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“Where is she? Get Dr. Stein back in here. I need her to give me something to keep me awake.”
Leo held up his hands as I struggled to move, the pain around my ribs dulled to almost to an almost manageable level now. “At Mark’s house, but hold on. We need to go over how the truth serum works, how the programming works, and what you plan on saying.”
Exhaustion tugged at me, my head throbbing with every beat of my heart, but I tried to remain awake and focused. “We don’t have time. I have to help her.”
“Yes, we do,” Mark muttered as he did something on his phone. “I’ll call Diego and Jose and get them to buy some time with Judith. You and I both know that while you’re on the accelerated healing drugs, you’re basically narcoleptic. Can’t have you falling asleep during the programming or screwing it up in some way. If we give Joy more than one heavy dose of the truth serum, you run the risk of messing with large chunks of her memory. She could lose months, even years, if we dose her twice, so you have one shot to do it right. Don’t rush it now and do something you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to think past the pounding in my head. I’d been up for more than two hours now. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, when your body is basically speed healing exhaustion is always nipping at your heels. All the adrenaline coursing through my system began to ebb, and I had to force myself to focus on Leo.
He returned my gaze and said, “You need to remember to work with her personality, making suggestions that she’s naturally open to works far better than commands that her subconscious doesn’t like. You can’t order her to love you. The human mind just don’t work that way.”
I sneered at him. “I’d never do that anyway. And I know I can’t turn her into a sex robot or any crazy shit like that. I don’t want to do any of that. I love her, and I want to make her happy. I want to heal her, to make her laugh again. If programming can do that, I need you to tell me how.”
Mark gave me an approving look, and Leo tilted his head in thought, then nodded. “I think we can do that. I’ll go home and talk to Hannah, get her input, and we can meet again tomorrow evening.”
“No, tonight.”
“No,” Leo said in a way that I knew he was going to be a pain in the fucking ass about it. “You need to sleep.”
I gritted my teeth, but didn’t argue. I couldn’t, he was right and there was no way in hell I wanted Joy to forget a moment we’d had together. All those sweet fucking memories of being in her presence soothed me. My racing heart slowed, like the very thought of her was a balm to my soul. I centered myself with the memory of her peaches and strawberry perfume, the sweet tang of her cunt, the way her body felt draped over mine.
“You’re right. Fuck, I hate it, but you’re right.” I leaned back into the pillows and fought to stay awake.
Leo exchanged a glance with Mark then said, “We have a plan. Our best chance to do this is going to be tomorrow evening. Hannah’s going to take Joy to the spa, and we can drug her before her massage so she’s nice and relaxed. As soon as she’s under, you come in and everyone leaves. You’ll only have roughly fifteen minutes to say what you need to say, and you must repeat your instructions more than once. I have a file made on Joy with my observations and suggestions for how to word some of the commands.”
“Understood.”
Mark added from behind me, “We think touch is an important part of the process, as is taste and smell. You’ll need to hold her, kiss her, and cuddle her tight while you give her instructions. The physical reassurance seems to be key to getting her mind to accept the commands.”
“We’ll be there to help you,” Leo added.
Despite my best efforts, sleep was pulling me under and my words came out slurred, “No, I do it alone.”
“But—”
“Alone,” I said with all the strength I had left. “She’s mine, mine to love, mine to protect, mine.”
I didn’t catch whatever their response was, the drugs stronger than my will as they pulled me under, but it didn’t matter. No one was going to be in the room with us because I didn’t plan on following whatever script Leo and my mother had come up with. I was going to do what was best for Joy, no matter what, and no one was going to stop me.
