It was frustrating just how easily he got under my skin. I hated how well he knew the secrets that I wanted to keep buried and worried about what else he could find out about my life without consent.
My strategy in avoidance had been successful thus far, ensuring I left the house early and returned from work late. The only real interaction I had with him was for research and to deal with the cuff on his wrist. I’d let Matt take the reins on everything else. The men hadn’t destroyed the house and Matt sported no new bruises, so I assumed it couldn’t be going badly.
We’d managed two whole weeks in our new routine, and I contemplated how much longer we’d be able to maintain it without incident. Things felt too quiet. Too easy.
“Excuse me, are you Dr Scott?”
When I looked up from the PCR plate on the lab bench, I was faced with a beautiful woman. She had a kind face, framed by long, mousy brown hair, and she was heavily pregnant.
“Yes,” I said. “That’s me.”
As far as I knew, none of the deities were due at the facility today, allowing for the staff to plough on with experiments and analysis without distraction. But stranger still was having a Goddess I had no connection with seeking me out.
“I’m Sloan,” she smiled. “Gareth said he spoke to you about running some observations.”
The door to the lab opened as I processed her words, and Erik strode in with a smile on his face, wide enough to split it in half. He came to a stop just behind the woman.
“Nice to see you again, Quentin,” he greeted me as if we were old friends.
I wished I could return the sentiment, but considering our first meeting, I couldn’t help but feel wary of him. Erik had pulled up so many memories and feelings that I’d work hard on suppressing. It tainted the airy nature he possessed.
“Hi,” I muttered and turned back to Sloan. “Sorry, what observations did he need?”
As I spoke, I pulled out my phone and opened my emails. Something from Gareth had dropped into my inbox earlier, but I’d left it, deciding it could wait until break. But break had come and gone without me leaving the lab and the email remained unopened. Admin had never thrilled me. I longed to be in the lab, practising my craft.
Squinting, I moved my glasses from the top of my head and skimmed through the email.
“He’s interested in your pregnancy,” I murmured, feeling uncomfortable.
Most things in the project had been pre-defined, but we were slowly realising just how unpredictable this entire situation was. Pregnancy had not been on the cards. Never outlined in a single document.
“He told me you were the best he has,” Sloan said kindly. I forced myself not to roll my eyes. “And that I can trust you with my bump because you had some prior experience.”
Sloan placed a protective hand on the swell of her stomach, and Erik wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“We can trust you to be careful, can’t we, Quentin?” he said to me.
“Of course,” I replied.
I’d worked with pregnancies throughout the past few years in the lab, so it wasn’t uncharted territory. What was uncharted was the pregnancy of a Goddess.
“And I prefer to go by Scott,” I added, looking up at the pair and focusing on something I had a little control over. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
The use of my first name reminded me too much of my parents. Between Erik’s powers and Matthew’s questions, it’d left me off kilter, and I was trying my hardest to centre myself again.
“Scott,” Erik said quietly, looking disappointed that I’d taken the morsel of familiarity away from him. “Okay.” Unlike Grayson, he didn’t look ready to destroy my lab in return for not getting what he wanted.
“If you follow me through to the patient room,” I told them.
Pocketing my phone, I snapped my gloves off and threw them in the bin. The PCR would have to be redone later. A waste of reagents and time, all because I had avoided paperwork.
Each lab contained a patient room — a small space with a bed against the wall to allow for privacy away from the main space. The unspoken reason they existed was so staff could pull late nights without the need to return home. There wasn’t a single person on the entire team who planned to drag their feet on this project.
I gestured to the bed as we walked into the room. “If you get yourself comfortable. Erik, there’s a seat by there.”
Sloan popped herself onto the bed with extreme grace for someone who was so far along in their pregnancy. Erik sat in the chair and watched, who I assumed was his wife, with such adoration that I felt like I was intruding.
Turning away from them, I took a seat at the desk in the room and switched on the desktop, opening a new patient file. I found the email again and split the screen, referencing Gareth’s requests as I set things up.
