Kidnapped By Her Husbands (Wings of Artemis Book 1) (21 page)

That I was only a momentary stop?

C.J.’s head pressed against my hair. “The last time you kept secrets, kept things to yourself, you vanished off the ship and died. Now, obviously, you’re alive, but the problem remains the same. When you say nothing, all my alarm bells go off.”

“You want truth from me.” So had Dane and Wes. Since they were all being honest with me, instead of hiding things, I had no reason to hold back.

“Yes.” He kissed that spot on my neck again. “You can trust me.”

“You all say I’m her. When you look at me, you see whatever you used to see in my eyes. Well, except for Nolan, but I don’t want to talk about him right now. I don’t know who
she
is. And she didn’t know me. We’re strangers who share a body. I’m falling for you. For the others. Hard. I know her love is making that easier. I guess…it’s hard for me to have done what we just did and know you’d rather be with her. To know I’ll be a memory for you, and I realize you can’t understand this, because to you I’m her and she’s me.”

He turned me around until we were facing each other. “I don’t want anyone but who you are just as you are now. Can you believe me, please? You’re my wife. I love getting to know you, too. This side of you, who I never would have met otherwise. Don’t imagine I’m counting off some calendar waiting until you get your memories. I don’t like to live in the past. Let’s concentrate on being as we are. As far as I’m concerned, if you never get into any more mind touching machines, I’ll be thrilled. We’re going to have a baby, and whether I’m her father or her uncle, we’re going to be even more of a family soon. I loved you then. I still do.” He kissed my nose. “One thing hasn’t changed. When you get tired, you don’t make sense. Rest. I’ve got you. I always will.”

“What does C.J. stand for?” Since we were confessing feelings and naked together, it seemed a good idea to know.

“Christopher James. I hate it. And you insisted on calling me it. My Dad was an ass. It was his name.”

I snuggled closer. “C.J. it is.”

This time when I slept, I didn’t dream. It came as a nice change to not wake up with my head aching.

* * * *

For once, morning didn’t come too fast. We might have overslept, but no one came knocking to tell us to hurry. I woke groggy, C.J.’s body strewn over mine. His hand lay on my breast as he snored lightly in my ear. He was also hard as a rock.

My bladder called for attention, and I gently managed to get out of the bed and from out of his arms to go take care of my needs. The shower called my name next. I washed, shaving my body, and getting clean in all my sore places.

When I came out of the bathroom, I had to put on clothes that didn’t fit. This time a cotton red-shirt and a pair of shorts which let my stomach show through. The women at Master’s would be horrified. They’d been very big on me maintaining my pregnancy modesty.

C.J. hadn’t stirred. Dane had slept like he hadn’t in years also. He’d drugged Geoff to get him to pass out. Was this a new thing or since I’d been gone that they all needed rest so badly?

I rubbed his hair off his sweet face and he stirred, his eyes becoming alert immediately. “What are you doing out of bed?”

“Can’t lay around all day. I want to make you guys breakfast. I fixed oatmeal yesterday. Today I could maybe manage something with the canned sausage.” My stomach revolted at the idea, but I had to make do with what was available. “Also, I’m doing Wes’ laundry every day. Dane doesn’t want me to do his. Would you like yours done? I have a few skills right now. Might as well let me use them. I’d rather be busy.”

He stretched before he sat. “We’ll get better food at Truest before we head on to The Bridge. Should be there soon, couple of weeks. Gotta feed my girls better. Will you be doing laundry naked? That’s the only way I want you washing my clothes.”

“Are you going to be dealing with the new supplies naked? Walking around the room that way? Is this going to be a new thing? We’ll all take care of things in the nude?”

He laughed and pulled me into his arms. “For you, I would risk the wrath of Nolan and get butt naked to do my job. He’s very big on privacy.”

Hearing the name I most avoided thinking about soured my good mood. “He hates me.”

“He’s angry at you. There’s a difference. You can’t answer his questions, and he has many. He doesn’t do change well, never has. As fucked up as all of our backgrounds are, none are more so than Nolan’s. I’m not going to tell you about it. That’s his business. Give him some time. He’d place himself in front of a firing squad for you.”

