Breaking Bedlam (Beautiful Bedlam Book 2) Read online

  The mansion itself was white and built up of tall white pillars and balconies, surrounded by several acres of land. There was a great big marbled white water fountain situated at the entrance of the home and as they grew closer, Sienna noticed there were at least a dozen artistic marble Greek statues that stood brazenly on the east wing of the property.

  “Well, the house has had a bit of work over the years.” Logan replied. He parked the car near the fountain and Sienna anxiously got out of the car. What was even stranger was that Logan then handed his car keys over to what looked like a valet boy who then went to park the car.

  “Don’t be scared. They’re going to love you. I just know it.” He put his arm around her reassuringly as they walked up the steps and entered the white palace. It always astonished her how rich people always left their front doors unlocked. A petite middle-aged woman clothed in a simple black knee length dress and a white apron opened the door in silence and closed the door behind them and quickly rushed out of sight. Maids. They had maids. Well, of course they did. The ‘house’ was even larger on the inside with high ceilings, extravagant chandeliers and checked black and white tiles on the floor. There were beautiful lavish blue vases filled with fresh white carnations placed on small exquisite white tables on both sides of the foyer. As they moved forward further in to the house, she noticed a set of long extending staircase also white in color leading up to the second floor.

  “You must be Sienna. I can hardly believe it; look at how much you’ve grown. The last time I saw you, you were three feet tall.” Sienna turned around to see a beautiful tall blond woman dressed in a long navy dress with pearls around her neck and a white Colgate smile. She had to have been at least forty although she could have easily passed for thirty-five at most.

  “Mrs. Jackson, it’s been so long. You look exactly the same.”

  “Haha now I know why you’re so smitten. She’s an even greater charmer than you are LJ. Please call me Grace, Mrs. Jackson was my mother-in-law.” Grace chuckled then grimaced over the last few words.

  “May grandma rest in peace.” Logan said shortly afterwards. His mother simply rolled her eyes upwards. Okay. And I thought I had mommy issues.

  “Dinner will be served in thirty minutes. Logan, why don’t you show Sienna around the house? Your father’s still stuck in the office, he’ll probably be late as usual.”

  “Sure.” He replied. Logan led her around the mansion showing her the dining room, the grand ballroom, the conservatory, the wine cellar, the many bathrooms, the gym room, the spa room, the two panic rooms situated in each wing of the estate and finally the five large bedrooms. Sienna was exhausted by the time they had got to Logan’s bedroom.

  “Now I know what keeps you so in shape.” She joked.

  “Yeah this has absolutely nothing to do with the hours of football practice I have to endure every week.” He smirked as he lifted his shirt high enough to show off his chiseled muscled abdomen. She couldn’t help but smile and turn her head away as she opened the door to his bedroom. It was not at all what she had expected. The walls of his bedroom were grey in color and covered with artistic frames. The white ceilings were also very high like in the rest of the house with an embellished glass chandelier hanging from the center of the room. He had a black grand king-sized bed immaculately made, a plump grey rug, a black lampstand, a leather ottoman and sleek black drawers and wardrobes. Everything was sleek, modern and immaculate.

  “Not what you were expecting?” he asked with a raised brow.

  “Where are all dirty socks, magazines and weight plates? Its almost as if there’s an entire side of you that I haven’t seen before.” She replied as she walked towards the wall size window at the end of the room. He had the most beautiful view of Haven Falls. She could see the green hedges, flowerbeds and orchards all dusted white with snow, if she looked further she could see dozens of bare leafed crabapple trees aligned against the large frozen pond.

  “I must be the last girl in Haven Falls to have seen your bedroom.” She stated jokily as she turned around to face him. He stood inches away from her. Her heart rate shot up as it usually did whenever he stood so close to her.

  “Mm, no. More like you’re the first.” He replied as he lowered his lips to kiss her. She leaned in close and walked right past him and sat on his bed. She picked up the novel neatly placed on the bedside cabinet and flipped it over to the cover.

