Chapter 7—The Future Remains the Same
"Logan Grow up. You're such a lush sometimes."
"And what are you Lil?" Logan spat back as they walked down the beach.
"I don't have time for your games anymore."
"Since when do I play game's, Lil? You're the one who dumps me every time somebody new comes along."
"Don't act like your any better Logan if you had the chance to be with Veronica you would leave me."
"That's not true, I love you Lil, I wouldn't put up with your bullshit if I didn't."
"Yes but you don't love me like you love her. Everyone can see it Logan."
"Then why are you with me?" Logan slurred as he took another sip from his flask, handing it to Lilly.
"Because, it would be weird for you if we weren't. I stay with you so that I don't have to see you or Ronnie hurt. I know you would never cheat on me or hurt me, but I also know you love her and only care for me."
"And where did all of this wisdom come from Lil?" Logan asked while stopping to talk before they reached the car.
"You didn't deny it when I said you loved her." Lilly started towards the car again. "Donuts here lets go."
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Veronica had snuck out two nights in a row to stay at Logan's. She had found an odd comfort in Logan, even if their relationship was anything but normal. She wasn't exactly sure how they had gotten back into this friendship, or if it would last once summer was over. She did however know that he probably needed her to be there for him as much as she needed him to help deal with Shelley's party. So for now their friendship worked.
Veronica slowly made her way through the living room of he apartment, tying had not to wake the dog he father had insisted on getting once the lost the security of him being the sheriff. "Where are you sneaking off to young lady?" The voice tool her by surprise and she jumped.
"Dad, what are you doing up it's almost midnight?" She said hoping that he wouldn't notice the attempt she was making to ignore the fact that she had been caught sneaking out.
"I could ask you the same thing." No such luck he was going to make her answer. "Although then I would have to ask he why you have been sneaking of to the Echoll's estate for the last two nights in a row." His voice was stating facts it wasn't angry.
"How did you…my cell phone." Realization hit her. She hadn't been as sneaky as she had hoped she was, her father had just known that she needed to be with a friend.
"How's he doing?" His voice was soft.
"He's okay; I think he's in denial."
"And how are you?"
She hesitated before deciding to tell him about the test. "Dad, did you know mom had an affair with Jake Kane?" He nodded and she continued, "When I fell out of the tree with Lilly I guess she had a paternity test done." Keith looked at her with tears in his eyes. He knew his worst fear was about to be confirmed, his baby girl was the product of another man. "The test came back a match with Jake Kane." She was crying as she finished.
After a long silence Keith's voice finally returned. "You'll always be a Mars in my eyes" Veronica smiled slightly and pulled he father into a hug.
"Because I am a Mars."
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Logan had been disappointed when he got the call from Veronica saying that she was going to spend time with her family. Even though he wasn't exactly sure how he felt about her, spending time with her the last couple days had allowed him to be comfortable. He sat on his bed taking a sip from the whiskey bottle he had recently picked up out of his mother's stash. Tomorrow his father would be home, and the peaceful co-existence that only reared its head in his father's absence would disappear.
Reaching under his bed Logan took out a box of pictures and began going through them, it was supposed to be a Christmas present for Ronnie. Lilly had wanted to make her a scrap book which wasn't exactly Lilly's thing but she had coerced Logan into helping her. Picking up the top photo a tear ran down his cheek.
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"Look at this photo Logan, she will love it, can we put it on the cover?" Logan rolled his eyes at his girlfriend. Her intentions were good but he had highly doubted that Veronica would want pictures of her once perfect relationship.
"A picture of her and Duncan kissing Lil?"
"She doesn't know, and me and you are in it too Logan. It's not so much about her and Duncan as it is about the fab four." Her voice gave off a hint of annoyance so he shrugged and sat on his bed.
"Why did I let you drag me into this again?"
"Because you don't want my gift to outdo your's" She stated putting the picture in the box before closing the lid and pushing it under the bed. "Plus I promised you lots of play time if you helped." Lilly's voice was husky and she wiggled her eyebrows at him.
"And can we start this playtime early?" He places a kiss on her lips and she wraps her arms around him pulling him towards her. He positions himself above her as he kisses her neck.
"Always" She undoes his belt as her reaches for his lamp desks drawer.
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Logan woke up the next morning to the sound of his Father's voice yelling at him. He assumed his father was waiting to take some anger at the annoying businessman he had sat next to on the on him. As sad as most people would have found it, Logan had made a game of it. Seeing how long he could take the beating before letting the pain get to him. He is numb to the physical pain by now, this is more the pain of knowing that his mother sits in the other room listening to it as she sips her gin and tonic. He loves his mother but she definitely never won the mother of the year award.