I kissed him lightly. “When you’re making your schedule, you might want to ask him if he’d prefer not to be on it. My thinking is he’d rather not have to spend time with me.” At some point, if I stayed married to him, I would have to push it. That day was not today. “And we’ll need to think about whether anyone is going to want to keep the schedule post-baby. They’ll be a lot less rolling in the sheets and more night feedings and diapers. When do kids sleep through the night? A year? Two? We can pick it back up afterward.”

He rolled until he lay on his side, leaning on his elbow. “If you think for one second that we’re going to let you face the reality of childcare on your own, you’re mistaken. You aren’t going to go without rest. I’ll pace the hall for you with her if she needs it, while you get some sleep. But okay, I’ll ask the others.”

“Thanks.” I slipped away. “Breakfast. Come and eat some.”

Surprisingly, they all showed to eat. I was glad we had so much of the canned grossness, because everyone ate like they’d never seen food before. Even Nolan seemed happy with the meal. At the very least, he didn’t level any insults at me over the meal. I sat in the chair between Geoff and Dane. The latter draped his arm around the back of it.

“Want me to look at your cuts?”

I shook my head. “They’re all fine.”

“Stubborn.”

I kicked him in the shin, and he laughed. Geoff shook his head. “You planning on eating?”

“Yes, actually.” I took a few bites and had to smile. I’d made it eatable. It wasn’t gourmet, but it tasted good enough. Geoff watched me chew for a bit before he turned his attention to his own food.

Across the table, C.J. winked at me, and Wes drummed his fingers on the table. Only Nolan remained quietly eating with no other movements.

“Do we ever do anything fun?” I cleared my throat. “I mean other than sex.”

That caught all of their attention, and all five sets of eyes were on me. C.J. leaned in his seat. “You mean together? All five of us? Other than sex?”

“Do we have sex? The five of us together?”

Nolan pushed his chair back with a loud screech. “Thank you for breakfast.”

“You’re welcome.” He deposited his plate in the sink and then left the room.

Wes leaned forward. “We very rarely have sex altogether. Maybe twice in all the years. You’re very big on one-on-one, private, door closed, mind your own business time.”

“Are you all having sex with her already?” Geoff dropped his fork on the plate. “While I’ve been trying to figure out how to destroy my own bomb, since I don’t want it going off in her heart, you’re all having sex? Shit, I’ve still been beating myself up over kissing her on the shuttle.”

Wes shrugged and stood. “I can do more than one thing at a time. I’m on to something with getting the wireless problem taken care of. We may not need you to defuse the bomb.”

“I’m figuring it out regardless. What if whatever you’re doing doesn’t work?”

Wes took his plate to the sink and put it on top of Nolan’s. “I’ve got faith in you, brother. And, for the record, I like the one-on-one sex time. But, if you want to have at it on occasion with more than one partner at a time, I’ve always been game. I like to suck your tits while one of them takes you from behind.”

Oh boy. I’d really opened a discussion, hadn’t I? Heat rushed to my face and I shifted in my chair as Dane stood, taking my empty dish with his to the sink. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind a poker night. Can you make that happen, Geoff? I’d love to take some credits from you.”

“I could go for poker, too.” C.J. stood.

Just like that, breakfast ended, except for Geoff who remained at the table. I turned to him until I could look at him full on.

“I still think of you as my kidnapper, but you’re not. You were my rescuer.”

He sucked in his breath. “I’m just glad I was there that day, to see your picture pop on the screen, and that I could get in to you.”

“What were you doing on Master’s?”

“There’s a supplier there who sells metallic parts I need.”

Seemed weird. How had he gotten in? Why had my picture shown the day it did? I shook my head. “I’ve hardly seen you since we got here.”

“Why would you want to?” He fiddled with his fork. “You have one of my bombs fused to your heart. I invented it, and it might kill you.”

I placed my hand on his. “I’m not going to pretend I’m not terrified of it. I don’t let myself think about it. I think we need to focus on who put it in there. Cooper seemed surprised. He didn’t know about it, so whatever happened with him, he wasn’t involved.”

“He took you from us. Drugged us all and then went off with you, faked your death, and had your mind erased. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t put much faith in what Prince Cooper has to say.”

I’d heard pieces of this but never the whole thing spelled out before. “How did he drug you?”

