Chapter 11

**Megan**

Ella moves her hand into mine as we walk out of my room. Max runs out with us and bounces toward the living room. I stroke Ella’s hand with my thumb as we turn towards the living room. Logan is sitting on the light grey sofa, stroking Max. He’s changed out of his designer suit, and he’s wearing a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a white t-shirt. He looks up from stroking Max towards Ella and me. Courtney and Yasmin both sneak off towards their room as Ella and I walk towards Logan. I feel Ella grip my leg and move to stand behind me.

“Hey,” he says and stands up. He glances down at Ella. “Hello Ella,” he says and crouches to her level. She grabs my leg tighter. He looks up at me, and I smile a little at him.

“She was excited to meet you. I think she’s gone shy,” I say to him and bend down to pick Ella up. “C’mon, let's sit down,” I say to her, and she nods. We sit on the couch, and I notice he has a glass of water in front of him. I know he’d prefer something else but probably doesn’t trust Courtney or Yasmin to make him a cup of tea correctly.

“My name is Logan Peters,” he tells Ella.

“Hello, Mr Peters, you made my mommy cry,” she says, and I sigh and smack my head onto my hand. “You were mean,” Ella tells him. “You shouted at her and called her names and called me a naughty word,” and I can’t help but smile a little. That must mean she had listened to what was being said.

“I, I know, and I’m sorry for that,” Logan stutters. “I was ignorant, and you’re right. I was mean,” he pauses and looks at me, then back at Ella. “I’m sorry, and I promise from today I’ll be nice to both of you, and you can call me Logan.”

“Do you like mommy now?” she asks.

“I’ll always like your mommy. I was angry and upset that day,” he tells her.

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t keep the promise I made to your mommy,” he states, making me frown at him. “I’d promised her I’d never leave her and that she wouldn’t be a single mom. I broke that promise, and I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for it,” he tells her. Ella moves off my lap to stand between my legs. She pushes my hands around her stomach and looks at him.

“Why did you leave? Mommy says you were ill, but why were you gone for so long?” she asks. “I’m four now,”

“I was ill, and I think I was too ashamed to come back,” he admits.

“That’s stupid,” Ella says and tighten my grip on her.

“Ella, don’t be rude,”

“Sorry,” she mumbles.

“Why don’t you tell me about you,” he says to her.

“I’m four, and my name is Ella-Louise Elizabeth Wright. I’m really smart, and I’m 89.2 centimetres. My favourite food is chocolate fudge cake, and I love chocolate milkshakes,” she tells him.

“Chocolate fudge cake, that’s mine too,” he tells her.

“Really?” she asks excitedly, making Logan smile a little.

“Yeah, it’s the best flavour cake,”

“Told you,” she says to me, and I smile.

“I never said it wasn’t nice; I just prefer lemon. I won’t say no to chocolate fudge cake,” I say to them.

“What’s England like?” she asks him.

“Depends on the part of England, it’s very similar to America, but the people are different,” he says to her, “and the food,” he adds.

“Can I show you the book I’m reading?” she asks.

“Sure,”

“I’ll go get it,” she then runs out of my arms to go get her book.

“How am I doing?” Logan quietly asks me. I can see just how nervous he is.

“I’d say she likes you,” I say.

“She’s scared of me,”

“No, I’d say she is more cautious. It’s going to take time; the first time she saw you wasn’t the best impression of you,”

“I know, and I’m sorry about that,”

“I know, and I know that isn’t you,” I say and stand up. “Do you want something other than water?” I ask. “I’ve got some iced tea that Ella and I made yesterday,” I say to him.

“Sure,”

“I got it,” Ella says, running back in with her book held to her chest. “Look, Harry Potter,”

“That’s a big book,” he says to her.

“Mommy helps me. We read it on a night before bed,” she says. “Do you want to read it with me?” she asks, and I can hear the smile in her voice.

“Sure,” he says and takes the book from her. “Shall we read it before you go to bed?” he asks.

“We can read it now,” she says and then looks at me. “Can’t we, mommy?” she asks as I put Logan’s drink on the table.

“Yeah, I need to sort out your laundry anyway,” I say. I don’t need to do that right now, but I think it’ll be better to give them some alone time. Maybe she’ll be more comfortable without me sat here watching them.

