Although Veronica had been manning the phones and micromanaging the interns, they still could barely keep up with the work being thrust upon them. Her editor had sent a special, advance copy to the appropriate people at the local FBI and ATF field offices, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and to the U.S. Attorney at the Northern District of California Department of Justice. The gang's all here, Veronica thought as she finished assembling packets. She was relieved that the task was complete and that they were ready to be messengered upon request. Each packet now contained all of the evidence she had gathered, and it was all practically wrapped up with a neat little bow.
Veronica had decided to turn the phones over to the interns so that she could take a quick lunch break, but she'd barely made it to the break room when Mac came running in.
"Veronica! You need to see this. Now." Mac's cheeks were flushed from the exertion of running full-speed down the hall.
"Okay, Speed Racer. What's going on?" Veronica asked, taking a seat next to the one that Mac had collapsed into as she'd grabbed a tablet.
"As far as I can tell, this was released about fifteen minutes ago." Veronica gave Mac a quizzical look. "Oh, I have alerts set up for you. That way if you get a mention—good or bad—we know."
"Please tell me I've got a good mention and you were just so excited that you had to rush on over to tell me."
Mac grimaced. "Not quite." She hit play on the video.
When the video began, Veronica could see her old living room. Next she heard the closing of a door and heavy breathing. "Bedroom? Couch? Wall? Fuck Veronica, I need you right now." Logan's husky voice came through crystal-clear, yet they were still not visible to the camera. "I don't care." Came Veronica's voice just before they entered the frame.
"Oh my god." Veronica took the tablet from Mac and shut it off. "Please, please tell me that you didn't watch it all and that it was emailed to you by the police who need you to help them learn some important technical something-or-other about it."
"I'm so sorry, Veronica." Mac shook her head.
"Can you pull it? What do we do?" Veronica thought back to that day. "Holy shit! How long is it? We were…"
"Yeah, they posted it all."
Veronica felt her entire world fall out from beneath her, and then she remembered that she wasn't the only person in that video. "God, Logan. I have to go, Mac. I—shit, I have to go."
"Veronica, call your lawyer and the police. They're the ones who can get it pulled. In the meantime, I'll report it as not belonging to the poster."
Veronica nodded and left the office as quickly as she could. Once in the elevator, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Logan. He answered: "Logan's House of Love, we'll keep you coming."
"Umm…Logan, are you at home?" Veronica asked nervously.
"No, just leaving the gym with Ratner. What's going on?"
"Head straight home, and bring Ratner. And babe, call your lawyer—we've got a problem."
Logan arrived back at their place with Ratner following him. From the living room, he could see Veronica out on the deck. She was talking on her phone, and as they got closer he could hear the tail-end of her conversation.
"Thank you, Inspector. I really appreciate it. Please keep me posted." She hung up the phone and walked toward them. Logan was completely taken aback by the look on her face. Defeat. Anger. Sadness. He could see them all playing in a loop inside of her head. But when their eyes met, she offered him a small smile.
Logan pulled her into him. It didn't matter what was wrong; anything that made her look like that, he was going to destroy. "What's wrong?"
"Can you make me a drink? Something strong. You'd better make yourself one, too." Logan nodded and went to pour them each a scotch. He looked to Ratner who shook his head 'no' before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
Two scotches in hand, Logan joined Veronica and Ratner at the breakfast table. Veronica accepted her drink and took a large sip, which caused her to cough.
"Remember the lovely cameras Piz left in my apartment and how we tried to get custody of all of the footage that did not include Piz?" Logan and Jeff nodded. "Well, we now have a potential lawsuit against the SFPD, but we also have a sex-tape scandal." Veronica grimaced and handed Logan her tablet.
Logan felt his jaw drop. He knew that there was video of them having sex, but he'd never actually seen it. They'd fought very hard to have the footage removed from evidence. Their request had been denied, but the commissioner had personally assured them that the evidence would not be viewed by anyone and would be under lock and key, so-to-speak.
