Page 42 of Under Their Protection

“I will be at the hearing on Thursday to testify on your behalf, so we will meet in person then. Going into this hearing, I need you to completely distance yourself from them however necessary,” he says.

“I’ll use Rowan and Max as human shields,” I laugh. “Or Quinn.”

“Quinn is a good shield,” Theo laughs.

“That’s how I know you,” Max says. “You come to The Cherry”

“Oh shit,” I gasp and cover my mouth.

“You could have kept that one to yourself,” Rowan says.

“What?” Max says, confused.

“He was there Saturday. He was waiting outside Emma’s office,” I say withan exasperated sigh.

“Oh… Oh shit. Yeah, I should have kept that to myself,” Max laughs.

“I have so many questions right now that I don’t want to be answered,” I say.

“Such as,” Theo asks.

“Like when did you get there on Saturday? That’s basically it. That’s the source of my need to jump out of the window,” I say. “I probably shouldn’t say things like that to my psychiatrist.”

“A little dark humor never hurt anyone,” Theo smiles. “For the sake of transparency and trust, do you want me to answer that?”

“Kinda. I definitely don’t want or need to know why you were there at all, but I would like to know how long you had been there,” I say.

“A few hours,” he says, trying to remain expressionless.

“Oh… that’s wonderful. Delightful,” I say sarcastically. “Awesome. Ilovethat for me.”

“I will have Annie email you the paperwork, Okay?” Theo asks with a smirk.

“Man, why did you even ask about Max if you already knew?” I ask with a deep frown,

“Because that’s not something I should have known. It is not common that I encounter this situation.”

“Oh, dear Lord,” I sigh. “So you? … I mean you… ugh,”

“Yes, I heard. Do you have any other questions that you’d like to torture yourself with?” he asks me with a sweet smile.

Fuck, Doc. Don’t do that to me. Don’t look at me like that.You are way too off limits to fuck with my head like that.

“No. I’ll stop, for my own sake,” I say. A blonde appears on camera for just a second as she lays a sticky note on his desk and walks away

“Annie has everything sent to you,” he says. “Fill it out tonight if you can and she will get you in the system.”

“Are you always at the office this late?” I ask.

“I’m not at the office, I'm at home,” he smirks.

“But you just said..” I stop myself and shake my head. Not finishing with that topic.

“That means Annie is his Sub,” Max says, poking fun at me.

“Yeah, I got that Max. Thanks,” I say flatly.

“Annie is my wife,” Theo says, chuckling. “Fill out the paperwork, Anika.”

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