"Are you ready to talk about it now?" Rory asked as both her and Logan were getting ready for bed that night.
"Call me jealous or a caveman or whatever, all you want, but I'm just not comfortable with your ex-boyfriend staying with us." Logan answered grumpily.
"Jess and I are just friends. We have been for years. I thought that we were past this, Logan."
"He's still your ex-boyfriend." Logan told her, tossing a pillow off their bed and into a chair in the corner of the room.
"So what! That was a really long time ago. How come you can't get past it? I have!"
"I just don't like him being around. It's one thing having to see him at an event, but you hanging out with him is entirely different."
"It was an emergency, Logan." Rory said with a sigh. "Jess has been in town on business. He was in a ton of pain and Luke told him to get to a hospital. Jess doesn't know anyone here and he didn't want to end up dying or something in some stranger's car, so he called me."
"You should have been honest with me Rory!"
"I'm sorry that I didn't give you all the information, but honestly, it was because I knew that you would get like this!" Rory told him; her voice full of irritation. "You ALWAYS get like this with Jess! You say that you are over our past relationship, and that you've moved on, and are ok now, but then monster Logan comes out, and you act super jealous and possessive all over again!"
"Well pardon me for caring about some other men being in love with my wife!" Logan fumed, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Rory turn their bed down.
"Please, Jess isn't in love with me." Rory told him, trying to hide the chuckle that tried to escape from her mouth.
"Really? Because he didn't seem too upset when Mikayla referred to you as his wife."
"You heard that?"
"I was right outside the door."
"Logan ..."
"And you know what the worst part of that statement was? . . . Jess looked happy about it! You should have seen the look on his face, Rory. It was almost the same look that I get, when someone refers to you as MY wife."
"Jess is NOT in love with me!" Rory protested, crossing her own arms over her chest, as she started her husband down.
"Jess has feelings for you! I don't know how in the world you don't see it! Because I see it! Your Mom sees it. Even Luke sees it!"
"Get real, Logan!"
"I just had a conversation about it with Luke, on Sunday."
"You did not!"
"You don't think so?! Because Luke had to talk me off a ledge! You were sitting there at your mom's house, flirting with Jess while he cooed about our daughter. It was completely obvious! I was getting ready to storm in there and kick his ass, when Luke stepped in and pulled me outside."
"I wasn't flirting with Jess! God, Logan! You are so insecure sometimes!"
"Seriously?! You are going to stand here, and call me insecure?! Maybe you didn't think that you were flirting, but that's not what the rest of us saw!"
"Why are you like this, Logan?! Jess and I are just old friends! I don't get upset about you talking to, or hanging out with your old friends!"
"The only friends that I hang out with, are also friends with YOU! You will never see me hanging out with an old girlfriend."
"Well is not my fault that you can't grow some balls and try to forge a friendship with Jess, like a normal adult! I actually think that you two would be great friends! You have a lot in common."
"Forgive me, but I have zero interest in being friends with your ex-boyfriend." Logan protested,
"And that's on you, Logan!"
"Like you wouldn't have a problem with me being friendly to an ex-girlfriend? Please, look how jumpy and jealous you get of my friendship with Bobbie. And Bobbie is a coworker, who lives on the other side of the world!"
"Oh, so we are back to this now?!" Rory asked, defensively.
"You hadn't even seen Bobbie in like 10 years, yet you couldn't stand her while we were in London last year."
"I was sick as hell, Logan! Pregnant with YOUR daughter, might I add!"
"And Bobbie went out of her way to take care of you, and even bought you presents on her lunch break. But you are still jumpy and jealous as hell."
"Bobbie is a freaking Barbie doll that you idiots drool over! And for the record, I was perfectly nice to her. I was polite and thanked Bobbie, repeatedly. Maybe if you hadn't been so busy drooling over her, you might have actually noticed."
"I do NOT drool over Bobbie!"
"Oh really?! Because I seem to remember a certain dinner that we went to, where you Nick and Philip couldn't seem to keep your tongues in your mouth!"
"Oh really?! Is that what you remember? Because I seem to remember being all over YOU that night! How can you possibly say that I was drooling all over Bobbie, when my hands, eyes, AND lips were all over YOU?!"
"You were all drooling all over Bobbie!"
"God, Rory, I was not! I was all over YOU! And everyone noticed it too! I got a ton of crap from everyone after that dinner, telling me how whipped I am, and how I need to grow a pair and not melt into a mushy puddle every time you walk into a room!"
"That was a long time ago, Logan."
"What, you think that anything has changed?! Do you think that I'm not that pathetically whipped guy who melts the second you look at me, or walk into a room? Because newsflash Rory, NONE of that has changed!"
"Well maybe I'm either completely stupid or a really bad wife, because I don't see it!"
