Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Patrick
Watching Charlotte break down while begging us to protect her son has my fury reaching dangerous proportions.
Fucking hell.
I don’t care if she shot him in the face while he was asleep. I’m confident most human beings don’t take a step like that unless they’re desperate on a level that would be hard for the rest of us to comprehend.
“I’m going to take Charlotte up and let her rest for a bit.” Malachy stands with her in his arms.
“No, I need to spend some time with Lucky. I can’t keep asking Miriam to watch him,” Charlotte says, sniffling.
“It’s hardly a burden,” I tell her. “It gets her out of ordering around the rest of the staff. Even I had fun keeping an eye on him this morning.”
“Let’s go up and let you rest for a bit.” Malachy strides toward the door, proving that conversation isn’t up for debate. “Then you can wash your face, and we can come down for some lunch.”
Cormac pushes to his feet from where he was kneeling near Malachy and Charlotte’s chair. He waits for the door to close behind Malachy. “I’m going to move up the timeline for my guest. He gets the express hell treatment.”
I would laugh under normal circumstances, but everything feels much more serious after Charlotte spilled her guts.
Dr. Davis shows up less than two hours later, and Malachy must understand that he’s too close to the situation. He passes on being present for the visit, instead stating he’s going to stay and play with Lucky.
“This is where you’d like me to complete my examination?” the doc asks, frowning.
He’s been here many times before, so he knows it’s my office.
“Unless you need somewhere with a bed,” I say, pushing the door open. “But based on your fee just for coming out to the house, you should whip out that prescription pad and make it rain whatever medications I ask for.”
“God, I miss your fathers,” Dr. Davis mutters, pushing up his glasses and walking over to greet Charlotte.
I make my way to my desk, sitting on the edge. I intend to supervise this entire endeavor, and not only so Charlotte isn’t alone with a man she doesn’t know.
Davis is growing less generous in his old age. Perhaps it’s time to find a new physician. One who’s less afraid of jail time in their retirement years and more concerned with stacking cash for when they eventually get to retirement. Almost anyone can be bought for the right price.
“As I’ve said,” Davis says, annoying me even more, “I’m not an omega specialist. Everything I’m seeing is telling me it’s not best to prescribe suppressants for over a twenty-four-month period.”
If Charlotte knew that tidbit of information, she could have lied. I still can’t decide if the doctor thinks he’s doing me a favor by refusing to fill her prescription for suppressants. If she fails to take them, logic would say that she will go into heat.
I might be a dick, but I’m not a predatory dick. She’ll find her way to my bed if she wants to be there. If she doesn’t, then I’ll have done my good deed for the year by protecting her and her son.
What I don’t want is biology forcing the issue.
“She’s got an active prescription currently, so a doctor with more understanding of omega biology than you has okayed it,” I say as Charlotte’s eyes meet mine. “Her apartment is a hot zone right now, but I’ll go over there myself if you don’t write the damn prescription.”
He really is on my last goddamn nerve.
“Do you have any idea what pill you’re on in the cycle?” the doc asks. “Suppressants are like birth control pills in the sense there’s a specific amount of medication in each dose. If you jump around, it could confuse your system even more.”
“Somewhere in the second month,” Charlotte says. “Maybe the second or third week…somewhere around there.”
“Okay,” Dr. Davis mutters. “This is going well. I’m going to write you a script for one pack of suppressants. That should get you through the emergency. Do you happen to know the name of the brand and the dosage you’re prescribed?”
She hops out of the chair and heads for the door. “It’s listed in my recent prescriptions on the pharmacy app in my phone. Give me one minute. I’ll be right back.”
The door closes loudly behind her.
Davis turns to me, raising a bushy eyebrow. “She’s beautiful, but are you sure you want the baggage of a kid that isn’t yours?”
The top of my head tingles, and I briefly wonder if it’s possible for my head to physically explode.
My mother wasn’t perfect—she had her own demons, that’s for damn sure—but one thing I’ve always respected is how strongly she advocated for Malachy. She loved him like he was her own, and she went to bat with my fathers about bringing him home once and for all.
“Charlotte is here while we keep her and her son safe,” I grind out.
Has he always been this insufferable?
Or am I more on edge than normal?
“Yeah, sure.” He chuckles. “We all know shit happens. I’m pretty sure that’s how your father got you. You want me to give her a birth control shot and check for STIs?”
Does he seriously carry that shit around in his medical bag?
Exhaling heavily, I wonder how hard it would be to find a new doctor for Malachy. Davis has been handling most of his care off the books to avoid having a diagnosis on his medical records.
“That’s her call,” I growl, swiping a hand over my face.
Fuck.
The urge to rip his head off is strong.
Am I going feral?
Maybe the stress of running our family is finally getting to me.
