Glimpses

Chapter 63

December 22nd, 2020

Logan stepped through the door of his Eaton place apartment, desperately hoping Odette would be out somewhere. He'd had a long day, and since last night hadn't gone exactly admirably with Odette either because she'd once again planned his life for him. Some dinner with her New York friends after Christmas. Hence the main thing he hoped for was a quiet evening - some peace and quiet before the Christmas mayhem, or rather endless small-talk, would commence. At least he was seeing his sister in a few days - the knowing giving him a glimmer of hope.

But no such luck. Odette was in the kitchen, unpacking what smelled like miso, possibly along with sushi.

"Hey," Odette greeted him, sounding surprisingly positive all things considered.

"Hey," Logan exhaled, and removed his coat carefully, the right side of his chest aching from what he'd just had put into his skin.

There were not many things he took days off for these days, and that day had been the worst he'd felt in a while. Odette had just recently tricked him into having unprotected sex with her, hoping to get pregnant and it was safe to say he felt used, almost violated, and the loss of control he'd fought so hard to deal with with other methods than working out until his body gave in was barely there anymore. So after having forced himself into a meditation workshop this morning - which he'd tried to convince himself would count as a work out, which hadn't done much to his need to take the edge off, he'd made the call, offered to pay his default tattoo artist generously and gotten his appointment pushed up. He'd called in sick at work. Even Marjorie had trouble believing him when he'd first called, he hadn't called in sick in years.

"I got your favorites from Dinings SW3," Odette offeredmaking Logan raise his eyebrows unconsciously. A peace offering perhaps? The place did have the most amazing yellowtail nigiri with Japanese mustard and one of the best sashimi omakase he'd ever had. But he wasn't hungry, having not felt like much the entire day except water. Tattoos had another benefit too - they stopped him from drinking alcohol, as one wasn't supposed have any to during healing.

"Thanks, maybe later," Logan sighed. "I could use a shower," he added and headed upstairs without further discussion. He just couldn't deal with her tonight. The standard excuses would be he had work to do though he knew that excuse wouldn't last him long as Christmas was approaching and they were flying out tomorrow.

"Okay," Odette replied, disappointedly.

He headed for the bathroom and undressed, throwing every piece of his wardrobe into the laundry shaft. Whatever happened to his clothes from that moment onwards - he had no clue. The maid, who usually came when he wasn't around, took care of everything.

His neck felt a little stiff, his position, laying on that table for nearly five hours had left him with that unpleasant side effect. Frankly, he would've felt like going running still, but he knew better to avoid that, knowing he was probably going to want to push himself further than was good for him.

He looked at his new addition - the wolf on his chest, covered in protective tattoo film, already beginning to look a little nasty underneath that film. It was a completely normal process with the film, he knew it. But using these large films instead of something less permanent gave him a lot more freedom, not having to clean and cream it seversl times a day for a while. And so far all of his tattoos had healed beautifully with this same method.

The shower felt incredible against his skin, washing off some of the heaviness he'd carried with him throughout the day, and the dull ache on his chest fed his urge to numb his mind.

He stepped out of the shower, and saw to his disappointment Odette applying some kind of a serum to a small blemish on her cheek. He could already feel her eyes on him through the mirror as he quickly covered himself up, feeling even a little harassed in this moment - she was intruding in his space - married or not. The way she dropped the pen-like applicator into the sink let him know well that she'd noticed it.