"Really?! You don't see it? You don't see me getting upset when I walk into a room and hear some idiot nurse referring to my wife as belonging to another man? You don't see that way that I look at you every day? The way I go out of my way to be with you because I can't stand to be away from you? The way I make love to you every chance I get, because I'm am so incredibly in love with you, and just the thought of you being mine turns me on? Really Rory? You can't see all that?!"
"You have absolutely NOTHING to be jealous of, or worried about with Jess, Logan! I married YOU! I chose YOU!"
"The guy has feelings for you, Rory! Feelings that are A LOT like mine!"
"He does not!" Rory protested again, her voice raising as she tried to get her point across.
"Yes he does, Rory! It's completely obvious, just seeing the way that he looks at you!" Logan told her.
"You're crazy, Logan! Jess does NOT have feelings for me!"
"Please, had you run into him in that coffee shop last year, instead of me, you know that you would have gone out with him."
"No, I wouldn't have!" Rory fumed. "But just a news flash, since you don't seem to understand anything at all, I used to see Jess all the time! Jess is my friend, Logan! Jess and I used to talk on the phone, and hang out at family events whenever he came back to The Hollow. I used to see him all the time before you and I got back together. So trust me when I say this; if there were ANYTHING left between me and Jess, it would have happened a long time ago! Years before you came back into the picture."
"I'm telling you Rory, that man has feelings for you."
"He's does not! God Logan, let it go already!"
"Really? Then why did he ask you to take over his publishing house if something were to have happened to him during surgery?"
"Because I'm in the industry, Logan. Jess doesn't want the business he's put the last 12 years of his life into, burned to the ground."
"That's what his partners are for. That's THEIR job."
"Yeah but he asked for my help because he knows that I have more experience in the industry than all of them do. And I have the connections to keep them successful."
"And what would you do if something had happened to Jess? Would you take over for him?"
"I promised him that I would."
"And how would you do it? Would you buy them out? Make them part of HPG?"
"Nope! I promised Jess that I wouldn't."
"You promised him that you wouldn't absorb his company into HPG? Like you would be working for two completely different publishing houses?" Logan questioned. "That's a conflict of interest, Rory, and you know it!"
"I know it is! And I told him that!" Rory affirmed. "I'm not sure how I would go about running that place, but Jess suggested maybe turning it over to April, and giving her advice about what to do."
"April has no interest in running Jess' publishing house!" Logan argued. "She just graduated from college and started working for the hospital lab. She doesn't have time for anything else right now, and asking her to quit a job that she just started is completely unfair! I can't believe that you would even consider doing that!"
"I know that, Logan! And I also knew that nothing was going to happen to Jess during surgery, and I told him that. I never had any intention of taking over his company, much less asking April to do it! I would never do that to her. April is my sister, and I fully support the career choice that she made, just like I support yours! I would never ask her to give up something that she loves."
"Jess really told you that he doesn't want his company absorbed into HPG?"
"He doesn't want it swallowed up by a major company. He wants to keep it small. He's a lot like Luke. Luke likes his empire small."
"Jess just doesn't want me getting my hands on his stuff."
"Seriously Logan?! Are you for real right now?!" Rory asked again, watching as her husband paced the room in annoyance. "Not that you would know anything about it, but absorbing Truncheon would actually be a really good business move. They're established, and growing like crazy right now. I actually think that if things keep going the way they have been, for Truncheon, Jess might need us to step in, because I don't know how much more rapid growth he can actually handle."
"How would you know?" Logan asked, stopping in his tracks, and glaring at his wife, where she stood a few feet away.
"Because Jess is my friend. We've known each other since long before you and I ever met. I've been helping him with his business and giving him advice for years. He started that place while we are in college, and it's grown so much that they can no longer print their own publications. They've had to outsource help."
"I don't want him at HPG!"
"Oh really?! And why is that? Because I actually think that Jess would make a really good addition to the company. And I was thinking about asking him to take one of the empty board positions."
"Don't you dare do that!" Logan fumed.
"And why not?! Because it's MY company! Legally, I can do whatever I want! I'm the CEO, remember?!"
"It's my family's company, Rory! And don't you ever forget that! You are only CEO because I asked you to step in."
"So now you are saying that I'm not in charge of that place? That all the work that I've been killing myself to do since last October, has all been for nothing?! Because it's YOUR company and I'm only pretending to work there?!"
"If you bring Jess on board, I will be forced to remove you from your position."
"Is that a threat or a promise?!"
"Take it however you want, Rory."
"Are you serious right now?!" Rory asked, completely shocked at the words that had just left her husband's mouth.
"It's your funeral."
"It's my funeral? . . . Are you for real right now?!" Logan just stared at Rory, with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for her response. "Let's see, removing me from the company means that I will no longer have to go into that stuffy as hell building that is full of your annoying family, anymore. I will no longer have to deal with any of the psychotic Huntzbergers . . ." Rory started, a smile spreading over her face as the words left her mouth. "Please Logan, don't go threatening me with a good time because I might just let you have your wish! You can have your damn moronic family, whenever you want them! But just know that if I walk, my Grandfather will walk too. And I can't promise that any of the other board members that I've brought in, will stay either. But go right on ahead and tell me all about how you can run that place better than I can. Because it's not like I was ever really in charge there in the first place, right?!" Rory told him, turning her back on her husband and heading into the bathroom, where she turned on the shower.
