CHAPTER 5
They offered to wait, but I kissed them goodnight in the room and went down to the medical unit without them. I don’t know how long this will take…
“You are good to go.” Dr. Love points at the darkness of my empty uterus and the channel of my vagina too. “None of the sticky stuff anywhere it shouldn’t be.”
“Really?”
She nods and then she looks at me with her brows raised curiously. “Is there something I should know? Or do you want me to get the room readout?”
“Wait, there’s a room readout?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not a recording, it’s a… basic summary of what happened. For diagnostics. Bullet points, really.”
“Oh.” I don’t know if that’s much better. “You don’t need to pull the information. Mooralan came inside of me kind of on accident, but Ferrok… ate it.”
“Oh… she looks away as if she’s sorting through a mental database. “That’s convenient.”
She taps through a few things on her screen… “You booked the room tonight, not them?”
“To be honest, I didn’t think I could sleep with them unless I had you on standby.”
“Well… as long as you don’t swallow your Sovian’s’s penile sphere, and as long as he’s there to clean up after your Bliteen lover, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t have your fun off the clock too.”
“Are you sure?”
She signs something on her pad while she nods. “I’ve put notes in your file. And if there’s ever an emergency, I’m not far away.”
“Thank you.”
“You are more than welcome.” She winks at me. “Have fun.”
“I will.”
Stopping by my locker room, I switch to sweats for the walk home and as I go, I try to ignore the strange sensation of being watched.
As soon as I get into my apartment, the message light flares.
I can turn off my phone, but the system keeps the messages left behind and very helpfully lets me know they’re there.
The flashing light has an urgency that makes my skin crawl, so I listen to the messages.
They get increasingly frantic. The threats vanish. She’s not lashing out anymore, she’s just scared.
My phone rings as soon as I turn it back on and I answer.
“Hi mom,” I say softly, but she doesn’t greet me back.
A shuddering breath of relief passes through the earpiece.
I know that particular sound. She’s been crying. “Jenny, please,” she says.
I don’t remember the last time she called me Jenny.
“I will come home and help you sort things out. But this is your loan. You are going to have to repay it.”
“Just come home. We’ll talk.” She thinks that if I am there, I’ll give in.
Who knows? Maybe I will.