Page 32 of Claim Me
Hewantsme to say yes!
I’m almost sure of it. There’s fear in him… and anger. Fear of dying. Anger that he has to look over his shoulder every day, never sure if he’ll make it to the next one. He’s tired of it. I just know, like we’re connected in some strange, quasi-telepathic way, and it’s unsettling.
"Okay." It comes out as a quiet, shaky whisper.
And again, that tiny flicker. Barely visible.
"Storm!"
His voice is so sharp that I flinch, my eyes closing for a second.
The door opens. That son of a bitch must have been listening.
Storm’s face appears through the gap. "Yes?"
"Handle the contract. The version I expect will be sent to your email within the hour. I have a meeting. I need to go."
"Of course, Mr. Lowen! I’ll take care of everything!"
Storm’s grin spreads wide and bright.
Mine doesn’t. I just stand there, tense, grim, and, truthfully, completely terrified.
What the hell did I just do?
I just agreed to protect a man I’ve considered my enemy for the past year and a half.
That’s it. I’ve officially lost my mind.
???
I spend the night feeling almost like I came back from a party where I drank way too much. My head is pounding, and I might throw up, everything inside me is spinning.
It only gets worse after I have a phone call with my father, and then with my dad.
They both call to… you could say… ‘express their surprise’ about my decision, which is a very diplomatic way of describing how they actually react.
Yeah, so they’re both terrified, but that’s nothing new. For the past two months I’ve given them a series of nightmares. They’ve been living with the idea that their son threw away a solid chunk of his life, calling everywhere they could, begging strangers for help, reading everything about cases like mine, going to endless meetings with lawyers, stressing themselves out.
After their calls, I pick up one more from Marlow.
Interestingly, his reaction is a bit different. He’s the only one who actually tells me I made a reasonable choice. I’ll have something that at least resembles freedom. I’ll be able to walk around like a normal person, even if only wherever Blue goes, but I won’t have to spend ten years locked inside a cell.
All three of them are glad I’ll be able to finish college, and my dad is relieved that the contract doesn’t require me to stay faithful to Blue.
You could say it’s basically an open marriage arrangement, so he’s already hoping I’ll find some omega during that time and start a family.
For me, those thoughts feel very far away right now. Of course I want a family someday, but I want it with someone I’m deeply in love with, a person who becomes my whole world, and at this point that just doesn’t seem to be anywhere along my path.
All these conversations with relatives only confirm that my choice comes with many worries and uncertainties, and that what’s waiting for me will be a serious challenge.
Today, I was even granted permission by the prison warden to use a laptop, so I spend hours digging through everything I can find online about Blue Lowen.
Marcel talked about him constantly, but always with this intense, almost obsessive hatred, and everything I knew about Blue came filtered through Marcel’s perspective, so I figure now it’s time to finally read something neutral instead.
Eventually, I come across a long interview Blue gave in his younger years, shortly after receiving the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking discoveries in tissue regeneration.
The interview is extensive, surprisingly personal, and far more honest than I expected.