"I'll call Bernie right now." Logan reached for his cell phone.
Ratner put his hand up, "You were speaking to Saitou?" he asked Veronica.
"Yes, and he's looking into who had access to the video and what could have happened. They are also in the process of getting the video blocked, but it didn't sound promising."
"Logan, before you call your lawyer call the publicist. What's her name?" Ratner asked.
Logan couldn't stop his frown. His father's current publicist was an incredibly bubbly blonde, who also moonlighted as Aaron's fuck-buddy. Parker something. But Ratner was right; they'd need her help. Rather than dialing his lawyer, Logan had scrolled down to Parker's contact info and started to draft her a text when he realized that a text wasn't going to cut it. Logan dropped his head to the table and banged it a few times.
"Hey, you're going to dent the table with that hard head of yours," Veronica teased.
"I have to call my dad. Hopefully he hasn't heard about this yet. He's going to be pissed. He has a movie premiering in a couple of weeks." Logan stood up and decided to try out Veronica's favorite spot to use the phone. First he texted the other trustees to let them know what was going on and that he was getting out in front of it, and then he called Aaron.
"Hello, Son. I hear you're getting famous in your own right." Aaron was using his Hollywood dad voice. He didn't sound all that angry, which surprised the hell out of Logan.
"I guess you've seen it, then. I would have called sooner, but I actually just found out about ten minutes ago." Logan rubbed his forehead, waiting for the other shoe to drop. There was no way that Aaron wasn't mad about this.
"I have to say, I was pretty impressed. When Parker showed it to me earlier, I was expecting to see some little fuck-boy…color me shocked when, instead, you're banging a tight little blonde. She's not to my taste, personally, but what she lacks in assets she more than made up for in enthusiasm."
Logan felt his blood start to boil. "Don't talk about her like that."
"She's that little reporter you saved from a stalker earlier this year, right?"
"Yes, Veronica." Logan pulled on his hair, trying to keep his temper under control. As much as he wanted to yell at Aaron, he knew it would not be productive at this moment. Not when Logan was going to need Aaron's help to get this sex tape situation under control.
"You were screwing her. That makes more sense. I wish I'd known, I would have had you bring her to that premiere you managed to weasel your way out of." Aaron sounded thoughtful, "Are you still in touch with her? I've got a smallish premiere in San Francisco coming up."
Logan was torn. One way or another, he was eventually going to have to tell Aaron about the depth of his relationship with Veronica. But he'd wanted to put it off for as long as possible; Aaron had a way of tainting everything that he touched, and Logan didn't want him anywhere near his and Veronica's relationship.
Logan sighed, accepting that there wasn't any way to get around it. "We live together."
"Oh, ho ho, you live together. Son, I've never been happier to hear those words: you have a live-in girlfriend."
Logan could practically hear the wheels turning in Aaron's head. Aaron had been furious, years before, when Logan had refused to play his games any longer. Logan had worked hard to maintain that distance and to minimize their relationship. But he could tell that Aaron saw this as a way back into his son's life. I was so close; just a few more months and I would have been able to completely cut all ties with the bastard.
"It's a little younger than I would have liked for you…ah hell, what do I know? Your mother and I got married when we were your age," Aaron said jovially.
"I didn't call to talk about Mom," Logan said, his voice sounding strained even to him; he looked up and saw Veronica and Ratner watching him from the kitchen. He offered them a tight smile, and then turned to face away from them so that they wouldn't be able to see his face for the rest of the conversation—both of them were far too perceptive.
Aaron cleared his throat. "Of course not. Well, I take it from your tone you aren't as pleased about this little sex tape as I am." Aaron chuckled.
"No. I was hoping your 'team' could help us downplay it. We've spoken to the police up here, and they're working to get it all pulled off the internet, but…"
"Yes, it can be rather difficult once it's out there. Okay, Parker is supposed to be back here in an hour. I'll call Harvey and see what he can do."
