Page 107 of Release Me

Ihate breaking promises.

Especially to Nadia.

I promised her we’d be back home by Sunday night, but on Monday morning, we, once again, woke up in the Presidential suite at Cerros with the heavy weight of worry and frustration pressing down on us because no one can tell me with absolute certainty that Beau Montgomery is not in New Haven.

It hasn’t even been a full forty-eight hours, and she’s already grown impatient.

She wants to go back home, and I want her safe, so I can’t let her. There are too many unknowns. Deep down, I know that she gets that, but it doesn’t stop her from being mad at me when I explain it again. We’ve had the same conversation five different times, and every time, she gives me the cold shoulder at the end of it.

“You can’t ignore me forever.” I reach over and take her hand, linking our fingers together before pulling them into my lap. She doesn’t pull away, and I’d like to attribute that to her softening a little, but I know it probably has more to do with her not wanting to make another scene in the doctors office she apparently sprinted out of the day she found out she was pregnant.

“I’m not ignoring you, Sebastian. I’m just not talking to you.”

“What’s the difference, precious?”

The daggers she shoots me with her eyes are sharp enough to cut through bone, so I press my lips together and resign myself to a life of silence. At least until we get out of here. Once we’re alone again, I’m going to eat her pussy and talk her through every orgasm I ring from her body.

“Stop thinking so loud,” she hisses, a slight red tint taking over her cheeks as desire battles annoyance for the primary spot in her eyes. When she’s not angry with me, she’s desperate and needy, begging me to fuck her. Just the thought of how she begged last night makes my dick throb. Nadia slaps my thigh with her free hand. “Sebastian, I’m serious.”

“I’m just sitting here, Nadia, what do you want me to do? Not be attracted to you?” Leaning over the arms of both of our seats, I place my lips at her ear. “Not think you’re the most beautiful woman in this room? Not think about how unfair it is that your pussy tastes sweeter these days? Not wonder if I’m going to get a chance to taste you today?”

I definitely am. I know it. She knows it.

“Hendrix!” A voice calls, forcing us to jump away from each other. Several pairs of eyes swing in our direction, watching as I stand and help Nadia out of her seat. The nurse standing at the door smiles broadly at us as we approach.

“Nadia! So nice to see you back.” She glances at me and then back at Nadia. “More security?”

“No.” Nadia laughs. “This is my boyfriend, Sebastian. Sebastian, this is Amanda.”

“Oh, so you’re Dad?”

My chest swells with pride at being called Dad even as I bristle internally at the fact that the title of boyfriend doesn’t come close to capturing what I want to be to Nadia.

“That’s right,” I say, finally. “I’m Dad.”

“Well let’s hope you do a better job of keeping this little lady in the office than those other guys did,” Amanda quips, holding the door to the back open for us to pass through. Nadia doesn’t appreciate her humor, I can tell by the way she turns stiff as Amanda takes her vitals. And when we’re settled in the exam room, waiting for the doctor, she rolls her eyes long and hard.

“Am I going to have to hear jokes about that throughout this entire pregnancy?” she asks, her tone sharp and defensive. “I was in shock. I’m sure I’m not the first person to run out of here.”

If I say what I’m thinking—which is that the staff in this building can probably count on one hand the number of times they’ve had a patient flee, leaving a confused security team in their wake—we’ll end up fighting, so I opt for silence and a supportive nod. Nadia sees right through it, and her eyes turn into thin slits just as the door to the exam room opens. My savior is a Black woman in a white coat with laughing brown eyes that answer Nadia’s question about whether or not constant jokes are going to be a part of her experience here.

To her credit, Dr. Suffrant tries to hold it together. She really does, but the moment Nadia shakes her head and says, “Not you too,” she falls apart. Her laughter erupts inside the room, bouncing off of all four walls and infecting Nadia. Within seconds, she’s joining in, cracking up at the expense of her former self.

“I was in shock,” she repeats, giving the doctor an explanation she didn’t ask for as she sits down on the stool across from us.

“I know, darling, and I’m so sorry for laughing. I’ve just never seen anything like that in all my years of practicing medicine. Thank you so much for coming back in.”

“Thank you for being able to see me again so quickly,” Nadia says, sobering up.

“Of course, I was happy that you called. We have so much to discuss, but first, please introduce me to your partner.”

Both women turn their attention to me, and Nadia makes quick work of the introductions. Once again, that word, boyfriend, grates against my skin when she says it, and the pain of it makes it hard to be pleasant. Hard, but not impossible. I take Dr. Suffrant’s hand when she offers it to me, giving her a genuine smile because I’ve read great things about her and the work she does to keep Black women from dying while giving birth. When she hears my last name, her eyes spark with recognition.

“Adler, as in the Adler wing at the New Haven Regional Medical Center?”

I nod. “Yes, ma’am, although, I believe it was my mother who made the donation that resulted in the wing being given the family name.”

“I see.” Dr. Suffrant nods politely before turning her attention back to Nadia. “I assume you’re here to discuss your options, correct?”

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