Chain Link

Chapter 20

 Logan's sobs echoed through her mind.

In all the time that she had known him, there was not one time that popped in her mind where Logan had cried.

Alessa wasn't a big crier herself but she had cried about her parents and the messed up situation and when life just got a little bit too much.

Logan had never cried. Not once. Anger seemed to be his general response to everything that generated an emotional response. Tears and sadness never had been his go-to response, so the fact that he cried made her push the gas pedal in a little further.

"Is everything okay?" Nic had finally asked.

The question had been coming for awhile now but she was too stuck in her own worry that she was slightly caught off guard by it. She shouldn't have been though. Nic had been dragged into the car by her while she just mumbled something about needing to go Logan.

It wasn't the best way to deal with the situation.

Her head turned to her brother briefly before turning her eyes back to the road. His hands were playing with the hem of his shirt while his eyes were on the dashboard in front of him.

"Not really," she admitted.

"I kind of figured," Nic said before pausing as he worried his lip between his teeth. "What's wrong?"

What was wrong?

She didn't exactly know. It was most likely because of their father but she could be wrong. For all she knew something else happened, but Logan was crying. Family seemed like the kind of thing that he would cry over.

It still left a million possibilities over which he could cry over and she didn't know which one it was. His family was almost as screwed up as her own.

Almost.

She'd argue that her family was still winning that race.

"I'm not really sure," she admitted. "I think it's their dad."

Out of the corner eye, she saw her brother nod. "I think so too. Dan never sounds to positive about his father. His father also didn't seem to nice about you guys being gone, you know."

"I know."

The sight of the apartment brought her sense of relief.

"Just be prepared that they might be very upset so don't expect too much from Dan," she warned her brother in advance.

Her brother rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid, you know. I just want to help."

She gave her little brother a smile. "You're a good friend," she said before exiting the car.

Her feet carried her up the stairs while her hands managed to fumble the door of Logan's apartment open. Nic was somewhere behind her, but her mind was on Logan now not on her brother for once in her life.

A beer sat on the table in front of the couch he was sitting on. His face was buried in his hands. Hesitant steps now brought her to his side.

There were no words in her mouth that seemed to be appropriate for the situation that they were in right now. Instead she opted for wrapping her arms around him. Logan immediately returned the hug while he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

There was no wetness on her shoulder and his breathing seemed relatively calm. He seemed to better than earlier on the phone.

It brought a shudder to her body as she was reminded of the sobs earlier.