"Thank you. And what do you want from me in exchange for you doing this?" Logan asked, resigned to his fate.
"Oh Logan, why don't we discuss that later. Right now we'll focus on taking care of all this. But I do so look forward to meeting Veronica." Aaron's voice purred over the 'V', sending chills up Logan's spine.
"Right, well, I'm sure we'll speak later," Logan replied, trying to keep his voice sounding confident when it was anything but.
"Yes, yes we will." Then the line cut out.
The next few hours were spent organizing Operation Damage Control, which primarily involved phone calls between lawyers, the police, and the Aaron Echolls publicity machine. At the end of it all, everyone was doing their best to deal with the situation, but their best didn't change the fact that the stupid video had already been seen by hundreds of thousands of people. And more saw it every minute it was still out there.
Logan was so mad. This was supposed to be a big day for Veronica, and instead she was stuck being the object of a 'Logan Echolls sex tape'. He couldn't believe people gave a crap about him just because he was the son of someone famous. It wasn't like Logan did anything to warrant the attention beyond being Aaron's son. And more than that, the timing struck him as odd. Why wait so long to release the tape? Why would anyone release the tape today? If it is about me, the timing makes no sense.
"Ratner, what do you think about the timing of this whole thing?" Logan asked.
Ratner smiled at Logan like he was proud of him. "I've been wondering that myself. I'd say the timing suggests that this is more about Veronica than you. Of course, it's a non-starter without you, but it has very little impact on you beyond being an irritation. For Veronica, on the other hand, it's more serious. Now everyone is talking about her role in the tape rather than that she uncovered corruption." He turned to Veronica. "Have you received any requests for your evidence?"
"Yeah, hours ago. We handed it all over, of course. I even had a few requests for interviews on the local channels. Of course, all but one of those has cancelled since," Veronica replied sadly.
"Hey, this will all blow over. We'll probably even be able to joke about it…eventually." Logan tried to comfort her.
Ratner stared out at the bay, his expression very serious. Not wanting to disturb him, Logan gently pulled Veronica out of her chair and led her back to their office.
"What?" she asked hesitantly.
Logan pulled her in close and kissed her softly. When he felt her relax, he deepened the kiss but kept it undemanding.
She broke the kiss a little out of breath. "Oh, that."
"Yeah, that. And I thought Ratner might need a few minutes. Not to mention, we haven't had a chance to be alone since the shit hit the fan." Logan pushed his hand through his hair. "I am so sorry. Everything has been so quiet the last couple months. No more Piz—at least until the trial—it was just us, and now…"
"This isn't your fault. This is whoever stole the evidence's fault. It had to be a cop." She looked thoughtful.
"There wouldn't be an audience for a sex tape of you without me," he replied, feeling forlorn. Here's yet one more thing Logan Echolls has brought upon someone he loves.
"Hey! I resent that. I look pornstar-tastic on that video," Veronica snarked. "How much you wanna bet it was that slimy rookie I got into trouble for sexual harassment?"
Logan chuckled, "You were pretty hot; I wouldn't mind having a copy for the home collection. But I hate that so many people have seen something that never should have been recorded in the first place. I'm going to sue the shit out of the SFPD. Saitou's looking into it, right?"
"Yeah, he promised he'd get to the bottom of it. He didn't think it should have been kept in evidence either."
Ratner came into the office with a big smile on his face. "All right, lovebirds. I have an idea."
Veronica impatiently picked at a slice of takeout pizza and watched Logan play with the label of the bottle of beer sitting in front of him.
"So how do you know our mystery guest?" Logan asked, pulling the label off fully intact. It was a neat trick.
"How do I know him? Through somewhat unsavory channels, I'm afraid. And don't let him fool you; he's no bumbling idiot, but he's fickle as all hell. His services come at a price; large sums of money tend to be required to keep him honest."
Veronica looked up at that. "So we're trusting intel from someone who has a price tag? Someone whose loyalty can be sold to the highest bidder?"
