Bad Boys of Red Hook [2] You're the One by Robin Kaye Page B

my picture on the back of a milk carton, if that’s what you’re asking.” And he had looked. At least Storm and Slater knew who the hell they were. But then that knowledge came with its own problems. “Let me spell it out for you. My parents dumped me. I was a foundling. I was a three-year-old kid no one wanted.”
    “Didn’t you look for them? I mean, it’s not as if Blaise is a common name.”
    “No one knew my name. My name and birth date were given to me by my case manager. I don’t even know how she came up with them.”
    Pity clouded Payton’s eyes. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
    “Because I knew if I had, you’d look at me the way you are now. I’m fine. Where I came from doesn’t make me the man I am. I made myself who I am. Lord knows, Pop helped, but when it comes right down to it, I decided who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, and I made it happen. I went to Stanford on a full scholarship. I took a bus to California and never looked back.”
    “You lied to me and everyone we know.” Her voice rose like an air-raid siren.
    “I never lied to you. I don’t lie.”
    “You might not have out-and-out lied, but you weren’t honest with me. What else don’t I know about you?”
    “Nothing important.”
    “Nothing important? My God, Logan, I don’t even know who you are. How is that not important? I’m marrying a stranger. How could I have lived with you for two years and not have known?”
    “There wasn’t anything to know. You assumed I grew up on Park Avenue. I didn’t. I grew up in Brooklyn, living over a bar. It’s not that big a deal.”
    “Not a big deal? You know everything about me. You know my parents—”
    “And you met Pop. He’s the closest thing to a father I have. You know about Storm and Slater.”
    “I never knew about Nicki.”
    “That makes two of us. I didn’t know Nicki existed until Storm came to take care of Pop after his heart attack.”
    Logan looked at his watch. He didn’t think this was a good time to get into the whole Nicki thing.
    “Our whole relationship has been nothing but an illusion.”
    “If it’s an illusion, it’s the way you wanted it. You only saw what you wanted to see.”
    “No, I only saw what you showed me. What you allowed me to see. You had me fooled until I walked in the door. You’re all smoke and mirrors.”
    “You seemed happy enough with it until now.”
    She stood and walked to him, staring at his face as if she’d never seen him before. “What were you like when you were a boy?”
    “I was always in trouble.” He tried to smile, but it didn’t work. He wasn’t proud of what he’d been. “I liked to blow things up and by all accounts, I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest member of the Latin Kings, a gang around here. I got caught with a few pipe bombs and was handed over to Pop the next day.”
    “You what?” All the color drained from her face and she sat back down.
    He shrugged. “I liked to see things blow up. It was something to do. Then Pop took me in. He brought me home, introduced me to Storm, and told me exactly what I had to do to stay.”
    Logan couldn’t look at her. Hell, maybe he was ashamed after all, but not of Pop, not of where he came from, but of who he was. “Pop was a real hard-ass ex-cop back then. Less than a week after I came here, I hooked up with my gang and took off. I wasn’t counting on Pop coming after me. I didn’t think anyone cared until Pop found me. The next day he took me to a prison. He dragged me by the collar through a cellblock and showed me what I had to look forward to. Then he took me to the high school and showed me the chem lab. He said the choice was mine. I chose school and the rest is history. Pop saved my life.”
    “You have a record?”
    “Had. It’s been sealed and from what I hear, after Slater hacked into the NYPD’s computer system, maybe deleted. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”
    “It doesn’t matter?” She looked