---

I walk into the living room to see Logan picking Ella up. He turns once he has hold of her. My heart nearly lurches out of my chest at seeing him holding her. For years I’ve been imagining seeing him with her and wondering just what kind of father he’d be with her, but now right in front of me, I can see. He’d be amazing. Stomping the lost feelings I had for him down to the bottom of my heart, I give him a small smile.

“She fell asleep,” he says as he looks down at her—the adoration for her evident in his blue eyes.

“Yeah, It’s past her bedtime,” I say.

“Where’s her bedroom?” he asks.

“In here,” I motion for him to follow me. I open the white door with ‘Ella’ stuck on it in pink. He follows me inside. I pull her bed covers back and watch him lay her on her bed.

“She’s amazing,” he says as he moves her hair behind her ear. He then looks at me, “that’s down to you,” he adds. I shake my head and look away from him.

“I had help,” I admit.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re doing an amazing job, and she’s evidence of that,” he says and moves the blanket over her. “Night night Ella,” he says to her before kissing the top of her head.

“Night, Logan,” she says sleepily back. I smile and shake my head. A sneaky little devil is what she is. Logan chuckles a little and tucks her in before standing up, “Wait,” Ella says, sitting up a little. “Will you come to see me again?” she asks.

“Yes, whenever you want,” he tells her.

“Tomorrow?” she asks.

“Urm,” he looks at me.

“Leave it with us,” I say to Ella. “I’ll let you know in the morning,” I tell her. She nods and lays back down.

“Bye, Logan,” she says to him. I turn her night light on and close her door, leaving it open the slightest bit for one of the pets. Normally Max or one fo the cats sleep in her room with her.

Logan and I walk back into the kitchen. He sits at the island counter and watches me. I take a bottle of wine out of the cooler and pour us both a glass.

“I meant what I said,” he states. I smile a little and feel my phone vibrate in my leggings pocket. Taking it out, I see it’s a text from Mark. I sigh and ignore it before placing my phone on charge.

“Thank you, I have something for you,” I say and take the memory stick out of my pocket. I slide it over to him and then take a sip of my wine. “They’re videos and pictures, Carl started it, and Courtney and I continued it. They're Ella,” I say. “Her birth, her birthdays and all of her firsts, things like that,”

“You recorded it all for me?” he asks.

“Yeah, they’re just little things,” I say, and he smiles.

“Thank you,” he sighs and places the memory stick into his pocket. “I wish I’d come back earlier,” he says to me.

“Logan,”

“Just hear me out, please,” he looks sincere. “I wish I had. These past three hours have been the best three hours of my life,” he states. “And I’ve missed so much of her life, and yours,” he stands and walks towards me. “I left to be better for you, and I screwed up,”

“You didn’t, yes I was upset when you left and failed to understand why you would leave so abruptly, but l started to understand and looking at you now, I know it was the best thing for you,”

“It was selfish,”

“No, it wasn’t,” he sighs and moves his hand to my arm. He strokes up and down my arm, and I can’t shut out the butterflies that wake within me at just his touch.

Closing my eyes, I feel him move closer to me. This is not what needs to happen. Nothing can happen between us because he’s here for Ella. I don’t want to ruin his potential relationship with her because I don’t see us having a happy relationship. The logical part of me knows all of this, but my heart won’t listen. His hand moves to my chin, and he makes me look up at him.

“Logan,” I quietly say. He leans forward, and the part of me that wants this squashes the logical part of me, making me move my hands to his abdomen. Big mistake as it does nothing but make me want him more. I’m pretty sure he’s working out a lot more than he used to. His lips caress mine, and as they do, I hear my phone vibrate.

I’m not sure if I’m relieved or annoyed by it. He pulls away from me and leans against the counter, folding his arms, making his muscles bulge and his t-shirt tighten around his arms.

“It’s Mark,” he states. I sigh and silence the call. “Maybe I should leave,” he says.

“Yeah,” I say, and I feel ridiculously flushed.

“Can I come to see Ella tomorrow? He asks.

“Urm,” this is just perfect. If I say no, it’s going to look like I’m saying no because he nearly kissed me. If I say yes, it might give him the wrong idea. “Sure, I’m gonna take her to the park after school, so how about I meet you at the park around four?” I ask.

“Sounds good,” he says as he picks up his jacket. I watch him put it on, and I never knew watching someone put clothes on could be such a turn on. The t-shirt he’s wearing is definitely too small for him. He’s probably the only man to make a basic white t-shirt look sexy. Ok, I need to stop checking him out and focus, otherwise, he’s going to notice, or I’m going to start drooling.