"We've gotta take it where we can get it. Anyway, the Admiral has plenty of money, and Vinnie's resourcefulness more than makes up for his sliminess. The guy is plugged into every major crime family on the west coast. And all of it is under the guise of a completely legal business. He's a P.I." Jeff chuckled.
Veronica turned to see Logan face-palm. "Her dad's a P.I., Ratner."
Jeff at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Right, I forgot. Well, I am fairly certain your father is not of the ilk that Vinnie is."
"You never did say how you know him," Veronica pushed.
"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." At Veronica's clear lack of amusement, he continued. "It's classified, and honestly not as interesting as that makes it sound—I promise."
Jeff's promise was followed by a knock on the door. Veronica let Logan get it. A few moments later, a smarmy eighties-reject pranced into the room ahead of Logan.
"Nice digs you got here." His eyes landed on Veronica. "Vavavoom. You're tastier lookin' in person than in that video, VMars."
Veronica thought she might throw-up right then and there, and Logan looked murderous.
"Vinnie Van Lowe. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to introduce you to Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars. And Vinnie, unless you want to see Logan's kick boxing skills in action, I suggest you stop eye-fucking his girlfriend," Jeff said, a friendly smile never leaving his face.
Vinnie started to laugh. "Just getting the lay of the land, my man. Got it—Echolls is a hot-head and Mars, here, looks ready to poison me or throw-up on me—neither of which I'm interested in, by the way."
Veronica watched as Van Lowe's entire demeanor changed from obnoxiously-goofy playboy to completely serious. He took a seat at the table and rejected the beer that Jeff offered him. She couldn't help the grin that took the place of her nausea.
"All right, kids, here's what I know so far. You, my dear, are an excellent writer and pretty good investigative journalist." He waved his hand at Veronica. "Maybe a little too good or maybe just the right amount, I'm still working that out. I have a contact within the Sorokin family and I think we may need to play a little game of guess who. Now you, Mr. Echolls—I think this is just a case of unfortunate relations where you're concerned."
This just further confirmed what Jeff had expressed earlier: the sex tape was the chosen medium only because it would put up the biggest smoke screen. If Logan hadn't been the son of Aaron Echolls, the person behind this would have picked something else to use as a distraction. But instead, whomever it was had been handed the perfect way to move everyone's attention away from the huge corruption ring that Veronica had uncovered.
"But this changes nothing. Nothing!" Veronica could feel her temper getting the better of her. Logan's hand on her knee helped to ground her and brought her focus back to the conversation at hand. "The agents have been exposed. Several major distribution networks have been identified. I heard from my boss earlier that there have already been some arrests. Discrediting me didn't stop any of this from happening."
"Actually," Jeff interjected, "we don't think this was about discrediting you so much as distracting everyone—"
"Think about it," Vinnie interrupted. "If you weren't the talk of the town, what or who would be? Not a couple of lame ICE and ATF agents, I can tell you that."
Veronica thought about this for a moment, "The Sorokins…but I never could get any conclusive evidence specifically linking them to any of it. None of the direct family members will be charged with any crimes."
"No, but you did get two of their cousins. I'm betting you didn't get them through your primary source. You had a second informant. Am I right?" Vinnie asked with glee.
He was right. She did have a second source that she'd never mentioned in any of her notes or met with directly after a brief introduction. They'd instead used carefully planned data exchanges and a couple of phone calls on untraceable prepaid cell phones. Not even Logan knew about him. "No, I got all the names from the same source." Vinnie gave her a suspicious look but didn't comment further.
"So a sex tape of Aaron Echolls' son with the intrepid reporter keeps the media busy with that rather than looking more closely at the Sorokins. Wow, they really are bastards, aren't they?" Logan said, sounding exasperated.
"It doesn't hurt that you two put on one hell of a performance, either. Seriously, I've got twenty years on you kid, and I was impressed."
"Um…thanks."