It’s getting under my skin that he waited until she was out of the room to bring it up, then acted like it was my call.
Wait until you have the prescription and it’s filled. You can fire him at any point down the line.
I sound like Wilder, but I need a goddamn vacation.
Charlotte sticks close to my side as we walk Dr. Davis out and hang around the entryway for Keegan to come pick up her prescription.
She’s not leaving the house smelling as potent as she does, and I already told him to pay cash no matter the cost, so we don’t have to wait for them to try to run her insurance.
If she even has insurance, which I don’t know for a fact that she does.
The front door flies open, and Keegan isn’t alone. O’Riordan is at his side, and they’re loaded down with bags. In fact, the entire area around them is filled with boxes.
“Miriam has access to one of your credit cards.” Keegan laughs. “She bought out half the fecking store.”
“Of course she did.” I chuckle but frown as Charlotte rests her head against my chest. “You doing okay, lovely?”
She shakes her head. “Everything is spinning, and I feel like I might vomit.”
Where the hell is Malachy?
He’s much more adept at being a caregiver than I am.
Still, I’m the one here.
I give them instructions to drop the items wherever and shove the prescription at Keegan as soon as they’re done. I already texted him her personal information, and I felt a little like a creep when I realized her birth year. She’s younger than Vanessa, for God’s sake.
Charlotte has spent all of her adult life as a mother, and that blows my mind.
She never had the opportunity to enjoy her late teens and early twenties.
She’s been responsible for caring for Lucky since she was little more than a kid herself.
She deserves to know what it’s like to be pampered for a change.
Apparently the spending spree wasn’t only sanctioned by Malachy; he helped. Hell, even if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have complained about Miriam spending a few thousand dollars on Charlotte and Lucky.
Malachy politely let us know that he promised to assemble Lucky’s indoor playhouse. Then he gave me a look that I’m still trying to decipher. I believe he was indicating that he wanted me to spend some time caring for Charlotte, but he should know how little experience I have with such things.
I’m going to fucking try, but that doesn’t mean I won’t accidentally screw up.
I stand outside the bathroom door in the downstairs hallway, listening to the violent vomiting as I search omega facts on my phone.
Apparently stopping suppressants in the middle of a pack isn’t recommended for a multitude of reasons.
It can cause flu-like symptoms, anxiety, and fevers as the omega detoxes from the medication.
It could last a few hours or a few weeks, and any number of missed days increases the likelihood of a breakthrough heat.
The sounds coming from Charlotte indicate pure fucking misery, and I don’t know what to do. I could possibly talk Miriam into switching with me. Then Miriam could help Charlotte while she’s ill, and I could take over with Lucky.
That feels shitty, though.
She’s had a really rough few days, and after she spilled her guts this morning, I don’t want her to think I’m abandoning her. Even the thought makes my stomach tighten, and I frown, shoving my phone into my pocket and rubbing at the ache.
Lucky and Miriam come down the hallway from the opposite end, and the boy throws himself at my legs.
“Where’s Mommy?” he asks, shoving his finger into his mouth as I pick him up. He must be cutting molars or something because he did the same thing earlier.
“She’s not feeling good,” I tell him, running my fingers through his messy blond hair.
“She okay?” He rests his cheek on my shoulder, and I smile. He must be getting ready for his nap.
“She will be. I’m going to take care of her while Mimi keeps an eye on you.” I rock from side to side as I study his face.
Vanessa was right, he does look like he could pass for my kid. Not that it matters, but it does make me consider if I’m ready for children. Accepting that Charlotte is ours will mean stepping into a parenting role from day one, not some imaginary future endeavor.
I’m not as annoyed by children as I thought I would be prior to him coming to stay with us.
I assumed kids were something we would tackle one day to secure succession, and I’ve always intended to be more present than my fathers were with the three of us.
I’ve just never been genuinely excited over the prospect of having to care for another human being, especially one that comes out essentially helpless.
Then again, I thought the excitement for kids would come with the lines on the stick.
Maybe that’s stupid.
I guess I never put any real thought into it.
“He’s about to fall asleep,” Miriam says softly.
“We brought you a bottle of water and a washcloth for Charlotte.” She holds them out, and I take them.
“You should take her upstairs and get her settled into bed. I’ll keep Lukas down here while he naps.
I didn’t only shop for him, I got necessities for Charlotte too.
You’ll need to go through the bags, but there are ice packs, fever reducers, an omega thermometer, and a few other things that might come in handy.
” She holds out her arms, and I twist, stretching forward to make it easier for her to take Lucky.
Miriam scoops him up, and a weird-ass feeling hits my stomach.
I need to look after Charlotte, but I didn’t mind holding Lucky.
He wanted me to pick him up.
Well, if this is even a fraction of the guilt Charlotte experiences every time he’s out of her sight…
I officially get it.