Chapter 12 Logan

Chapter 12 Logan
Justin and Alison are two offices down, I stride into the sparsely decorated office, with only a desk and two chairs and a window behind it. Justin is seated in one of the chairs and Alison is in the other; they have their heads together and she is just signing the last page.

“Knock, Knock. I hope I am not interrupting anything,” I say with a chuckle.

They both jump apart and stand. “No Sir.” Justin chimes in. “Just completed the paperwork.”

I smile and stride to sit behind the desk and pull the paperwork to me, I give it a quick once over and then look at the two of them. “You guys are cute.” I point at Justin as he and Alison return to their seats. “I do believe you have just lost the bet.”

Justin looks at me and then at Alison, “I believe you are correct.” He growls.

“And what bet would that be?” She asks.

“He and Garrett were laughing at me because of how fast things happened with Sunny and myself and I bet them that they would be next.” I add with a huge grin. “So, how do you want to pay up?”

Justin just hangs his head and chuckles and says in a low rumble, “Ass.”

I bark out a laugh, and Alison joins me.

Justin crosses his arms and growls. “I don’t see what is so funny.”

“Well, for one, I don’t see how our situation is like Logan and Sunny’s.” Alison says with a sly grin. “I mean, we just met and all.”

“Oh, he married Sunny the same night they met.” Justin pipes up with a smug tone.

Alison turns to me, and I just shrug. “Wow, you did work fast.” She says, “This wasn’t some ploy and you won’t dump her to the waste side when you are down with her?”

“No.” I bark out. Then I soften, “No, I truly am in love with Sunny, she is just the light I need in my life and will do everything and anything to protect her.”

Alison smiles and nods. “Good to hear. May I speak with her alone? I just want to see for myself.”

“I would expect nothing less.” I stand and stride to the door, “She is still in my office, I trust you know the way. We will be in shortly.”

“What kind of ETA are we talking?” She chirps in a light tone.

I chuckle and shake my head, “20 minutes.”

She nods and disappears from the room. I turn to Justin who is fighting the urge to follow. I slap him on the back and say, “Welcome to my world brother.” I take a seat behind the desk and look over her paperwork. “So, tell me about her.”

Justin sighs and plops down into the chair across from me. “She is amazing, the way she stepped up to keep an eye on Sunny for her Great Aunt,” He looks at me and continues. “She is a badass, her record is impeccable.”

“I agree and can’t wait to see how well she fits into the crew.”

“I have a feeling I will be needing to lay down the law that she is spoken for.” Justin mumbles.

At this we both laugh. “So, where are we at with the Brighten issue?”

\~~~
Sunny

I stretch my legs and arms like a cat just waking up from a nap. I soft knock sounds at the door to Logan’s office and I look around for Logan, but the room is empty. Huh, I wonder where he went. I stand and stride over to the door and ask, “Who is it?”

“Alison.” Comes the soft voice of my friend/instructor.

I open the door with a bright smile and step aside so she can enter. I take a quick look both ways down the hallway. I frown and close the door and look back at Alison as she sits on one end of the couch.

“Why don’t you sit Sunny,” She says in a very teacher to student voice. “We have much to discuss and not a lot of time to do it.”

I looked at her with concern as I took my seat next to her. “What do you mean?”

She sighed and then took my hands in hers, “Have you seen what your Auntie left you?” She asks with a bit of hesitation.

“No, we have an appointment later today to take a look.” I look into her eyes and continue, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, she left you more than just the vault, but that information is inside the vault. She told me that once you graduated, that she wanted me to take you there and that you should receive the key before you were scheduled to graduate.” She says on a sigh and tears pool in her eyes. “She knew she was about to lose the battle with her cancer.”

“Her what??” I stammer and pull my hands away and stand. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“She didn’t want you to worry, she knew there was nothing she could do at that point and she couldn’t risk you wanting to leave school early.” Alison stands and places her hands on my shoulders. “She knew once you knew, you would drop everything and care for her. That is why she made me swear I would not tell you until after. She can be extremely persuasive.” She says on a chuckle.

“Don’t I know it.” The tears are now streaming down my face.

“She loved you so much and when she heard what your Mother and Father had planned before you left for college, she put all this into motion.” She pauses for a moment and then continues. “Well, maybe not all of this, I mean you are married.” She smiles brightly. “Are you happy?”

I wipe my tears and nod, “Extremely, he makes me feel safe and loved. More than I have ever felt. I mean I know Auntie loved me, but I couldn’t be with her always, my parents would never let me be with her for more than two days at a time.” I sigh and add, “I heard them once talking about how they made Auntie pay them or gift them something every time I stayed overnight at her home.”

“It is true, that is why shortly after you were born, she and your Great Uncle started the vault and would slowly have things put into it. Okay, the first amount was huge, and they told your folks they had to make a large donation to charity to save off high taxes.” She shakes her head and chuckles. “Your folks are just so greedy it was easy to convince them of this. But after your Great Uncle died when you were ten, it took both your Aunt and me to keep your parents at bay. They tried to have her committed.”

“I don’t remember any of that.” I shake my head as I try to remember much of my childhood. “I remember when Uncle Ed passed, and I was not allowed to go to his funeral or see Auntie for the first six months after. I was told that she was hurting and that I would only make it worse.”

Alison looks at me with compassion and holds my hands. “No, she was fighting your folks for the right to continue to live her life.”

I am so upset with my parents that I could just scream. I look out the window and try not to think of my poor Auntie being hurt by her own nephew like that. I look back at Alison and ask her what is swimming around in my head, “So, why or how did Auntie know what college I was going to go to?”

She smiled at this and said, “It was your Auntie who suggested what school you should go to. See, your mom was a set to marry you off to Mr. Brighten as soon as the graduation ceremony was over. It was your Auntie that put her foot down and stated that you still needed an education, and she spun it to your folks and Mr. Brighten as another way to be the perfect little wife, ‘She could go to a finishing college and learn about more about finances and that way she could help keep your books.’ Was how she sold it. Mr. Brighten added that she could learn some home economics courses to be a good little wife and with that it was settled.” She shook her head and looked out the window, then back at me. “Unbeknownst to your parents and Mr. Brighten, she was on the board of directors of the college they all chose and with that she pulled me to become an instructor and then made sure you were in my classes every year. After I met you, I just adored you and wanted to be around you and help in any way I could.”

“Is that why you taught me how to shoot and had me take some extra off site courses.” I say with a sly grin. She returns it and nods. “Oh, my goodness. Thank you.” I fling my arms around her and hold her tight. A knock on the door ushers in Logan and Justin. We both turn to look at them.

Logan strides over to me and scoops me up into a bear hug and buries his nose into the crook of my neck and takes a deep breath. I swear he is obsessed, but I don’t mind, I am kind of the same way with him as well. I give him a tight squeeze and he growls and pulls me tighter.

“I love you,” He whispers into my ear.

“I love you too.” I respond in the same whispered tone, but I add a small kiss to his cheek.

He looks me in the eyes and says, “You’ve been crying, are you okay?”

I smile and nod, “Yes, Alison was filling me in on so much. Can I tell you about it later?”

“Of course, sweets.” He says as he plants a passionate kiss on me. We forget that we have an audience for a short amount of time, then Justin clears his throat and we slowly pull apart just enough to look at them.

“It is time to head out to the bank.” He mumbles.

“Right, the bank,” Logan answers and then looks at me, “Did you bring your key?”

I nod and look at Alison and ask, “Are you coming with.”

“Yes, she is.” Justin answers in a matter of fact tone.

Alison and I just chuckle and pat his chest as we pass by him on our way to the elevators. Justin and Logan follow closely behind.