I pointed to the other side of the parking lot. “Jacob attacked me there,” I said. “Because of you, I was able to stop another terrible thing from happening to me.”
He stared in that direction. “I wish that hadn’t happened in the first place, but I see your point. I’m glad I taught you enough to stop that bastard from hurting you worse than he did.”
I turned off the car and Logan followed me into Desert Stone. I caught him looking all around as we approached the front desk.
“Hey, Shiloh,” Derek greeted me with a bright smile as he stood from his chair.
“Hi, Derek,” I greeted back as we walked by.
“How are you doing? I heard you got hurt,” he asked.
I pointed to my hairline next to my temple. “I fell and hit my head.”
He pointed to his lip. “What happened here?”
I still had a tiny cut on my lip and my bruise was covered up with makeup. “It happened when I fell,” I lied.
He grimaced. “Ouch. Take it easy in your class,” he said and sat back down behind the desk.
Before I could say thank you, Logan pulled my attention back to him. “Your boyfriend is walking this way.”
“Which one?” I asked him with a sly smile. He didn’t think I was funny. I looked past him and saw it was Knox. My smile dropped and Logan noticed. When Knox approached us, I said, “Logan, this is Knox. Knox, this is Logan. You two spoke on the phone.”
Knox shook Logan’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Same. Thank you for looking out for Shi. Ian told me you stayed at the hospital with her until he got there,” Logan said and I gaped at him. Why was he suddenly being charming and nice? He saw me and smirked. “What? You’re clearly not dating this one.”
Knox’s brows rose slightly.
I was already regretting bringing Logan. “Are you sure about that?”
“When you saw him, you looked pissed,” Logan pointed out.
“That’s because he pissed me off,” I snapped, feeling really heated.
“Shiloh—” Knox started to say.
I glared at him. “Stay out of it.”
Knox stuffed his hands into his pockets, frowning.
Logan whistled as he stared at Knox. “Maybe you are dating my niece.”
I noticed that Keelan had stepped out from the hall behind the desk. He smiled at me as he made his way over and I couldn’t help but smile back.
Logan cursed as he looked from me to Keelan. “Of course it’s the one with tattoos.”
Cheese and rice. “You have tattoos.”
“You just made my point,” he said. “I’m not boyfriend material.”
“I guess that means I’ll never have any cousins…or I have ones I don’t know about.” I was just as surprised as Logan was when I said that.
Logan grinned down at me. “Watch it, kid, or I’ll embarrass the hell out of you.”
“You’re already embarrassing me,” I shot back and he got this spark in his eye that said, Challenge accepted.
When Keelan approached us and before he could say anything, Logan held out his hand. “By the love in my niece’s eyes, that must mean you’re her boyfriend.”
Keelan looked at me, unsure what to say.
A mean smile stretched across my mouth as I looked at my uncle. “You know, Knox has tattoos, too. You just can’t see them with all his clothes on.”
Keelan’s eyes went wide and Knox’s frown only deepened.
“Really, Shi? Do you not know how that made you sound?” Logan asked, his tone angry.
Finally, I thought. I wanted him pissed off. “I don’t care how it made me sound,” I snapped. “If you don’t like it, then knock it off. You’re using people I care about to get a rise out of me. Why? Because you want to know who I’m in a relationship with? I will tell you when I’m ready and not a minute before.” I yanked my keys from my gym bag and forced them into his hand. “Take yourself home. I don’t want you here.” I was so mad at him. Probably more than this incident called for, and I had to get away from him before I exploded.
I walked away, going around the front desk, and dashed down the hall. I took a seat behind Keelan’s desk in his office and tried to cool down. With my elbows propped up on the desk, I covered my face with my hands.
A hand smoothed over my thigh. “Hey.”
I dropped my hands and looked to my right.
Keelan was kneeling on the ground next to me. He spun the chair I was in so that I was facing him. “You want to tell me what that was about?”