Sleeves

by Chanse Lowell

  “Vitamins?” Casey’s neck flexed back and her eyes scrunched. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t given any vitamins. They knocked me out, and when I came to, they injected me with some black sludgy stuff. I’m sure it was the same stuff they gave you.”

  Marie nodded and her eyes moved from top to bottom of Casey’s frame. “You’re pregnant.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Casey went to the sink and washed her hands.

  “You heard me.” Marie stood behind her. “You can’t get sick once they give you that shit. I’ve only vomited once since they did it to me, and that was when little Kel was inside my body. You’re pregnant.”

  “I can’t be. I. Don’t. Have. Any. Ov-a-ries,” Casey hissed. She wasn’t so keen on his mother in that moment.

  “They most likely grew back. My lupus was gone almost right away. No more heart problems, perfect kidneys. If it can fix my damaged organs, who’s to say it didn’t repair your female issues?”

  Casey blinked, pivoted on her heel and stared at this woman like she was deaf. “It’s one thing to fix something that exists, and something else entirely to grow it back. There’s no way.”

  “I’m only sharing what I’ve seen—I threw up like crazy, and it started right away—practically the day I conceived, so you’ve barely started gestation. You probably engaged in unprotected sex directly after you escaped, thinking it was fine, nothing changed, and I don’t blame you.” She smiled. “But I’m telling you—they said something about the hormones compounding the morning sickness because of how much stronger everything was in my body. And with his mighty super-strength sperm, you’re really going to be sick with this one. The vitamins shot make it less intense and more bearable.” Marie patted Casey on the shoulder and left.

  “Fuck no.” Casey turned back to the sink and washed her hands. Did she already clean them? She couldn’t remember.

  She turned the water off, ripped a paper towel down then scowled at her stomach while she dried her hands and dropped the paper in the trash.

  “You cannot be fixed,” Casey told herself.

  Then a sliver of hope ran down her spine, and she knew she’d never be the same again.

  Fucking know-it-all possible future-mother-in-law.

  She had better be wrong.

  Kel could barely handle it the other day when Casey was doubled over and cramping up like hell, feeling like she was . . .

  Oh shit! She was pregnant!

  Casey leaned her head against the wall and moaned.

  Pregnant and mutant ovaries. Perfect. Kel had said he hoped her removing that IUD had sterilized him. What if it hadn’t? What was he going to say?

  Her life was complete now. A kid . . . All she needed was a dog with ticks, a potted plant on the patio and the newest and best stove to cook him nightly nutritious meals.

  Oh yeah, and an OB that was fine with delivering a baby fully formed at four and a half months gestation.

  Chapter 15

  “You better see to your girl in there,” Mom said. “She’s not doing well.”

  Kel jumped out of his seat. “What did you call her?”

  “Your girl. She’s yours, right?” She blinked.

  “Don’t call her that. She’s not a girl, she’s a woman, and yes, she’s mine. Call her Casey.” He moved past her and ignored the hurt look on her face.

  His emotions were a tangled mass of blackness. One moment he wanted to crush his mother to his chest and cry with overjoyed tears, the next he wanted to throttle her for volunteering to be a lab rat and then bringing him into the experiment.

  He pushed the ladies restroom door open and Casey was gripping the counter, crying and her skin was a sickly, green color.

  “You okay? Are you sick?” He brushed her hair over her shoulder and stroked her back.

  “Your mom, is she . . . Did she leave?”

  “She’s out at the table. I hope she chokes on her burger, honestly,” he said, chuckling. “She’s kind of making me mad that she’s trying to be nice.”

  “She is nice, but she . . .” Casey turned her puffy red eyes on him. “She says I’m pregnant.”

  “Yeah? And what would she know about it?”

  She smacked his arm. “She says I wouldn’t be sick any other way if they made me like her. It was the only time she’s vomited in the last twenty years.” God, it was hard to wrap her mind around the fact he had aged twice as fast as a normal person and reached adulthood so quickly.

  His eyes grew wide, his stomach flipped and his heart raced. “A baby?” he whispered, cupping the back of her neck with his hands.

