Won't Go Home Without You

by Cheris Hodges

  Just as he started the car, his phone chimed, indicating that he had a text message. Looking down at the phone, he saw it was from Liam, so he decided to respond. The message his friend left him made him shudder.

  That broad is crazy. I’m going to be back in town in the morning with a report. Hope you and Robin still have a chance.

  “From your fingers to God’s ears,” Logan said as he sped down the highway. Normally, the trip to Petersburg would take over thirty minutes, but Logan was on a mission and he pulled up to Robin’s town house complex twenty minutes after he’d left Richmond.

  She didn’t belong here. The townhomes could’ve been luxurious, but Robin had her dream house and he wanted her at home. No matter what. The last few hours with Robin at home reminded him of everything he could lose behind this lie and he wasn’t about to let that happen. He scanned the numbers on the doors until he found Robin’s address. Bounding up the steps, he heard a loud howl and his heart raced into overdrive. Logan banged on the door, screaming Robin’s name.

  He took a breath and decided he was going to kick the door in if she didn’t open it in the next two seconds.

  “Robin! Are you in there? Are you okay?” Logan readied himself to burst the door open as if he were the Kool-Aid man when he heard the lock twist.

  A bleary-eyed Robin opened the door and glared at Logan. “Why are you here?” she gritted.

  “Because I want you to come home. Why were you screaming? Is everything all right?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No, everything is not all right, Logan! Just leave.”

  “I’m not going home without you, Robin. Not when I didn’t do any of the things you believe I did.”

  “I’m not going through this with you again. I thought we were on our way back to each other, back to the life we’ve always wanted, but clearly you’ve made a choice to tell that woman every little detail about our lives—my life! Fuck you, Logan.”

  “Please, hear me out, Robin.”

  She shot him an icy glare. “There is nothing left to say or do, other than you signing the divorce papers. I don’t want anything else to do with you!”

  “I’m not accepting that.”

  “Mother—Logan, you made your choice and I’m making mine.”

  “My choice has always been you, Robin, and I’ll be damned if . . .”

  She slammed the door in his face.

  Logan banged on the door again. She could call the police, the National Guard, or the marines, but he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Minutes ticked away before she returned to the door and opened it. “I swear to . . . Logan, can you leave?”

  “No, so you might as well invite me in.” He offered her a limp smile and he could tell it wasn’t working.

  “What do you want to come in for? I’m sure Kamrie is at the house waiting for you to come back. Why did you follow me here?”

  Now, he was getting tired of going back and forth with her. There was a big part of him that wanted to swing the door open, scoop Robin up in his arms, and take her back to Richmond. But he wasn’t a caveman and the swinging curtains of her neighbors ensured that he would probably end up on the late newscast for kidnapping.

  “Can I come inside and we’ll talk about this?”

  “What the fuck do we have to talk about?”

  “Our marriage. Robin, we can’t throw this away. I love you too much and I know you love me, too.”

  “What’s love got to do with anything? Love should’ve kept you faithful, and if love couldn’t do that, you could’ve kept my name out of your mouth while you were fucking your whore.”

  Logan placed his hand on her shoulder as he took a step inside the doorway. “I was not with Kamrie. I didn’t tell her anything. Why do you think I would do something like that? I never told your family about the hell you went through and you think I would tell her? A nobody who never meant shit to me? Do you think that I’m that much of an asshole that I’d let your pain be fodder for someone to use as a weapon? I ached for you, I was there when you cried and battled cancer. That disease didn’t take you away from me and I’m not letting anything else come between us.”

  Robin blinked back tears. “I’m sorry I trusted you with that. I should’ve turned to my family and I should’ve walked away from this marriage when I knew . . .”

  “Walked away? Why would you ever do that?”

  She turned her back to him and sighed. “I asked you to leave. Are you going to do that?”

  “No. Not unless you’re coming with me.”

  “Why would I do that?” She whirled around and faced him. The tears were gone and her face was contorted by anger. “She shows up at the house as if she’s been invited. You keep playing the same song, but it’s getting really tired. I’m tired. I should’ve stayed in Charleston and been with a man who wants only me.”

  Logan was sure if a piece of dust touched him, he would fall over. “What are you talking about?”

  She pressed her index finger against her temple. “I’m talking about the real reason I drove half the night to get here. I know how to resist temptation; too bad you didn’t.”

  Logan couldn’t describe what he was feeling. Was it sadness, anger, disappointment, or a combination of them all? To think that Robin would consider breaking their vows out of a sense of revenge made his blood run cold.

  “Who was it?”

  “You have a nerve,” she snapped. “Logan. It’s time to end this. I’m tired. I can’t fight anymore. I can’t keep looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

  “This is really what you want?”

  She expelled a frustrated breath. “Yes.”

  Logan was just as tired as Robin was. “I can’t give up on us. But if being my wife hurts you so much, then I’ll let go.”

  Robin closed her eyes. “Thank you. You can leave now. I’ll have my attorney reach out to you next week.”

  He turned toward the door and sighed. “Robin, I’m always going to love you.”

  She turned her back to him as he walked out the door.

