blood. On the other side of the room, stood that same beautiful girl. Logan half-thought he’d dreamed her. Her face was pale and drawn with panic, and she kept clenching her hands into delicate little fists—like she was going to single handedly stop whatever nonsense was going on. In between the two, was Spartacus—the world’s biggest dog. Still growling. Still as disgruntled as ever. Logan was lying on the ground at his feet.
“There—see?” the man scoffed at the woman’s concern. “He’s coming around.”
Without a second’s pause, the woman darted forward. Sliding to her knees at Logan’s side, like a baseball star trying to make it home. “Oh my gosh—are you okay?”
Was he okay? It was an interesting question.
His vision was blurry. His head was killing him. And judging from the ache in the center of his chest, he had a sneaking suspicion that the giant dog had been sitting right on his ribcage.
“...I need to get back to Florida.”
The words took all the rest of his strength with them, and he slumped back onto the floor, praying to the gods of karma that Dylan was having as bad a time as he was himself.
“Florida?” The woman couldn’t decide whether it was a legitimate statement, or clear evidence of a concussion. She dismissed it either way. “Well I don’t know about all that, but my name’s Lacy Larson, and this is Bill Heam. I believe you know his wife.”
His wife?
Logan blinked in disorientation for a moment, before the words hit home.
...Dylan, what have you done?
He pushed himself to a delicate sitting position, keeping one eye on the murderous dog sitting behind him, and another on the murderous man eyeing him from across the room. The room tilted and swayed before him, and he threw out an automatic arm for balance.
“His wife?” Maybe it was just best to play stupid—even though there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that his brother was to blame. “I don’t think so.”
The automatic concern in Lacy’s eyes cooled, as she reached into her purse and pulled out a manila envelope—sliding a stack of glossy photographs into her hand. “Sorry lover boy, but that’s not going to cut it.” She thrust the stack into his hand. “I was here. I saw you myself.”
Still trying to recover his senses, Logan glanced down at the first one—only to have his stomach rebel at the very sight. It was Dylan, alright. Lying on top of the kitchen counter with a well-endowed brunette. There was very little doubt as to what they were doing—given their specific pose—and the entire thing was made ten times worse by the giant grin on Dylan’s face.
“That’s...uh...” Simply denying it wouldn’t work, so Logan tried to take a different approach. Granted, it was one that left a lot to be desired. “That’s a great shot. What kind of lens are you using—”
A punch to the face left him speechless once again. Another knocked him to the floor.