Thatcher shook his head. “I’ll explain another time. We’re going to be late.”
I decided to allow him to table the subject for now, but I’d be getting to the bottom of it later. I returned to my desk and grabbed my suit coat from the back of my chair, donning it. I gathered a stack of files for Patti and set them on her empty desk as we passed by. She’d gone home early for her daughter’s birthday dinner. Another event I was missing due to this stupid meeting. Not that I would have gone. I knew I’d been a son-of-a-bitch lately and wasn’t fit company.
I was surprised that Benjamin wasn’t back yet, but I figured Blair must have stopped at the store on the way home. She cooked for her and her dad most nights. It was something she’d mentioned that she loved to do. Since my driver wasn’t available, we grabbed a cab to the midtown steakhouse. I did my best to pay attention to the topic at hand and participate in the conversation, but I kept glancing at my phone, waiting for a text from Benjamin telling me that Blair was home.
Finally, at around eight, I excused myself and made my way outside. The phone only rang once before he picked up.
“What the fuck, B?” I nearly shouted.
“Calm down, Justice. She just got home. I’m headed in your direction.”
“What was the holdup? It wouldn’t have taken her this long just to go to the store.”
“She went to a doctor’s office in a building on Park before going to the store.”
My whole body stiffened, and my heart leapt into my throat. “Doctor?” I croaked. Was something wrong with my girl?
“I don’t think it’s something to worry over,” he assured me. “The only names listed on the directory were Gynecologists.”
I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I been holding. It was probably just her yearly checkup. Except…I frowned as I did the math in my head. No, she wasn’t due for another three months.
“She did come out with a piece of paper clutched in her hand, though. And when she left the store, she had a pharmacy bag.”
My eyes narrowed as his words sunk in, and the most likely scenario formed in my mind. A birth control prescription?
Over my dead fucking body.
“Get your ass here and get me home fast,” I growled before hanging up. I shot a text to Thatcher, telling him I had an emergency and he could handle the meeting on his own. We had complete trust in each other, so I wasn’t at all worried about leaving it in his hands.
Benjamin rolled to a stop in front of the restaurant and double parked so he could get out and open my door, using it as an excuse to do a visual sweep of the area. He shot me a frown, conveying his displeasure at my choice to dispatch him elsewhere and leave me unprotected.
He was in for a big surprise in a month when he found himself permanently on Blair’s detail. Initially, I’d only intended to hire a bodyguard temporarily after some serious threats had been made towards Thatcher and myself while we were in the midst of a huge international deal. But, Benjamin and I had become friends and when I realized the role Blair was going to have in my life, I kept him on, knowing he would eventually be assigned to her. Though, I hadn’t shared that plan with him yet.
I climbed into the car and lowered the partition as he got settled into the driver’s seat. “I don’t care what you have to do,” I seethed. “Who you have to bribe, what the fuck ever. Make sure that doctor and all the others in her office refuse to write Blair another prescription.”
Again, if Benjamin had questions about my demands, he kept them to himself. He simply nodded and tapped the screen in the dash to search his contacts. I rolled down the window next to me and stopped paying attention. I was lost in thought as I stared out into the dark night and enjoyed the spring breeze. I focused on the goal of getting rid of the birth control because if I thought about who she’d gone on it for, there was a good chance I would lose my mind.
I honestly had no idea what I was going to do when I got home, but I wouldn’t rest until I was sure that Blair’s body remained ripe and ready for me to breed.
As luck would have it, maybe it was a reward for my patience, Blair would be ovulating when she turned eighteen. I knew because in my fanatical need to know everything about her, I paid close attention. The day her backpack had spilled, a small side pocket had been partially unzipped and a few tampons had fallen out. From that day on, my eyes strayed to the pocket every morning, and I noticed that it was only full once a month.