Crazy Beautiful Love (The Martelli Brothers #1)(45)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“What about Lucy?” Vincent laughed and gave Jared a teasing smile, and I looked over at Jared in surprise.

“You dating Lucy?”

“What? No, no, of course not.” Jared made a face and turned away from me, so I didn’t push the issue. There was no way I wanted him dating Lucy. That would make it that much harder to get Joey out of our lives. And if there was one thing I wanted by the end of everything, it was for Joey to be a distant memory.

“Fine, tell Joey that we will start the training as soon as his friend is ready. Also, I have a favor to ask you guys.”

“Uh huh?” Jared and Vincent looked at me curiously.

“We need to clean this place up.”

“Huh?” Jared made a face.

“We need to tidy up this house.” I took a deep breath. “I want to invite someone over.”

“What?” Jared’s jaw fell open.

“I said we need to tidy up. This place is a mess.”

“Uhm, I heard that part. I’m talking about the inviting someone over part.”

“What about it?”

“You’ve never invited anyone over. None of us have.”

“Well, I am wanting to invite someone over now.”

“Who?” Jared stared at me through narrow eyes.

“Maddie.”

“What the f**k?” Jared’s face grew red.

Vincent looked at me in confusion. “Who’s Maddie?”

“He’s talking about, Maddison Wright, the mayor’s daughter.”

“The mayor’s daughter?” Vincent’s eyes grew wide. “What?”

“Exactly.” Jared turned towards me again. “What are you thinking, Logan? What is Dad going to say if you bring her over here?”

“I don’t care what he has to say.” My voice was serious and I stood up. “She wants to get to know you both, and I think it’s a good idea.”

“What the f**k?” Jared exclaimed again and gave me a crazy look. “Are you f**king kidding me? Not only are you not getting her father back, but you’re dating her?”

“She isn’t responsible for what her father did.” I spoke slowly, understanding why he was upset but wanting him to understand why I liked her.

“We’re not responsible for what happened to our father, but we still got screwed. Is this a f**king joke? You’re going to date the f**king mayor’s daughter. The man who basically ruined our lives. He f**king turned Dad into an alcoholic and he killed our mother. And we can’t even afford to pay the f**king rent. Do you hear me, Logan? He f**ked up our lives and now … now you have the opportunity to exact revenge on him for all this shit, and you decide to date his daughter. And no, not to get the best revenge ever. But because you like her.”

“I never said I liked her.”

“So you just want her to come over because …?” Jared rolled his eyes. “And why do we need to get to know her? This sounds like a bad idea.”

“She’s not like her dad.”

“How do you know?” Jared jumped up as well. “You barely know her. Dude, she was obsessed with you as a teenager and now she is having a summer of fun with you. Do you really think this could become something serious?”

“Stop it, Jared.” Vincent raised his voice.

“You are not taking his side.” Jared shook his head in disgust.

“I’m not taking anyone’s side. I’m just saying stop it.” Vincent ran his hands through his hair and looked thoughtful. “We need to support Logan. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

“Thanks.” I gave him a grateful smile and swallowed hard. I looked away and my brain felt like it was about to explode. The problem was I really didn’t know what I was doing. I felt like I was spinning out of control. Everything just felt crazy, and it was all changing so fast. An image of Maddie’s sweet smile flashed in my mind, and I felt my insides melt as I thought about her. I wasn’t even sure when I had decided that she should meet Vincent and get to know Jared better. But I knew that I needed to give her something to show that I was serious about trying to create something special between us. I wasn’t even really sure what we could create. How could her family ever accept me? How could I ever explain to my father that I was dating the daughter of the man who betrayed him? And what if all along the story my father had told wasn’t exactly true? Why hadn’t he told me that Mom had dated the mayor first? He had always said that the mayor had tried to date her but she had chosen Dad and been happy with him. Had she really dated the mayor first? Had Dad stolen her from him? And had that been why the mayor had set him up? Had it been some sort of sick revenge that had gone out of control? All of a sudden, I felt overwhelmed and dizzy. Too many things were coming up that didn’t make sense or fit in with the life I had made for myself.

“Look, guys, I know how hard this must be for you. And Jared, I know you hoped that I would use Maddie’s liking me to exact some sort of revenge on her father for what he did to Dad, but that’s not going to happen. I am not going to do anything to her. I like her a lot, and she’s a good person. And I want you both to get to know her. I want you both to see the woman that I see. Please give her a chance.”

“Fuck giving her a chance.” Jared turned away from me. “If I have to take matters into my own hands, I will.”

“Leave her alone, Jared.” My voice held a warning tone.

“Or what?” Jared scoffed. “What will you do?”

“You don’t want to know.” I grabbed his arm and looked down into his face. “Do not do anything to her or I will f**k you up.”

“Ha, she’s already got you threatening me. She sounds like a great catch. Not like her dad at all.” Jared pushed me away.

“Guys.” Vincent jumped up and stood between us. “Come on. We can’t afford to get upset with each other right now. Not when we are about to do the biggest job of our lives.”

“Whatever.” Jared glared at me. “I can separate the two. I just didn’t expect for Logan to betray us like this.”

“Stop being so overdramatic, Jared.” I glared back at him. “Fucking give Maddie a chance. Do you really think I haven’t thought this through? Do you really think I would risk everything if she wasn’t someone special?”

“Who knows?” He shrugged. “She’s pretty, maybe she gave it up and she got you hooked.”