“If you don’t have time, I know you’re probably working at the time,”

“It’s fine. I’ll make time for her whenever I need to,” he says, making me smile.

“Ok, well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say and walk him to the door.

Today has gone a lot better than expected, and I shouldn’t be surprised. Ella always takes things in her stride. She is honestly remarkable.

---

“No,” Ella screams at me. I sigh and sit down on one of the chairs in the lobby.

This happens every morning before school. She is adamant not to go. For the past two weeks, I’ve had a battle every morning. She only has a couple of days left before she breaks for the summer. I look at her, and she pouts before folding her arms and sitting crossed leg on the floor. This is her idea of a tantrum.

The neighbours have stopped giving me sympathetic and disapproving looks. It’s gone on that long. Most of the time, they just roll their eyes. I heard someone say that my daughter’s tantrum is why she wasn’t a young mom. That I’m not old enough to discipline a child and something about her not having a father figure being the reason for her behaviour. The next day I heard the same woman say she would report me to the building owner if this carries on. Jokes on her because the building owner is Ella’s father.

“You have a choice, we can sit here all day in silence, or you can go to school and have fun,”

“No,” she says and turns, so her back is to me.

“Silence it is,” I say as I take my phone out. I can’t punish her like normal kids; she’d enjoy it being locked in her room with all her books to read and dolls to play with. “When we get upstairs, I’m taking all of your books,” I say.

“Noooo,” she says, turning to me and starts to cry. “That’s not fair,” she cries, “you bitch,” she snaps at me. I frown and put my phone in my pocket.

“What did you just call me?” I ask her as I stand up.

“You’re a bitch,” she repeats.

“Ella,” I snap and pull her onto her feet. “You don’t say things like that; where did you hear that word?” I ask her. She folds her arms and looks away from me. “That’s it, I’m done with this,” I say and pick her up. She screams and kicks her feet as I carry her towards the exit. Ella pulls on my hair as the doorman opens the door for me. “Thank you,” I say to him, and he just nods, not even acknowledging the screaming little girl in my arms.

Walking out of the building, I see Logan come out of the black Rolls Royce in front of me. He tilts his head and looks at us both, and a faint smile plays on his lips.

“Don’t even dare,” I threaten as I take in what he’s wearing. I know my cheeks are red with anger and frustration, and that will make him laugh. Why does this man continuously look like he’d just stepped out of a GQ cover? He’s wearing one of his many designer suits, and I don’t think I’ve seen him wear the same one twice. This one is a charcoal grey that he’s teamed with a midnight blue shirt that brings out his crystal blue eyes.

“Wasn’t going to say anything,” he says, and Ella stops screaming to look at him.

“Logan,” she cries and tries to wriggle out of my grasp.

“Stop it right now,” I tell her.

“What’s going on?”

“She’s refusing to go to school and had just called me a bitch,” I say.

“Because you are, let me go,” she cries.

“Ah, you’re the noise disruption,” he says. I frown at him. “A tenant made a noise complaint,”

“Oh, yeah, that is Ella,” I say. He sighs and steps forward to hold his hands out to take Ella from me. She reaches her arms out to him. I let her go to him.

“Why don’t we talk inside,” he says and carries her back into the apartment building. It’s a good job. I’ve phoned the school telling them she’ll be late.

We get back to the apartment and walk in to see Courtney standing in just her underwear with a bowl of cereal in her hands. She stops with the spoon halfway to her mouth. I smile a little, and then she just shrugs and continues to eat her breakfast. I’m surprised she’s actually up at this time. She doesn’t usually get up until about lunchtime.

Logan sits Ella on the couch and then sits down opposite her.

“What’s going on?” Courtney asks.

“What do you think?”

“She’s refusing to go to school,”

“Yep, and she’s learnt a new word,”

“Oh, what word?” she asks with a mouthful of chocolate cereal.

“Bitch,” I say, and she coughs, nearly choking on her cereal. I smile a little and walk towards Logan and Ella. I sit down on the other side of the L-shaped couch so that Ella is sitting on her own on the two-seater one.

“Why don’t you want to go to school?” Logan asks Ella. She shrugs and looks away and wipes her cheeks. “If you don’t tell us, how are we going to understand?” he asks her. She shakes her head and looks like she’s about to tantrum again. “Why did you call your mommy a bitch?” he asks. She scowls at me and then looks away. “It’s a naughty thing to call your mommy,”

“She said she’d take my books away,”

“Why?” he asks.