"Damn it, Rory!" Logan barked, running his hands over his face as he remained standing next to their bed.
"I'm taking a shower to help me relax and wash off all the hospital germs. You should probably figure out how to calm yourself down while I'm in there."
Logan hesitated for a minute before following Rory, taking a deep breath to calm himself as much as possible.
"Ace . . ." Logan started, his voice soft as he reached for Rory's hand as she walked by him on her way out of their walk-in closet.
"Logan, I don't want to argue with you about this anymore. It's been a really long day. I'm exhausted, Ayribella is finally asleep, and I just want to take a shower, and collapse in bed. Can we please just drop this for right now? I'm too tired to keep arguing with you about Jess." Rory uttered softly.
"Rory . . ."
"No, Logan. I don't want to keep doing this with you. We've been arguing about Jess, all afternoon, and I'm exhausted. We argued at the hospital before Jess went into surgery, we argued all the way home, when I came home to feed Ayribella, then all the way back to the hospital. Then, you sat there like a jealous stalker babysitter, for hours while I sat with Jess while he was in recovery. You barely said anything, unless a nurse or doctor spoke to you, and then you gave me the silent treatment all the way out of the hospital. You've been a complete jerk about Jess all day! This isn't like you, Logan, and frankly, I am getting really sick of it! I can't deal with jealous college Logan. We aren't in high school anymore, yet you are acting like a pathetically jealous child. I am NOT your possession, Logan! I'm your wife, and I would really appreciate it if you'd stop acting like a petulant child, and start acting like a mature adult again. I really don't know what your problem with Jess is, but it's time for you to grow up, and get over it! Jess and I are friends. And he's family now. So like it or not, you are going to have to get used to seeing him, because Jess is going to continue to be around. We may not see him all the time, but we are going to have to be around him several times a year. So please Logan, whatever it is that you are so jealous of, you REALLY need to just get over it, and learn how to be polite."
"I don't want your ex-boyfriend staying with us, Rory." Logan sighed, taking a seat on the side of the bathtub, and hanging his head.
"I am not sending someone I care about off to another state, fresh out of surgery, to recover all alone, without any help."
"It isn't your responsibility to take care of him."
"He's family, Logan."
"So call Luke. Or call his Mom."
"I am NOT going to send Jess to another state! God, Logan! We've already had this conversation!"
"Why do we have to be the ones he stays with?"
"Because we are family, and we are the ones who live here!"
"Rory, it isn't your responsibility to take care of Jess. Jess is an adult, and he is fully capable of taking care of himself."
"Really? You mean like how I'm an adult, but yet you refuse to let me be alone after being released from the hospital, even when I didn't have surgery?"
"That's different, Rory."
"Really? How so?"
"Because you're my wife! I would be crazy to leave my wife all alone!"
"So it's crazy to leave your wife alone, but any other family member is just fine?" Rory asked.
"I never said that."
"So it's not ok to leave a family member alone post hospitalization, unless that family member happens to be Jess . . ."
"Rory . . ."
"Do you not hear how completely ridiculous you sound? Seriously Logan. Grow up!" Rory sighed, stepping away, and moving to grab towels for her shower.
"I just don't want your ex-boyfriend staying with us."
"God Logan, he's my friend! And he's family! It's been years since Jess and I were together! And even back then, we weren't even together for very long."
"He's still your ex-boyfriend, Rory."
"He's family, Logan."
"He has feelings for you!"
"No, he doesn't!"
"Yes, Rory, he does."
"No, he doesn't, Logan!"
"If Jess doesn't have feelings for you, then why did Luke have to talk me off a ledge a few days ago?"
"You are being completely ridiculous, Logan!"
"How am I being ridiculous, Rory? It's completely obvious! Why do you think that Mikayla thought that the two of you were married?"
"She said that she saw my ring."
"She saw the way that Jess looks at you. The way he acts around you. Jess has feelings for you, Rory. He has feelings for you, and I don't like it."
"Logan, I'm tired. I want to take a shower, and the water is going to get cold if I don't hurry up and get in there."
"It will not, we have a tankless water heater."
"Fine, whatever. We are wasting a ton of hot water, and there aren't endless supplies of it."
"Rory . . ."
"No, Logan. I'm tired. I'm done arguing with you about this. I am getting in the shower, and then I am going to bed." Rory sighed.
"Jess isn't staying here Rory."
"Yes, he is, Logan. So either get over it, or you can go find somewhere else to stay."
"You would really kick me out of my own house?"
"You said that you would kick me out of my company." Rory told him as she waked away, and opened the door to the shower. "You can't have your cake and eat it too, Logan."