Doctor's Orders

38. Relapse

"How can you be so stupid?" The woman said. Actually it sounded more like a hiss. "What can you possibly see in her?" 

Was that Logan?! How dare she show up at Harry's place again! But wait. The remnants of my fear led me to a precarious place. What if they hadn't really broken up, and he was trying to convince her that he wasn't cheating on her? I stood motionless, listening to try to understand exactly what was going on.

"I see about a thousand things in her that I never saw in you," he began. Yes! I did a mental fist pump. "I could list them all, Logan, but what difference does it make? We're through; I thought I made that clear."

I let my head fall against the wall with a muted thud, scolding myself for doubting Harry. Of course he wasn't cheating again. He didn't know I was awake, as far as I could tell, so whatever they were saying to each other, they weren't making an effort to be secretive about it. I decided to listen a little more before making my presence known.   

"Well, you clearly don't know what you want!" She spat. "It's no wonder I always had to make decisions for you." 

Oh, no she did not  just say that to Harry. Who the hell did she think she was?

"You did not have to make decisions for me, Logan. I'm a grown man." His voice was tense, irritated.

"You were just a little boy when I met you, and you're still a little boy now. I'm telling you we can work this out. You just have to trust me."

Her demeaning tone made me a little sick to my stomach. I'd had enough, so I stepped out into the living room, cleared my throat and said, "I happen to know for a fact that you and Harry can't work it out." I strode towards Harry, who was looking at me with alarm, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe he thought I would jump to the wrong conclusion, seeing Logan at his door. I continued, not swayed by the look on his face. "The reason is simple. You have no respect for him."

She was standing with one foot in the door way and one in the hall, as if she tried to come in but Harry had stopped her. An annoyed huff fell from her mouth. "You can't be serious. I've loved him for years, and you've been here for what, a week?"

"Your idea of love is ridiculous, then," I retorted. "Thinking you can walk away without an explanation and then come back a year and a half later, thinking it will all be the same?!"

"It was the same when I came back, until you fucked it all up," she snarled. "Harry and I would have been perfectly fine, just like we always were." 

I glanced at Harry to see how he was responding to all of this. His face was wrinkled into an angry frown, but I sensed that he was happy to let me have a few more words with her.

"So it's fine to treat him like dirt?" I scoffed at her.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped, her nostrils flaring.

"I think I do," I said, standing taller. Harry gently gripped my hand and Logan threw a disgusted look between us. "Since you've been here, I've heard you call him stupid and a little boy, and you've told him that he can't make his own decisions. What kind of relationship is that?"

She didn't try to answer my question. She only sighed dramatically and said, "Why don't you go back to your playpen?" She looked at Harry seductively and then back to me, thinking she might intimidate me with her next statement. "The sex was exceptionally hot after I came back, wasn't it, Babe?"

"Logan!" Harry shouted. I looked at him, feeling just a little uncertain. He wrapped his arm around my waist and tenderly spoke. "She's lying. I told you nothing happened except that we kissed."

"Grrhh!" An enraged scream filtered through her gritted teeth.

I took over again, saying, "Not only are you rude and presumptuous, but you obviously have never learned to take no for an answer," I said. 

"Harry," she snapped. "Are you really going to let her talk to me that way? After all we've been through?" 

Harry looked down at me with a very warm and engaging smile and placed a wet kiss to my forehead. Then he looked back at Logan. "Yes, Logan, I am going to let her talk to you that way. Because she's absolutely right."

Logan stood there, not comprehending that Harry had just shut her down. Her jaw hung open as she looked back and forth between us. Harry sealed the deal by telling her, "Now, if you don't leave, I'm going to call the cops." 

She stepped back, indignant at the fact that she had clearly lost. Harry closed the door slowly and dramatically. The last thing we heard her say was, "You'll regret this." 

He bolted the locks and turned to me. "I don't think I will," he said. He was trying hard to hold back a smile, but he failed and we both exploded with laughter. I wouldn't doubt that Logan heard us while she was waiting for the elevator.

Harry turned me to face him as we calmed down. He looked down tenderly and sifted his fingers through strands of my hair. "I'm so sorry about that. You believe me about not sleeping with her again, right? God, I'm so sorry she said that."

"Don't be sorry," I replied with a grateful smile. "It was her bad, not yours. I believe you, and what just happened was more than enough to prove that I can trust you." I changed my expression to a teasing grin and said, "Unless you knew I was awake this whole time, and it was just a set up to get me to believe that you hate Logan, when in reality, you're married with three children, living in a mansion out in the burbs."

An incredulous look appeared on his face. "As if I would even have the time to lead a double life," he chuckled. "Haven't you noticed I practically live at the hospital?" 

"I know," I said softly. "You just proved to me that I don't have to be afraid anymore."

"Good," he whispered. The kiss he gave me was warm and tender, but at the same time passionate. He pulled back and said, "Wanna know a secret?" 

"What?" 

"It was really hot to see you tell her off."

"Harry," I whined playfully. 

"You proved something to me, too," he informed me.

"What's that?" 

"You proved to me that I made the right choice." Then his lips were on mine again, stealing my breath, causing my heart to race, and awakening desire once more. Taking my face gently in his hands, he inched back and said, "I love you."

I smiled, closing my eyes and letting the words sink in. Finally I said, "I love you, too." 

He planted a sweet kiss to my forehead. I closed my eyes and sighed heavily, feeling perfectly content. The raw emotions from the past days disappeared as Harry cherished me, kissing down the side of my face in a very gradual and gentle way. But when he reached my lips, we both shifted into high gear. His arms grasped me intensely while my arms crawled up around his neck. A hungry passion emanated from Harry, lighting a spark in me that soon became a roaring blaze. Our kisses became powerful and careless, much the way they had in the back seat of Harry's car. 

"Ellie," he panted, his mouth next to my ear. 

"Yes?" 

His next words made me feel weak. "I want you, Ellie," he murmured into my ear, causing the hair on my body to stand at attention. "Let me make love to you."

* * * * *

The next chapter contains a "bonus" scene from this chapter; in other words, a slightly more explicit chapter than I might include in the main body of the book. I've decided to create bonus chapters for all these types of scenes, so that you readers will have a choice to just skip the more intimate stuff. If it bothers you, you can skip the entire bonus chapter and not miss out on the story. Sound good?