Chapter Twenty-Eight
Greyson
It isn’t long before the requests from Eric begin rolling in, demanding that he speak with his sister again. In fact, it isn’t twenty-four hours after their disastrous last conversation that he reaches out with a strongly-worded email, threatening me to put her on the phone.
I let Scarlett see the email. She thins her lips as she reads it and looks away. Outwardly, she seems pissed, but I catch the flash of sadness and pain in her eyes. What he said hurt her, striking a hidden spot that only Eric could access.
If he weren’t her brother, I’d kill him for hurting her. As is, I send him an email informing him that Scarlett has an open line of communication with him… she just isn’t ready to take it.
The response I get is in the form of the phone on my office desk ringing. Scarlett left the room after reading the email, which leaves me to field the call.
I let it ring for a little while, thinking, but eventually pick up. “Hello?”
“I want to speak to her.” Eric doesn’t waste any time. “Immediately.”
I clear my throat. “As I stated in my email, nobody’s hindering her ability to talk to you. The only thing missing is her desire to.”
Over the line, I hear a loud bang, Like Eric’s just slammed his palm against his desk. “She’s my sister!” he roars.
“And she’s the love of my life,” I retort. “I won’t force her to do anything that hurts her.”
“I would never—”
“You already did,” I snap, losing my patience. “You left her in tears yesterday. The way you talked about putting a hit on her? Are you fucking kidding me, Eric?”
“I was trying to illustrate a point.”
“Instead, you illustrated the sort of man you are. Give her time to cool down. She has no obligations to do anything she doesn’t want to.”
After the power Scarlett gained yesterday, that’s mostly true. The playing field has evened out. Not completely—Scarlett still can’t leave unless I die—but enough so that she’s no longer helpless. I find that I don’t mind the change as much as I thought I might.
“She’s my sister,” Eric reiterates.
“You keep saying that like you think it’ll change something. It won’t. I’m not going to force her to talk to you. Now, if you get yourself in check, I might encourage her to do so, but at no point will I tie her to a chair and put the phone to her ear. She’d castrate me.”
Eric falls silent at that. A full minute passes, then two.
His angry breaths start to even out into slightly calmer ones.
I count the seconds as they tick by, waiting for whatever bullshit he spews next.
If Eric were anyone but Scarlett’s brother, I’d kill him for making her cry.
As is, I have to let him live, but there are no requirements for me to give him anything but bare-minimum civility.
His alliance is with Cain, not with me… and Cain’s used up any of the goodwill there was between us.
“You really love her,” Eric finally says. “She’s only been there for a few weeks—”
“Try close to two months. Good to know that you keep such careful track of how long it’s been since your own fucking sister disappeared.” I have no idea why Scarlett loves this guy. He’s an absolute prick.
“I was rounding down for the sake of not losing my mind.” Eric exhales a long, strained breath. “Does she love you, as well?”
“She cares about me.” That much I know is true, otherwise she wouldn’t be so broken up over the memory of nearly killing me. She wouldn’t have stayed by my side, day and night, while I was recovering. What we have between us is twisted and screwed up, but it’s real. That’s what matters.
I certainly wish our meet-cute hadn’t been me tasering her and dumping her in a cell… but I had my reasons at the time. I can honestly say I will never do anything like that again.
If Eric ever knew about that, he’d find a way to kill me.
He has a strange goddamn way of showing it, but I know he loves Scarlett.
I can hear it in his voice. I don’t know the extent of their history, but it’s obvious they adore each other.
Unfortunately, that means that once Scarlett gets over her anger and pain, I’ll need to share some of her attention with Eric.
Just like I have to share her with that goddamn cat. If I didn’t see how the furry demon helps her, grounds her, I’d have already made it into a rug.
“She more than cares about you.” Eric’s voice is quieter now, resigned.
I’m tempted to tell him that care might be the only thing I ever get from her, but that would involve explaining my crimes and sins against her, and I’ll avoid that at all costs.
“Just… have her give me a call when she’s ready. Please. I miss her—I want to see her.”
“I’ll pass it on. I won’t make any promises on her behalf, though.”
“Yeah.” Eric’s voice is resigned, and a few moments later, he hangs up.
