Logan's Leap (12 page)

Logan
stared, mouth agape as he shook the other man’s hand. “What the hell?” he
murmured quietly.

Julia
smiled big. “Sometimes when love hits, you can’t ignore it. Do you mind
explaining what’s going on here?” she asked pointing to Jayna and CJ.

“Is
there some place we could talk privately?” he asked.

Julia
and Bradly ushered them through the back office and into their apartment. Logan
and Jayna gave the bare minimum of information about their situation while
Madison tried to get CJ’s attention.

“We
didn’t realize that this is a lovers' retreat,” Jayna said quietly. “I don’t
want CJ to bother anyone.”

“Nonsense,”
Bradley said with a smile. “We have Madison around here all the time. Besides,
the rooms are pretty much soundproof.”

“Thank
you,” Jayna said returning his smile. “Could I go lie down now? I’m getting
tired and I think CJ is getting hungry.”

“Of
course,” Julia said disappearing into the office. She came back with a key,
followed by the girl from the front desk. “Jeanie will show you to your room.”

“I’ll
come with you,” Bradley said. “I need to check the shower in the room next door.”

Everyone
moved to the door and Julia grabbed Logan’s arm to stall him. “So, are you
going to tell me what’s going on between you and the beautiful Miss Jayna?”

Logan
looked up from the ground and into her eyes. “I don’t know what you mean. There
is nothing going on. I’m helping her out for my cousin and his wife. End of
story.”

“You
just can’t see what’s happening yet,” she snickered. “Big bad Logan Harper is
falling head over heels in love. You’ve joined me on the dark side.”

“I
always knew you were full of shit,” he said. “I thought love could never touch
you.”

“I
was wrong,” she admitted seriously. “And so were you. Mark my words. You even
love that baby. When I first saw you holding him I could have sworn he was
yours.”

“Like
I said, full of shit,” he teased with a smile as he dropped a kiss on her
cheek. “I’m glad you’re happy though.”

“Thanks,
you big dork. Now go get settled in. Oh, and by the way, you’re going to be in
one of the honeymoon suites. We only had that room available since the other
empty one has plumbing problems.”

Logan
looked hard at his old friend. The innocence on her face made him laugh.
“You’re still a pain in my ass.” He left the room and headed to where he saw
Bradley and Madison.

***********

Logan
turned around just before he reached the room Bradley had pointed him to. He
ran to the SUV and grabbed a few of the important things they would need then
walked back to the room.

Sticking
they key card into the slot, he pushed the door open and came to a sudden stop.
“What the hell,” he whispered as he took in the sight before him. The room was
all red, the heart-shaped bed was covered in red satin, and the Jacuzzi was
ready to go. There were complimentary bottles of champagne and sparkling cider
in an ice bucket that was decorated with hearts. Hell, the damn carpet even had
hearts on it. It was the most gaudy, yet still oddly romantic, room he’d ever
laid eyes on.

Jayna
was curled up on the bed sound asleep with CJ suckling at the breast. His groin
tightened at the sight of her curvy backside and he felt a strange sensation in
his chest as he watched her sleep. It all had to be an illusion, caused by all of
that love talk from Julia.

CJ’s
fussing broke him out of his reverie and he walked over to the bed and picked
him up to burp him. Sitting down in an easy chair, he let his body finally
relax as he patted the baby’s back. His mind wandered to his conversation with
Julia and his eyes flew open. He pulled CJ off of his shoulder and looked at
him. The baby gave him a gassy grin. “Oh Jeez,” he whispered. “I do love you,
you little snot. You wormed your way into my heart.” How in God’s name had he
let that happen? “You’re my little man and I’m going to miss you when you’re
gone."

CJ
cooed then burped, another cute as hell gassy grin appearing on his face. Logan
pulled him close and cradled him. He held on as tight as he dared. “Look at
your mama, kiddo. She’s the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen. I wish I could love
her but I’m scared. Love destroys…” He looked at CJ’s face. “I guess the only
thing that loving you could destroy is my heart,” he whispered. “But it’s
already dead. Loving your mom on the other hand…it could destroy everything I
am.

“But
what are you really Logan. You’ve been nothing but a shell of a man your whole
life.” Logan closed his eyes against the words. He wasn’t sure if it was his
subconscious speaking or his late brother Ben. He sometimes thought they were
one and the same.

Chapter 9

Logan
and Jayna went to dinner with Julia, Madison and Bradley at their favorite
local diner. Meal time was filled with talk about the past.

“So
Logan, do you still photocopy your ass and hand out the flyers all over town?”
Julia asked with a smirk. 

Jayna’s
head snapped up. “Oh, you didn’t…”

Everyone
at the table watched as Logan started to blush and looked down at his plate. “I
only did it that one time,” he said softly. “My cousin Jackson kind of put me
up to it. He did the exact same thing in Boulder City on the same day.”

