“And?”
“What if there is a problem? So far we have had nothing butthis ‘easy breezy’ way you always say. I am nervous that this cannot last.” Hisworried demeanor immediately shot straight to her heart.
“Wheaton, nothing about you is ‘easy breezy’. Remember whenyou ignored me the first few days here and I got all weepy and played Adele?And also, we can’t forget the mess we have with this whole second-bridefucktastrophe. Believe me—not my definition of ‘easy breezy’.”
“I do not believe I will ever forget Adele and her sadsongs. Still, we are lucky to have each other,” Wheaton countered.
Giving him a side hug, she nudged him the last few steps tothe door.
“Are you ready for this?” she asked before waving her armover the door.
“As ready I will ever be,” he replied, looking like he’d beblowing chunks at any moment.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tamin and Rodin seemed both excited and surprised to seeWheaton when he walked in with Poppy. The men came up and gave him an arm shakeaccompanied by a manly back pat. After she hugged each of the men, which wasaccompanied by a growl from Wheaton, she clapped her hands together and said,“Let’s get this show on the road.”
The men obviously figured that she meant to get the scanstarted, and followed her into the exam room. Familiar with the drill by now,Poppy kicked off her shoes and hopped onto the regen bed. Blowing a kiss to astill queasy-looking Wheaton, she lay back and prepared for the doors to close.
Wheaton bent over the bed with an anxious glance, causingTamin to smack his arm and mumble, “Calm down, warrior.”
Poppy giggled when she saw Wheaton whip his head around toglare at Tamin, who pretended to be busy with his tablet.
One minute later, the door slid back open. Sitting up, Poppyglanced at a very concerned Wheaton.
“What the hell is your problem, Wheaton? You know these bedsare safe. You’re acting like it was going to kill me or something,” she teased,trying to put him at ease.
“I explained that I am nervous, my little flower,” hereminded her while helping her out of the bed.
Poppy witnessed Rodin mouth, “Little flower?” to hisfriend. Both men smirked at Wheaton, their amusement obvious. Wheaton paid noattention to the other men as he helped her slip on her shoes once more. Waitingfor the results seemed to take forever…or at least it seemed that way withWheaton hovering over the readout screen at the end of the bed. Every thirtyseconds he would pace back to Poppy and put his hand on her shoulder or smoothher hair back. Then he would trek back to the regen bed and stare at it,waiting for it to do something.
Tamin and Rodin tried to distract him but gave up when theywere unable to get a response. Soon they began chatting with Poppy about theprevious day’s activities. When she explained about the situation she had withHannah, they were furious on her behalf.
Once Wheaton overheard the phrases “that idiot Wheaton” inaddition to “not deserving her”, he finally joined in the conversation.
“I was an idiot and do deserve her. I havefixed my errors so mind your own business,” he bit out, not at all willing tohumor the men trying to rile him.
“Well, if for some reason Poppy changes her mind, then weknow many a warrior who would snatch her up in a second,” Rodin chipped in.
At those words, Wheaton lunged across the room and heldRodin up off his feet by his scrubs.
“What warriors are they?” he demanded, angry as hell.
Although Poppy had moved as quickly as she was able to helpher friend, she wasn’t fast enough to make it before Wheaton had Rodin in adeath grip. Trying to get Wheaton to loosen his grip on Rodin, she was pullingon his fingers when the machine signaled it had completed its cycle. In aninstant, Rodin was released and fell back to the wall behind him, still staringwide-eyed at Wheaton. With one last glare in Rodin’s direction, Wheaton movedtoward Tamin, who was standing by the bed.
Tamin snatched the information the regen bed spit out as itprinted, and was scanning it quickly while Wheaton stared him down. Between himcasting angry glances at Rodin for what he had said, and glaring at Tamin as ifhe needed to hurry the fuck up with his reading, Poppy just tossed her hands inthe air and sat down again.
“Rodin, I need your eyes on this. Something seems…off,”Tamin said, keeping an eye on Wheaton, who appeared as if he were ready tostrangle someone again.
“Off? What does ‘off’ mean?” Wheaton asked, his voicehoarse. “If there is a question about Poppy’s health then you do what must bedone to fix her. No matter what the cost. Understand?”
“Yeah, guys, what does ‘off’ mean?” Poppy’s voice rose tomatch Wheaton’s.
The two men mumbled quietly to one another while Wheatonstrode back to Poppy, pulling her into a hard hug. Holding her tight, hewhispered, “Do not worry, Poppy. We will handle whatever has happened and makesure that you are taken care of.”
As they huddled in their little circle while the men talked,she could feel Wheaton take deep breaths. Her mind whirling with possibilities,all bad of course, as to what could be “off”. Moving her arms lower on his bodyto hug his waist, she leaned against him and felt him lean into her as well.With him kissing her ear and hugging her, she felt whatever the problem was,they would really be all right. The strength that he lent her was powerfulenough to get them through anything as long as they were together.
“Poppy? Wheaton?” Rodin said.
Turning in Wheaton’s hold, Poppy was startled to see the mensmiling. What the hell? What was there to smile about??
Poppy’s nerves shot, she snapped at the men. “Spit it out,doc. I feel like I’m either ready to cry or puke. Neither one of those optionsis pretty.”
“I am sorry to have upset you. I wanted Rodin to confirmwhat I believed from the changes on this scan versus your previous scan,” Taminexplained.
“And?” Wheaton asked anxiously when the doctor paused. Hewas just as much on
