28. Logan

28

Logan

C rew pulls me close to him and leads us into a gentle sway between the bodies of dancers that form on the floor around us. He smells nice today, a wash of smokey, pine scent wafts off of him that's so different from his usual sweat and horse smell. I smile up at him and he catches me with a soft look on his face.

His hazel eyes crinkle at the corners and he snakes his hand into mine so he can spin me in a circle and bring me back. Dancing never seemed like something I wanted to do but with Crew it's different, it's intimate even standing in a room full of people.

And every single one of them had found some reason to stare.

I hate this damn town.

"Nothing is ever good enough for them," I swallow, "if even one of them would just ask me about my life they'd know but instead they spread rumors."

The whispers are still there, I can hear the gossip floating around the tent. Whispering about us when they think I can't hear them. My hands tighten on Crew's.

"Let them," he murmurs, reading my thoughts before I even have the chance to whine about them. He had been so sure even back then, waist deep in the dirty creek declaring love for something he couldn't have even been sure would work.

"The cowboy and the criminal." I tilt my chin up to catch his gaze and laugh.

"Who is who?" He asks with a shrug and snakes his hand around my neck into my hair. "Cause last time I checked, I'm more of a criminal and you're the one wearing cowboy boots."

He kisses me slowly, right there in the middle of everyone, and the heat that settles in the pit of my stomach grows like a wildfire.

"You never gave a shit what anyone thought of you, Shepard," he says when he pulls away. "Don't start now, pretty girl."

The music lulls and I tuck close to him as he brings us around in a lazy circle to face where Ash sits in Bode's lap, feeding his duck pieces of popcorn. Dot sits across the table laughing and playing with them. Every emotion hits me at once.

I finally had a home and Ash had a family. A real family.

"All this time I've been fighting for him, for a safe haven, and I fought so hard against this place, against you."

"Logan," Crew warns.

"But you were right," I say and I swear Crew trips over his own feet at the admission. "The anger doesn't go away, it doesn't get better and I don't wanna hurt anyone. I'm more than just that."

"You aren't gonna." He kisses the top of my head.

The anger still simmered. A silent monster with its claws hooked tightly to my heart. Its face is twisted and curled into the image of Tommy. I need closure.

"Where did you take him?" I ask him.

Curiosity would kill the cat. I knew better than to believe that Tommy had just picked up and left town at Crew's behest. They put him down. There had been rumors about the ranch long before I arrived and made a mess of things. How the men up on the hill treated strangers and conflict. Always met with quiet violence that made the town whisper and their enemies retreat into the darkness.

It's part of the reason I just always assumed that the ranch killed Daddy, by their hand or not this place had been branded.

"Tommy," I say quietly, "where is he?"

Crew sighs, "why?"

"Because, Crew, Ash is going to ask one day and I'm not gonna sleep until I know."

I pick at the open collar of his shirt and wait for him to answer. Thoughts stir behind his hazel eyes and it takes a long time before he nods in agreement.

"You understand if you do this, there's no coming back from it," Crew says quietly, his eyes darkening as he lowers himself in front of me. Eye to eye. "I can protect you from the world, but if you turn your back on the ranch, it'll be a lot harder to do that."

"I understand, Crew." I promise.

This is our home now, everything they have done for us matters.

I'm not going to destroy that over Tommy.

Crew nods, seemingly okay with that and links our hands together pulling us through the crowd toward Bode. He leans down and grips Bode's shoulder, who's blue eyes grow wide and flicker toward me.

His hand grips tightly around Ash who doesn't notice and continues to conversate with the duck that can't understand him.

"I'm going to take Logan for a drive," Crew says louder.

"We'll be okay." Bode nods. "Don't get into too much trouble, you two."

I laugh and kiss Ash on the head before Crew leads me back toward the truck.

The drive off the ranch is quiet, but the silence that falls between us is light in comparison to times past. Crew's hand is linked into mine and resting in my lap as the moon fills the truck with hazy blue light.