“Must have put something in our food. We all woke, strewn around the ship, and you were gone. C.J. can find anyone, but you were just…gone. Then we found the shuttle, exploded. Before that, your vitals and Cooper’s both shut off on Dane’s chip. We didn’t lose hope until we saw the wreckage.”

“Then why did I end up at Master’s? It doesn’t make sense he’d take me and then drop me there.”

“Yes it does.” He shook his head. “Sweetheart, he had you wiped so he could take you for himself. He planned to take our baby and go away with you, alone.”

I supposed it was possible. Only it didn’t sit right. “Can we go with the idea he didn’t do it for a second and figure out who would take one of your bombs and put it in me? Who would…”

He stood, stopping my thought. “C.J. would be better for that. I have to work out the bomb. I’m sorry. Poker, tonight. See you later, sweetheart.”

He left in a hurry. I needed to do something about Geoff. If I actually blew, he’d never forgive himself. There was no room for blame in my odd life. We all had to be together. Even Nolan, eventually, although I hadn’t a clue how to make that happen.

Instead, I cleaned the kitchen. There was a quiet to it, the routine of putting things where they belonged and getting it all organized again. I had to fix the ship. Artemis belonged to me. I couldn’t have it looking so unhappy and destroyed all the time.

There would be worse things to do than fixing our living space. Maybe when I finished, I would know what to do about Geoff, how to figure out who stuck the bomb in me, and what to do about Cooper. We’d be at Truest soon and then on to The Bridge. I needed answers before then.

Cooper said I would die in that machine. He either knew what he was talking about or he didn’t. Why did everything have to be life or death?

I found paint in the storage facility and, although we didn’t have the bright colors I might have wished for, the beige came out nicely on the walls in the kitchen. With the splotches gone from the walls, the room certainly seemed more like I wanted to have a meal in it.

The counters were falling apart and I found some glue and started piecing them together. It looked like someone had taken a hammer to them at some point.

Damn it, Geoff
.

I stopped moving, a voice moving through the room. It took me a minute to realize it was my own. Only it wasn’t happening. It was a memory. “Holy cow.” I waited to see if more would happen.

“
Damn it, Geoff. I told you not to touch my goddamned stuff. Do I go into your room and fuck around with yours?”

A deep sighed sounded. “I thought you’d like it. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it down. I made it for you because you said you liked clouds
.”

“
I like them. I don’t want them floating over my head in my bedroom like some kind of electrical monstrosity I have to stare at every time I get in my bed.”

I rubbed at my head. If my memory had decided now was the time to turn on, then I wouldn’t complain. In any case, I’d gotten a little insight. What had they done with all my stuff while I’d been gone?

Having never been invited into Geoff’s room, I knocked. I had a pretty good idea Dane, Wes, and C.J. would not object to my going into their spaces. Would Geoff? When no one answered, I opened the door a crack and poked my head inside. At first I thought the room empty, but I quickly saw that wasn’t true. Geoff was out cold on the bed, lying on his back, with headphones on. I wondered what he listened to while he slept.

The polite thing to do would be to close the door and leave him alone, except that I saw what I searched for. The cloud piece he’d made me, which would have floated above my bed, stuck out of his closet. I wanted it. If I put it up, and got him into my room, he would see I cared and that I remembered something that had to do with him.

He’d have to believe then I held no blame toward him.

I snuck in, pausing when he rolled over onto his side, but he didn’t wake. Would he hear me if he didn’t have the headphones on?

I turned until I stared at the screen. It was off, so whatever he was listening to wasn’t from there. Did he sleep listening to music? It would be really helpful if my memory returned on all subjects and not simply about clouds and sexual preferences.

Not letting myself pause any longer, I grabbed the cloud machine and snuck out.

Putting up his gift to me, which I had clearly discarded, proved harder than I’d imagined. It took the whole rest of the day. I cut myself three times and nearly fell off the bed. If there was some kind of handbook about what pregnant women should or should not be doing, I’d never seen it.

Soon, everyone would be hungry, and I’d wanted to cook. Of course, that was before I’d painted walls and reinstalled a cloud machine. I lay on the bed and hit the button to turn it on. Above my head, the clouds started floating, an inch off the ceiling. They were magnetic and moved thanks to a device on the floor.