Hunted – 60

Logan stopped in his tracks, then veered of towards a pocket-park between two buildings. “Sit,” he said when they got to a bench. After Faolán had, Logan asked, “Why do you think he wants you gone?”

Faolán told him the gist of his conversation with Brice. “So you see,” he ended, “he wants me to return to the pack, not stay here.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Faolán, damn. From the sound of it, he was probing to see if that’s what you wanted to do. He’s the kind of man, from what I’ve seen of him at least, who’s afraid to assume that someone might really care about him. He’s probably scared you’re going to up and leave, and has to come up with a reason you’d do so, so that he can justify it to himself. Do you see what I’m saying?”

“That’s stupid. I told him, and showed him, how much I care.”

“Unfortunately, I’ve got a feeling he’s heard that before from other people. Sycophants who want to be around him because…”

“Because he keeps them in the life style they like,” Faolán growled. “Yeah, he told me about that.”

“He did? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Anyway, because of that, he might not be ready to trust that you care about him.” Logan held up a hand when Faolán started to protest. “Look at it this way. The two of you have been through a lot together in the past few days, all of it revolving around staying alive. You were thrown together and, to be quite honest, in circumstances like that the need to really connect as a way to override the fear is natural.”

Faolán glared at Logan. “So you’re saying I don’t care for him? That it was just a physical release—a tension release?”

  

“No. Not at all. I’ve seen you two together. I know there’s something between you. But Brice might not be quite as certain as you and I are. And Faolán, he might not even consciously realize he isn’t.”

“Oh boy.” Faolán chewed his bottom lip. “I may have really fucked things up.”

“Then un-fuck them.”

Faolán jumped to his feet. “I’m going to try. Logan, thanks.”

“Hey, no problem.” Logan shook his head with a muttered "Kids", as Faolán vanished from sight, glad that no one was in the immediate vicinity at the moment to see him do that.