“No. I’m not leaving.”
His chest ached. “Damn it, Minnow, this isn’t the time to defy me!”
“I’m not leaving you alone when you need me here. If you start doing it again, I’ll lock myself in the boys’ room. Someone else should be here when the doctor comes, just in case you can’t answer the door.”
He gave a sharp nod.
“I love you, Severin. I need to be here.”
His eyes burned, and he swallowed past the pain in his throat. She loved him? It wasn’t a surprise so much as hearing her say it aloud was, especially now. He wanted to say it back, but couldn’t even though everything in him ached to.
She knew, right? She had to know it.
“Shh. I know. Just sit.”
How could she always read his mind?
He sank onto the padded coffee table where he’d branded her, looking around the room in despair. His moods were one thing, but expecting her to want to stay if the blackouts were back – that wasn’t safe. And children were out of the question. The chance he might hurt her or the dogs was bad enough. But a baby? He thought of a little girl who looked just like Minnow – thought of waking from a blackout to her beaten or dead – and panic trembled through him.
“You have to go back on the pill. I have to start using condoms too.” How fucked up would his kids be with his genetics? What the hell had he been thinking?
“Stop,” she commanded. “I’m going to make that phone call, but I can’t go to the kitchen if you’re freaking yourself out.”
“I’m okay. Call Rodrigo and tell him to come, if you won’t leave. I don’t want you alone with me, and I can’t hire you a bodyguard tonight.”
“Shut up and sit there, Severin Leduc. You’re talking crazy.” She walked away, her boots clicking on the floor as she made her way to the kitchen.
Back to the shrinks. Back to the meds. Why couldn’t he function better? He’d been safe for twenty-five years.
He hated therapy – didn’t want to start again – but for Minnow he’d do anything.
*
Severin watched the girl, wondering why the hell she stayed after all of his determination to drive her away. The warmth of the screening room was almost uncomfortable, but she was finely built and the price of dressing her to amuse himself was that he had to keep the house warmer than he normally choose to.
She knelt at his feet, her head leaned against his knee as he stroked her hair. They were watching one of his favorite alien movies with excellent special effects and gore, but very little plot.
Minnow hadn’t seen it before – hell, she hadn’t seen much of anything. It reminded him of their age disparity.
The movie’s violence soothed him, and kept him from taking out all of the ugliness inside him on the girl. He’d been too afraid to use a belt on her or even to spank her since his blackout. Even though Rodrigo had basically moved in for the time being. At least until he was more settled.
After taking Dr. Jindal’s advice, they were waiting for a response from Loïc. Severin had requested a meeting through Rodrigo a week ago, but his family had remained silent.
Waiting was difficult, especially since there was no guarantee his brother would ever answer, let alone agree to meet.
A jump scare made the girl clutch his leg, moving closer to him as though he could protect her from the CGI monster on the screen if it happened to come to life. His finger was still wet from her sucking it, and he traced the seam of her lips with the damp tip, and she took it into her mouth again, almost absently. She relaxed, melting against him, and the feel of her little tongue playing with his fingertip made his dick ache.
Rodrigo laughed and threw popcorn at the screen. “This is so stupid. Why does this guy think his knife blade won’t dissolve when he stabs one of the aliens? The crew has seen their blood melting the metal floor grates.”
“Shh. This is the good part,” Severin admonished. The hotheaded member of the team unexpectedly exploded in a rage and attacked, killing one of the aliens through sheer berserk force. He was decapitated by the creature’s blade-like tail whipping around and catching him in the neck just after he’d dispatched it, but saving the rest of his team.
“You would like that part.” Rodrigo grimaced, pushing his dark hair back from his face. “Sure he died a hero, but now he’s going to miss out on the wenching and drinking. He really didn’t think that one through.”
“Wenching? You’ve been watching too much Game of Thrones.” Minnow laughed and threw popcorn at him.
Rodrigo caught some of what she’d thrown and popped it in his mouth, then chewed it thoughtfully. “Wenching is awesome. Maybe I’ll open a whorehouse. I keep saying I should diversify my assets.”
“A whorehouse?” Minnow laughed. Rodrigo always made her laugh. Severin couldn’t recall more than a handful of times he’d even made her smile. “With a saloon and everything? We’ll have to get you a ten-gallon hat for your birthday. Just remember, though, you’re pretty. You’d be popular in jail.”