Two

"The Harsh Light of Day"

…and all our sins come back to haunt us in the end
To hang around and tap us on the shoulder; and smile, silent
It's all implied; You'll die trying to live this down
You might as well forget it
--from "Mistakes We Know We're Making" by Straylight Run

*******

The fairy tale lasted less than three hours. That's when Sheriff Lamb called to tell me that Logan had been hospitalized because he'd been beaten to a bloody pulp and dumped on the side of the road. Not at all good news. I knew that Weevil was more than likely responsible, which meant that I was partly responsible. As if I didn't already feel bad enough.

The phone jarred me from sleep at exactly 5:52 a.m. "Hello," I managed to get out in a sleep-roughened voice.

"Hey, this is Sheriff Lamb," came the Sheriff's annoying, know-it-all voice. "Just thought, you know, since you're dating and all, you might want to know that the guy you accused of murder is in the hospital."

That woke me up. "Logan?" I asked with urgency. "What happened?"

The sheriff seemed to be enjoying himself. "He was found on the side of the road. He had been beaten pretty badly. Call came in not long after we locked his father up. He had obviously been dumped there because we found his car and lots of blood on a bridge not far from where we found him. His parents are listed as his next of kin, but since his dad is indisposed and his mother offed herself, I didn't know who else to call. He wasted his one call on you earlier, so I thought you were as good a candidate as any."

I was dressing before I hung up the phone. When I got done, I went to wake Duncan.

"Duncan," I said while shaking him.

"What?" he replied, half-asleep. Then, "You're couch leaves something to be desired. Definitely not the best place I've ever slept."

"I remember you and Logan passing out on the beach and waking covered in sand and various sea creatures, so I'm gonna take a gander that it's not the worst place you've ever slept, either," I replied, before trying again. "Duncan, we have to go."

He was still not entirely awake as he asked, "Go where?"

"Sheriff Lamb just called. Logan's in the hospital," I said, hoping to jar him into action. "I need you to go make sure he's okay because I have something that I need to do. I don't want him to find out about his dad from Sheriff Lamb, but I really need to do this."

The flash of jealousy on Duncan's face didn't go unnoticed, but it wasn't exactly the time to deal with it. Duncan is Logan's best friend. Whatever else was going on would have to wait. Duncan seemed to understand that, too, because he got up and started getting ready in record time. As I rushed Duncan out of the house, I realized that things were about to get really complicated. First things first, though, I had a bad boy biker to track down.