Total Knock Out / Book Two

Chapter Seventeen: Break Down

"I just don't understand how he can hit that thing with his hand all messed up," Logan muttered, watching as Stanford hit the punching bag in front of him. He'd been at it for the last thirty minutes, sweat rolling down his back and muscles gliding under his skin.

"No pain, no gain. You should've seen him last year, he had a broken hand and still insisted on training with the rest of us," Damion huffed, setting down the large box of toys he had been carrying.

Logan shook her head and tucked her hair behind her ear, smiling at Maddox and Landon when they came into the room with more boxes. She wouldn't have her small daycare room up and running for a couple of days, but it would be warm and inviting by the time she got done with it and she was thankful Stanford's friends had agreed to come in early to help her start setting everything up.

"How was your night without Rori there?" Darcy asked, moving Parker to her other hip and giving her daughter a sip of juice out of her cup.

Logan sighed and started putting toys away in the cubbies Maddox had apparently set up the day before.

"Quiet. I almost went insane trying to fall asleep without her breathing as background noise. But it was also kind of nice, we made cookies and I taught Stanford how to make lasagna for dinner without a tiny terror running around like a crazy person. We had honest to God grown up interaction and conversation. We stayed up until one this morning just talking."

She pulled another box close to her and dug through it, piling small children's books beside her and tossing the empty box to Damion when he held his hands out for it. She didn't mean to sound like a giddy schoolgirl with a crush but her best friend was her four year old and it had been nice to talk to Stanford about things she wouldn't even mention with Rori around.

Landon helped shelve the books on the ground and held a hand out to help her stand up, throwing his arm around her and pulling her into his side.

"You two really are like an old married couple," Landon teased, wiggling his eyebrows up and down when Logan just shook her head at him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket when it started to ring and let go of her, moving towards the corner of the room for privacy.

Logan turned towards the small window and checked the time on her phone, a small frown forming on her face. Charlie and Elijah should have been there by now, with the girls in tow behind them, but they weren't anywhere to be seen. Her stomach started to churn at the thought of her daughter being in trouble and she nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand landed on her shoulder, her heart racing despite the fact that she saw it was Landon a few seconds later.

"That was Elijah, they're almost here. I need to ask you a few questions though. You didn't tell anyone that you were coming to stay with Stanford, right? Not your dad or your brother?" Landon asked, and Logan shook her head. Everyone filed out of the room to give them some privacy and she shoved her hair away from her face.

"My brother is still deployed and on a mission, I couldn't have told him even if I wanted to. My dad knew that we were hoping to find somewhere to go, but I didn't tell him specifics. The only other people who know that Rori and I are staying with Stanford are all your friends."

Landon shook his head and moved to close the door, turning around to face Logan and putting his hands on her shoulders. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and tried to blink away the tears that filled her eyes, wiping away the ones that slipped out with shaking hands.

"What happened?" Logan whispered, clenching her fist and digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands to keep from bolting. She knew that Rori would be here in just a few moments but all rational thought was slipping away, leaving her shaking with the need to run into the streets to find her daughter.