Page 15 of The Beast's Baby
“Maybe if you could understand the scale…” he tried, trailing off. “It’s about eradicating—”
“Disease,” she filled in. “Yes. I know. But this is my body. I’m not an incubator. I don’t want to be a mother.”
“You won’t have to be,” he said. “We’ll have people standing by willing to… adopt, if…”
“Do you even hear yourself?” she spat. “Get the fuck out.”
He took a step back at the venom in her eyes, then walked past her to the door. Without another word, he was gone and all she could do was let the tears come. She went to the bedroom, threw herself on her bed, burying her face in her pillow to try to hide the worst of it from view.
Bathroom, she told herself. Have a shower. Cry in private.
But she didn’t want to.
She wanted the fuckers to see at least some of it.
She wanted Jay to fucking see it.
***
The wolf they brought in was named Christopher. He had cropped, blonde hair and ice blue eyes. His smile was tentative but beautiful. He was actually a stunning man, with broad shoulders that were defined even in the shirt he was wearing. And he had big hands, which she liked.
Still, she felt empty.
“Christopher is in IT,” Jay said.
She turned a withering glare at him, but he held it for a moment, as though he wanted to be encouraging. She wanted to bite him. Dickhead.
“I’m in nothing at the moment,” she said, turning her attention to Christopher as she added, “That’s why I’m here. For the cash. I thought IT paid well.”
“Not well enough,” Christopher replied, small smile widening a tad. “So, did you pick me or?”
“No, I didn’t,” she said.
He nodded slowly. “This is awkward then,” he said.
“It’s awkward either way,” she said, getting another slow nod out of him.
“I mean, do you want to do it?” he asked.
She was beginning to feel like he was an utter waste of space because, quite obviously, she didn’t want to do it. She supposed she wasn’t being obvious enough and turned her attention back to Jay, deciding to ignore the specimen next to her on the couch until he got the hint. Of course, he didn’t. Instead, she felt his hand on her thigh as he said, softly, “Hey.”
She got to her feet at the unwanted touch and, in the exact same moment that she did, Jay moved as well. As he’d already been standing, his movement involved stepping over the low coffee table to place himself between her and Christopher. And as Jay did, it left her with the impression of him being nothing less than a fucking mountain of a man. She realized how much taller he was than she’d given him credit for. In fact, he was broad enough to completely block her view of Christopher.
“Thanks, but I think that’s it for now,” Jay said pointedly. “Let’s wrap this up and… I don’t know, maybe try another time.”
She noticed he pressed his thumb to the smart watch, calling for whoever would come to escort Christopher back to his cell. The relief that filled her was overwhelming enough to have her almost lean her forehead between his shoulder blades. But only almost. He was the one who had put her in this position in the first place, wasn’t he? He was the asshole who wouldn’t save her from this situation.
But…
Hadn’t he just saved her from the situation?
Hadn’t he just stepped up, stepping in and over a table to protect her from the wolf attempting to grope her in search of compliance? As if that was how it was done? As if touching someone without their consent was okay, especially in the setting they were in. As though it was fucking expected of them. Because it was.
But…
Jay hadn’t complied.
He was on her side.
