Page 33 of Thicker than Blood

Charlie scrambles to comply, gripping my shoulders for stability. His blood rushes through his veins as his pulse speedsup. If anyone can get Geordi out of my head for a few hours, Charlie can.

He’ll do nicely.

CHAPTER 11

Geordi

Ugh. I drop my forehead to the stainless steel table after hours spent staring at my blood trying to figure out what went wrong with the vaccine. I’ve got nothing.

The lab door opens and I pop my head up, quickly realizing I worked through the entire night. No wonder my eyes hurt and my stomach is painfully empty.

“Don’t tell me you worked all night again and haven’t had any food or drink except iced coffee.” Enyo has his hand on his hip but in his other hand is a bag. The scent of fresh pastries and greasy breakfast sandwiches pushes back the stale air of the lab quickly.

“You brought me food?”

“I saw the lights on and figured you pulled an all-nighter.”

My stomach growls, and I try to snatch the bag as Enyo gets closer. “Bless you.”

He laughs softly as he opens the bag to hand me my favorite glazed red velvet cake donut and a bacon and cheese croissant.

I practically moan. “You went to Betty’s.”

“Nothing but the best. You okay?”

I shake my head, already sinking my teeth into the delicious pastry. “How do they pull this off?” I stare at the donut for a second. “So moist.”

“Geordi?”

“Hmm?”

“Focus. What happened with Elias?”

I lean against the workstation, chewing and considering how to answer. “A lot.”

Enyo’s face lights up. “Do tell. Did you bang him?”

Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “You know the answer to that.”

“You did?”

I huff a laugh, blowing a few crumbs of donut with it. “No. He’s… complex. Interesting. More human than I expected.”

“In what way?”

“Just talking to him. He’s not aggressive or uncivilized. He’s very cultured and seems intelligent.”

“We sort of knew that though with our research.”

“Right, but…” I take another bite of donut to stall.

Enyo grins. “You did something. Admit it.”

“I did not.” Blowing out a breath, I replay all that happened. “The vaccine had an unexpected effect.”

Enyo’s eyes go wide as his mouth forms an O. “What?”

“We did a controlled test. First, he used his compulsion on me without any defense.”

---