Part 9

Veronica woke on an unfamiliar bed, pleasantly sore in places she had forgotten existed for the past few years. She rolled to her side and stretched her limbs languidly. With a deep moan, she reached behind her where warmth had radiated through the night. She blinked her eyes open and peered at the empty bed in disappointment. Veronica burrowed her head deeper into the pillow, beside the furrow that Logan had obviously made. His place was still warm. He had not gotten up too long ago. Veronica lifted herself reluctantly then crawled over to fall on Logan's side of the bed. A small smile graced her lips as she breathed in the scent left imprinted on the sheets, her mind clouding with the explosion of sensations that she had experienced the night before as her nostrils were filled with all that was Logan Echolls.

"Hmmm." Veronica grabbed one of the longer pillows and wrapper her arms and legs around it. If Logan was going to get up from bed early, then she had to just drift back to sleep and dream about him. She shivered on the bed and groggily reached for the hotel bedrobe tossed carelessly at the foot of the bed. After slipping it on, she closed her eyes again.

She was about to slip back into her dreams when the side of the bed dipped and stronger scents assaulted her senses.

"Are you going to stay there all day?" came Logan's voice. "I didn't know you've gotten so lazy."

Veronica rolled onto her back and narrowed her eyes at Logan. "Tease a drunken man but never tease someone who just woke up."

"What were doing?" Logan smirked down at her. "Dreaming about me?"

"How did you know?" Veronica reached up her arms and Logan bent down to help her up. She breathed in that familiar and delicious scent that was heightened by the facial wash he had used in his morning ritual. On his shirt she smelled coffee and bacon. "You prepared breakfast!"

"Of course," he answered with a smile. "I have to show you I'm worth the time of day. I can't just live off the benefits having a gorgeous body provides."

Veronica chuckled and shook her head. "You're vain." She stood up, ignoring the various aches and pains that pleasantly reminded her of the huge change in her life.

Logan raised his eyebrows. "But I don't see you denying it."

They made their way to the kitchen counter area of Logan's hotel room. A steaming pot of coffee waited. Veronica gushed at the scent of the brew. He poured them two cups and gestured towards the silver room service cart. Veronica hurried towards it and revealed the two plates of continental breakfast, complete with waffles, eggs and bacon.

"This looks good."

Logan nodded, then tossed a box of paper towels at her. "Just remember that's a plate for me and one for you."

"I wasn't going to eat everything," she grumbled. Veronica took a plate and plopped down on the couch. At the first bite of the scrambled eggs, she wanted to take back what she had claimed. She could finish more than two plates.

As Logan started on his food, Veronica watched him from the corner of her eyes. She could not remember the last time she had had a quiet moment like this with Casey. He had most often been away in college during their relationship. It was easy and fun whenever he was home. What she had with him was the perfect relationship that she could need. There was no need to face emotions head on because he was often gone. At the same time, she had the security of knowing that somewhere out there someone loved her and wanted to spend his life with her. Casey gave her the comfort of knowing she was wanted.

It was too early to ask, really. Still, Veronica had to wonder what was in store for her with Logan. Was he going to love her then leave her again? Was she going to leave someone whom she knew loved her to a fault for someone she knew could easily end their affair and walk away?

Was she never going to give Casey the chance to explain the box under the bed, when it was probably the only deception he had committed?

Hadn't Casey set her expectations when they got engaged, and he promised her the type of love he could offer?

i"I promise, Veronica. I'm going to give you more love than you'd know what to do with."/i

The words he had uttered sent shivers down her spine now that she remembered them. His face glowing red from the bonfire, Casey had looked directly into her eyes and promised something that had been so romantic then. Now, it was terrifying.

But was she never going to give him the chance?

Was she going to do to Casey what Logan had done to her and walk away from a relationship that the other had invested their entire life in, without giving the other a chance to explain?

"Is something wrong?" Logan asked quietly.

Veronica gave him a hesitant smile and shook her head.

"Tell me," he said firmly. Veronica's eyes flew straight to his. Logan looked uncomfortable when he realized what he had said. He amended, "You can tell me if you want to, Veronica. That's what we've agreed to do, right?"

She shrugged. Quietly, she confessed, "I'm having second thoughts."

A look of hurt passed over his eyes. He nodded. "That's expected, I suppose. Can you tell me why?" He placed his plate on the couch beside him. "I know you're in love with him."

