Page 143 of Where We Stay

She crosses the room and takes a seat at the bar, so focused on me that she doesn’t notice Logan in the shadowed corner behind her.

Courtney clears her throat. “Blair, right?”

I set the cloth down and brace my hands against the bar. “Courtney.”

“I hear you’ve been spending a lot of time with Aspen,” she says, lifting one perfectly shaped brow.

There’s nothing technically wrong with the question, but something about the way she asks it puts my back up.

“I’m her teacher, and Dean and I are together,” I say, straightening slightly. “So yes, I see her quite a bit.”

“I heard she really likes you.”

“She’s a great kid.”

Courtney looks down at her nails, acting as though meeting me doesn’t affect her at all. “She gets attached easily.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

Her gaze lifts to mine. “I’m her mother.”

I tell myself to calm the fuck down. I’m not about to get into a fight with Aspen’s mother and create more problems for Dean.

“I know exactly who you are,” I say evenly.

Courtney’s lips tighten. “Then you should understand why I think we need to be careful about confusing her. You’re Dean’s girlfriend. You’re not—”

“Finish that sentence.”

Logan’s voice cuts through the room.

Courtney turns to find him standing behind her, his expression harder than I’ve ever seen it.

“This has nothing to do with you, Logan,” she says.

“The fuck it doesn’t.”

Since meeting him, I’ve never seen Logan show this much anger toward anyone.

“You don’t get to walk in here after three years and start marking your fucking territory,” he says.

“Logan—” Courtney tries to interrupt.

“No.” He steps closer to the bar. “You want to talk about confusing Aspen? How about disappearing from her life and rolling back into town when your bank account runs dry?”

I go completely still.

Courtney’s face drains of color. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Logan lets out a humorless laugh. “I know you asked Dad for thirty grand.”

Thirty fucking grand?

Does Dean know about this?

Judging by the conversation we had last night, I’m guessing he doesn’t.

Fuck.