  “Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.” She read aloud and looked up at the handsome stranger she had known all her life. His eyes widened as if he had forgotten all about it and quickly snatched the book away from her and threw it to the other side of the room.

  “That Cathy is such a selfish bitch.” He said with a wicked smile.

  “Heathcliff isn’t exactly no charmer himself.” she retorted and returned his smile.

  “What am I going to find next? Star Trek fandom?” she teased and looked around the room curiously. His eyes widened at that and he pulled her hands and got her off the bed and quickly tried to get her out of the room whilst she burst out laughing.

  “I knew it! I knew you were still a die-hard trekkie! You teased me for years about my weird crush on Captain Kirk!” she gasped remembering all those years in middle school he had teased her about her love for nerdy science fiction. All the girls at the time were obsessed with Justin Bieber, Hannah Montana, Justin Timberlake, Robert Pattinson, etc. but not Sienna. She had always been different and older and mature earlier than she should have been. She was an old soul, introverted, witty, and quirky and sometimes batshit crazy but he loved her for exactly all of those traits that made her such an easy target to kids in school. She was no weakling thing, oh contraire, God have mercy on the poor fool who challenged her. He couldn’t help but smile at the memory of when she got kicked out of the debate club in the seventh grade for being too aggressive and politically incorrect when no one listened to her ideas about the school cafeteria. They were standing by the doorway. Sienna suddenly realized that their bodies were almost entwined, their limbs were entangled and bodies were pressed against each other. Their foreheads touched. She could feel his warm breath against her cheek and just for a moment Sienna forgot to breathe. It was almost as if they were drawn to each other like magnets, neither of them had any say in the matter. Somehow their bodies constantly gravitated toward each other. Her heart thumped rapidly in her chest as she anticipated his soft kiss.

  “This is why you don’t bring girls here. You’re afraid they’ll find out what a secret nerd you are.” She teased, her breath heavy with longing.

  “Yeah all my street cred will get shot to hell if I suddenly showed everybody my Starfleet uniform.” He whispered in her ear, his tone clearly joking and amused.

  “I’m warning you now, your popularity is going to take a beating once everybody sees us arm in arm together on Monday. Bethany’s going to be furious.” She said wearily not because she was afraid of the inevitable questions, taunts and ridicule but because she knew deep down despite how confident and self-assured he appeared on the outside, on the inside he was a tad insecure and genuinely cared about what other people thought of him. She didn’t want to be the reason for his unhappiness.

  “I don’t care what anybody thinks. I honestly don’t. Besides, they’ll get over it. Its no big deal, we’ve been friends since we were four years old, this was bound to happen eventually. After what happened at the dance, I’m sure people are already expecting it.” He held her gentle face tenderly in his hands and kissed her long and slowly against the door as if his life depended on it.

  “Ahem,” someone coughed nearby causing the two lovebirds to jump apart. Well, Sienna to jump apart and look abashed and red-faced. Logan merely stood there with mischief in his twinkling dark eyes and a finger lightly grazing his swollen pink lips. “Dinner will be served a little late tonight, Mr. Jackson. There was some slight mishap in the kitchen.” A butler replied in perfect English. Sienna couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed as the two e
xchanged words.

  “Mother won’t be happy about that. Lawson meet Sienna. Sienna, this is Lawson, the Alfred to my dark knight. I don’t know if you remember him.”

  “I do remember you.” Sienna gasped remembering the tall handsome dark-skinned man always standing in the background and always slipping them hidden treats from the kitchen.

  “How do you do, miss?” he smiled and bowed his head ever so slightly. This is so odd. ‘I wonder if Kate felt like this when she visited Buckingham Palace for the first time?’ she thought distractedly. Sienna suddenly felt overwhelmed and out of her depth.

  “Er…well thank you.” She gulped.

  “This man practically raised me. I owe a lot to him.” Logan smiled at him fondly.