Jayna
was laughing and Julia joined in. “You should have seen Evelyn’s reaction when
she found out. Logan was grounded for a month, but Mrs. Harper was trying so
hard not to laugh the whole time she was punishing him.”

“I
thought you were a good kid,” Jayna teased. “I can’t imagine you having done
something like that. Still, from what I’ve heard about your cousin…”

“So
Jayna, did you do anything crazy when you were a teenager?” Bradley asked. “I
myself was an angel. My wife on the other hand was always into some kind of trouble.”

“My
childhood was relatively calm,” she lamented. “My dad left without a word when
I was ten and Mom and I lived in the hotel where she worked until she passed
away when I was eighteen. I was kind of a loner.”

“I’m
sorry,” Logan said, putting a comforting hand on her arm.

“It’s
okay,” she smiled. “So, did you and Julia hang out in school?”

Julia
was first to answer. “Logan and I hated each other until junior year. That’s
when we discovered we were kindred spirits.”

“Yeah,
I was hesitant to hang out with her at first though,” Logan said. “She was the
biggest troublemaker in town.”

“And
you were the good guy next door,” Julia said with a smirk. “If everybody had
only known the true you.”

“We
don’t talk about that around here,” Logan joked.

Jayna
looked at him with a raised eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Someday, if she
was still around, she would make him talk.

**********

When
they arrived back at the hotel, Jayna quickly changed into pajamas and laid
down on the bed holding CJ tightly in her arms.

“You’re
sad,” Logan guessed, sitting down next to her.

“Kind
of, I guess.”

“What
is it?” he asked, taking her hand in his.

“All
of the usual crap. I’m tired of being scared, hell, I’m just plain tired. I
almost wish I could make a routine for him.”

“And
what else?” he asked.

“The
dream I had about my dad…I guess I never really stopped missing him. We were
really close when I was a little girl.”

“I’m
sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help. Have you ever tried to
find him?”

“Yeah.
I found out he passed away a couple of years ago.”

Logan
leaned in and lifted her chin with his finger. His lips met hers gently, moving
slowly to entice her to grant him access. Just as she gave in and their tongues
began the familiar fight for dominance, his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the
number but decided to answer it anyway.

“Hello.”

“Well,
well, hello there lover boy,” came a man’s voice over the line. He quickly put
it on speaker phone so Jayna could hear. “Who is this?”

“That’s
not important,” the man said. “What’s important is that you give a message to your
slut girlfriend. Her
real
boyfriend isn’t too happy with her. He has
some harsh plans for her when he finds her.”

“Who
the hell is this?” Logan demanded. “He will never touch her.”

The
man on the other end laughed with evil glee. “She obviously hasn’t told you
what our boss is capable of. You might want to have her fill you in.”

“You
son of a bitch!” he snarled into the phone.

“Shut
up lover boy. Just make sure she knows we’re after her and if she gives our
boss too much trouble, she’ll never see her baby again.” The line went dead and
Logan tossed the phone away from him. He was furious and shaking.

“I’m
sorry,” he murmured. “I should have made sure you didn’t hear that.”

Jayna
looked up at him, her eyes angry and steady. “Don’t ever hide anything from me
where Reggie is concerned! Promise me, Logan.”

“I
promise,” he finally agreed, looking back at her. “He’s just trying to scare
you, I’m sure of it.

“I
know,” she said. “And he’s good at it.”

“I
wish I could take your fear away,” he said softly, gathering her and CJ into
his arms. “This tells me he’s getting sloppy. It’s just a matter of time.”

“I
sure hope so,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder. “We need to get the
bassinet from the car soon. I think it’s time to put CJ to bed.”

“Do
you want me to go now?” he asked.

“I
guess you should. But I like it when you hold us.”

“I’ll
hold you when I get back,” he said, kissing her forehead. “I’ll only be a
minute.”

Jayna
had CJ changed and ready for bed when he came back with the bassinet. CJ was
crying uncontrollably and Jayna was visibly upset and pacing.

“What’s
wrong, little man?” Logan asked as he took him from his mother. “Do you have a
bubble or something? Oh Jayna, he’s burning up.”

“He’s
had that little cough all day. I didn’t think anything of it. Do you think he
has a cold?”

“Yeah,
could be. Maybe we should take his temperature.”

Over
the next few hours, CJ cried and coughed more and his temperature rose to a level
that neither felt comfortable with.

“I
think we should take him to the ER,” Jayna said, unable to hide the panic in
her voice. “I’m scared.”

“I
know,” Logan comforted, squeezing her hand. He was scared too. “Get him ready
and I’ll go warm up the car and ask Julia where the hospital is.”

