Chapter 3
Becky’s body was shaking from the inside out.
She had never seen Sloan this angry, and she had seen him pretty pissed off.
She wasn’t afraid of him, not at all. What she had told him was true.
She was afraid. Terrified she had made a huge mistake, but she didn’t know why she felt that way.
All she knew was something wasn’t right. It hadn’t been right for a while now.
“Who, Becky?” Sloan asked again, his voice a little calmer, but his eyes were still blacker than she had ever seen them.
“I don’t know,” Becky said as she stood, nervous energy pushing through her along with the nausea.
“You said they,” Sloan pressed. “Who is they?”
Knowing she had to tell him everything, Becky let out a breath.
“I’ve always had issues, Sloan. Female issues.
At twenty I had cysts removed from my ovaries.
It runs on my mom’s side, so it wasn’t a surprise I had the same problems as her.
I’ve always kept up with my appointments.
Never missed one.” She glanced at him, then looked away.
“My regular OB suddenly closed his practice, but his office referred me to another doctor. I’d never seen anyone else, but I knew I had to have a doctor.
I signed my records over, made an appointment, and went. ”
She paused, her brow pulling slightly. “I was comfortable with the new doctor at first. He asked a lot of questions… which I guess is normal for a first visit.”
“What do you mean, you guess?” Sloan asked, his voice steady.
Becky glanced at him again, her stomach tightening. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t said anything else, but the room felt different. Tighter. Like the air had been pulled thin.
“I had Dr. Knipper since I was fourteen. He was my mom’s doctor. I don’t remember my first appointment with him, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to,” Becky said. “But some of the questions… they didn’t feel right to me.”
Sloan didn’t respond right away, and that almost made it worse.
“What kind of questions?” he asked finally, his voice low.
“Dr. Knipper knew about you. You were my emergency contact, so you’re in my records,” Becky said, starting to pace again, trying to settle her stomach. “This new doctor, Dr. Phillips, started asking about us. Personal questions about our relationship. If I’d ever taken your blood.”
The second the words left her mouth, she noticed the tick in Sloan’s jaw and knew he was doing his best to control his rage. Becky stilled for a second before forcing herself to keep going, her mouth dry.
“I asked him why he would need to know something like that.” She swallowed.
“Dr. Phillips said that with humans and vampires being together more, there’s been research.
He said taking your blood could speed up cyst growth.
It… made some sense, but…it just didn’t feel right to me and yet, I trusted him with the information. ”
She shook her head slightly.
“I told him I had taken your blood, but I didn’t go into detail. Even when he kept asking how much and for how long.” She added, then finally looked at Sloan.
That was a mistake. Because whatever she saw on his face made her fear triple. She had done the wrong thing.
“I’m sorry, Sloan. I shouldn’t have put you down as my emergency contact. I know you guys like to keep a low profile, but...I didn’t think. I’ve never had an emergency contact before and well—” She shrugged biting her lip. “I just didn’t think.”
Sloan stood and took her into his arms. “Don’t,” Sloan said, his voice low, controlled. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But it feels like I did.” Becky looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
“I’ve wanted to tell you, but you’ve been so busy and well, I thought I was just being paranoid, but—” Her rambling trailed off as she pulled completely away from him, then wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at the ground.
“But what?” Sloan’s tone had an edge to it as if he already knew what she was going to say, but she knew that was impossible.
“Dr. Phillips lied to me.” Becky frowned, anger pushing past the fear that had been riding her for weeks.
One minute she was terrified, the next pissed off, then confused, then just…
exhausted. “He told me I had two small cysts. Put me on medication to try to shrink and stabilize things before removing them. Three weeks later, I went in for an outpatient procedure.”
Becky paused, watching Sloan, trying to read him.
“Why did you keep this from me?” Sloan asked, his voice not angry… just confused.
Becky dropped her head, wishing now that she hadn’t. Her past had a way of creeping in whether she wanted it to or not. “You’ve been busy and—”
“Dammit, Becky,” Sloan growled, cutting her off.