I recline in my seat, releasing a long sigh. Scarlett said she was heading to the greenhouse after I showed her the email, which is just fine by me—because I have an appointment in medical I need to get to, and there are several things I need to go over.
Dr. Ross greets me in his office after I’ve been scanned, had bloodwork done, and wasted an hour going through various tests.
He gazes at his computer screen, going over all of the results. “Your MRI looks good,” he murmurs. “As do your scars. Your immune system is very healthy, and the worst of the damage has cleared up.” His lips tip up into a smile. “My drug is working wonders, as anticipated.”
“Is that why you were barred from practicing medicine in any official capacity?” I ask curiously. “Because you anticipated something wonderful from an unregulated, extremely powerful substance?”
Ross’s upper lip curls into a snarl. “The FDA pulled accusations out of nowhere. They disregarded the years’ worth of studies I’d done on animals, and the promising indication with my human test subjects—”
“They probably ignored the animals because you moved onto human trials without seeking approval,” I point out. “You also happened to do this from a fucking basement in your mansion. Are you really surprised they took issue with you?”
I’m not sure why I’m being antagonistic or reminding Ross of his place. The drugs he gave me did work wonders; they sped up the healing process by at least 50%. I think I’m still pissed that he didn’t give me the full report on Scarlett’s health when the bombing happened.
“In any case,” Ross says, sidestepping the minefield I’ve created, “I’d estimate about three weeks before you’re fully functional and prepared to be back in the field. I’ll be giving you another injection to speed healing in a moment—”
“No more.” I trust my body to heal on its own from here on out.
Ross parts his lips to disagree, but a single glare from me seals them again.
“Very well,” he says after a few moments. “Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?”
“Yes. Why didn’t you give Scarlett the drug for her burns?”
Ross blinks slowly. “She’s not an operative. My supply is limited, and formulating the drug requires outsourcing that takes a lot of time. I didn’t want to waste it on her—”
“Shut. Your fucking. Mouth,” I seethe. “She might not be an operative, but she’s as important as any of us.
More, even, since she’s creating infrastructure that’ll allow us to feed ourselves—which makes her much more valuable than you.
I have five other doctors on staff—I don’t need you.
All of us will need her.” I let those words sink in for a few beats.
“In the future, you will give her the best care you have to offer, and you will never fail to bring me a full report on her health again.”
Ross swallows hard, cheeks flushing with either anger or fear. Maybe a mixture of both. “Very well,” he says tightly. “Anything else?”
“Yes. Is she suitable for pregnancy yet?” One surefire way to keep her brother out of our business and keep Scarlett with me forever is to knock her up.
I never even considered fatherhood before her, but the idea of making a child with her… of watching her belly grow round with my heir… it’s unbelievably attractive. She’d be an amazing mother, and I think I would be a good father with her. For her, and for our child.
“From everything I’ve seen, yes,” Ross says, clicking around on his computer.
He squints at something for a few moments before nodding.
“Her weight has improved, and her bloodwork is good. As long as she remains on an upward trajectory, I don’t see any complications in a pregnancy…
besides one.” He leans back in his chair.
“Forgive me for my forwardness, but do you truly believe this fortress is the best place to raise a child?”
I believe I’m not going to be the only man thinking along the lines of knocking up his woman.
Max has always wanted to be a father… I hope to fuck Cain will never procreate, but that might be in his plans, as well.
The fortress is changing and evolving; I think there are more changes coming that might make this place reasonably conducive to raising families.
I have every intention of building a house in the farmlands for me and Scarlett, a few miles away from the rest of the HQ buildings. There, surrounded by nature and animals, will be a good place to raise a family.
“You let me worry about that,” I say after a few beats. “Do you have records of her ovulation cycle?” In other words, which days I’ll be keeping her in bed all day and night, fucking my cum so deep inside her it has to take root.
Ross searches something on his computer. “I have notes from the gynecologist she saw to get her IUD out and get an STD test done about six months ago,” he murmurs. “Give me a moment to read through them.”
STD test. Fucking insulting. I’m clean—before Scarlett, I always suited up.
“Would you happen to know when she last menstruated?” Doc asks.