She shook her head. "Logan, you know I was never in love with anyone else the way I was with you," she told him sadly. "But I don't know if I can live with my life knowing I walked out on someone who cares for me as much as Casey does." He winced at the implication and the unvoiced analogy. "I know how it feels, Logan. It feels like someone stabbed you through the heart, twisted and left the knife in there all those years."

He swallowed. "What do you want me to do?" he asked, tightly hidden anguish still apparent in his voice.

"I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty," Veronica rushed. "But you understand, don't you?" Logan nodded quickly to assure her, although his eyes brimmed with tears. Veronica sighed, then discarded the plate. She knelt in front of Logan and took his hand in hers. She placed a kiss on the back of his hand. "I'm sorry and if you're going to hate me then go ahead and hate me. I have to know why," she told him.

Logan looked deep into her eyes. He did not doubt it. Even if she always referred to her love as something of the past and never mentioned it after he walked away from her, and even if love was a word that only passed his own lips the night before, he had no doubt that she felt it to. It shone in her eyes whenever she looked at him like this. Before he could answer, the phone rang. Veronica jerked in surprise and dropped his hand. He stood up and walked over to the phone. "Hello," he rasped. Logan cleared the emotion from his throat and said again, "Hello."

As he listened to the receptionist at the other end of the line, his eyes searched for Veronica's.

"In the lobby?" he clarified.

Putting the phone on mute, Logan turned to her. "Veronica, Casey's down at the lobby. Do you want me to send him up?" he asked even if inside him all he wanted was to tell the receptionist to have him escorted out.

She shook her head. Logan's breathed in relief. Then she told him, "I'll change into something else and meet him at the lobby." Logan's heart clenched. She frowned. "Wait a minute. I don't have anything other than his clothes. Tell him I'll meet him in the pool area. At least this robe is fine there."

Telling her that she could not do that was not going to help with her issues. Neither would it help him regain her trust in him. Instead, Logan swallowed his pride and spoke into the phone. "Can you send him to meet us by the pool? Thank you."

Veronica ran her fingers through her hair. There was no sense showing Casey evidence of whatever it was that made her stay overnight in Logan's room, although she doubted he did not know yet. "Logan, I'm meeting him by myself."

"Veronica—" Her eyes were emotionless when they met his, and it scared him. "He knows. Last night, he heard everything." She closed her eyes. "I don't want him to hurt you."

She licked her lips. "If there's anything Casey will never be able to bring himself to do, that's to lay a hand on me—violent or otherwise."

Logan's brows furrowed at the words and their implication. She smiled briefly, uneasily, at that confession. She then fixed her robe and tightened the belt. Veronica stood and walked over to the bedroom. When she emerged, Veronica was holding the large diamond ring that he had taken off from her finger the night before.

She walked over to the door. Logan strode over to her and caught her by the arm. "He never touched you?" he asked.

A long pregnant pause, then she shook her head. "He didn't want to."

iThat moment she was mine, mine, fair,

Perfectly pure and good/i

Veronica smiled and said, "Do you know how it feels to be loved like that without sex in the picture? The first time I found out we had been dating for a few months and he told me he loved me too much to ruin it." She took a deep breath. "After… after what happened with Duncan…"

He nodded. She had fallen into the web of Casey's life with that stroke of genius that Casey Gant had not manipulated. Veronica would forever place him on a pedestal for that.

iI found a thing to do, and all her hair

In one long yellow string I wound

Three times her little throat around/i

She stood on tiptoes and placed a kiss on Logan's chin, then quickly turned the knob and closed the door behind her. Veronica hurried to the elevator and rode the way to the pool area. As she walked, she thought of a hundred ways to greet him but could not settle on one. How did one greet a fiancé with whom you did not end formally with but who had heard you having sex with another man?

She pushed the glass doors open and saw him there at once, across the swimming pool, standing there staring at him. Veronica walked over to one of the tables. Casey walked over towards her. When she reached one of the chairs, he took it from her hands and pulled it so that she could sit. Veronica settled on the chair. She pushed away thoughts of how he took most everything out of her hands, but fed on it as well. She was going to take one thing in control and that was to reclaim the decision she had been swept into one night in the Moon Calf Collective.

Veronica waited until Casey settled into the chair across from hers. He smiled at her, and she wondered how much love he had in his heart that he could seem so warm to her after what he had discovered. She placed the ring at the center of the table between them, the sound of the diamond clattering.

"What is this?" he asked.

"I can't marry you, Casey."

He took the ring in his hand and slipped it into his shirt pocket. He smiled at her. "You know, Veronica, I'm not surprised. You were always in love with him. I don't blame you."