  “He raised you? I was the one who chased you around and changed your diapers! And let me tell you something you spewed out all the colors of the rainbow. You darn near gave me a heart attack!” a strong southern accent rang out from a large blond woman who appeared to be in her early fifties.

  “Sienna, this is Molly she was my nanny. But we couldn’t get rid of her that easy somehow she learnt to pick the locks or something so now she’s the head of maintenance and staff in the mansion.” Logan explained, his tone jesting and warm. When she came closer Sienna could see that she had big blue eyes, big lips, big blond hair. Everything about Molly was large; she had a huge personality, a huge heart and big beaming smile.

  “Well, aren’t you the prettiest doll I’ve ever seen?” she twanged as she took in Sienna glossy silken dark locks, bright green eyes and long slender legs that didn’t seem to ever end. “You’re as thin as a rake though. Don’t you eat girl?” she joked.

  “Oh trust me, she eats.” Logan replied wide-eyed. He had seen her go through a box of pizza like ravaged raccoon rummaging through a dumpster.

  “Shut up!” she laughed and lightly hit him on the arm.

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Sienna said and tucked her hair behind her ear suddenly feeling nervous under their scrutiny.

  “Its nice to meet you too sugar. Logan’s never had a girl over before for dinner. I didn’t even know you two were so serious?” she asked with a hand on her hip and a worried look on her face.

  She could see from his lovesick expression that he was already completely besotted with this girl. The way his eyes fell on her as she spoke, the way his fingers lingered near hers itching to touch her and she knew for sure Logan was in love with her was the way he craved her attention when her glance turned away from him. Molly had raised this boy. She had seen him at his afterschool parties with girls laughing and joking and basically being a teenager. She had even seen the rough side of Logan, the side where barely anyone sees. She had seen him in his violent fits of rage; she had comforted him when he had caught his father sleeping with one of the maids. She had scolded him as he ‘self-medicated’ in his sickness. She had seen him at his worst, but what worried her more was the way he looked at this girl. Like any mother, Molly felt a sharp stabbing sense of fear. She remembered how sweet first love was and how bitter and sour it could make a person after experiencing first heartbreak. After all the pain that Logan had gone through in his short life she hoped this Sienna would treat him well.

  “What’s this? Everybody’s getting together and somebody forgot to invite me?” yet another voice called out from across the landing. This voice however was male and distinctively familiar.

  “Jake!” Logan called out and gripped his older brother in a firm bear hug almost lifting him off the floor.

  “Shit, you’re getting big bro. Makes me want to renew my gym membership.” Jake laughed as he stared at his baby brother’s bulging biceps. Jake wasn’t exactly a twig, he fell just short of six feet and had inherited his mom’s golden hair and baby blue eyes. The brothers in fact looked very little alike except for when they smiled. They both shared dazzling dimpled smiles and pearl white teeth.

  “What are you doing here?” Logan asked confused. Jake was studying law at grad school and had an apartment in New York. He only ever visited during the holidays so visits like this were short and rare.

  “What? I can’t come home and check in on my baby bro? I’m only here for a couple of days and besides somebody’s got to keep you grounded what with all the babes flocking to you in Hawaii. Yeah I heard all about that from-“ he instantly stopped talking as he saw the wide eyed slightly panicked expressions on everyone’s faces.

  “Sienna! I didn’t even see you standing there! Look at you. If I had known you would turn in to such a stunner I’d have stuck around in Haven Falls a lot longer.” He joked and hugged her. “Easy there Casanova.” She joked back. What babes in Hawaii? Jake was actually really shy in comparison to Logan and only ever flirted with women he knew were off-limits. Sienna was like a kid sister to him.

  “When mom told me you had a girl over for dinner I knew it would be Sienna. I called this years ago!” he announced happily.

  “Alright let me give you the grand tour of the gardens.” Logan said and put his hand gently on the small of her back trying to get her away from his blabbermouth brother and try to salvage his relationship with her as fast as he could.