"No, thank you." Vinnie smirked before reaching down for the bag he'd set by his feet when he'd taken his seat. He pulled out a smart phone and messed with it for a few seconds before extending it to Veronica. "Which one was your source?"
Veronica just stared at him. There was no way that he could have known who her primary source was; she was a low-level guy's girlfriend who had a good ear and babysat one of the higher-up's daughters. But, Veronica decided to play the game. She accepted the phone and started swiping through the photos. Only a few photos went by before Veronica saw Catherine. She looked a little different, more Dolce, less Target, Veronica thought, giving Target a French pronunciation in her mind. Her pause gave Jeff an opening; he nabbed the phone before Vinnie got the chance.
"This was your source? Yelena Sukarenko!" Jeff screeched.
"What? No! That woman's name is Catherine Lenova. She's the girlfriend of one of the guys who works at the dock. We did a background check and confirmed her identity. Wait Sukarenko. As in the Russian mob in Chicago?" It was Veronica's turn to face-palm. She'd been set up.
Before Vinnie left, Logan had given him a hefty retainer with the promise of more to come. "Don't worry, kid. No need for the Vinnie Special here. You've got plenty to keep me happy, and you're in with my boy Ratner. I'll be in touch as soon as I have more to share." He winked.
Ratner left just a few minutes later, leaving Logan and Veronica alone at last. Logan had immediately shut off the landline and turned their cell phones to silent.
"I should probably call and warn my dad to stay away from the internet," Veronica said, collapsing onto the couch.
"It'll keep until morning. It's almost midnight, and they're probably already in bed. He'd have called if he already knew," Logan said, settling on the couch next to her.
"You're probably right. So what do we do now? My boss told me to take a few days and to handle all the inquires from home, though most of it is already taken care of."
"Now? Now, I think we kick back, maybe watch an episode of The Daily Show. He almost never covers things that have anything to do with my dad," Logan said hopefully.
"Sure. I could use some political satire," she said, snuggling into his side.
Twenty-two minutes and a 'Moment of Zen' later Veronica was snuffling softly against Logan's side. Logan pushed some stray hairs out of her face and watched her sleep. She looked peaceful and relaxed. Being careful to not wake her, Logan carried her back to their bedroom and put her to bed.
Logan considered getting into bed with her, but he wasn't ready to sleep yet. He made his way down to their home-gym and tied on some boxing gloves. Maybe a quick workout would help him relax.
He was about halfway through his usual routine when he felt someone watching him. He turned to find Veronica standing in the doorway, chewing on her thumbnail.
"I woke up alone," she said, walking down the two stairs into the room.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just had too much pent up energy to sleep. I didn't mean to leave you alone," Logan replied hesitantly, not quite sure what to make of the look Veronica was giving him.
She hadn't stopped walking once she'd reached the bottom of the stairs, and now she stood directly in front of him. She reached out and began untying Logan's gloves, pulling one off then going to work on the other.
She hadn't looked up at him since she'd started on his gloves, so Logan tilted her head to look into her eyes. They looked wide and wild, her pupils were huge and black; the color contrasted strongly with the whites.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, caressing her cheek.
Veronica nodded then abruptly pulled her tank top off over her head and pulled Logan over to the weight bench. Finally recovered from her abruptness, Logan joined in, pulling his sweaty undershirt off and reaching for her sleep shorts. Within a few seconds they were both completely naked, and Veronica was straddling him on the bench.
Veronica had gotten more adventurous in the bedroom recently, and Logan had been concerned that, after the video, she wouldn't feel comfortable continuing any part of their physical relationship. He was pleasantly surprised that, not only was she willing, but she was initiating sex.
Logan wanted to tell her to slow down, but he found that he felt as urgent as she did. He lifted her up and thrust into her in one swift motion, eliciting harsh noises of pleasure from them both. He looked into her eyes to make sure it was okay; she kissed him hard, and it was all the encouragement that Logan needed. He thrust hard into her once more, and then held her off of him and turned on the bench so that her back was facing him in reverse cowgirl. She gripped the vertical part of the bench while Logan wrapped his hands around her hips helping support her while she set a pace that drove Logan wild.