Her head snapped up.
“You are my world. Do you understand that? Nothing—and I mean nothing—is more important to me than you.” He said, but not in anger. He sounded hurt, and that made her feel terrible.
Her eyes filled with tears as she searched his face and saw nothing but truth. She knew this. She did. Sloan loved her… but the damage from her past still had a way of getting in her head.
“I know that, Sloan,” she whispered, a tear slipping down her cheek. “It’s just—” She stopped, the words sticking. Bringing up Frank now felt wrong… because Sloan had never made her feel that way. Not once.
Sloan’s eyes narrowed slightly as something clicked. “I’m not your fucking ex, Becky.”
Becky winced, guilt hitting hard. “I know you’re not. I’ve just… been messed up lately. I think some of it was the medication.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’ve always dealt with this stuff on my own. I didn’t want to be a bother.”
Becky could tell Sloan went from hurt to angry, even if he was holding it back trying to hide it from her.
“I’m sorry,” she said into the silence. “You’ve never given me a reason to think you wouldn’t take this seriously. You’ve just had so much on your shoulders and… I should have told you.”
“Yes, you should have,” Sloan said after a moment, his gaze still on her. “What happened after the procedure? Are you still having issues?”
Frowning, Becky nodded. “Yeah… but it’s not just that.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve always been able to check MyChart for results of tests, blood work and everything else. My appointments are there. My labs. Everything before…” She shook her head. “But the procedure? The cysts? There’s nothing.”
“So this MyChart should have all of that?” Sloan asked, his brows furrowing.
“Yes,” Becky nodded, then cursed under her breath as she started pacing again. “It usually takes three to seven days for pathology results, but it can take up to ten to fourteen if they need to run more tests.”
“Pathology?” Sloan frowned.
“They test the cyst after they remove it,” Becky said quietly. “To make sure it’s not something serious like cancer.”
She watched him process what she’d just said. He looked confused… but honestly, so was she.
“Did you call the doctor who did the procedure?” he asked, his voice low and controlled.
“Yes,” Becky nodded. “I was told he suddenly resigned. When I asked to speak to his assistant—the one who was there with him, they said she’d left too.” She let out a breath. “I told the receptionist I was trying to get my results.”
“And?” Sloan’s eyes, which had almost gone back to gold, darkened again.
“They got one of the nurses on the line for me and she said there was nothing in my file,” Becky whispered. “Nothing about cysts… just my past history, appointments and what I saw when I looked it up.”
The room became silent as she watched Sloan try to process everything she just told him.
“I don’t know what they did to me.” Her hands twisted together without her realizing it. Sloan reached out clasping her hands stopping her.
“We are going to figure this out,” he said, reaching up cupping her chin. “But we need to bring Slade in. This is out of my realm, Becky, and Slade is the only one I would trust with you at this point.”
Becky knew him admitting that this was out of his realm wasn’t easy for him and she felt terrible. “Sloan, I’m—”
“Don’t,” Sloan shook his head. “Just promise me that from here on out, no matter how little you think it is you always come to me about anything and everything. I will never judge you. If you get a splinter I want to know about it, is that understood?”
Becky nodded, then felt her lip curl up in a smile that had been missing from her face for weeks. “A splinter? Really?”
“Yes, a fucking splinter.” He cocked his eyebrow, then pulled her close. “I love you, Becky. You never have to face anything alone, ever.”
Laying her head against his chest, she held him as tight as she could. She’d been a fool keeping things from him, but old wounds had kept her silent. “I love you.”
He pulled away then led her to the bed. “Lay down for a while.” Sloan picked her up and laid her down, then kissed her. “Let me talk to Slade and I’ll be back. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said, trying to keep the shaking from her voice.
She watched as he turned, walked across the room then disappeared through the door.
Tears ran out of the corner of each eye disappearing into her hair as nausea hit her hard.
Placing her hands on her stomach she applied pressure praying the feeling would go away as the tears fell faster.