  “I th-think so . . .” She nodded and her innocent, apologetic look lanced right through him.

  He dropped to his knees, pushed her tee shirt up and peppered her belly with kisses.

  “Oh God,” she cried out and ran her hands through his hair. “You’re not mad?”

  He dropped his head back and stared at her devastatingly beautiful face. “Mad isn’t even an emotion I own right now. Not even against my mom. She’s gonna be a grandma again!” He rose slowly, keeping his eyes on her, and beaming at this woman he loved so much his heart was swollen and achy. “Christ, woman, you wreck me in every way. I want you—always. Would you . . .” his voice cracked “. . . we haven’t known each other long, but, Case, you have to marry me. I’m lost without you, and I need you to be mine forever.”

  Her eyes glistened and her top teeth slipped over her bottom lip. “Yes.”

  “Yeah?” He shook her for a second.

  “Of course, Kel. I’m crazy about you, and I can’t imagine ever wanting another man, not after being with you and your—”

  “My wonder cock? I got you knocked up when you weren’t supposed to be fertile, and I was supposed to have my reproductive wiring broken and twisted into a licorice rope.”

  She chuckled and then kissed him over and over. “Oh—but what’re we going to do if this baby grows really fast like you did? Will the pregnancy be shorter? How will we explain to everyone he’s different and why?”

  “He?” His voice caught on his hitching breath. “You said he.”

  “Another peanut to add to the gallery? He’ll fit right in with all us nuts,” she said, her eyes twinkling and bright.

  “Fuck! I love you!” He picked her up around the waist and swung her around, until suddenly she beat him away and went flying at the toilet.

  Shit, he was stupid. He’d made her throw up again.

  “Sorrrrry,” he said sheepishly, then squatted behind her, holding her hair and still secretly rejoicing inside.

  Casey was the best woman he’d ever know, and she was carrying his kid inside her.

  She’d never leave him now. Never!

  * * *

  What now?

  He groaned and tapped his toe.

  “She’s sick again,” his mother told him, back at the extended stay hotel.

  He really didn’t like having Mom in his room. Privacy. Hadn’t she heard of it?

  But then she told Casey she panicked the moment her son was out of her sight.

  He was a grown fucking man.

  “You’ve got to quit jostling her. The motion triggers the vomiting,” Mom told him, barring him from the bathroom.

  “Mom, move your ass. That’s my woman in there, and if she’s sick, I wanna help her.”

  “No one wants their lover to watch them when they’re heaving up their breakfast.” She scowled.

  Scowled? What the fuck was this?

  “Move!” He pushed her arm aside and burst in the door.

  Casey was sitting on the toilet, weeping.

  “What’s wrong?” A chill ripped down his spine and his entire body went frosty and tight.

  “I’m spotting . . . There was blood in my underwear,” Casey admitted.

  “Ahhhhh! Fuck! No!” He cried out with anguished guttural sounds, picked her up in his arms, carried her to the bed and laid her down. He sat next to her, petted her hair and gave his mom a plea
ding look. “What do I do?” he mouthed, staring at his mother.

  His Mom sat on the other side of the mattress and stroked Casey’s arm. “I spotted a lot. It might not be anything at all.”

  He glared at his mother. “Why didn’t you tell her that before, and why did you tell me she was puking instead of this?”

  “Shhhh . . .” Casey was clammy and pale. “Don’t fight.” Her voice was distant and weak.

  “What can I do, sweetheart?” He leaned down and kissed her head. “I wanna help you somehow.”

  “She probably needs to try and eat again and rest. It’s exhausting with a normal pregnancy, but this is more intense. Her body’s having violent reactions.” Mom’s eyes softened as she watched over Casey. “Poor girl. It’s rough.”

  “Not a girl,” he said under his breath.

  Mom chuckled quietly. “You’ll survive. You’re tough,” she told her.

  Smug bitch.

  “Maybe we should all take a nap? I don’t feel like talking,” Casey said, her eyes lifeless and heavy.