She could not believe her ears. "You're not mad?"

"You think Logan's mad that I'll probably be in love with you even after we have this talk?"

"He probably will," she muttered.

His hand reached out and closed over hers. "I'm sorry it didn't work out. I understand you have so much left hanging with him. If what you need is to see this relationship to its conclusion, then so be it. I'll be here when you need me. Trust me."

She took a deep breath. Veronica had no idea how to respond to his reaction. She had expected it to be more emotional, more violent. Then again, she just proved she was right about him. Casey would never raise his hand or his voice in anger. "If I can trust you so much, then why were there surveillance photos of me under your bed? Why were Duncan's letters there?" she demanded.

To his credit, he was shocked and mortified by her questions. Casey's hand tightened around hers. Veronica tried to pull her hand away but he held fast. "You found them?" She nodded. "How?"

"Does it matter?" she asked.

"Veronica, you realize that even before we were together, I was already in love with you, right?"

"You mentioned it."

He nodded. "When Duncan was found murdered, I already knew he was stalking you."

"How?" she asked in disbelief. Veronica had solved the puzzle too late.

"I watched you," was Casey's confession. Veronica shivered at the thought. Reality was that two men had been watching her moves, her routine. It was chilling. "I saw Duncan following you. I even saw him drop that last letter inside your locker."

It had become too much. She pulled her hand out of his grasp by extricating her fingers using her other hand. Her skin crawled at the prospect of how long it had been since the start of Casey's claim to love her more than she would know what to do with.

"Casey," she choked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

His eyes intent and sincere, he told her, "Because I was already taking care of it. I followed him everywhere."

The air left her lungs in such a rush that it left her gasping for breath. "Casey, what do you mean?" she asked slowly.

"I mean I did everything to take care of you, Veronica. I heard on the news that Duncan was murdered and I took all the letters from your place. Then I broke into the Kanes' and took the photos. You wouldn't be a suspect because I took any evidence that could link you negatively with Duncan Kane."

By now, Veronica's face was tearstreaked. She jumped up from her seat and whirled around. From behind the glass doors inside the building, she saw Logan waiting. Veronica did not want to hear anymore. She backed away.

"I will never let anyone hurt you," he told her.

Veronica nodded and smiled uncomfortably. She turned around. She was about to go back inside when she saw two men come up behind Logan. Veronica hurried towards the glass doors and pushed through them. Casey was behind her but she did not care. Logan was being cuffed. She heard the last words of the officers.

"You are under arrest for the murder of Duncan Kane. You have the right to remain silent—"

Veronica watched in horror as Logan numbly allowed them to propel him towards the elevator. "Logan, no!" she gasped.

Logan looked at her sadly, then shook his head. "I'll be fine, Veronica. I need you to call my lawyer and send them to the station after me."

"You can't arrest him," Veronica cried. "I have something to say—"

"Veronica!" Logan exclaimed. His voice softened, "Just do what I asked please."

Casey's hand rested on her spine and rubbed circles on her back. "It's okay, Veronica. I'll help you take care of this," he murmured.

She followed the officers towards the elevator. The officers stopped her. "No, I'm coming to the station with you!"

"Miss, please step out of the elevator." When Veronica did not budge, the officer grabbed her upper arm and pushed her outside.

"Get your hands off her, asshole!" Logan exploded. He barreled towards the officer in question. The other officer grabbed him and pushed him against the wall.

"It's okay, Logan," Casey said. "I'll take care of her."

The elevator doors were closing as Logan's gaze met Casey's. He turned to Veronica. "I love you, Ronnie. I ned you to relax and do what I said," Logan repeated. As the elevator car descended to the ground floor, the officers waited for Logan to calm down.

"Why the hell are you arresting me years after Duncan died?" he demanded. "If I was a suspect, shouldn't you have done this long ago?"

The officer shook his head. Then they led Logan to the parking area where the police car was parked. "You'll learn the details in the precinct," one of the officers informed him. "I'm surprised you're going to let your young woman stay with Mr Gant." Obviously the officer did not know Veronica. "After all it was Mr Gant who turned over the evidence that reopened this case."

"What?"

"At around midnight Casey Gant turned over the murder weapon that had your fingerprints all over it."

"I need the phone," Logan rasped. "I have to make a call."

"You'll have one call when we reach the station."

"I need the fucking phone now!"

The officers looked at one another. "You'll get your call at the station, Mr Echolls."

Logan swallowed, then stared at the moving city outside. He hoped to God Veronica was right and Casey would never hurt her.

tbc