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There was no regret, though. What had happened, had happened, and I wasn’t the one who worked here and owed a professional duty to the patients. That responsibility belonged entirely to Logan. Besides, having his cock inside me had cleared up once and for all what I was supposed to call him. I wasn’t about to address someone I’d fucked as doctor. Not unless we had an audience, anyway. Although I recognized the slight contradiction of having enjoyed calling him Doc while we’d fucked.
I thought I’d done a good job of keeping my feelings to myself until I caught Laura studying me over breakfast.
“What?” I asked.
She took a bite of toast, chewed it slowly, and swallowed before answering. “You’re different today.”
“Am I? How?”
“Calmer.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I’ve just gotten used to this place. You know, stopped fighting it, and accepted that I might have become too reliant on drugs and alcohol.”
A wistful look crossed Laura’s face. “But they’re so much fun.”
“Yeah, but not every day.”
“Every other day?” she suggested.
I laughed. “You’re asking the wrong person.”
“Yeah, well, if I ask the staff, they’ll tell me that no illicit substance should ever pass my lips again and that I’d be better off practicing self-flagellation.”
“I think you’re mixing them up with monks.”
“Maybe.” She smiled before taking a quick look around. “Did you-know-who turn up last night?”
I shook my head.
She frowned. “That’s weird. It might not have gone on for that long, but he never missed a night with me.”
Unable to admit that Caligo might have appeared while I was otherwise occupied, I cast around for an alternative explanation. “Maybe he’s bored with me already. Maybe he’s dropped me for someone else, the way he did with you.”
“Maybe.” She didn’t sound convinced.
Someone joining our table spared me from further speculation. I’d seen him talking to Laura before, but our paths had never properly crossed. He held out his hand. “Brett.”
I shook it and introduced myself. Brett looked rough, with dark circles beneath his eyes and trembling hands. It made him look like he needed to be here far more than Laura or I did.
“Are you both doing the group session this morning?” he asked.
“Yeah, Rowan,” Laura said with a challenge in her eye, “are you going to be brave and dip your toe in the water?”
I shrugged. “Talking about myself isn’t really my thing.”
“Whereas I,” Laura said with a wink, “love talking about myself. I’d fill the entire hour on my own if they let me. Alas, they insist I let other people get a word in edgeways. Dr. Collins doesn’t actually say that, but he’s very good at conveying it with his eyes.”
I sat up straighter. “Does he always run the session?”
Brett nodded.
“Maybe I will check it out.” If nothing else, it would be interesting to see how the good doctor behaved around the patient whose bed he’d crept into only a few hours earlier.
He’d probably assumed that I’d continue avoiding the group sessions. Unfortunately for him, life wasn’t always that easy. Sometimes, it forced you to confront the decisions you made in the middle of the night.
I had no intention of exposing him, but I couldn’t deny that watching him squirm might prove an entertaining way to kill some time.
The group session took place in a featureless room containing twelve chairs arranged in a circle. Apart from a water cooler and a stack of paper cups, there wasn’t much else. I helped myself to water more because it gave me something to do than because I was thirsty, then took a seat. Laura plonked herself down beside me.