  “Good idea.” Kel pulled the blanket up over Casey since she seemed chilly to him and he stayed on top of the comforter, as did his mother.

  The room went silent, all except the breaths in the air.

  He zeroed in on Casey’s. She was all he could think about.

  Once she was asleep, his mind raced back to the cures he had tried to develop when Max first helped him escape. It was always complicated to get the materials he needed, time consuming and frustrating so he’d given up.

  But if this baby was gonna harm Casey, he would fix this—fix her. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too late to change the baby’s DNA as well, so it wouldn’t be fucked up like him, too.

  She could be a typical mom with a child growing and developing at a steady, predictable rate. Just like she’d always wanted . . .

  He’d do it for her.

  * * *

  A few days later, he was restless, his nerves jumping.

  Peanut was nearby and no one would allow him to see his boy.

  Casey was curled over in her seat, looking utterly defeated.

  What could he say so they’d let him through?

  “Sir, we were given custody of this child to protect him. He’s been through enough trauma. We’re trying to ascertain what happened to him. We’re sorry but—”

  “You’re not sorry!” he said, glaring at the big burly bald man before him, his FBI badge flashing on the desk. “Take my blood! Go on—compare it to Robbie’s. I’m his father, dammit, and if you’d let me prove it, we could stop having this tiring conversation.”

  Casey sat up, grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

  Mom was sitting behind Casey, nodding. “And I’m his grandmother. The experiments all started with me. Take my blood, too, if you must. Only let him see his boy!” She choked up at the end when she said the final word.

  “We can’t. He’s unsafe to be around. He hurt several agents when we tried to put him in a room with a doctor to run some tests on him,” the agent said.

  “Were they wearing a white lab coat?” Kel asked.

  “I don’t think that’s any of your busin—”

  The agent was cut off when Kel shoved off the desk to standing. “He was scared! That facility ran all sorts of experiments on him—like a fucking lab rat. That’s why you have him, right? You just said you were trying to figure out what happened to him. I’m telling you why he’s this way. Why I’m this way!” He stretched his neck from side to side; he was so stiff. “He was probably thinking you were gonna do more of the same. Now, let me see him, and I’ll help you take down that facility, and I’ll even help you make a cure for what they’ve done to my mother, my son, my girlfriend here, and me. I was working on one a few months back but didn’t have the proper equipment and supplies to do it. I’m sure you can outfit me with what I need.” Kel’s brows rose in question.

  “Let me get Agent Hanford. He’s in charge of your son. I was only told to keep people away from Robert Reed; those were my strict orders.” The agent left and returned with an even bigger, burlier man with salt and pepper hair, glasses and a Roman nose with a square jawline.

  “What’s this about Mr. Liam? We can’t allow you to see Robert—at least not today. There are protocols we have to follow.” Mr. Hanford extended his hand and looked like he expected Kel to be at least semi-polite.

  “Fuck this! Do you want a cure? You wanna know what they put in us to make us into some kind of freak super-soldier? Then you need my cooperation, and I’m not doing shit for you until I see my boy!” Kel spat in his face.

  “Fine.” The agent dropped his hand, since it was obvious Kel wasn’t going to shake it.

  “Fine?” Kel’s chest heaved as he breathed hard and his face continued to flare up like it was on fire.

  He was ready to rip a mother fucker’s neck off if they kept denying him access to his peanut.

  “We have to make sure you won’t infect him first. A physical with our doctor and then you can see him,” Hanford said.

  “You’re kidding—right?” Kel’s hands were on his hips. “We’re like him. We don’t get sick; we can’t carry any pathogens.”

  “And we’re just supposed to take you at your word?” Hanford looked Casey and Mom over.

  “Take my blood, like I’ve already requested, and you’ll know what I’m talking about,” Kel replied.

  Casey stood. “Mr. Hanford—you are welcome to pull my medical records. I was lacking ovaries—they were completely removed, yet four weeks ago, I was injected with this stuff, and I’m currently pregnant from natural means. How do you explain that? I’m willing to take a pregnancy test if you want confirmation, but it’s kind of silly.” She rubbed her belly. “I look and feel like I’m about two and a half months along. How do you explain that?”

