If I were to entertain her feelings, it would be catastrophically detrimental to her life and mine. What the hell am I thinking? I’m running a medicated slave trade; there is no room for romance in this bullshit. I shake my head, dismissing the thought. No, this is Nick’s woman. He laid claim to her, and he would have her ass skinned alive if he had any insight to her feelings. I close my eyes in disgust. Her ass will most likely end up skinned anyway. Every time someone tries to defy Nick, he gets lost in this angry tunnel vision. He goes from fine to pissed in zero seconds flat, skipping right over annoyed.
Keeping her at arm’s length is for the best, I tell myself. The asshole I’d been over the past few days is how I should’ve been with her all along. She has too much fight in her to be trained any other way. I run my fingers back and forth over my chin and delve further into that very thought; wondering what makes this girl tick. I have to ask myself, how does she still have so much of a fighting spirit after having all those drugs onboard?
She has always been very responsive to me, yet her behavioral traits never really mimicked the other women taking Blyss. It was odd how she seemed unusually coherent and in charge of her body’s sexual faculties and reactions, when she shouldn’t have been. Usually, when Blyss is at its peak level, those women would fuck a banana if I gave it to them. Yes, it is odd indeed.
I’m so immersed in my thoughts I hadn’t realized the cabbie has stopped in front of the restaurant and is eyeing me down, waiting for my payment. I blink hard, bringing myself back to the here and now. “Sorry, bud,” I mumble and toss a fifty at him. I step out of the back of the cab and make my way onto the crowded sidewalk. I’m always fashionably late by at least five minutes or so. I’m never on time, purposely planned this way. I need to control situations in my own way, and being the one to sit and wait on another party doesn’t make me feel in control.
I make my way through the crowd, fighting the city’s humid, smoggy air on the way. Off to my right, I see the restaurant’s sign illuminated above the crowd and work my way inside the Italian restaurant. Once I tell the hostess who I am, she guides me to my reserved table, and as expected, Craig Reynolds, Nick’s old colleague, is waiting for me.
When all formalities are aside and we’ve eaten dinner, we discuss business. I’m midsentence when I feel my phone vibrate in its clip. I hold my index finger up, indicating to Craig to pause and hold his thoughts.
Unclipping my phone from my waist, I glance down at the caller ID and raise both brows in surprise. Jared never calls me when I’m on the road. The fact Nick is there at the facility and he’s calling me puts me on edge. There is currently no one at the facility who can contend with Nick as his equal, and that thought alone makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Craig, excuse me please. I believe I have an urgent call and I really must answer this.” I don’t wait for the man to respond, I go ahead and swipe the screen to connect me to Jared.
“Jackson,” I answer, keeping my voice steady as I get up from the table and begin making my way toward the men’s restroom to gain some privacy.
“Travis, I think you need to get back here, quick.” Jared’s voice is urgent and panicky.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I think Nick has fallen off his rocker.”
“Dammit, Jared, this is not the time for allusive remarks. Don’t make me ask questions; spill it,” I order, growling with irritability.
Jared takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. I have to remember he doesn’t work well under certain pressures, and if I rile him up, it only serves to muddle his thought process further.
“Okay,” he says on a loud exhale, “apparently, Julianna found a way to trick the biosensors in the toilets. Her lab readings were off, indicating she was diluting her medicine. I discovered it this evening, and I wound up interrupting Nick from his dinner party to tell him. I didn’t want her going nuts on him the way she did on me, and I didn’t want her to blindside the guards either—”
I cut him off, “Jared, cut to the chase.”
“Yeah, okay. Nick demanded she get a shot, doubling the dose. He took her to her room, and well, you know…”
“Yes, Jared, I know. You can skip that part.” I know he’s off-kilter when he repeatedly says, ‘yeah, okay’, and I try not to make fun of him right now, because this shit is serious.