Page 90 of Consuming Logan

“I know Logan doesn’t like to talk about Brooke. You and his former fiancée seemed to have a lot in common but there’s one distinct difference that I never shared with him.”

“What’s that?” Ava asked, suddenly feeling exhausted with the whole let’s be friend’s routine.

“The baby Brooke carried when she died wasn’t Logan’s.”

Ava gasped, cupping her belly. “Oh my God. It was Dusty’s child.” They all were still in danger.

Chapter 33

Logan collapsed back into the leather desk chair in his home office. Staring at the blank computer monitor, he let Sarah’s words filter through his splintered brain. Ava had initiated the process to separate their financial assets. She was making plans to leave him forever.

The heater kicked on, a gush of cold air rained down from the overhead vent, chilling his skin before he felt the first warm wave. Not only was she leaving him, Ava might vanish from Shell Cove and his life. She’d move away and would take with her his children and his heart. A cold reality of his life without Ava cut all the way to the bone. Stripping him of everything he was. In a word, he would be lost, a shell of his former self. Maybe she thought her actions would be best for their babies. Was she right?

The knowledge that she’d abandoned their house this morning and proceeded to cut him off physically, financially, and emotionally drove home how much he’d hurt her. His betrayal of her trust tore his heart out. This was a fresh kind of hell he never saw coming. He probably should let her go. Instead he dialed Monique’s cell phone. Ava would contact her favorite patient no matter what. He waited, the instant connection seeming too slow. Laughter, light with adolescent frivolity flowed through the receiver.

“Monique, Dr. Masters. Put Ava on the phone.”

When she hesitated, Logan said. “Now,” then he added a “please.”

Silence. Had Ava told Monique about the breakup?

“You messed up, didn’t you?” She whispered her accusation. Logan saw no reason to deny his failure.

“Yes. Put her on the phone.”

Again nothing.

“Moni—,”

Seconds later, Ava came on the line. “Stop badgering, Monique. What do you want, Logan?”

The love for him that usually softened her words had vanished. This was a momma bear in protection mode on the other end of the line.

Logan released a sigh of relief. She was safe. No one could get to her in the hospital.

“Ava, I’m so damn sorry,” he said immediately. “I promise I’ll never disappoint you like this again.”

Love was more than words and feelings. It was action, daily action that proved his love and commitment to Ava. His selfish ambition had cost him his family.

“Not my business,” she snapped. “Me and my babies are fine, so don’t worry about our for better or worse.”

“Ava, I was talking about my worst. Never you. Never the babies, sweetheart. You have to believe me.”

He heard rustling and the grind of mechanical parts.

“I’m not a med school graduate, but I know I don’t have to do anything where you’re concerned.”

“Listen to me.”

“No,” she snapped. “You listen. I won’t be coaxed or manipulated into taking you back. I’m not that easy. Not now, not ever.”

He knew Ava’s location. Why was he wasting time on the phone? He needed to be with her.

Logan grabbed his keys. “What the hell does that mean? You married me. I don’t care if it wasn’t recorded in some US Embassy. That has to mean something.”

She laughed. “I also left your ass in the middle of the night. Why don’t you decipher that message?”

“I did,” he growled. “I’m on my way to you and my babies. Stay at the hospital.”