“I need you at the meeting. He can still go to counseling.”
“Yes, sir.”
“See you soon. Have a safe trip back.”
The phone goes dead, and my hand trembles as I pull the phone from my face.
I have no fucking clue what Aro told him on the phone earlier, but I’m filled with dread at the thought of a mandatory meeting at the clubhouse.
I knew I crossed a line with Aro. I knew I was here in a professional capacity. I know arguing that he’s happiest after he comes won’t win me any points with any of the upper Cerberus management.
There’s a good chance that what Aro was worried about, getting the boot from Cerberus, will actually happen to me upon my return to Farmington.
Tears sting my eyes at the possibility, but unlike usual, I don’t wipe them away. I allow them to run down my cheeks and drip onto my shirt.
The fantasies I allowed before about the man always ended with the same happily ever afters I give to those I watch when I’m bored. Every Cerberus member congratulates us. We get hugs and claps on the back. Cannon, the fool that he is, gives Aro advice about how to properly take care of a female Cerberus member. Kincaid and Emmalyn smile and tell us that they were hoping we’d end up together.
The reality of it, however, will never look like that.
I started a sexual relationship with a man anyone would consider a patient. I crossed one of the most forbidden lines in medicine.
After the tears begin to dry, I make the arrangements I need in order to ensure that Aro can physically get to counseling tomorrow. I don’t know if there’s more of a chance he won’t attend if I’m gone or if his commitment to Cerberus will be enough for him to take the first important step, despite the second appointment usually being the hardest one because of the way those first counseling sessions leave you feeling. It’s only natural to fight it.
I hate that my Cerberus career may be over as much as I hate the fact that I won’t be around to encourage him to get better.
The drive back to the rented house is slow, filled with traffic. I try not to see it as a sign that I should stay gone longer in an effort to avoid whatever confrontation I may be facing.
The look on Aro’s face when I told the truth to Kincaid spoke volumes. The man actually expected me to lie to our boss, knowing it would be my ass on the line because it would be simple enough for Kincaid to figure out the truth about his lack of attendance.
I’m not going to win any points being truthful. I have no doubt Aro spilled the beans about us in retaliation, because men are fucking petty as hell.
I’m mad all over again by the time I pull into the driveway, but I quickly discover that the energy is wasted. Aro is closed away in his room, unwilling to even face me.
He doesn’t come out while I cook something quick to eat.
In fact, I don’t hear his door open once all evening.
I head to bed after writing up the plan for tomorrow and explaining I have the meeting and he has counseling. I leave it on the table where he can readily find it before heading to bed.
Chapter 24
Aro
It’s not a choice, the issue concerning Cerberus or Slick.
My pick will always be Cerberus.
Yet, I can’t stop thinking about the woman in the other room.
I know beyond a shadow of doubt that we can’t return to Cerberus as a couple. How fucking cliché is that?
Guy gets hurt. Girl makes him feel better. They fall in love.
Gag.
It’s just sex, and I can find great sex elsewhere.
I’ve had tons of great sex in my life.
I shove away the idea that I’m fucking fooling myself about all of it.
I can’t let those insidious thoughts sink inside of me.
What’s fucking me up so much is that this morning when I had her panting and begging for more in that way that thinking about it threatens to make my dick stiff, I never thought it was the last time. I didn’t have her suck my cock, because I reasoned that there was always the next time.
Now that next time I bargained with in my head is nonexistent. There will be no next time.
If I’m going back to Cerberus, which was always the goal, I can’t go back with any expectations other than professional ones with Slick.
I never do messy. It’s why I avoid those women at Jake’s who seem extra needy and a little too desperate.
I’m not a stranger to revisiting a certain woman when I’ve had a good time with them, but I’d never invite trouble by calling up someone who was hard to scrape off the first time around.