Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
I didn’t expect her to want to protect me. My throat tries to swell closed. “No, Ben is such a gentleman. He’s honest. Caring. The best, really.” I add fast, “And I don’t know if you’ve been afraid of it—but I’m not with him because he’s a Cobalt. Like, honestly, I couldn’t care less that you all are famous, no offense. He could live in a tent out by a creek, and I’d be stupidly giddy if he invited me inside.”
She grimaces at the word tent. “Do you like the outdoors?”
“Uh, no.” I shake my head hard. “No, I foresee myself in the city…” I trail off, grateful for the coffee to drink away the pause.
“As a doctor,” she concludes for me.
“Yes.” I nod, licking coffee off my lips. “That’s the goal.”
Rose is processing quickly. She edges forward. “My children being taken advantage of does cross my mind, but Connor and I haven’t suspected you of anything nefarious. That being said, have you and Ben discussed your futures?”
“He knows I want to be a surgeon. I can’t exactly accomplish that in an RV or backpacking the Appalachian trail.”
Her nails clank the iron table. “Has he bought an RV?”
“No,” I say fast. Oh shit. “No, I was just throwing out hypotheticals. He doesn’t even talk a lot about what he wants to do beyond this semester.” That is true.
As wind picks up, she tugs black gloves on her fingers. “Are you two being safe?”
“In what way?”
“If you’re sexually active.” She grabs her coffee. “I was on birth control when I became pregnant with my first.”
My eyes bug. “Are you serious? Did the condom break?” I can’t believe I’m asking Rose Calloway this. Not to mention, Ben’s mom. But she’s making this conversation easy. I’d almost believe she wants me to ask.
“No condom. I was on the pill, and I proudly never missed a day.”
I’m freaking out. “That’s like a one percent chance of getting pregnant.” My face falls. “I’m on the pill too.”
“Just be very careful,” she says ominously.
“What, is there something in Cobalt sperm?” I’m joking of course; as a lady of science, this is absurd.
“The tireless willpower to impregnate, yes. I’ve already cautioned my sons a thousand times.”
“We’ll be extra safe.” Maybe we’ll use condoms when I’m ovulating and chances of pregnancy are higher. I’ll have to talk to Ben. Part of me still thinks this is silly.
But if it turns out he has godlike super sperm and knocks me up, I might actually start believing I’m with some immortal being.
She plucks out her phone. “I understand being focused on career goals, so let me know a time that’s best for you to meet again. I want to bring you to Le Petit Rêve. It’s my favorite café in the city. We can make it a girl’s date or invite Ben and Connor. What’s your number?”
I exchange numbers with his mom. She also sends me Connor’s cell too. While I add them to my contacts, I receive a new text.
Tom
Meet me at Duke’s on 10th at 7 p.m.? Just you, Harry. Ben doesn’t need to come.
Even though we’ve been around each other more, Tom and I still volley insults like we’re competing in some deranged version of Wimbledon. I don't think we’re friends, so this invite to a Hell’s Kitchen diner without Ben is strange. He must sense my hesitance because another message pops up.
Tom
I will repay you however you want. Free favor on the house. Just give me a half hour.
I hope I don’t regret this. I send him a reply.
Harriet
Fine, Thomas. See you then.
I’m on a high from meeting Ben’s parents, from how well it went, and it’s all about to be squashed by Tom.
As I walk up to the diner, Tom stands beneath the lightbulb marquee sign blinking Duke’s on 10th, and he says, “We’re not going inside.”
I glare. “Then where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” He clasps my hand and climbs inside an SUV, tugging me in behind him.
I hug my messenger bag on my lap as the car peels out, his bodyguard driving. “If you weren’t Ben’s brother, you would have a face full of pepper spray, dude.”
His blue eyes fall to my bag. “Packing weapons? I thought you just tote around five-gallon tubs of Jolly Ranchers.”
“I could pelt you with candy too.”
He’s distracted, staring out the window. Squinting a ton to inspect a building, maybe. “Ian, you can stop here,” he instructs his bodyguard.
It shocks me how much I’m trusting someone beyond myself and Ben. The possibility of Tom playing a massive prank on me is low, though. He loves his little brother too much. But I do worry he’s going to rope me into trouble somehow.
I’m more surprised when we enter a recording studio. “Tom?” I drop my messenger bag in the booth. Instruments are set up behind the glass. Guitars. Microphones. A drum kit.