Page 38 of Merciless Promise
“Ekaterina had some blood work done last week, and we’re anxious to find out the results of it,” Kingston said to her.
“Ahh, yes. I saw some new results in the chart. Let’s go ahead and go over some of those,” the woman said, and I sighed softly.
A week before, I’d gotten pricked like a pincushion, so it wasn’t surprising that it took her so long to go over everything. I had no idea what one hormone was from another, but it lookedlike everything was good on my end. I saw Kingston visibly relax at that, and now maybe he would lay off me.
As with everything else in my life, though, a few minutes later, everything came crashing down around me. The doctor notated a few things in my chart, and Kingston had a final question for her. As soon as he had gotten the “I have something I want to know” out, I began squirming in my seat.
“What is it, Sir?” she asked him.
“Although Ekaterina isn’t pregnant now, there is no reason to think she might not become pregnant in the near future, is there?”
“Pregnant now?” she asked before looking over at me. “I wasn’t aware that you were actively trying. If so, do you not want me to refill your Lo Loestrin?”
“Lo what?” Kingston asked.
“Lo Loestrin. It’s a low-dose birth control pill that?—”
“Birth control?” he asked in a low tone. The look he shot me sent chills racing down my spine. “You must be mistaken. Ekaterina hasn’t been on any birth control in the last two months. We’ve been trying for a baby.”
At this moment, I wished for the floor to open up and swallow me whole. I wasn’t sure if it was the panicked look on my face or the overly concerned one on his, but Dr. Kane looked between us. “My nurse had indicated that Ekaterina had called in to request another six-month supply just the other day, on...” She paused to look in her chart before finally looking back up. “Three days ago, to be exact.”
“I see,” he said.
She looked over to me. “Unless my nurse got her wires crossed. Sometimes, things like that happen,” she offered up, and I ran with it.
“Ahh, yes. I’d actually called in to tell her that I didnotneed the next refill. She must’ve misheard me.”
“That’s probably it. I apologize. Your chart will be reflected.”
I wanted to sigh in relief, but the way that Kingston was now staring at me, I knew he hadn’t believed that for a moment. And he wasn’t wrong. While I had agreed to do this, a part of me was scared. Terrified, even. I couldn’t share those thoughts with Kingston, because he wanted only one thing from me, and I was now denying him of it.
The Brannington men had always lived under the notion that the rest of us owed them something—first, his brother, Princeton, and cousin, Cillian, and most definitely Kingston himself. They were under the impression that their word was bond, and the rest of us had to submit to them in whichever way they wanted. I could’ve told Kingston that I didn’t want to have a child right now, but he would’ve still fucked me unconscious to get one, anyway. It was no different than his younger brother not taking no for an answer, which set a deadly chain of events into motion.
“Will there be anything else today?” the doctor asked us.
“No,” we both answered in unison, and I added. “Will you let me know when that final lab test comes in?”
“Certainly, dear. I hope the two of you have a wonderful afternoon. And Mrs. Brannington,” she said, and I looked up at her. “Please set a follow-up appointment before you leave. Make it a six-week one, unless something happens and you need to see me sooner.”
With that, she left the room, and I finally turned toward Kingston. His face still held the same disbelief as before, as not a twinge of it had dissipated in all of that time. I expected him to say something, but instead, he just stood up and walked to the door. Nothing was said between us as I followed him through it.
He did wait for me to make my follow-up appointment, and the sight of him leaning against the door jamb with an annoyed expression on his handsome face made me dread actually havingto leave. If I had somewhere else to go, or even been able to think of somewhere else, I might’ve dismissed him, but I had nothing,
All this worry was making my head throb even worse than before. I shouldn’t have had any alcohol last night, especially considering I had always been such a lightweight. As I followed him to the elevator, my feet grew heavier, and each step away from the safety of the doctor’s office felt much like a death row inmate as they walked Executioner’s Row.
Fuck!
It was all I could think about as we got into the elevator, where he remained stoic the entire descent down. Finally, we reached the ground floor, and he grabbed my hand this time as he finally acknowledged my presence once again. His grip tightened down on my fingers so that they almost felt like they might crack under his force. I bit my lip until we got out of the building and to the garage, where I tried to yank my hand away, but was unsuccessful. In fact, he tightened his hold on me even more.
“You’re hurting me,” I finally told him, and he chuckled.
“Good,” was all he said.
“You can’t honestly be upset about what happened in there. You heard the doctor. She said the nurse was confused?—”
He came to a sudden stop, and I fell right into him. He tugged roughly on the same hand until I steadied myself. “We both know that was a damn lie.”
“We can talk about this when we get...” As he strode past his car, I paused and looked over my shoulder at it. “I think you’re parked right?—”
