Page 75 of Consuming Logan

She approached, but he pulled back. His mother halted, but the pain in her eyes grabbed ahold of him and refused to let go.

“You are my firstborn son, Logan.” His mother reached for him. “That’s what matters.”

“No,” he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the pain. “You screwed me up with your crap.”

The last part came with a loud rush of emotion. He was yelling now. “My responsibility, the Masters legacy was on my shoulders. I’m the little brother to Tyson O’Connor, the billionaire. He funded my research,” Logan bellowed.

“That’s not true,” his mother protested. “I know how it feels to be the afterthought. My father poured all his hopes and dreams into Marianne. She even dated your father first. There was nothing expected of me. I did it to make you strong.” So, this was about his aunt.

Robert Lee scoffed. “Damn it, woman. I married you. I loved you. Not Marianne. Not Susan, but you.”

Logan didn’t feel strong. He rounded on his father. “Did you all have a laugh at my gullibility? Big, rich brothers had to rescue the pathetic little brother.”

“Unlike you, Tyson and Maximus don’t see everything as a competition to be won or lost.”

“So, they are better than me?”

Robert Lee shook his head in disgust. “Instead of getting in my face about birth order, did you look your own flesh and blood in the eye and thank him for saving your crumbling life?”

“Saving,” he railed. “He stole my life.”

“You came here to pick a fight you can’t win, Logan. I love you and your brothers.” Robert Lee pointed to Maribelle. “Love has the capacity to grow, to encompass everything and everyone we care for Logan. It’s something that your mother could never accept. That I can love my children, all of them, and her, without neglecting any of you. I’m sorry that I didn’t protect you from our poison, Logan. But, you’re a man now. Make better choices than I did.”

“Why should I listen to you?” Logan snapped.

“Because you are not behaving like the man, I raised you to be. You have a woman at home that’s worrying herself to death trying to keep you off a ledge or rehab. Instead of being the man she deserves, you’re tearing apart your family. For what? Defending your imaginary rights to the mantle of first to exit the birth canal. Unscramble your brain before you lose the most important person in your life, son.”

“I’m not that drunk,” Logan defended.

Tears filled his father’s eyes. “No, you’re a coward. What did you miss out on because your brothers exist? If anything, you and Darwin had a childhood with both parents, every day.”

“Robert,” Maribelle hissed.

“You don’t get a say anymore, Maribelle. Our entire marriage, I’ve kept my sons apart to make you happy. You knew what it was doing to me, yet you persisted in your threats to take Logan and Darwin away. Well, they are men now. Look what we’ve created.”

“Logan and Darwin are just as accomplished as Tyson and Maximus,” she defended.

Robert Lee smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Yet,” he pointed at Logan. “This one feels like he’s lost something. How’s that for ironic?”

Maribelle threw her arms around Logan, a protective stance he knew. “There’s no need to be cruel. We’re not ungrateful.”

Robert Lee scoffed. “Aren’t you? Ungrateful is punishing your husband for loving his children. How could I have loved Tyson and Max, without loving the children I had with you? Ungrateful is refusing to thank the man who shed his blood to save your life.”

His father held him in a critical stare, disgust carving new lines in his face. “Your brother gave you a second chance. But you’re too stubborn, self-absorbed, or both, to accept the blessings of love that life has given you.”

“Don’t tell who I should—,”

Yes, Tyson’s blood had saved him, but Logan, hadn’t he lost something? His place in this family was an illusion. His belief that he’d built his career from the ground floor.

His father cut him off. “I’ll say it once more, get out. Don’t come back here. Either of you.”

“Robert,” Maribelle sobbed, “he’s your son. Your family.”

“They are all my children.” His father rose and pushed past them both. He never looked back. The weight of Robert Lee turning his back on them formed a sucking chest wound, the hole in his heart growing. Soft sobs came from the trembling woman beside him.

Just then Marianne stepped out of the house and pulled Maribelle into her arms.