  * * *

  When the door slammed behind Logan, Robin’s soul shattered. What had she done? Was she really ready to end everything?

  “Yes,” she muttered as she locked the door. “It’s time to move on.” But how was she going to do that? What was life without Logan in it?

  Despite feeling as if her muscles had been run through a blender, Robin climbed the stairs and went into her lonely bedroom. Unlike the king-sized bed she and Logan shared in Richmond, she would be crawling into a full-sized bed with a mattress that was a little too firm. Right now, she didn’t care; she just wanted to go to sleep and wake up from this horrible nightmare.

  As soon as she lay across the bed, her phone rang. Groaning, she reached for it. It was Yolanda, and Robin considered ignoring the call, but that would only lead to a call from Alex and maybe even her father. She wanted to say what she was going to say only once.

  “What’s up, sis?” she asked when Yolanda answered.

  “You tell me. You’re the one who hung up on me and never called back. Why did you go back to Virginia without telling anybody?”

  Robin sighed. “I came home hoping to fight for my marriage, but that was a mistake.”

  “What do you mean? Do I need to come to Virginia and—”

  “Bring it down. Logan and I have decided that we’re going to go through with the divorce.”

  “Why? I thought . . . Are you okay?”

  “I’m not okay and I don’t want to talk about it or deal with it right now. I’m going to bed.”

  “I’m coming to Virginia.”

  “Really, Yolanda? What are you going to do other than make a mess? I’m fine. I’ll be back at work next week and Logan agreed to finalize the divorce.”

  “And you’re really fine with this?” Robin was touched by the concern in her sister’s voice.

  “I don’t have a choice,” she replied and tried to hide the fact that sh
e was crying from Yolanda.

  “Robin, please don’t cry. I feel so bad for you and I want . . . I’m coming to stay with you for a few days before I head to Charlotte.”

  “No, I don’t want to put you out. I know you have to get ready for your boutique opening and . . . Why do you have a bodyguard?”

  “Because your baby sister is a drama queen and so is Dad.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  “You spill your guts and I’ll spill mine.”

  “Good night, Yolanda.” Robin ended the call and turned her phone off. She didn’t want to be bothered and she didn’t want to face the fact that her marriage was over.

  * * *

  Logan decided that this would be the last time he drowned his sorrows in alcohol. But tonight, everything with alcohol in it was being downed like water. First, it was the leftover scotch. Then the bourbon, and finally, he found a bottle of red wine that had been Robin’s favorite. He paused as he popped the cork and thought about the pain on his wife’s face. How did Kamrie know about Robin’s surgery? She shouldn’t have had any access to Robin’s records since she wasn’t on her care team.

  Either Kamrie was a cunning trick or she had someone higher up helping her. This shit had to stop. Logan didn’t even bother pouring the wine in a glass. He just took the bottle to the head and gulped some down. Setting the bottle on the counter, he felt as if he was about to vomit. He tried to wrap his mind around the end of his marriage. But it didn’t make sense. It wasn’t the plan.

  He wanted to celebrate a hundred years of being Robin’s husband. He wanted to wake up holding her for the rest of his life, and now that had been taken from him.

  Why? He went into the den and plopped down on the sofa. This wasn’t going to be his future. A few minutes later, Logan was passed out on the sofa.

  Morning slapped Logan in the face like an iron fist with brass knuckles on. His stomach lurched and he barely made it to the bathroom in time to vomit. He hadn’t had a hangover like this since he was a freshman in college trying to prove he could hang with the big boys on the basketball team.

  All he could do was thank God that he didn’t have any surgeries scheduled for the foreseeable future. But he needed to go over to the hospital and find out several things. First, who did the DNA test, then how Kamrie got access to Robin’s medical records.

  Maybe finding out the truth and presenting it to his wife would stop the divorce from happening. And even though he had agreed to it yesterday, today he wasn’t going to give up that damned easily. Nor was he going to let them—whoever the hell they were—win. And as much as he wanted to send Robin his customary good morning text message, Logan decided to give her twenty-four hours of breathing room.

  His phone rang, smashing the silence in the house and making his head throb like a stubbed toe. “Yeah.”

  “Doctor Baptiste, this is Clorinda Kelly from human resources.”

  Logan hid his snort because he knew this call was coming eventually. “How can I help you?”

  “It’s come to our attention that there may have been an improper relationship between you and a nurse on staff and we’re launching an investigation.”

  “I figured this would be coming.”

  “We want you to come in and answer some questions tomorrow morning.”

  “What time?”

  “Nine.”

  “Fine,” he said, then ended the call. Logan rubbed his face with his hand and groaned. Now he was going to have to answer to these lies. How would he keep his reputation intact and did it even matter now since Robin wanted to make their divorce final?

  Why in the hell did I agree to this bullshit? Logan headed downstairs to the kitchen and tried not to think about the good time he and Robin had there twenty-four hours ago. Her touch, her taste, and the hope that his marriage was going to get back on track.