He pulls off the highway onto a side road that leads away from the creek and ranch, pushing the truck down through a gravelly road toward the ravine. My stomach drops as he pulls the truck to a stop and kills the engine. He tosses his cowboy hat on the dash and nods like he's talking himself up to get out of the truck.

Eventually he gets out. I sit there as he moves around and opens my door.

"Come on," he says and extends his hand to me. We only walk about seven feet before the side breaks away down a steep cliff that turns into dense forest for miles.

"You threw him down there?"

Crew laughs, it bubbles out of him and scares the crap out of me.

"No," he sighs, finding amusement in my imagination. "He's buried at the bottom, there's a service road."

I'm quiet for a long time as I process the feelings that it brings, knowing that he really is dead and gone. That he can't bother me or destroy the happiness that surrounds Ash any longer. Crew waits, standing close but giving the space to understand the emotions that course through me. Anger, happiness, sadness. Each one for a piece of me lost and a piece newly found.

"I wouldn't have minded if you threw him," I whisper and Crew huffs.

"Bode tried." he shakes his head. "Tommy didn't deserve the kindness but burying felt right, for Ash."

Tommy was still his Daddy at the end of the day and one day those questions would surface. It would be nice to have a place to take Ash, to show him.

"I've been looking over my shoulder for years," I say, staring out into the darkness. At this height it felt like I could touch the treetops with my finger tips. "For once in my life, I don't feel like I have to run anymore."

Crew wraps himself around me, arms tucking carefully against my stomach as he pulls me into his chest and kisses a line down my throat from behind. He inhales slowly, as if he's breathing me in and rests his face against mine as we stare into the wilderness.

"I feel like I can breathe again with you around," he says. "It's different, not like before. I was just getting by, surviving each day, doing my best to repay whatever I could back into this town. And then you slammed head first into me like a bat out of hell."

He pauses and I can feel his body relax around me.

The kisses he leaves next are hotter, sloppier as he works down my neck across my shoulder, pushing the sweater out of the way as he goes. The air is chilly and dark around us but heat builds in my stomach as his hand twists in the fabric of my dress.

"Crew Cassidy," I growl.

"Yes, Logan Shepard?" He mumbles, blonde hair tickling my throat and jaw as he nibbles at my skin.

"Don't start something you're not willing to finish," I warn.

"Oh I plan on finishing it," he teases and whips me around to face him. His hands find my hips and fingers dig into the fabric, hiking it up as he scoops under my ass and lifts me into his arms.

He moves back toward the truck, only removing his hand from under me to pop the tailgate on the truck.

"Sit," he says, sliding me onto it.

His hands rake up the expanse of my thigh and his eyes go wide when he realizes there's no underwear in his way. A smirk forms on his lips that sends an explosion of heat through me. He climbs up on the bed of the truck and digs around in the back before finding a couple sleeping bags.

"Better hurry, Huckleberry, I'm getting bored." I lean my head back to look at him, hand trailing my thighs and dipping between into the wetness that waits there. My hair falls against my back and the sweater slips from my shoulders as my body trembles under my touch.

The moment I saw him standing out front of the trailer in his lilac riding shirt and dark cowboy hat I had wanted to jump him. He looks so handsome in tight clean jeans and a fresh shave to his normally scruffy jaw. I had ditched the underwear when I grabbed my sweater with the hopes and prayers that Crew would find a place to discover I wasn't wearing any.

He unbuttons his jeans and lowers to his knees on the sleeping bags. His strong thighs stretch the fabric to its limits and his shoulders pin back waiting for me.

"Come here," he says and I just raise my eyebrow at him, moaning a little as my fingers brush against my throbbing core. " Please, pretty girl. "

I smile at his nervous fidgeting as I pull the dress up enough to crawl across the truck bed on my knees to him, stripping off the sweater as I move. His fingers find the hem of the dress the moment I'm in reach and lifts it from my body, tossing it to the side. His hands make their way to my hips and stomach, and he kisses his way across my cold skin until his fingers find the clasp of my bra.

