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Chapter 45

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I look over to him as I wait for him to continue. "If anything would have happened to you, I don't know what I would have done." He puts the key into the ignition, but holds his hand over the key without starting the engine. I lean over and put my hand around the back of his neck to make him put his attention onto me.

"But you were there." I reassured the both of us. He leans over the consul and wraps his arms around me. I feel him let out a deep breath and pull away. He slightly shakes his head as he starts the engine. "It's already five in the morning!"

He smiles over at me. This smile is different. It is filled with confusion. "We were in with those damn cops for quite a while."

Not long later we arrive back at the townhouse. Alyssa and I were going to leave around three this afternoon. "I'm sorry that you came two hours just to spend it in a hospital."

He laughs. "You need to stop doing that."

"What?"

"Apologizing."

"Oh." I sit silently as he parks the car. "Sorry!" I yell playfully as I jump out of the car and start to run towards the gate. He catches up and grabs me by my stomach. I slightly flinch at his touch, still haunted by what had happened hours ago. I quickly laughed to hide my subtle mistake. He takes a step back noticing my flinch. How is it that Logan could make my worst nightmare forgettable? He looks down at me and shakes his head knowing he could not win this war. He opens the gate and I walk into the small outside entrance to the house. I punch the code into the front door and we walk inside silently. Alyssa and Mitchel were probably already asleep. I knew that the moment Alyssa found out what had happened she would be rushing us back to the city. "Do you want anything?" I whisper as Logan takes off his shoes.

"Can you toss me some water, please?" I take a bottle out of the fridge and pass it to him while I walk to join him on the couch. "

"Have you gotten the tour of the house yet?" I ask as we sit awkwardly in the silent house.

"No." He smiled.

I stand up and he follows. "Well, I can show you were you can sleep." We walk up the stairs to the master bedroom. When I opened the door, the view of the lowering moon shined brightly through the full wall window.

"This is amazing." Logan says as he looks straight out over the beach. "Why didn't you guys sleep in here?"

"Alyssa was worried about people looking in and watching us sleep." He laughs and turns his attention back to the quiet beach. "They must both be in the other room."

He looks around the empty room. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"I can sleep on the couch downstairs."

"What? That's crazy." He laughs. I only smile and look back out the window. "Just stay in here." He sits on the neatly made king sized bed.

I half smile and tilt my head. "I don't know, Logan. Anna would not like that at all if she finds out."

"She can't stop me from caring for you, Theresa." I look out the window to hide my blushing cheeks. My body moves before my mind has the chance to stop me. I crawl into the warm bed and slip under the covers. He stands up and walks over to the wooden dresser. He pulls off his sweatshirt and throws it on top of the empty dresser. He walks over to the door. I hear the click of the lock.

"Why did you do that?" I ask.

"What?" He asks not knowing what I am referring to.

"Lock the door."

"Oh. It's just something I have done since I was a little kid." He walks over to the other side of the bed and lays on top of the covers.

"Why?" I ask sounding like a little kid.

He takes a deep breath. "When I was around eight or nine I was asleep over my grandfather's house one night. During the night a guy broke into the house. My bedroom was the first one he went into. I can still remember the unfamiliar face staring at me as the light from the kitchen came on. My grandfather beat the shit out of him and shot him in the foot." I snicker. "Yeah, my grandfather is a badass. I can't sleep without the door being locked ever since that happened."

I wasn't sure what to say to his story. I turned over and looked out at waves. "Good night Logan."

"Good night Theresa."

****

The morning sunlight wakes me up. I close my eyes and shift my body to have my head under the covers.

"Theresa, are you awake?" Logan whispers.

"Why are you awake?" I manage to say through my sleepy state.

"I didn't sleep."

I slowly sit up from under the covers. "Why didn't you sleep?"

"I don't know. Do you want some coffee?"

I look over at him. "Yeah, sure." As I begin to move from under the covers I hear Alyssa and Mitchel laughing as they walk out of the guest room and head to the stairs. I put my hand to my head. "We cannot just walk downstairs."

"Why not?" He asks.

"I love Alyssa to death, but she can't keep anything to herself."

"It's not like anything happened."

"I could tell Alyssa that all day, but she won't believe me. And she will not hesitate to tell Anna."

He puts his hand to his beard. "What do you suggest we do?"

"I don't know." I look around the room and back out the window. I pause when I realize one of the glass windows open. It looks like they could be doors if the owners wanted to build another deck on. I look back at Logan and smile.

"You cannot be serious." He smiles and laughs worried I will say yes. "We are on the third story!"

"There is a balcony right below this." I stand up and walk over to the window. The window reveals more than enough room for Logan to climb down. He walks up behind me and looks down at the balcony seven feet below us.

"Are you serious?" He smiles as I look back at him. He climbs down onto his knees and puts his feet out the window. His easily touch the top of the swing. He keeps ahold of the floor and gains his balance on top of the flat metal bar. One hand lets go of the floor and touches the cement wall. His other hand joins it as he starts to walk slowly along the bar to reach a high corner table mounted at the end of the balcony. He sits on the table. I quickly close the window and run downstairs, still in the clothes I was wearing yesterday.

"Theresa. I didn't hear you come home last night." Alyssa says as I reach the bottom of the stairs. "Where did you sleep?"

"Oh, I was just up in the master bedroom. I didn't want to come in and disturb you guys." I walk into the kitchen and grab an apple from the snack pack.

"Good idea!" She pauses. "Wait..." She begins to ask with a confused look on her face.