Sweet Little Lies

Chapter One Hundred and Six

"Excuse me?" Ivy set down the blowdryer and looked at Harry through the mirror, "Can you repeat that? I'm sure I must have heard that wrong with all the noise before."

Harry's lips pressed into a thin line. Then, he repeated, "I'm meeting your brother and we're going to Port City to track down your father."

Ivy processed the words, getting angrier by the second. She tightened the knot on her robe and slowly turned around to look at her idiotic husband directly. Crossing her arms, she asked, "And why didn't my dear brother - who, by the way, just got out of the hospital yesterday from being in a coma for three days - ask me to go hunt down our deranged father? Why do you need to be the one to go?"

"He said he needed someone to help run a raid." Harry said patiently.

At least he was smart enough to know this was going to piss her off.

"Harry, we've been over this. You are still recovering from being poisoned and this is too dangerous."

"We're all low on men after what happened down in the tunnels and Finn explained why it needs to happen today-"

"I don't give a fuck what my brother has to say right now!" She said loudly, "I'll be having words with him later about all this shit too. I haven't even been able to see him since he got out, for fuck's sake."

Harry closed the gap between them, placing his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them. "He needs help, Ivy, and I'm going to give it to him."

"If he needs help, then I can-"

"Absolutely not." He refused immediately, "I know you like to pretend that I'm the one recovering from an injury, but you are also healing from physical trauma. You just had brain surgery and are in no condition to go searching for your psychotic father."

"And you are?"

"Yes." He said sternly, "Whether you like it or not. Yes. I have been fully cleared by the doctors and was barely poisoned. My body is healed. Accept that."

Ivy did not like that tone at all and made it very clear to him with the look that crossed her face. "You're always doing this bullshit." She said to him angrily, then walked out of the bathroom. Her hair was mostly dry at this point, so she would just put it up instead of wasting time to style it before her meetings today.

"What bullshit?" Harry followed her out.

She walked into their walk-in closet and flicked the light on. "You act like you're made of steel or something. You never give yourself enough time to heal and it's going to get you killed one of these days."

"Ivy," he sighed, which only pissed her off more.

"I've watched you do it over and over." She spat, pulling out clothes and throwing them onto a plush armchair in the corner. "You were stabbed in the middle of a fight and nearly bled to death, and the next fucking day you were at work, showing everyone you aren't weak. Newsflash, Harry, no one in this city thinks you're weak. You have nothing to prove to anyone!"

Harry stood back, crossed arms and a stubborn look on his face. "You know that's not true, Ivy. Optics are everything for people like us. We don't get to rest. You know that better than anyone."

"So, what?" She throws her arms up in frustration, "We walk around not at our best until someone finally does get the better of us? Because that's what's going to happen, Harry."

She threw off her robe and threw it onto the ground. Turning her back on him, she found the panties and bra she wanted to wear.

"I'm going to be fine."