28. Bet Your Bottom Dollar
CHAPTER 28
bet your bottom dollar
BELLE
I woke up slowly. I was so tired, but I knew I had to get to the lab.
Mick had insisted we go to my parents for dinner. I drank something, ate something, and then crashed on my mother's couch as I had done a week ago. I planned to get a few hours and then get to work.
Mick was being a pain in my ass talking about balance—work-life balance. I was on the verge of a clinical breakthrough; I didn't have time…. I blinked, the hum of an engine filling my ears as I struggled to shake off the strange, thick fog clouding my mind. My head felt heavy, and my eyes were barely adjusting to the low…cabin lights before it hit me. What the fuck? I was on a plane?
I opened my eyes wide and looked around.
I was not in my lab. Not in my bed. Not in Mick's Bed. I was on a fucking airplane. On. A. Plane.
I looked down and saw a cozy blanket draped over me, my shoes neatly stowed by my feet, and Mick sat across from me, reading some papers.
He raised his head when he heard me gasp. "Morning, Babycakes." He held up a mug of coffee as if this was perfectly normal.
I tried to sit up, but a dull ache settled at the base of my skull, and I had to close my eyes for a second to keep my head from falling off. "Mick…what did you…where the hell am I?"
"Thirty thousand feet in the air, approximately two hours from Reef Harbor," he replied, taking a leisurely sip of coffee, clearly enjoying himself.
It took every ounce of restraint not to lunge across the aisle. "Reef Harbor?"
"Yep."
"How?" I looked around. "What is this?"
"A chartered jet?"
I sat up this time and looked around. A private plane. A…what in the world?
" Mama, I don't want to drink anything."
"Oh, Belle, it's just one drink. I'm trying a new cocktail with low alcohol. You know, so you can maybe have two of them before you flip out?"
"Fine." I took the pink cocktail with a freaking umbrella in it in freaking February in Boston, where it was colder than a witch's tit. The drink tasted nice. I sniffed at it. "What's in it? I can smell something?"
"Some new bitters I'm trying out." My mother smiled at me and kissed my forehead. "You're so tired, my baby."
"It's the clinical trial. You know how it is?"
"I do."
"Now sit down and relax."
I thought deeply to remember what happened after my mother led me to her couch.
Blank!
And then the memory hit me like a jolt. The cocktail had tasted smooth, a little too smooth, but there'd been something else—a faint, medicinal smell just beneath the fruity sweetness. I could almost picture my mother standing there, a bit too pleased with herself, watching as I sipped that low-alcohol cocktail with her patented mix of maternal concern and crazy glee.
Bitters, my foot.
I sat up, feeling a fresh wave of realization and annoyance.
"Propofol," I blurted out.
That barely there medicinal scent, the light, almost bitter note beneath the fruitiness—she'd dosed me! My own mother, the anesthesiologist, had served me a cocktail with just enough of the good stuff to make sure I'd go under.
"You drugged me and put me on a plane?" I accused.
Mick shrugged, looking almost amused. "Technically, Molly drugged you. Your father and sister signed off on it. Dan even helped me carry you. It was a family affair."
"A family affair?" I repeated, my voice rising, my vision going red at the edges. "You think it's normal to just…just put someone on a plane without telling them?"
"Would you have come along if I told you?"
"No."
"So you understand why we had to…," he trailed away when a stewardess came into the cabin. "Darling, can you get us some coffee and a little breakfast?"
"Of course, Dr. Augustus."
I cocked an eyebrow when she disappeared. "Dr. Augustus?"
"It's my name, and the plane is courtesy of my mother," he explained. "I needed something on short notice, and she decided to book it under Nicholas Augustus because she's mean like that."
I took a deep breath and shook my head wearily. "Mick, I have work to do."
"Belle, you haven't slept in a month. You're working yourself into the ground." His tone softened a little. "We all agreed this was for your own good."
"We all does not include me ! I decide what's good for me," I thundered. "This is my job. And lives are at?—"
"You have an excellent team, and I promised them that you'd be available for the morning lab meeting via Zoom."
"With the crappy Wi-Fi in Reef Harbor?"
"I may have fixed that."
I gaped at him. "How?"
He shrugged, trying to look casual but clearly not pulling it off. He was feeling sheepish as hell. "Maybe I bought a little satellite for the island."
"What?"
"Figured reliable Wi-Fi might be useful if I ever wanted to convince you to stay a little longer."
I stared at him, incredulous. "You bought a satellite for Wi-Fi?"
He flashed me a smug grin. "What's the point of all this wealth if I can't use it to keep you close by?"
"You're nuts." He was. I didn't know what to make of any of this. Since I met Mick my whole life was upside down. I never thought I'd see him again and then he showed up in my lab, and didn't leave.
And now, he moved a mountain to make sure I had reliable comms. He was making it really hard for me to keep my heart intact.
Your heart hasn't been intact in months , the snarky bitch who lived inside me remarked.
"You did this so I could join a daily meeting?"
"Precisely." He smiled at me. "Think of it as your work-from-paradise digital plan."
The stewardess came back with orange juice, coffee, and what looked like scrambled eggs, fresh rolls, bacon, and sausage.
"Thank you, darling," Mick said smoothly.
The stewardess smiled at him and kept her face passive when she looked at me when she served us.
"You call her darling again; we're going to have problems," I told him before I bit into toast.
"How about…Cuddle Buns?"
"Go fuck yourself."
"I'm hoping that your mood is going to improve once we land."
I growled.
"Babycakes, we did it for your own good."
"Oh, for my own good, huh?" I spat, feeling the heat rise to my face. "And just what am I supposed to do in Reef Harbor, Mick? Lie on a beach sipping coconut water while you play the big tour guide?"
He laughed softly, unfazed by my wrath. "That's exactly the idea. Get you out of that lab for a few days. Maybe help you remember what life outside a petri dish looks like."
I glared at him, my fury simmering just below the surface. "When we land, I'm getting on the first flight back."
He smirked, tilting his head. "Good luck with that."
I clenched my fists, barely able to form words. "You…unbelievable…control-freak manipulator! I can't believe you roped my family into this."
"They love you, and they're worried about you," his voice was low, serious. "You can be angry with me all you want, but you're here, Belle. So, you might as well make the best of it. Now, eat your breakfast and stop behaving like a sullen child."
I didn't even know how to respond to the sullen child remark, so instead, I crossed my arms, seething as I looked out the window. The deep blue of the ocean stretched below us, and despite everything, a tiny part of me softened at the sight, the undeniable allure of warm sand and ocean air trying to chip away at my anger .
But I wasn't going to let Mick see that. Not a chance. I turned back to him, my voice low and threatening. "The second I can leave, Mick, I'm gone."
He grinned, not the least bit deterred. "Then I'll just have to make the island as irresistible as possible, won't I?"
I narrowed my eyes, determined not to let him win. But as the plane continued its descent toward Reef Harbor, I couldn't help the uneasy feeling that I might be in over my head.