  Now, what did he have to lose? Logan planned to walk into that office and speak on everything that he’d felt about what was going on at the hospital, from the gossip to the influence of the pharma companies on the treatment of heart patients. Maybe this meeting would reveal more than his so-called scandal and give him a look into what was really going on. Logan headed for the kitchen and brewed a pot of strong coffee. He needed to clear his head and get ready for the meeting. But first, coffee. Once the pot was filled, Logan grabbed his favorite mug and smiled sardonically. It said, “I love my wife.”

  Logan filled the cup with java and downed it in a few gulps. Filled with caffeine, he decided that he was going to do some research on the pharma company the hospital seemed to be so tied to.

  Cooper Drugs had been working with the current administration to test its heart medications on patients waiting for transplants. Seventy-five percent of the participants died in the experiments. The death rate had been why Logan wasn’t interested in using the drugs with his patients.

  He’d been pressured to use one of the experimental drugs on a patient who had been showing signs of rejecting his new heart. Logan had been sure that adjusting the antirejection medicine and adding light therapy would help his patient. But his superiors wanted Logan to use the Cooper Drug cocktail.

  Logan had been suspicious of the cheaply made cocktail, which was supposed to shorten the need for antirejection medication and limit some of the side effects of current medication. But instead of taking the company’s word for it, Logan began looking into some FDA tests and was alarmed by the results.

  Then when he spoke to the administration, they told him that they wanted to help Cooper Drugs perfect the cocktail. But when Logan started asking questions about consent from the patients and where other tests were going on, things started to decline at the hospital. His surgery schedule was cut and then the drama with Kamrie started.

  He hadn’t put the two together until the allegations about Kamrie’s son came to light. Were they trying to take him down with a personal scandal to stop him from asking questions about the experiments and the dying patients, not just at their hospital, but according to reports across the nation?

  Was it someone in the upper echelons of the hospital and the drug company looking to take Logan out of the game? Anyone who knew him knew there were three things that meant everything to Logan: his family, his patients, and his word. Now, it seemed that all three were under attack. This couldn’t be a coincidence. But how was he going to prove it?

  Maybe Liam had some answers that could fix things for him. He dialed his friend’s number and hoped that he would tell him the keys he needed to get his life back.

  “This is Liam.”

  “What’s up?” Logan asked.

  “You’re dealing with a lunatic,” Liam said. “Do you know why Kamrie left Atlanta?”

  “To make my life a living hell?” he snipped.

  “Seems as if she has a thing for married men. But she picked the wrong guy to have an affair with.”

  Logan snorted. “Did he really have an affair or was he another one of her victims?”

  “Where are you right now? I have some actual proof that you can use for leverage and I’m starving.”

  “I’ve got ribs and mashed cauliflower.”

  “Shit, then I’d better stop at the liquor store so I can pretend you’ve got mashed potatoes and gravy. Is Robin there so we can go over everything together?”

  Logan coughed. “Robin’s not here.”

  “At Whole Foods trying to convince you that cauliflower and potatoes actually taste the same?” Liam laughed before Logan could respond.

  “I wish. Kamrie showed up and all hell broke loose. She knew things about Robin and her situation that she shouldn’t have known. Robin thinks it is another way that I’ve betrayed her.”

  “How does she seem to sniff out when you and Robin are together?”

  “She’s probably stalking me.”

  Liam snorted. “You wouldn’t be the first doctor to fall under that trap.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll see. Make
sure my ribs are fall off the bone tender.”

  Logan didn’t know if that was going to happen because he had no idea how far Liam was from Richmond. But he could put together some decent ribs with his special sauce.

  Cooking in the kitchen today wasn’t the same as burning grilled cheese sandwiches with his wife. He missed her touch and her kiss. Missed her smell and her smart-ass mouth telling him that something was burning.

  Despite missing her, Logan created his meaty magic and had a half rack of ribs and barbeque chicken wings ready by the time Liam arrived three hours later.

  “Smells like a restaurant in here,” Liam said as he crossed the threshold. He didn’t bother heading toward the living room; he went straight for the kitchen. But Logan wished he’d showed him the evidence he’d found in Atlanta first.

  Liam set a bottle of whiskey on the middle of the bar. “First things first. You’re going to need a drink for this.”

  Logan grabbed two glasses and slid them over to Liam. Day drinking was allowed today. Even if it was early afternoon in Richmond, it was five o’clock somewhere.

  “Start from the beginning.”

  The broad-shouldered man poured two full glasses of whiskey and pushed one to his friend. “As it turns out, Kamrie is a social climber and doctors seem to be her favorite stepping-stone.”

  Logan snorted. “Not surprised.”

  “Well, you might be surprised to learn that she left Atlanta with a scandalous good-bye. Seems that she and one of the surgeons were having a hot and heavy affair.”

  “You told me this already. What’s the point?”

  Liam pulled out his phone and showed Logan screenshots of explicit text messages between Kamrie and the doctor. There were nude pictures from both sides and Logan almost threw up in his mouth as he read the messages.

  “So, what happened when the wife found out?”

  “Ever heard of Valerie Adams?”

  Logan folded his arms across his chest. “You mean the Valerie Adams, one of the first black women to run a hospital in the south?”

  Liam nodded. “From what I know she is not the one to play with. And Kamrie was playing with Valerie’s husband, Dr. Lacy.”