Chapter 11
Leon
Things with Annika had taken an interesting turn, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see where our newfound partnership would lead us. I knew better than to get my hopes up, but it was hard to ignore our chemistry after dealing with my fair share of dishonesty. That is until I did the unthinkable and subconsciously patted her on the head. It was clear that I had fucked up, and I didn’t even make it to the end of my apology before I was cut off and dealt a blow to my ego when she used my own words against me.
It was absurd, realizing it stung a bit hearing Annika state this was a mere business partnership when I had persuaded her of just that a short while ago. I wasn’t sure if it was because she wasn’t interested in me or if it had more to do with the fact she was broken-hearted to the point where she never expected to find love again. The more I thought about it, the more I figured it was a combination of both. I honestly couldn’t blame her because her situation wasn’t like mine and Sadie’s. Annika and her douchebag husband had been together for over a decade. I’d be skeptical of loving again if I were in her shoes.
I snapped back to reality and made a phone call as we left my office to see my friend, Austin Chester, who I dubbed the”Mad Scientist” since he was a genius and practically lived inside the lab for his entire life. His microscope was his best friend, lover, and arch-nemesis all in one. When we arrived at his facility, I noticed Annika's face lit up immediately.
“Wait, your friend works here?!” she exclaimed while pointing at the building.
“Yeah? Is there something wrong?” I asked, a little confused by her enthusiastic reaction.
“When you said your friend’s name was Austin Chester, I didn’t think you meant the Austin Chester!”
“You’ve heard of Austin?” I asked with a slight tint of jealousy. She’d heard of Austin, but she had never heard of me?
“What doctor or scientist hasn’t heard of Austin Chester! He’s world renown in his studies of infectious diseases. You’re taking me to see him!?” she cried out with pure joy in her voice and adoration in her eyes. It was like Austin was some kind of superstar to her or something.
“Yeah. We should head in. Austin is waiting for us,” I mumbled while getting out of the car, trying to hide my disappointment. I couldn’t help but feel so incredulous at this sudden turn of events.
We entered the building, and since I have visited on multiple occasions in the past, the security guard had no issues allowing us to waltz right in without checking our IDs. Annika seemed surprised, but she also seemed a little too excited for my liking. Was it because she was going to meet Austin? I tried not to sulk at this revelation, and we walked up to the private elevator.
“Is this a private elevator?” she asked me as we waited for it to come down.
“Yeah. This one goes straight to Austin’s lab on the bottom level, and it’s the only one that does. He’s very meticulous about maintaining absolute privacy and silence,” I explained, glancing at her to gauge her reaction.
“Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense,” she replied.
“It does?” I asked in return and furrowed my brows.
“Well, yeah. He’s a fucking genius who needs silence and space. You can’t be a genius in a lab with too much noise. I get the feeling he’s the type that listens to music while he’s working or has the TV playing in the background with some kind of science or biological documentary playing.” I stared at her, dumbfounded. She was spot on. How the fuck did she know how Austin liked to work? What the hell is going on?”Aren’t you coming?”
“Huh?” I was shaken from my thoughts once I realized the elevator had arrived, and Annika was already inside.”Yeah, I’m coming,” I replied and got on board. I hit the button that would take us to the basement, and we descended smoothly to his lab. I texted Austin to let him know that we had arrived, so he was already there waiting for us when the door slid open.
“Leon, it’s been a while, old pal,” he said and gave me a bro hug.”And this must be the patient you want me to look at?” he asked while looking in Annika’s direction. I turned around and noticed she was still frozen in place, looking like the textbook definition of a deer caught in the headlights of a car.
“Annika?” I called out to her.
“Huh?”
“Are you going to come over, or are you just going to stand there?”
“Oh, sorry, I’m just starstruck. Dr. Chester, my name is Annika Hollands. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!” she gushed while acting giddy. What in the flying fuck? Was she … was she really smiling from ear to ear while introducing herself to him?
“The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Hollands.”
“Doctor.”
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s Doctor, actually. I’m a doctor in family medicine,” she said proudly.
“Oh, I see. My apologies, Doctor Hollands. It’s nice to meet a fellow doctor,” Austin replied and smiled back at her. This fucker never smiles at women. I looked between the two of them, and they seemed to be having a silent conversation amongst themselves, so I cleared my throat to get their attention.
“Austin, we’re kind of in a crunch here,” I said, hinting that I wanted to get the show on the road.
“Oh, right. My bad. Doctor, if you could come with me, I will take a blood sample, and we can test it right away,” Austin told her as he led her further inside his laboratory. I followed behind them, and I watched as Annika became more and more fascinated with his lab
“Oh, wow! Dr. Chester, you have a mass spectrometer?”
“Of course. I have to be able to break down the composition of certain matter to determine what it's made of.”
“I read that you’ve helped law enforcement solve cold cases. Is that true?”
“Yes, it is. I’m not big on crime-solving per se, but sometimes, they come to me for assistance when their own CSI is having issues.” Annika nodded her head in amusement and admiration. The way she was looking at Austin was making me green with envy. She had yet to give me the same doe-eyed look she wore as she stared at Austin. Never once did I ever consider Austin competition. He was never into dating, and girls barely looked his way because of his geekiness. But this was completely the opposite. Here I am trying to get her attention, yet she’s focusing solely on Austin and his drawing her blood.