Arcanum Hominem (#1)

Chapter 68

Negative. 

I let out a large sigh and slowly walked to the bathroom door, unlocking it. I was staring at the sticks still when Killian walked up to me, and I showed him what they all said. He eyed them, and I could see the relief in his eyes. He pulled me into his chest, and I wrapped my arms around him, the pressure of being pregnant, possibly becoming a mother, leaving my body. I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't sure if I would ever be ready for that path. I let go of him and stepped back, keeping myself composed. 

"Okay, well, now that the scare is over, we can go back to tracking down Chase." I turned and threw the tests away and washed my hands. I walked past Killian and reached the door when he pulled me back.

"That's it? We have a pregnancy scare, and the first thing you want to do is go back to work? You need to take it easy, figure out all of the emotions you were feeling. Sort out why you're throwing up." 

I shrugged my arm out of his grip. "I don't need to figure anything out. I'll double check to make sure my birth control is working, and we'll be fine. I already know why I was throwing up. It was because of stress. Now, to be less stressed, I need to find Chase so that I can find Archer." I turned to the door but froze. I never said that out loud before. I knew if I did, they would assume that I wanted to kill Archer, which I do.

"Wait, that's why you want to find Chase? Not because he may have answers that we need? You want to kill Archer for what he did to you, don't you?" Accusation seeped through his tone, and I curled my fists.

"You want to do the exact same thing, so don't you dare judge me," I growled, not turning around. Killian walked around me, a smirk on his face.

"I'm not judging you. I want to help you, though we might have to fight over who gets Archer's head." He raised a brow, and his words made me smile. He wanted to help me, huh. I was genuinely surprised. I walked past him.

"Well, let's see what information the others have, and then we can figure out all of the details later." I went straight to the warehouse, feeling much better than I did earlier. Knowing that I wasn't pregnant was a huge relief and gave me an energy boost. 

"Perfect timing. We found out where Chase is currently located. Took a few months, but hey, we got it." Levi spoke as soon as I walked into the warehouse. I walked over to where he was standing, looking at his computer. 

"Las Vegas. What the hell is he doing there?" I muttered to myself, not able to form any type of conclusion. 

"Apparently, he's meeting with Archer Cutler." Row spoke from behind me, and I had to force myself not to react. 

"Oh, so are we going after him as well?" I asked, taking a seat in the chair next to me. Please say yes.

"No, we're not. That would be too dangerous. We still don't really know what we're dealing with when it pertains to his antics, but we do with Chase. We can bring him in and interrogate him as we planned." Cleo spoke, and I scrunched my brows. 

"Why the hell would we just pass him up when he's going to be in the same place as Chase? That doesn't make any sense." I stood up, not understanding. It already took them this long to find Chase. If we let Archer go, it would only take longer, and who knows what kind of reinforcements he could have by then.

"Listen to them, Scarlett. They know what they're talking about. We go after Chase and leave Archer alone. We'll get him next time." Killian stood next to me, and I glared up at him. He wanted Archer as badly as I did, if not more. How could he say that? I looked around at everyone, and they all seemed to be in agreeance. That pissed me off, but there was nothing I could do. 

"Fine. When do we leave.?" I asked, wanting to move on from the subject. I would be a team player for now and leave him alone. 

"As soon as possible. Vegas is only a couple of hours away, so we can get there in good time and still have time to set everything up. We can go over more of an exact plan on the way and when we get there." Levi spoke, and I nodded. We all separated and packed a bag for the trip. I was the first one to be ready, and I packed my stuff in one of the cars. Finally, some action. I was tired of sitting on my ass with no leads. The rest of the team packed their bags in the car, and soon, we were all on the road headed toward Vegas. I was with Killian in one car, and the other three were in the other car together. 

"Are we good?" Killian spoke once we were on the road, cruising on the highway. I glanced at him, surprised at his question. Were we good? I wasn't upset at him anymore, which was good, so I guessed we were good.

"Yeah, we're good," I answered him, and he seemed to relax at my answer. 

"I really did miss you," His voice was low, and his words almost put a smile on my face until I thought about what he said to me about not being the only woman he could have sex with. 

"Did you really fuck someone else?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. He grinned at my question and glanced at me, humor swimming in his emerald eyes.

"No, I didn't, Scarlett. You pissed me off, so I said that. Why would I fuck someone else?" he chuckled as if that was the craziest thing to assume. 

"Why wouldn't you? It's not like we're in a relationship, so you don't have to commit to me." I shrugged. He scrunched his brows and tilted his head. 

"But I want to commit to you." 

I froze, his words throwing me off. "What?"

"With sex, darling. You're the only person I want to fuck." He winked at me, making me shake my head, but chuckle at the same time. I thought he was talking about an actual relationship for a second, and that actually scared me. Though my heart wanted him, I wasn't ready for that with him. With anyone for that matter. 

"What happens when you want to pursue a relationship with someone?" I asked him, genuinely curious. We never had a conversation about this, and I was actually enjoying this. It was nice to see where his head was at when it came to the relationship we had. He made a face.

"I won't be pursuing a relationship with anyone."

"But what if-"

"Scarlett. I'm not ever pursuing a relationship with anyone again. So you have nothing to worry about." He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, and I was about to speak, but he beat me to it. "What about you? What happens when you decide to pursue a relationship with someone?" he asked me, a curious look on his face. I sat back deeper into my seat. 

"I don't want anyone else." Those words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself, and I almost choked on my words. "I mean, I won't ever be pursuing a relationship with anyone either, so you also have nothing to worry about." I chuckled awkwardly, hoping he didn't dwell too much on the first thing I said. Curse my fucking weak ass heart. A guy finally treated me right, and I was swooning like a bitch. 

The curious look on his face disappeared and was replaced with a serious one. We stopped at a red light, and he turned, staring at me. His eyes were roaming my face, a curious look in them. Something in them told me that he did hear me, yet he didn't say anything. He reached out a hand, and his fingers traced my jawline, stopping right under my chin. My mouth parted when his thumb brushed my lips, and my body tingled. The light turned green, so Killian's attention went back to the road, but he left his arm on the armrest in the middle of us. 

I sucked in a breath to get more air in my lungs. I haven't felt like that in a while. The benefit of being mad at Killian was that I wasn't around him much, which meant my body didn't light up on fire at the sight of him or in close proximity. But now that I wasn't mad at him anymore, that was definitely going to be a problem. At least now I knew where his mind was with what we had going on between the two of us. He didn't want anyone else...at the moment at least, and that was okay with me because I didn't want anyone else either. As he now knew. 

Thinking about that put a smile on my face, and I was in a good mood for the entire ride to Vegas.