“Because I don’t want to go to school,”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t like it,”

“What’s changed?” I ask. She scowls at me again and then turns her body away from me.

“You can’t call your mother a bitch,”

“Why not?” she asks. “Auntie Corny says it all the time,” she says. Logan and I both look at Courtney. She looks at us and then puts her spoon in the bowl.

“You know, I think it’s time for me to get dressed,” she says and hurries out of sight.

“If you’re not going to go to school and you’re not going to tell us the reason why then you can go to your room,” Logan tells her, “And we will take all of your books and anything else you enjoy until you tell us and you apologise to your mother,” he says to her. Ella starts to cry and stands up.

“You're both so mean,” she says and runs away. “It’s not fair,” she cries. “I hate you both,” she yells as she slams her bedroom door.

“Thank you,” I say to him. He frowns at me, “For backing me, I thought you would have comforted her,” I say and watch him take his phone out of his pocket.

“Well, she’s being naughty. She needs to be punished somehow,” he says.

“So, did you just come to see about this noise complaint?” I ask.

“No, I actually came to discuss her schooling with you and to come up with a routine for seeing her,”

“What do you mean by her schooling?”

“Well, I’ve looked at some schools that might be a better fit for her, I brought some brochures to look over, but I thought we could discuss them together,” he says.

“Logan, I can’t afford any of these,” I say to him as I look at each one as they’re private schools.

“I’ll pay,” he tells me. I frown at him and shake my head. “She has to do a couple of tests to see if it’s suitable for her. What’s wrong? You look annoyed,” he asks.

“You’ve known about her for just over two weeks, and you want to change everything,” I state.

“No, I don’t,”

“Logan, you can’t just come into her life and start paying for things. I’m already in debt to Carlton. I’m not going to be in debt to you too,” I state.

“You won’t be in debt to me,” he says. I shake my head and stand up. “Megan, I’m serious,” he says, standing up and moving towards me.

“I’ll get the money to send her to one of those schools; just leave it alone,” I tell him and walk away from him. I’m not sure where I would get the money from. I’d have to do extra shifts at Masked or pick up another job. There is an easy option, but I’d never be able to live with myself. Many of the club’s regular members offer me money to spend one night with them, and they usually offer into the tens of thousands more than enough to cover a year of tuition at one of these schools.

“But Megan,”

“I said leave it alone,” I snap.

“No,” he says, frowning at me and moving his hands to my shoulders. “You don’t need to do this on your own. I want to pay for her schooling; she’s my daughter. Please let me,” he says. I sigh and look down. “I know you’re used to doing everything yourself and paying for everything yourself, but you don’t have to,” he quietly tells me as he moves his hands down my arms.

“I know, I’m sorry, I’ll look over the brochures,”

“We can visit some as well if you want,” he says.

“Ok, what else did you want to discuss?” I ask.

For the past two weeks, Logan has visited nearly every day. Whenever he wanted to see Ella and vice versa, I’ve not stood in the way. I’ve just let everything progress naturally. They spend a lot of time alone together, getting to know one another. He either meets us after school or comes to the apartment at night to read to her.

"I was thinking, I could see Ella on set days, maybe have her stay with me a couple of nights a week," he suggests.

"Yeah, sure,"

"It's up to her, obviously. I want her to want to stay over," he states.

"We can discuss it with her. Apparently, I'm the wicked bitch of the west right now, so she'll probably want to move in with you," I say sarcastically.

"She doesn't mean what she said. She probably doesn't know what that word means," he states.

"Well, she used it in the right context. She’s just never looked at me like that," I say with a sigh and go to make myself a coffee. I pull down two cups and put a tea bag in one.

"Maybe she's been bullied," he suggests.

"I asked her teachers, and they say she gets on with most of the students,"

“Hows her behaviour at school?” he asks,

“Ok, it’s here she’s acting out; my four-year-old thinks she’s 16. It’s fun,” I finish making our drinks and place a mug in front of him.

Picking up one of the school brochures, I sit down next to Logan and flick it. This was one of the schools I looked at, but I dismissed it as soon as I saw the price. Homeschooling came to mind, but at some point, I’d have to find someone that could teach her better than me. I can’t believe Logan had looked into a gifted school for her so quickly.

“She’ll have to be tested,” he states. I nod when I get to the pages centred around the accommodation. I pass them as she’s not going to need that. Testing her costs also. “I can get her booked in for next week,” he says.

