“I forgot how loud these things get,” he admitted after a moment.
Logan leaned back slightly in the driver’s seat, one arm resting across the wheel.
“Then we do a lap,” he said simply. “Say hi. Eat something. Leave before your mom starts assigning tasks.”
Tommy huffed a small laugh.
“My mom will hunt me down.”
“Then I’ll distract her.”
Logan said it like it was obvious. Like stepping between Tommy and a room full of people was the easiest job in the world.
“You just tell me when you need air.”
Something in Tommy’s chest loosened at that.
Logan leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead.
Warm. Familiar.
Grounding.
Tommy closed his eyes for half a second before looking back at the house.
Then something else occurred to him.
He turned in the seat.
“How areyoudoing?” he asked.
Logan’s brow lifted slightly.
“I mean,” Tommy said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck, “I didn’t even ask. About tonight. About… him.”
The wordChasestuck somewhere behind his teeth.
Logan didn’t answer right away.
His expression stayed neutral , the same calm, steady look he’d worn in the hotel room while chaos unfolded around him.
“I’m fine,” Logan said finally.
Tommy studied him, trying to read the layers.
“You sure?” he asked.
Logan’s gaze flicked toward the house, then back to Tommy.
“I thought I’d be jealous,” he admitted.
Tommy’s stomach tightened slightly.
“But I wasn’t.”
Tommy waited.
Logan exhaled slowly, searching for the right way to say it.