  “So…Hawaii?” she asked as they walked down the long dwindling white staircase. “Trust me, it sounds a lot worse than it actually is.” He replied smoothly leaving it at that and turned his face to look at her. Logan had an excellent poker face. It was nearly impossible at times to tell whether he was lying or not. He had somehow perfected the art of dismissing all of his emotions from his face and looking beautifully innocent at the same time. Sienna didn’t know why she was surprised. Of course girls would flirt with him especially on a beach when he most probably had his shirt off. She looked at his chiseled cheekbones and jaw, his tall frame and broad shoulders and sighed softly. This came with the territory of dating someone who was so ridiculously attractive.

  “I believe you.” She replied smiling at him and silently praying he was telling the truth. They wondered out through the back gates and walked on fresh snowy fields talking about what seemed like simple things to some people but pivotal things to them. His ‘backyard’ if you could even call it that consisted of acres and acres of land that stretched on for miles covered in heavenly snow looking very much like the perfect winter wonderland or more specifically a Japanese garden in the winter overlooking the lake.

  “So…Harvard? Pre-Law? Any thoughts?”

  “Ah Sienna please don’t start again.”

  “I just don’t get it. Why Harvard? Why do you have to become a lawyer? Your entire family is made up of lawyers. Your dad, your mom, your brother. Heck I’m willing to bet Lawson’s a damn lawyer!”

  “He didn’t pass the bar exam.” Logan replied instantly and then smiled at the how ridiculous he and his family must appear to her.

  “Okay, forget your parents, forget me, and forget everyone else. If you could do anything you wanted in life, what would you do?” she asked somberly.

  “What do you want to do Logan?” she asked softly, her melodious voice was like music to his ears. No one ever asked him that. Instead people told him. His teachers waved Harvard in his face, his father boasted to his employees about his youngest being the best and brightest and following his ancestor’s traditions. It was the Jackson way or no way. And he was tired of it. It was time to break tradition, it was time to break the mold and be his own person.

  “I want to act. Like really act. I want to star in movies. I want to be on set. I want to go to premieres and win awards and make lots of money. I want to have thousands of adoring fans. I want people to remember my name after I die and most of all I enjoy acting. Its fun and I want to earn money by doing what I love most in the world. That’s the honest truth.” He answered frankly as he stared straight ahead at the fading sun. He felt Sienna’s head on his shoulder.

  “I know its stupid. It’s just a fantasy. I’m sure everybody dreams of being rich and famous. It’s time to get real and face reality. The reality
is that not everybody deserves to get their dream come true.” He sighed shocking himself. He had never been so frank and open with anyone before.

  “Everybody deserves a dream come true, especially you. You just don’t know it. I know it sounds corny and clichéd but believe in yourself, I do.” She whispered.

  “Talk to your dad.” She shivered and snuggled closer to Logan as a soft winter breeze blew against them urging them to go inside. But they were far too content in each other’s private company to return to the mansion just yet.

  “What about you, Oprah? What do you want to do? And if you say medicine one more time I’m literally going to throw you in to the damn pond, and let me tell you first hand that its freezing.” He wrapped his arms around her and placed his chin on top of her lovely head, embracing her lovingly.

  “I don’t know what I want. At least you have a dream. What kind of a person doesn’t have a dream? There was the time I wanted to be a writer, then a detective, then a lawyer, then a teacher, then an artist, a musician, and it goes on. Its because I’m so lost that I so easily went along with my parents’ wishes for me to become a doctor. The only time I’m swayed by the idea is when I watch Grey’s Anatomy, but real life’s not like that.” She sighed and felt him chuckle above her head. “Are you laughing?” she asked outraged.

  “No.” he replied unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

  “You are laughing!” she gasped and hit his arm with all her force. He barely acknowledged the hit and continued to laugh.

  “Okay, I’m sorry. I’m just laughing because your problem is that you have too many choices. You’re too good at a lot of things. You’re spoilt for choice. You’re great with numbers, you’re great writer, and you’re a genius at art, music and science. I’m laughing because I don’t see how this is a problem. Its okay if you haven’t got it all figured out now.”