Chapter Thirteen
Ahearn
Holding back my anger as the railway security guard led Bari away from me was nearly more than I could handle, which, when I thought about it later, made no sense at all. Why would it bother me to be rid of the bothersome bit of baggage for a time? It wasn’t as though I’d voluntarily saddled myself with him.
“You can leave me now,” I snarled at the second guard who seemed content to lean against the wall between myself and the aisle that Bari had disappeared down.
“Probably,” he agreed with a half shrug, “but I’m not going to.” When I glared at him, he chuckled. “You might as well go back into your roomette and relax. Once your Omega is feeling better, he’ll be returned to you.”
“Ifhe wants to be,” I amended sourly.
The guard cocked a brow. “Do you have a reason to think he won’t want to be? Are you one of those pricks who slaps him around?”
“Of course not!” I disputed, aghast. Granted, I couldn’t recall the relationship I’d apparently had with Bari, but I certainly had never been abusive. Had I?
“Then I wouldn’t worry about it,” the man said carelessly. “He’s pregnant and obviously under stress. Once he calms down and his stomach is settled, I’m sure everything will be fine.”
I spent the better part of three hours seething in the small roomette as the countryside flew by. I jumped to my feet when a knock came at the door, but it was only the guard who I’d begun to suspect was acting as my jailer.
“Dinner is being served,” he said cheerfully, glancing at the cell phone screen he held. “Your Omega has already eaten, but the medical staff wants to observe him until they’re sure the antiemetics he was given are working, so you may as well go to the dining car.”
I sighed. “He was supposed to have physical attention when you took him away,” I huffed. “You’ve thrown off the schedule.”
The guard’s eyebrows shot up. “Say what now?”
I groaned. “Never mind. Which direction to the dining car?”
The meal was some sort of strange chicken breast with a scoop of soggy mixed vegetables and a baked potato that needed several more minutes in the coals to truly be considered edible, but as I hadn’t had a proper meal since Galen had left the estate in protest of my treatment of Bari, I managed to choke it down.
When I returned to the small roomette that was to serve as our personal space for the next two days, I was surprised to find that the chairs had been folded down into a decent sized bed and the upper bunk folded down from the ceiling. Bari was already fast asleep on the lower bed, his head on a fluffy pillow and a warm looking blanket covering him – neither of which had been in the room when I’d explored it earlier.
Seeing the guard still leaning against the wall, I hesitated.
“You can go in,” he assured me. “Bari has been asleep for about an hour. His stomach seems to have settled and he has a few more doses of the medication in case he starts to feel poorly again.”
“I see. Why are you still here?”
“Other than to remind you that we’re going to be watching?” He gave a disinterested shrug. “No reason.” He slid the door closed behind me and I watched through the glass as his long strides took him away into the dimly lit aisle.
Drawing the privacy drape, I studied the man huddled under the blanket. According to the schedule I’d been ordered to follow, he’d already missed two hours of physical contact -I refused to call itsnuggle time- and would be due for another two hours at first light. Always the pragmatist, I decided it would make more sense to sleep in the same berth, providing the contact he needed as we slept.
Shrugging out of my clothes, I folded them neatly and stacked them on the floor. Left in my underdrawers, I slipped under the blanket and pressed myself to Bari’s back, surprised to find that he was still fully dressed under the cover.
“Sir?” Bari’s voice was thick with sleep as I tried to ease his shirt over his head without disturbing him.
For a reason I didn’t understand, it aggravated me to hear him address me so formally. “I’m just taking your clothes off,” I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.
“No!”
Since he bolted up and pulled the blanket tighter, I suspected I missed the mark.
“I’m sorry. I’ll sleep above,” he said quickly, his eyes darting around the room as if searching for an escape.
Nearing the end of my patience, I barely held back a sigh. “You’ll do no such thing,” I said, trying to sound reasonable. “First, you’re in no condition to be climbing a ladder. Second, you have already missed two hours of mandatory physical contact and have two more hours coming due. The only logical solution is for us to pass the night in the same bed and get caught up on your treatment that way.”
“I don’t need it,” Bari said, the words tumbling out in a rush as he crowded toward the window behind him. “I’ll tell them that you did it, but I’ll be fine without. God’s truth, I won’t tell.” He gulped. “I’m sure that the attorney can cancel this insane agreement, if I can just call him,” he pleaded in a pathetic whimper. “Please don’t.”
Confusion swept through me. Don’twhat?He knew he needed physical contact; the court had been very specific about it. Oh, Gods. Had he thought I was removing his clothing to forcesexualcontact on him?