The bra falls loose and I slip it off my arms, laying it with my dress before starting on the buttons of Crew's shirt. He caresses my thighs and without warning slips down between them into the warmth that waits for him.

A smile spreads across his face as his thumb circles my clit and the sensation makes me stumble on the third button. I steady my breathing as his other hand flicks over my pebbled nipple, and continue to work on his buttons.

"Why didn't you tell me you weren't wearing any underwear?" he teases when I slip on the last button, and his finger dips into me slowly.

"Figured you'd be smart enough to check." I push his shirt over his massive, muscular shoulders and whimper when he pulls away to remove it completely.

"Needy," he whispers and presses his lips to my neck.

"We're working against the clock, Huckleberry."

Crew doesn't say another word as he pulls his jeans down over his hips and frees himself. His cock is upright against his stomach and drips with precum as he pumps once with his hand before scooping me into his lap. Adjusting on the blankets he braces my back as I slide down over him, gasping as he fills me.

"You're so warm," he says, pushing hard and splitting me open. A pressure builds in my stomach as my cunt flutters around him in response.

Hands rove down my back, leaving trails of fading warmth in their wake as the snow starts to fall around us. Crews mouth ghosts over my hardened nipples as I work into a slow thrust over his shaft.

He pulls back, careful not to overwhelm me, "You're too tight, Logan."

"A good complaint to have, handsome," I moan.

I arch my back into his touch and let the snow melt against my hot skin as he thrusts in luscious, slow movements that massage every sensitive point I have. My toes curl against the sleeping bags as his hands knead my ass. The heat stirs deep in my stomach with each pump of his cock into the wetness that pools between my thighs.

"Crew," I gasp as his teeth pinch at my nipple.

He growls and laps at the sore skin as his thrusts start to become erratic and sloppy. Chasing his own climax as he dangles me over the edge of my own. My pussy throbs from the affection and I cry out as he urges me to lean back into his grip even further. The angle rubs at nerves I didn't know existed and pulls the cord tight within me. Crew's lips find more skin, peppering soft, wet kisses between my breast and along my throat until our mouths come together.

Hazel eyes burn with hazy lust and his tongue slides into my mouth, tumbling with mine. My fingernails dig into his shoulder blades and he hisses against my lips in response but a smile forms on his lips. The world seems to slow around us, the stars stop moving and the wind dies leaving only the sound of skin on skin and heavy breathing between the two of us.

"I love you," I pant as his thrusts become rough at his unrelenting pace. Each roll of his hips sends sparks through me and I'm barely hanging on when I get the words out.

"Say it again," he begs, blonde hair messy and lips red from kissing. "Logan, say it again," he demands, and my gut tightens from the whiny sound that leaves his lips.

"I love you, Crew Cassidy," I cry out as he slams into me and everything comes crashing down around me.

The stars rain from the sky as the climax hits and my eyes roll back as it crashes through me, wave after wave. My heart races and my skin tingles. Crew trembles beneath me, his muscles tensing around me as his cock throbs and he empties himself into me until it's leaking down my thighs.

Crew kisses a sweaty line along my throat as I lean back and ride out my climax, slippery from his cum. He digs his nails into my lower back.

"God, you look beautiful," he huffs and runs his hands between my breasts to the base of my stomach where flecks of snow melt as they hit my skin. He licks a freshly melted cluster along the top of my breast, "snow-kissed and fucked in the open mountain air agrees with you, pretty girl. You're all rosy; it's enough to drive a man mad."

It's silly but his words have a blush creeping to my cheeks and I can't help but kiss him, both hands wrapping around his face and pulling him as close as I can.

"I love you too," he mumbles as we break apart, "now flip over."

He swings us around and lays my back against the cool fabric of the sleeping bags.

"I'm not finished with you yet," he dips down against me and starts all over again as the snow starts to fall in heavy swirls.

It feels like I have all the time in the world.