Submitting to the Shadow (Kindred Tales #27) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,55
the driver’s seat and put on his seatbelt. “Where to?”
Sammi gave him the address of her Aunt Vicky’s house and then settled back and closed her eyes. She hoped Bernard wasn’t going to want to make small talk and to her relief, he seemed to see that she didn’t feel like making conversation. Instead, he turned on some soft music and turned his head briefly.
“This okay?”
“It’s nice.” Sammi leaned her head back against the cushions. “Really nice.”
“Glad you like it. Just relax. Traffic sucks this time of day so it might take a little while.”
“Okay.” Sammi nodded, keeping her eyes closed. She felt completely worn out from the awful morning she’d had. From finding out she was pregnant, to confronting Roark and having him brush her off completely, she was both emotionally and physically exhausted.
Roark was horrible and she was in a bad situation but she couldn’t dwell on it just now, Sammi told herself. Right now, she just needed to be calm. Later she could tie herself in knots again but for now she just needed to take it easy.
The rocking of the car and the soothing music worked together to help her relax. Before she knew it, Sammi had slipped into a doze.
She didn’t even notice when the car turned South instead of North and started heading out of town.
Forty
“Where’s Sammi?” the human female outside his door demanded.
Roark frowned at her. He knew her vaguely—wasn’t she Samantha’s best friend? He had met her once or twice in the corridor when she came to meet her for “girl time” as Samantha had called it. Was her name Meg? He thought so, anyway.
“Excuse me?” he frowned at the woman who had blonde hair and a scowl on her face.
“I said, where’s Sammi?” she repeated impatiently. “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but she came to talk to you over an hour ago and now I can’t find her anywhere. I know your lab is top secret but is she in there with you?”
“No, she most certainly is not,” Roark growled. “If you must know, she is no longer in my employ. I’m afraid I had to let her go this morning. Good day.”
He started to shut the door to the lab but found he couldn’t because Samantha’s friend had stuck her foot in the doorway to block it.
“Wait a minute—you fired her?” she demanded, her eyes snapping with anger. “She came to you and told you she was pregnant and you fired her?”
“None of that is any of your business,” Roark snapped.
“The Hell it’s not!” Meg raged. “Sammi is my best friend and you’re the abusive asshole who got her pregnant and then fired her!”
“I did not get her pregnant,” Roark snarled. “Though I believe I know who did.”
“Oh yeah?” Meg put a hand on her hip and glared at him belligerently. “This ought to be good. Just who do you suspect?”
“I don’t know his name,” Roark said, glaring right back. “But I believe it was her human lover back on Earth. I found one of his love notes on her counter when I went down to help her move the rest of her things.”
“Love notes? You found a note on her counter?” Her eyes widened.
“Yes, I did,” Roark said stiffly. “And it was obviously from a male because in it he called her “Beautiful” and asked what time he could come by to take her out on a date.”
“You idiot!” Samantha’s best friend looked like she wanted to punch him. “That note wasn’t from a lover—it was from Sammi’s stalker! The one who chased her across the country all the way from California to Florida!”
“What?” Roark was confused. “She never told me anything about a stalker.”
“That’s because she just wanted to forget about him. She moved up here to the Mother Ship to get away from him because she didn’t feel safe,” Meg snapped. “It’s the whole reason she was desperate enough to take a job with you. The guy was sending her pictures he’d taken when she was in the house alone—in the shower! She was in real danger down on Earth!”
Roark took a step back.
“I didn’t know that—didn’t know any of it.”
Could it be that the only reason Samantha had agreed to keep working with him was to keep her place aboard the Mother Ship? Was that the only reason she had put up with the increasingly extreme experiments he had subjected her to?
“Of course you didn’t—you’re a self-absorbed asshole,” Meg told him.