Chapter 19
Logan
I was getting more usedto waking up with someone in my arms when my alarm went off at some ungodly hour of the morning when I had to be at work.
Elise was a warm bundle, curled up against me under the blankets, sleeping soundly even after I'd shut off the annoying sound from my phone.
I was learning that when she felt safe and comfortable, she could sleep through just about any sound, but once the source of her comfort was taken away, she would stir a bit to see what was going on.
Case in point, when I shifted in the bed and moved to get up, she cracked open an eyelid, yawning into her pillow. "Time is it?" she mumbled, only half making sense.
"About four," I said, reaching down to brush a hand over her head. "Go back to sleep."
"Not the boss of me," she muttered.
"Okay, Elise. You're right. I'm not the boss of you. If you want to be awake at four in the morning for no reason at all, I can't stop you."
She scrunched her nose up, but didn't move, yawning again. "Have a good day."
That made me smile, and it was fucking incredible how just hearing someone wishing you well before you dragged your tired body into work at ass o'clock could set the tone for the day.
Elise didn't always sleep over. Sometimes we were at her place, and sometimes we slept separately.
I still worked stupid hours, and she had her own work to do, and sometimes it was just easier to stay in our own beds, rather than try to wrangle our schedules together.
I usually felt bad about having to wake her when I needed to go in early, but she insisted she didn't mind and went right back to sleep as soon as I was gone, so I didn't argue with her about it too much. It was like having her at my apartment was a burden and knowing she would be there when I got home at the end of my shift made time pass faster.
People at work were already commenting that they could see the change in my mood, and I let them talk, not really caring if they noticed or not. It wasn't any of their business, as far as I was concerned.
Elise never said I was nicer or more pleasant to be around, but she stayed, so that was all I needed to know. We still bickered all the time, turning something as simple as a trip to the store into a full-scale argument about what kinds of chips were better, but it was never anything truly hurtful.
She had this way of disarming me by saying something kind when I was lashing out, and it always brought me up short. I ended up apologizing, and we moved on. It was working nicely.
Six weeks had passed, since the first time we'd slept together in Greece, and it felt like more time and less all at once.
We were still learning about each other, still figuring things out, but that was half the fun of being in a relationship. The things I learned just made me like her more, and clearly the things she was learning about hadn't turned her off.
I was counting that as a win.
At the end of my shift later that afternoon, I brought my exhausted self back to the apartment. Elise had told me she had pictures to edit, but I was hoping she'd still be there and I could coax her into a nap with me, maybe followed by some late afternoon sex.
I wasn't expecting Jasmine to be standing at the door when I got there, wearing an annoyed expression while Elise blocked the door to my apartment with her body and crossed arms.
"And I'm saying I don't know you, and I'm not letting you into Logan's apartment just on your word that you have his permission," Elise was saying. "Because I feel like he would have mentioned that to me."
Jasmine tossed her hair, looking even more sour. "For the last time, I was hisfiance," she said. "I would come and go all the time. Hestolesomething from me, and I want it back! I have every right to go in there and search for it. I don't know who you think you are--"
"Well, that's none of your business," Elise said cheerfully. "And I think you're confused about your rights here. You're hisex-fiance, he doesn't like you, and that doesn't give you any power to go rummaging through his stuff. So you're going to have to take it up with him, sorry."
Jasmine stomped her foot and made a noise of frustration, so I stepped up to the door and cleared my throat. "Jas," I said, giving her a neutral look.
"Logan!" Her eyes were wide, and she looked like a kid who'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. "You're here. How long have you been here?"
"Long enough to hear you lying to my girlfriend," I said, folding my arms and matching Elise's posture. "You don't have any right to be going through my apartment, and you know it."
"Girlfriend?" Jasmine said, whipping her head back around to look at Elise. I could tell she was sizing her up, but Elise just held her ground, looking calmly back.
"I already told you I don't have your fucking earring, Jasmine," I said. "And if you show up here like this again, I won't hesitate to get a restraining order. I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you. I don't even want to think about you half the time."
