CHAPTER SIX
“I’m so sorry, Everest,” said Mike reaching for her hand. “Do you need anything? Are you going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said smiling at him. She looked down at his large, warm hand covering hers. She wanted to pull away but God help her, she couldn’t. “I’m going to just take some time for me for a while. Then, maybe, I’ll do some consulting or something.”
“I think that’s a great idea. Do you need to sell the house?” She quickly looked up at him. “Sorry. That isn’t any of my business. It’s just that I work with another firefighter who is a real estate agent on his days off.”
“Oh,” she smiled. “I don’t think so. I mean, I like my house.
I hope I don’t have to sell. I did want to ask you if you understand what this document means.
It was one of them in the envelope from Colt this morning.
I consider myself an intelligent woman but this really doesn’t mean anything to me. ”
She slid the document across to him and he looked at it a few minutes then back up at her.
“Everest, what does your company do?”
“Did,” she smirked. “I was in development under marketing. But the company itself sells software programs for medical practices, clinics and hospitals. It helps them to track patient records, align them with hospital records, medications, pharmacies, all of it. It’s supposed to make things easy for patients if they move or change doctors. No more paper records.”
“Do you remember my friends you met the other day?” he asked. She smiled, nodding at him.
“The three giants who could have been covers on magazines?”
“Uh, well, I’d like to not think of that but yes, I suppose so,” he smirked.
“Sorry,” she laughed. “They were very handsome. I mean, not as handsome as you but still handsome.”
“Ego bruised but getting better,” he nodded. “I’d like to call them and see if they can take a look at this.”
“I don’t understand,” she frowned. “Why?”
“It’s just a feeling.” He stepped away from the table and called Gator and Rush. Both men, and several others were nearby at another restaurant having a team dinner. When he returned, he put fifty-dollars on the table for the two glasses of water they’d consumed and took her hand.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“We’ve been invited to join them for dinner a few blocks over.”
He held tightly to her hand, pulling her to his opposite side, away from the road. She smiled to herself realizing that her ex-husband had never, not in thirty years, ever done anything so protective.
“Mike, this still feels really weird to me,” she said slowing their pace. He turned to stare down at her, others on the sidewalk looking at the handsome couple. His face had a smile at first, then a dark expression.
“Get over it,” he practically growled. “If you think you’re going to chase me away because of some digits on a birth certificate or driver’s license, you’ve lost your mind. I’ve waited my whole life to find a woman like you. I damn sure don’t fucking care that you’re a few years older.”
Before she could respond, he slammed his mouth over hers, one big hand gripping her waist and pulling her body tight against his own.
At first she tried to push back but then realized it was futile.
It was also stupid. He was a very good kisser and fires were igniting in her body that hadn’t seen a spark in two decades.
When he finally pulled back, he tucked her hair behind her ear, kissing the tip of her nose. He flashed that brilliant, panty-melting smile at her and she just shook her head.
“Done with the protests?” he grinned.
“For now,” she laughed.
When they walked into the room, they were both surprised to see nearly thirty men seated around the table.
“Oh, this seems very private,” she said taking a step back.
“Don’t worry about it, Everest,” grinned Gator. “We’re all friendly. Take a seat right here.”
She sat down and noticed a man to her left and then one to his left. Her brows lifted and then she nodded.
“Twins?” she smirked.
“Yes, ma’am,” laughed Eagle. “My brother and I married a mother-daughter duo.” Her eyes went wide and for a moment she thought this was Mike’s idea of a convincing trap.
“Really?” said Mike with a genuine expression. “I don’t think I knew that. Tinley and Keegan look like sisters.”
“Everyone says that,” laughed Eagle. “She’s almost fourteen years older than I am. We have triplet sons and now grandchildren.”
“Wow,” whispered Everest. She felt herself blush and turned to her right, staring at Mike.
“I didn’t know this,” he said quietly.
“I know but, but Mike, I can’t have children.” Her expression wasn’t of sadness. She’d lived with the knowledge of being barren her entire life. She’d more than accepted it.
“Good. I’m too old,” he smirked. “Thank you guys for seeing us. We were right down the road. Everest was released from her company under some strange circumstances. This morning, someone from the company brought a folder to her. Most of it was just her retirement benefit information, a Q&A sheet, that sort of thing. But tucked between it all was this.” He slid the sheet to the center of the table and six men rose, staring down at it.
“Cruz? Doc? What do you make of this?” asked Rush.
“It’s a list of unnamed drugs from a shipping container that was purposely being rerouted to another shipping container,” frowned Doc. “This drug, PXR645, what is it?”
“Let me see,” she frowned. “Our software tracks patient records, even the drugs they receive. Sometimes I have to create online learning materials for those drugs, with the help of the drug company.
“That’s an experimental drug. It’s not even in phase three trials yet.
It’s for arthritis but they’re trying to show that it regrows bone naturally.
The hope of the company was that it would replace the leading drug on the market.
If a doctor were giving that to a patient, it would show as a red flag in our software system. ”
“Does it?” asked Gator.
“Not that I’ve seen. I’m not the R&D specialist but I can tell you that the studies I’ve read say it’s a massive failure. The side effects can actually cause bone to break down.”
“And these drugs? PCiX9 and PChZED? What are they?” asked Cruz.
“The first one is for, um, well,” she blushed, “libido and penile growth. For men only and potentially those transitioning. But again, none of the studies have proven it will help with the growth. The libido? It’s more than a little problematic.
It keeps men hard for hours on end. Nothing satisfies…
” She turned a bright red, her hands wringing together in her lap.
“Everest don’t be embarrassed,” said Mike squeezing her hand.
“No. No, I’m not. Well, I am,” she said with a smirk. “I was just thinking that this morning, Colt said that Jordan had a ten-inch penis and could stay hard for hours on end.”
“Why the fuck would he share that with you?” growled Mike. She turned to him, shocked at first, then she smiled.
“He doesn’t want to work at that club, the Naked Saddle. Samantha and Abigail are forcing him to continue working there because they’re both married and that’s where they can see the men without anyone noticing.”
“What about the other drug?” asked Doc changing the subject.
“Massive failure,” she said shaking her head. “It was designed to inhibit the growth of cancer cells, particularly lymphatic cancers. It failed in a major way. No one showed reduced cells. No one was cured. Patients died faster than expected in their original diagnosis.”
“And you read all the documents on this?” frowned Rush.
“Yes. It was part of my job to understand all the clinical references, the science, usages, that type of thing. We thought it was on its way to being launched and then were told to stop work on it. I had to write the training materials for the company sales teams, but also for our customers. Plus I advised the tech group on what drugs made sense for substitution.” They all stared at her as if not understanding.
“Let me explain. Let’s say that your doctor was prescribing acetaminophen but wanted to replace it with aspirin. The system would see them as somewhat equal but would raise questions about aspirin missing some of the benefits of acetaminophen.
“If it were something more advanced, like a cholesterol drug, you might be taking a statin but suddenly the doctor prescribes hormone replacement therapy instead. It would send major red flags and question the unreasonable change.”
“Seems like a smart system,” nodded Cruz.
The room became deathly quiet, the men passing the documents around the room, then looking at one another in silence. Everest was starting to get annoyed when a big man at the end of the table stood.
“Everest, I’m Hex Vernon. I think it might be best if you came out to Belle Fleur and stayed for a few days.”