Logan closed his eyes and let his head fall back so lost in the exquisite feel of being enveloped in Veronica that he had no idea how much time had passed. The feel of vibrations from Veronica's inner muscles had Logan hovering on the edge of his orgasm. No longer able to maintain the semi-passive position he had assumed, Logan shifted his hands: one moved to her breasts and began pinching and tweaking her nipples, the other slid between her spread legs to circle her clit, and he finally allowed himself to surge up into her on her downward movement. After a few more deep thrusts, Logan felt Veronica come apart in his hands, and he finally let himself go. He held her tightly, relishing in the feel of her.
"I love you so much," he whispered into her ear before kissing his way down her neck.
"I love you, too."
Veronica woke the next morning to the sound of their doorbell ringing. Logan was snuggled up against her, his head resting on her chest.
"Babe, someone's at the door," she said softly.
"Mm…go away. Soft." He nuzzled his face between her breasts, placing a few open mouth kisses there.
Veronica couldn't resist giggling. She loved him like this, sleep-muddled and sweet. Waking up with Logan was a special treat; doing anything with Logan was a special treat, really. She brushed her fingers through his hair and started massaging his scalp, pressing a few kisses to the top of his head.
The doorbell rang again and was followed by insistent knocking.
"If it's reporters, I'm going to kill them. Do you still have that Taser?" Logan mumbled into Veronica's chest before pushing himself up and out of the bed.
She battled against the laughter building inside of her, but managed to keep it to just a smirk as she reached into her nightstand and retrieved Mr. Sparky. Holding it out to Logan as he pulled on a pair of jeans and stomped out of the room.
He reappeared less than a minute later. "Put on some clothes, Sweet Cheeks, we've got company!" he called playfully.
Must not be reporters, then. Veronica rolled out of the bed and made her way toward the bathroom, only to be pounced on by a bouncing Logan.
"Watch it, Tigger," she teased.
"If I'm Tigger then you're Piglet. Ooo, I think I like that. My cute little pink Piglet." He peppered kisses all over her face and neck before bouncing back out of the room.
"Who's here that you're so excited?" Veronica called before she started to brush her teeth, but received no answer.
Veronica quickly dressed in jeans and a button down, pulling her hair up into as tidy of a ponytail as she could. She walked out to their living room and, seeing it empty, headed to the kitchen. As she came around the corner, she saw Logan speaking with a man probably close to the same age as her father. A tall man with dark hair and a tan. He looked distinguished in tailored navy suit pants and a crisp pale blue dress shirt, no tie, unbuttoned at the top. He looked expensive and relaxed.
Logan turned as she padded into the room. "Veronica, I want you to meet my surrogate dad. This is Jake Kane." Veronica felt her mouth pop open and froze in place. Logan pulled her to him and she quickly regained control of her body.
"Mr. Kane. It's…wow, it's a pleasure to meet you. Logan's told me a lot about you." Veronica was working hard to keep from appearing as awestruck as she felt, when she realized that Jake Kane looked more familiar than she'd been expecting.
"Jake is fine, Veronica. It's very nice to finally meet you as well." His voice was warm, but his eyes held a hostility that didn't comport with his tone, and that made him look even more familiar. In fact, now she was certain they had met before.
"I'm sorry, but have we met before?" Veronica blurted out before she could stop herself.
"I can't imagine forgetting having met you," Jake replied easily, but again his eyes didn't match his response.
Veronica was surprised that Logan seemed unaffected. Logan, who was usually a very keen observer of others, seemed oblivious to the disconnect between Jake's words and the way he was looking at Veronica. Or maybe I'm just overreacting? She'd had a pretty rough day yesterday, and had only slept fitfully.
