Waverly steps in, “She told us we needed to figure out all the reasons why you would leave a good guy. Of course she didn’t say who it was, we figured that out a few days ago.” She mouths the word ‘sorry’ to me.
Jenny grabs the binder. “And once we figured out that Terk Henderson was involved, I let my little fan girl, hyper fixation brain kick in, and we created a revenge plan that will make your soul jealous you didn’t come up with it.”
Katya flips through the binder and says, “And we figured out a way to get the Four Families out as well.”
“I used your murder board as the backbone, and we fleshed out the details.” I glare at Macie, and my assistant blushes. I told her I didn’t want help. And now, I can see the cracks in my reasoning, and Macie is filling them with logical spackle.
Izzy steps in again and says, “There’re roles for all of us. And all you have to do is say, ‘I need some help.’”
All Grae’s muscles tense as he groans and puts his head on my shoulder. Through gritted teeth I say, “I would rather lock all the doors to this hospital and burn it to the ground with you in it than ask for help two times in a day.”
Macie pushes Izzy out of the way and grabs the binder out of Katya’s hand. “Boss, I was hoping you could provide me with actionable feedback and assist me with delegating responsibilities to the appropriate roles. It would really help me grow as a manager.”
“Oh absolutely.” I take the binder out of her hand and ignore that smirk she gives Izzy. Katya hands a second binder labeled GRAE to him. Flipping through my binder, my stomach knots as I quickly get the gist of the plan.
I would step away from Mastodon and leave it to Izzy and Lance. Markus would be a secondary manager and lead agent, which is an edit I would make. I have other plans for him. But I would take the position of CEO at the new renewable energy firm the Olympians have been building for the last three years. It sounds like a ton more work, but the setup is similar to Grasshopper, so it’s nothing that I haven’t done before. In fact, it frees hours in my week.
Grae is busy reading his binder. “Um… does yours have very graphic images of us fucking on Terk Henderson’s desk?”
“No. But I’m still reading the first part.”
“I drew that,” Jenny pipes in. “I figured that’s how you would celebrate.”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” Grae says, “but you grossly overestimated my flexibility.”
This plan is thorough, pristine and… yes. I can see my own ideas baked into the DNA. It does create a roadmap that navigates away from all my possible mental detours. This could work, and a feeling of unfamiliar peace creeps into my brain.
As I am about to say something Macie asks, “Um, so are you in a good mood now?” I look down at the binder and lean on Grae, his fingers wrap around my waist.
“Yeah, I think I am.”
Macie shifts her weight from side to side, and I instantly tense back up. Shit. She’s about to drop another bomb. “Good, because Doctor Cooper is here.”
Son of a bitch.
Dr Cooper is a middle-aged woman who’s been working for the Olympians for years. She’s a generalist with a specialty in women’s health, and I’ve been avoiding her for months now. She comes in, her white lab coat like armor, and she’s dragging a big square machine with a screen and a keyboard behind her. Her lips are thin and tight against her face.
“Alana King, you have exactly thirty seconds to get into the next room, or I’m calling Penny and Hadeon right now and telling them you haven’t been to any of your appointments.”
Oh, I don’t like this.
“What about HIPAA?”
“What about it? My lawyers are better than yours.”
“I’m pretty sure they’re the same lawyers.” I frown, but the doctor pulls a plastic cup off the keyboard and tosses it to Grae.
“I need a sperm sample.”
“Like right now?” He blinks at the cup.
The doctor rolls her eyes. “Not this very second, but soon. None of the test cases of the nanobots had a vasectomy, so we don’t know what the effects are. You’ll need to provide a sample once a week until we have solid data.” She pulls a long wand with a bulb at the end and waves it around. “Meanwhile, your girlfriend will be violated by Richard Dawson’s microphone.”
“Holy shit,” Grae grips my hip and his voice cracks. “That doesn’t seem fair at all.”
“It’s not.” The doctor frowns. “So you’re going to buy her something pretty every time you need to fill the cup.”
“Fill it!?” His voice cracks again.