Jayna
dressed the baby quickly and grabbed the diaper bag. She had him hooked in and
was sitting next to him when Logan got in the driver’s seat. “I don’t come to
this side of town much so I wasn’t sure how to get to the hospital from here.
It’s not far.”

“Okay,”
Jayna murmured as the tears started to fall. Five minutes into the trip, she
was in full panic mode. “Logan hurry. I think he’s not breathing well.”

“We’re
here,” he said as they pulled into the parking lot. “You get him inside and
I’ll park and meet you there.”

Jayna
took CJ, car seat and all, and ran into the emergency room. A nurse at the desk
looked up and smiled. “Can I help you?”

“My
baby. He sick. He’s having trouble breathing and has a high fever." Another
nurse came around the counter to assess CJ and she rushed them back to the
triage area while calling out orders.

A
doctor followed them in and Logan was shown in shortly after that. X-rays,
oxygen, and blood tests were ordered.

Logan
and Jayna looked on in misery as CJ went through hell over the next few hours.
He was poked, prodded, strapped down and bounced from place to place. His only
comfort came from the few times they were able to hold him between procedures.

Jayna
was sitting by his side, holding his hand when the doctor came in with the test
results. As the older gentleman spoke, she didn’t look away from her sweet
little man with the tubes in his nose and mouth and bandages from where the
blood had been drawn.

“Ms.
McIntyre, Mr. Harper, it seems your son has RSV.”

Logan
was too confused to even correct the doctor about his relationship to CJ. “What
does that mean, doctor?”

“Well,
it’s a respiratory virus. In older kids and adults it presents itself much as a
bad cold would. But for babies Charles’s age, it can be a bit more severe.”

“What
can you do about it?” Logan asked.

“We
treat him with medications and oxygen, then with any luck, he’s out of the
woods in a few days.”

“Out
of the woods?” Jayna asked quietly. “Is he going to die?”

“We’re
doing everything we can for him Ms. McIntyre. He’s stable now and we just have
to take it one moment at a time.”

Jayna’s
head dropped to her arms and Logan heard her sobs.

“I’ll
leave you two alone. The nurse will come in soon to go over Charles’s actual treatments.
I’ll be back later to check on him.”

When
the doctor left, Logan walked over to Jayna and pulled her to her feet,
wrapping his arms around her.

“He’s
strong Jayna. He’ll pull through.”

“If
he doesn’t it will all be my fault. God I always knew I’d be a bad mother.”

“Whoa.
What are you talking about? You’re a great mother.”

“It’s
my fault he caught this virus,” she murmured.

“How
do you know that?” Logan asked, trying to hide his exasperation.

“When
we were out by the loading dock the other day, I took him down to street level
for just a moment of fresh air. A little girl who was on a walk with her mother
asked to see him and I said yes,” she cried. “She sneezed near him. I should
have said no. I knew better.”

Logan
hugged her tighter. “You can’t hide him away, Jayna. He’s going to get sick
because of other kids his whole childhood. It’s never going to be your fault.”

The
steady beep of the machines suddenly became a shrill, screeching alarm. Doctors
and nurses rushed in and Logan and Jayna were pushed to the side as they worked
on CJ, watching in horror as his tiny little body started to turn blue then
gradually turned pink again.

Medical
personnel left the room and the attending nurse motioned them over. "He’s
okay now. His lungs just got a little confused and we helped everything to work
properly again. Little ones like this, their bodies get confused sometimes.”

“Hey
buddy, no more scaring us huh?” Logan said as he touched the little motionless
hand. When it wrapped around his finger he smiled. “We’re in agreement then,
right?”

“Logan,
I don’t feel so good,” Jayna said, blinking her eyes, trying to bring the world
back into focus. “I need to sit down.”

Logan
helped her into the chair and gently moved the hair out of her face. “You don’t
look so good. You need to eat and drink.”

“I’m
not hungry,” she murmured.

“Either
you eat or you’re going to be in a hospital bed in another part of the
building,” he warned. “I’m going to run down to the cafeteria and get you
something.”

“Okay,”
she finally agreed as she rubbed CJ’s arm.

“Do
you know if you can put me on a list to be able to come and go as I please?”

“It’s
not necessary,” she said looking up at him. “They think you’re his father…and
the birth certificate, when it comes in, will back that up.”

Logan
paused with his hand on the door. “You put my name on his birth certificate?”
he asked a bit too harshly. “And told them we were married.”

“I’m
sorry,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I was scared. I was terrified that
Reggie could find him with McIntyre or Sanders as his birth name.”

“So
you gave him my name?” Logan asked stunned.

“I
said I was sorry,” she ground out.

“I’ll
be back with your food. Don’t move.”

Jayna
nodded as he turned and walked out the door. She’d probably just ruined
everything. It would be a miracle if he even came back from the cafeteria. But
she couldn’t dwell on that right now. Her son needed her to be one hundred
percent focused on him.