She smiled warily and nodded as Logan led them over to the breakfast table.
"So what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Logan asked with a big smile on his face, the events of the previous day seemingly forgotten.
"Actually…your dad called me."
"Oh, I see. This is one of those visits." Logan hung his head and stood. "I'm going to need some coffee. Veronica?" She nodded her head. "Jake?"
"Please. Just black is fine." Jake responded as Logan headed into the kitchen to get the coffee. "So Veronica, I read your article; it was very interesting."
"Interesting? How's that?" Veronica wasn't sure how to take the comment.
"Yes. You took on some rather dangerous individuals. Did you not think they would retaliate?"
"Excuse me?" Veronica asked as Logan returned with several cups of coffee.
"So let's get this over with. What did dear old dad want you to say to me?" Logan asked, resuming his seat next to Veronica.
"Actually, I'm here to offer my services, so-to-speak. I know about the leaked evidence video, and that you fought to have it destroyed. I can assure you that it is blocked from being viewed on any site using Kane Software's programing. Outside of that, I can't do much, but we control quite a lot."
"You have no idea what that means to us," Logan said, his voice full of emotion.
"Also, if you want to get out of town for a few days, the resort by my Napa Valley house has very private cottages that might make for a good place to lay low until this all dies down," Jake offered and handed Logan a business card. "The residence's manager; she's a close friend."
Logan nodded. "We'll think about it. Thank you."
Jake stood. "I really should be going. Thank you for the coffee, and please do consider coming inland for a few days. I live less than half a mile from Meadowood; we could all have dinner together."
Logan stood and went to shake Jake's hand, which ended up being a one-armed hug. "Thank you. How long will you be up?"
"Oh, at least a few weeks. Promise you'll come up for at least one night before I leave."
Veronica could see Logan nod as they walked to the front door. Once they were out of sight, Veronica felt her pulse slow back down to normal and some of the tension drain from her shoulders. It had to be all the stress.
While Veronica was waiting for Logan to return, her phone chirped with a new email.
To: vmars at parlour . media
From: vvl at lowedown . vvl
Hey VMars,
Your source is having dinner with one of the Sorokin nephews tonight at Mazzat at 8:00 p.m. Be there or be square.
- VVL
The guy was a creeper, but Jeff was right. Vinnie seemed to have access to the information they needed. Logan came back in the room and sat next to Veronica again.
"What's that?" he asked, and then sipped the remains of his coffee.
"Vinnie. He says my source, Catherine…er, Yelena, will be at Mazzat tonight at eight. How do you feel about Lebanese food?"
Logan, Veronica, Jeff and Mac followed their server to a table centrally located in Mazzat's main room. As Logan looked around, he spotted Van Lowe first. Vinnie was sitting at a table in a corner. Unlike the previous day, he'd dressed to blend. Next, Logan saw one of the guys who had been on Veronica's security detail, Samson, with another guy that Logan didn't recognize.
"Wow, Ratner, how much is this costing me?" Logan snarked.
"They volunteered. Didn't like the way this all went down. Well, Van Lowe is charging, but that'll come out of the retainer." Ratner subtly nodded to the two men just a few tables down from their own.
"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Mac said from across the table. "Didn't you say this woman pretended to be someone she wasn't, fed you information, and is a mob daughter?"
"Well, sure, but the information wasn't inaccurate, so much as just incomplete. And whoever did her alias deserves a medal. The background check we ran didn't set off any alarms. I'm guessing it's one of the perks of having those kinds of resources. And mob daughter, shmob-daughter, I could take her." Veronica shadowboxed.
"Of course you could, Bobcat." Logan smirked. She probably could.
"But that isn't the point," Ratner interjected. "We're here to see what, if anything, they do when they see you. We need to start piecing together their endgame. Was this just pure distraction, or do they have a deeper plan?"
Logan looked at Veronica, her eyes were unfocused, and her cheeks had turned a little pinker than normal. "Bobcat, is there anything you want to tell us?"