  “Well, I . . . Uh, we’re not equipped to deal with things like th—” Hanford backed away from her like she was diseased and contagious beyond belief.

  “Kel’s the father of Robert, and he’s the father of my baby, too. We’re not going to hurt Robert. I’m the social worker that was over his case. I was making sure he’d be placed in a good home. Now, please, we’re begging you here—let us see him. This is his family. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Casey’s eyes watered, and her lips quivered with emotion.

  The agents gaze passed over them, and he sighed as his shoulder dropped. “Fine. I’ll want blood from all of you, and, yes, a urine test from you so we can verify the pregnancy, along with an ultrasound scan. After that, if everything checks out, you can see him,” Hanford huffed and looked exhausted.

  “Thank you.” Kel extended his hand to shake, but this time Hanford was the one that denied the friendly gesture. He simply stared at Kel’s hand like he had no clue what that appendage was.

  Mom was taken to a different medical room to be examined, and Kel and Casey placed together in their own.

  The minute they were alone and the door was shut, he lunged at her.

  His lips were on hers; he was cupping her ass through her flowy, summery dress and moaned in her ear. “I want you, Case. I need to feel you.”

  “Kel—no! We’re being monitored on cameras,” she squealed, trying to get his hands to be in a less embarrassing spot in case someone came in and they got caught.

  He kept going; undeterred. His hands moved up the back of her dress, and he squeezed over her panties. A moment later, his fingers dove under the material, and he was fingering her shamelessly. “Christ, you feel good in my hands. Want a quick fuck, that’s all. We won’t get caught. I’ve done it in the cage before with tons of women around, looking for it. No one will know.”

  “Gaaaaawd,” she groaned and her hands slipped under his shirt. She was being as reckless and naughty as he was. “I hate that bitch you fucked in the cage, and I don’t even know who she is.” She bit his right pec through his shirt, and that was enough to set him on fire for her.

  He pinned her into the armless
chair, managed to get her to straddle him and then he had his cock out, hidden by the material of the bottom of her dress. Her panties were shoved aside.

  She stifled a moan the second he penetrated her. Instead of moving fast like a quick fuck would imply, he slowly edged his way in and circled his hips up into her.

  “They’re gonna poke us,” he said, pushing deeper and resting his forehead on hers, giving her a dark look filled with desire, “and prod us. But they don’t know how that shit’s done like I do.” He ground slowly until she was panting from his tease.

  “They’re going to catch us if you don’t get this going,” she said, her eyes heavy and stuck on his.

  “I know . . . I want them to see what I do to you—my know-it-all-bitch that fucks like she’s possessed. Let’s me mark her because I own her.” He twisted her nipple through her dress. “Where should I mark you today? Somewhere obvious, or somewhere hidden, so if they see it, they’ll know I’ve had you—all of you? Hmm . . . ?”

  She bit her bottom lip. “And here I thought you were in a frenzy to have me—you jerk.” She chuckled and it caught in her throat when he pinched her nipple hard.

  “Fuuuuuck! Your titties will be leaking soon. In a few days maybe, I’ll be able to taste your salty, sweet milk. Fuck, I love the taste of that shit.” He released a dying moan and tipped his head back, his cock engorging. “It turns me on just thinking about it.”

  She mewled through her breath, “You’ll taste it?” Her chest clenched as she tried to take in a bigger inhalation. Her pupils dilated, and her face flushed. “You really like that?”

  “I fucking love it. You think I’m insatiable now? Fuck, woman, you won’t be able to keep me away even if you chain me to the wall.”

  He picked up the pace, fucking her harder. Her eyes went glassy like she was high.

  “You can’t resist this, my beautiful slut. I know you want it as much as I do. You’re pussy was wet the second I touched it. Having my baby in you has you constantly turned on. You were bragging out there—letting them know I’d fucked you until you were raw and your body had no choice but let my potent semen in. You’re ready to come already, aren’t you?”