The Rules They Broke

Chapter 34: The Visitor

BLAKE 

Logan didn't often come into Blake's room just as Blake was about to go to sleep, but when he did, it meant he wanted to talk about something.

So Blake laid awake in bed, watching Logan kick the blankets around in an attempt to make the wood floor more comfortable.

Every morning that Logan woke up in Blake's room, Blake made sure never to pick up the pillows and blankets from the floor, as if just the fact that his makeshift bed was still there would somehow pull Logan back at the end of the day and make him lay back down in his own house, somehow prevent him from taking off for his college apartment.

"What are you looking at?" Logan grumbled. His dark eyes shone in the lamp light coming in from the window, like a cat in the darkness.

"Just your ugly mug."

Logan muttered something under his breath and pulled the blanket over his face.

Blake started to get bored waiting for Logan to speak for so long that he decided to practice holding his breath while he waited so he wouldn't fall asleep. He managed to make it to fifty seconds before he had to let it out, gasping for air.

Logan pulled the blanket back. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Training..." Blake wheezed. "For the Olympics."

"In what? Breath holding?"

"Swimming."

"Yeah, that's definitely going to help."

Blake gulped down more air. "I know, I can feel it working already."

Logan let out a little laugh and Blake smiled at the sound. He had been a little worried ever since Elijah had gone to get Logan Sunday night, but maybe it wasn't all bad after all.

"So what're you thinking?" he asked him.

"It's nothing, Blake."

Things were hardly ever nothing in their family.

"Come on," Blake cajoled. "Just do the brother bond thing. You can do it."

"What is it with you and your BS brother bond shit?"

"It exists, I promise," Blake insisted. "Just try it."

There was a full fifteen seconds of silence before Logan heaved a sigh and said, "She went to go see Dad today."

Blake's heartbeat painfully tripped over itself. "Really? When?"

"After school."

"I thought she wasn't allowed to go places herself."

"She isn't."

"Then did she tell you?"

"No. I followed her."

Some things about Logan, Blake couldn't hope to understand, so he ignored that for now.

"And you - you faced that bastard?"

"No." Logan threw an arm over his eyes. "She didn't talk to him. We just came back home."

"I can't believe - you willingly stepped foot within ten miles of that waste of space?" Blake resisted the itch to pull Logan's hand away and make him look at him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Well, yes, obviously, that's why Olivia practically begged me to tell her if you were okay after you two came home."

Logan lifted his arm. "She did?"

"She looked really shaken up too."

"Yeah, well, I guess that was me."