Logan groggily got out of his bed and made his way to his father's study. "You rang?" His voice was filled with sarcasm while his face read pure innocence.
"What's this I hear about you holing yourself up in my pool house all week?" His fathers' voice was even but he knew this was simply the calm before the storm. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from there?"
"Yes, but then I never would have found out you had done half the girls in my grade." Logan bit back, knowing that this beating would probably be a bad one, ending up with him passing out. Aaron calmly looked at his computer screen and gestured Logan over to a cabinet.
Opening the cabinet Logan quietly chose the belt he thought would hurt most, hoping that it would cause him to pass out quicker. He had named the belts that he chose most; it was his way of making his punishment a little less painful. This belt was serpent, mostly because he thought of it as the worst of belts, and a serpent reminded him of the devil.
"Here you go daddy dearest." Handing the belt to Aaron, he takes of his shirt and stands in preparation. The first hit stings as the leather makes contact with Logan's skin. He refuses to show pain anymore, refuses to give his father that pleasure. Today however he is not sure how long he can make it without showing hurt, images of Lilly with his father and seeing veronica the morning after her rape come into his head. The pain builds up and instead of crying he's punching his dad, and running.
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"Can I stay here tonight Mr. Mar's" Logan asks as he looks at the ground.
"Sure, Logan, you're always welcome here." Keith eyes the boys face. "What happened Logan?"
"Hit some rocks while surfing." He knew that neither Keith nor Veronica believed him, but at least Keith seemed to accept his story. Hitting a rock in the water hard enough to break your nose would have meant that you most likely had scratches.
"Lianne will have dinner done at 7." He left Veronica and Logan sitting awkwardly in the living room, neither knowing what to say.
"Logan let me see your back." She said finally as she pulled him into the bathroom.
"I'm fine Ronnie." He pulled up his shirt anyway knowing she wouldn't back down.
"Who did this to you?" Her voice was filled with so much sadness that he broke down. She had counted the belt marks as she washed them out.
Fifteen altogether she had said as they lay on the couch later that night. They sat there most of the night watching the Simpson's and making light conversation.
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"Veronica can I stay here?" He kept his back as still as he could as he walked. Veronica just nodded and let him in.
"Did you clean out the wounds?" She asked once he entered the small apartment. When he shook his head no she went to the bathroom and brought back a warm washcloth. Logan removed his shirt, and saw as a tear ran down her face.
"He hit me 48 times before I punched him and ran." She nodded again, and began to wash out the cuts that filled his back. "The anger just built up and I hit him and before I even realized what I had done, I was in the Xterra and halfway here.
"Logan the cops are on there way to arrest your father. My dad went to lamb with it this morning. The Sinclair's are pressing charges, so he can't even bribe his way out of it. Your father is being charged with Statutory rape on three counts. Madison Sinclair, Carrie Bishop, and Lindsay Lakes." Logan stared at her in shock. "If we can find the tapes in Lilly's room tonight, it will not only be grounds for the statutory rape of Lilly Kane, but hopefully the murder of her to."
"How are we getting into the house though?"
"I'm in the running for the Lilly Kane Memorial Scholarship. I called Duncan earlier and he said you were more than welcome to join me, so that I don't breakdown in front of the top ten academic achievers in our school."
"Umm…you do realize you are a Kane right. You could just get the college money that way."
"I don't want to be the illegitimate Kane daughter, heiress to millions." She wrinkled her nose as she thought about it.
"You know that was part of the reason I was so mean to you" Veronica looked at him in confusion. "You were the one person in the world that could take away the legacy of Lilly Kane, the sad thing is I think she would have wanted you to."
"She would have been the only reason to be a Kane." Veronica said in almost a whisper as she turned on the TV. There were Ariel views surrounding the Echoll's mansion and neither of them could help but smile. Aaron Echoll's would be in jail.
"Hey, at least he got in a last beating before he got locked up." Logan stated in an airy manner. Forcing a laugh as he watched his father being arrested on national TV. "Will you come with me to get a change of clothes for tonight? I don't want to go there alone."
"Why don't I just have Duncan bring you a button down shirt and khakis' to put on?" She offered, and he agreed that it would be better than fighting their way through a herd of reporters. With Logan's outfit on the way Veronica went to her room to get ready.