“When did you do all of this research?” I ask.

“I had a bit of help, and I asked one of my assistants to look into several schools and to see what needed to be done. She found ten of the best, and I looked over them and narrowed it down to five for us both to look over together,” he explains. I smile a little and take a sip of my coffee. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be open to accommodation or not, but there’s a good one in DC,” he states.

“No, I want her home every night,”

“Me too,” he says with a small smile.

“Well, why don’t we have her take the tests and look at the close ones? This was the one I looked at when the school told me to look into it,” I say while holding the brochure of my first choice. “I mean, a brochure can only tell you so much; she has to like it too,”

“Yeah,” he smiles at me a little, and I feel his hand rest on my seat.

We have light grey faux leather back stools that match the kitchen worktops nicely. Courtney decorated pretty much everything in this condo. I’m surprised she didn’t take interior design, to be completely honest.

“What days were you thinking of seeing Ella?” I ask.

“Maybe every other weekend and Wednesday and Thursday,”

“So you’d pick her up from school on the days you have her and then take her to school the next days?” I ask.

“Yeah, so I’ll pick her up on my weekends, and every Wednesday, I’ll pick her up and take her on Thursday morning,” he explains. That means I’d hardly see her most weekends as she sees my dad nearly every other Saturday night. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Nothing, that seems good,” I say.

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“She sees my dad nearly every other weekend, but it’s ok,”

“Oh,”

“It’s fine. I’m usually working those days so it won’t be much different,” I say and take a sip of my coffee,”

“What does Brett think of your job?” he asks. I gulp down my coffee and smile a little.

“That’s a loaded question. He hates it; naturally, he even offered to talk to Carlton and pay for my university fees, but I’d already started, and I didn’t want him doing that. He has money but not disposable money,” I say. “And if I don’t pay for things for myself now, when will I?” I ask.

“True,” he says. I move my leg up so I can rest my chin on my knee. “How did he find out?”

“I told him,” I move back a little and feel his thumb stroke my shoulder. “He lost his shit,” I pause. “He got angry at all three of us. Sara was able to get him to see it from our side, and he soon came round more when he met Elena,”

“He met Elena,”

“Yeah, she visits us sometimes, we throw parties a lot in the summer, and she loves Ella,”

“I know, she threatened to cancel the contract with me if you working at Masked was a problem for me,”

“Is it?” I ask.

“No, do I like it? No, but it’s your choice,” he says. “As long as you’re happy,”

“It’s not ideal, but I enjoy it, and it’s easy money,” I pause. “And just so you know, I don’t usually kiss customers,” I state. “I try my best not to touch them too much,” I say, and he laughs.

“Good to know,” he says with a chuckle.

“Stop laughing,” I know he’s only laughing because I’ve gone red. I feel my face get hotter the more he laughs.

“I’ll push you off that chair,” I threaten, making him laugh more. I push at his chest. He doesn’t move because he’s pure muscle. He grabs my wrists, and his laughter dies down.

“I’m sorry,”

“I was mortified and angry at myself for doing that. I was the only dancer to not make out with a customer, now I’m known as the dancer that made out with the new boss and nearly cost Elena a contract,” I say.

“Have you not cleared it up with any of the dancers?”

“No, I don’t talk to them. It’s very bitchy; Courtney and Yasmin are the only girls I talk to. It would worsen. Imagine, ‘Hi the new boss, yeah he’s my baby daddy,’ half of the girls want to sleep with you, so that’ll go down well,” I say.

“That’s how you would introduce me?” he asks. “My baby daddy?” he asks, shocked.

“How else would I introduce you?”

“Something a little better than that,” he says and moves his hand onto my legs. Those damn butterflies are awake and zinging around my stomach like they want to escape. We’re flirting. I should have sat opposite him or stood up. There’s a lot of things I should be doing right now, one of which is not letting him kiss me.

“Like what?” I ask. One hand moves to my jaw as he leans closer. I close my eyes and move my hands to his chest to turn my head away from him. “You’re engaged,” I tell him.

“I already told you,” he states.

“Yeah, you did, but the world still thinks you're getting married to some company heiress model,” I say and look into his crystal blue eyes. He’s looking at me the same way he used to. Like he loves me like I’m the only person for him. He sighs and presses his forehead against mine.

“Ok,” he kisses me on the forehead and then my cheek. Someone clears their throat. I jump back and look to see Courtney holding a teary Ella.

“Someone has something to tell you both,” she says.