Veronica's gaze focused back on them. "What? Um…no. Not that I can think of."
Logan continued to watch her closely. He was pretty sure she had just lied, but he couldn't be certain. She'd been acting a bit skittish since the previous day, and even more so since she'd received that email from Van Lowe.
"There she is," Veronica said under her breath, her head tilting toward a table just out of Logan's line of sight.
The server arrived to take drink orders before Logan got a chance to respond. He could feel his agitation rising and had to work very hard to maintain his composure. He wanted to rage and break things but he wasn't an out of control teenager anymore. So instead he glared at the menu until Veronica's hand squeezed his knee.
"You look ready to pummel someone. Relax, this is just a normal night out with Jeff and Mac," she said softly and kissed him on the cheek. Then louder, "I think we should share the Mezza for two, or four if you two are game."
Mac smiled but shook her head. "Vegetarian, remember?"
Logan looked at the vegetarian Mezza option. It looked tasty. "That's fine. Us carnivores can add some side orders?" he asked Veronica and Ratner who both nodded in agreement.
Throughout their meal, Logan tried to surreptitiously steal glances at Catherine/Yelena and her date, but apparently he wasn't as subtle as he thought, because the somewhat-built blonde guy who'd been with Yelena approached their table. Of course he'd waited until Ratner had left to use the bathroom.
"Have you got a problem, man?" The blonde approached Logan, and then turned to look at the rest of the table.
"Oh, hello. I thought I recognized your boy here." He held his hand out to Veronica. "I'm Gorya; my friends call me Gory."
Veronica glared at his outstretched hand. "I think you already know who I am. Your date and I are well acquainted."
"You must be mistaken." Gory smirked and then leered at Veronica. "But you…I'm very familiar with you. I've gotta say you do have nice pom-poms. I'll give you that." He turned to Logan. "And that thing you did about fifteen minutes in," he kissed his fingers, "Magnifique. I really should be thanking you both for the tremendous show." He lowered his voice. "Those cousins of mine that you got were lowlifes, anyway. Papa and Uncle Lev weren't happy; they'd love to know how you found out about them, but I say: 'good riddance'." Gory turned his back and headed to his table.
Logan had had enough. He stood, knocking over his chair, and took a few big steps before he wrapped his arms around Gory's middle. Logan threw him across a vacant table and rushed to meet him on the other side as Gory tried to stand. Logan grounded his weight and shot a right hook into the guy's left cheekbone, sending him to the ground. It took two more solid punches and a turned-over plate of food before Gory stopped trying to get up.
"Echolls, you're gonna die," Gory mumbled over his bloody mouth.
"Yeah, some day. You wanna see your friend apologize?" He turned to find a startled, though he'd swear also aroused, Veronica, standing a few feet away.
"Naw, I'm good. But maybe we should get out of here." Veronica pointed to a couple of bouncer-looking guys approaching from the kitchen.
Samson, the guy Logan didn't recognize, and Ratner blocked the men. Logan pulled out a few hundreds and tossed them on the table; confident that would cover their bill and any damage he might have caused. "Sorry folks, show's over," he called as several flashes went off.
He wrapped his arm around Veronica and led her to the exit.
"God, Logan, what were you thinking? That guy is connected—connected, connected!"
Logan smiled excitedly and wiped a trickle of blood off his lip. "Oh babe, you know me; I'm a lover and a fighter."
A/N: Thank you so much to all of you reading this story! I am in awe of all the follows/subscriptions and favorites. Seriously amazing :) you all are the best. I want to thank Bondopoulos and Marshmallowtasha for all the hard beta work they've been doing! You're both awesome!
I hope you all enjoyed our latest additions. I've been just dying to add Vinnie to the mix and was really excited when I realized he fit here. In case you were wondering Meadowood and Mazzat are real places. Also Vinnie's email sign off should have a heart but FF doesn't want to let me put it there if you want to see the email formatted properly hop over to AO3