Way Out of Control (3 page)

The morning seemed to drag on forever as Jaxon sat alone in his padded prison fighting with his overwhelming emotions. He tried to collect himself, tried to think of pleasant things to take the edge off, but it was like he was in a tub with the water left running and he could feel that there was going to be a spill any moment.

Last night he’d been angry before Celise came into the room, but to see her look at him in fear had sent him near raving. Thirteen sleepless hours later and he was still every bit as enraged.

He
never
wanted her to look at him like that. The entire few months he’d gotten to know her, all he’d wanted was to get closer to Celise. For her to feel as comfortable  with him as he did with her. He couldn’t recall the last time he wanted someone this bad, so used he was to being pretty much alone. But Celise roused him. Got his blood pumping hard. Somehow, she humbled him while simultaneously hyping his desire to take her out, lay her down, make her his. It may have been foolish of him to hope he ever stood a chance, but he did have that hope. Now, he couldn’t even get Celise to look him in the eye without flinching, so how was he ever going to earn her trust? It was like they were starting over, or moving backwards even.

And how was he going to go back to the precinct, looking like he’d been guzzling kegs of steroids and some other illegal shit? Seriously, there would be no easy way of explaining his radical change in appearance in such a short period of time.

The more he’d thought about how much this would screw up his life, the angrier and more frustrated he became. There was only one thing separating him from the two fools that had done this to him. The windowed wall. And it took everything in Jaxon not to look at it, not to contemplate obliterating it so that he could move beyond it and destroy those two incompetent doctors. He snarled at the barrier with an anger so enflamed he was sure he could rip it down as easily as cardboard if he tried.

It’s perfectly safe,
they’d said.
We’ve tested it hundreds of times in other primates. You will be a new man, a superman. The model for all law enforcement and military personnel; never limited by injuries or the physical constraints of a fragile human ever again.

Yeah right. Sure, physically he
looked
a lot less fragile than he used to. But mentally? He was utterly, undeniably, and unfortunately far more pathetic than he ever was before.

He could no longer keep his cool. He was not in control of his emotions.

Jaxon cursed and pummeled his fists repeatedly into an empty metallic medicine cart until it folded in half upon itself.

The three-story building that housed his cell used to be a mental institution. How fitting—it was still housing crazies. What was he
thinking
when he volunteered to be part of this experiment? Okay, so he’d had just one thing, and one thing, only on his mind at the time. Getting better and back on the beat. He’d felt no fear, no hesitation when he signed up. He should have known this wouldn’t land him in a good position. The irony was his lack of fear is what got him two bullet wounds and bound to a desk in the first place.

Celise’s voice came through the speaker, and he froze on the spot.

“Good morning, Officer Wentworth. It’s me, Dr. Belderon.”

He didn’t answer.

“I know you’re awake, I can see you. I’ve come to examine you and bring you breakfast and some shoes and clothes that should fit.”

He glared at a spot on the window where he could determine that she was standing based on the where’d he’d, unwittingly, heard her footsteps stop just moments before. “Leave the clothes and food but please, don’t come all the way in.”

“Why? Are you in violent mood?”

He rolled his eyes and grunted. He wanted nothing more than to see her. But since he wasn’t sure of his ability to control his emotions at the moment, he didn’t want to risk hurting her. “I have no intention of harming you, Celise.”

“But I really need to give you an examination. And to talk to you about what’s going on.”

“You really should just go away.”

“I thought we were on good terms, Office Wentworth.”

“We are. But I-” he sighed, closed his eyes and clutched his fist and inhaled until the rage was teetering on the rim, but contained. “Just make it quick.”

As soon as she opened the door, his temper diminished further as a new emotion rose to the surface. She came into the room wearing a soft-looking green cotton dress that hugged the counters of her body. It came up near her collarbones and fell modestly down past her knees and she wore her long, white lab coat open over it. Yet still she looked seductive. The poor woman couldn’t help it, she had curves that a tarp couldn’t hide, and he couldn’t help admiring them. Even the lab coat, which provided a visual representation of her brains and professionalism, added another layer of sexiness that made Jaxon’s cock stand at attention.

“So. How are you feeling?” She tugged a new metallic cart behind her, bearing a tray of food, some medical instruments and drug bottles.

Better
, he thought as he watched her breasts bounce slightly while she trotted further into the room in black two-inch high heels. “Terrible.”

“What’s wrong exactly?”

“Look at me, doc. I’m a monster.”

Celise roamed her eyes over him briefly. “So you look like a really dedicated body builder. There’s worse things to look like.”

“What, you haven’t seen my eyes?”

“I’m not a man,” Celise laughed. “Of course I’ve seen
your
eyes.”

He cocked his head to the side, and allowed the corners of his mouth to curve upwards. It felt odd for his face to be doing anything other than frowning. “Are you implying that I don’t look at yours?”

She shrugged as she walked over towards him. “Just making a general observation about your gender, that’s all.”

“Believe me, I’ve generally observed you, too. Including your eyes.”

“I bet you have.”

Her voice was like a balm, and the casually, almost flirty conversation seemed to be just the application he needed. He relaxed considerably. “They’re slate grey. They contrast fantastically with your hair.” Soft red hair, that lay in wispy, lazy piles of waves pinned to the top of her head, begging him to pull it down.

Celise smiled softly and reached for his arm. His cock twitched briefly at her touch. “I’d like to give you a check-up, starting with taking a blood sample, if that’s okay. I’ll move quickly so your food doesn’t get cold.”

Forcing his eyes not to dip past her face for too long, he allowed her to take his arm in her hand. He clutched his hands in a fist both proactively so that she could more easily access a vein and to help him concentrate on not proving her right about his wandering gaze. She poked the needle at him once. Twice. Three times. It was painful, but not nearly as much as trying to ignore the way her heat seemed to jump off her and onto him. He needed this over with fast, so he could put some more distance between them.

“Ouch, quit stabbing me, doc.”

“Sorry, I can’t seem to get the needle to break your skin. Now I see why they used the tranquilizer gun on you. They had to shoot you to get the needles to penetrate.”

Penetrate.
Jaxon licked his lips. She was moving too slow, and he needed her at least a foot away from him. “Maybe you’re just not fast or strong enough. Let me help. Guide me.” He took the needle from her and she wrapped her smaller hand around his, the contact further warming his skin and stimulating his senses.

She guided him at an angle at his vein and he pushed, finally getting through. After filling the vial, she moved to press a cotton swab against his arm, but the blood stopped completely as soon as she removed the needle.

“Did my vein just close off?”

“Yeah, looks like it already healed from the prick.” Celise said, examining his arm. “Impressive”

“Ah, the super healing effect. Well, at least that part of the formula worked.”

“I’m beginning to think a lot of this you’re experiencing was an anticipated result of the working formula,” Celise said. “I think it’s the way it happened, and the extent to which you changed in such a short period of time that wasn’t expected.”

“They said I would be able to heal and regenerate instantly, and that I would be stronger than I’ve ever been. They didn’t say I was going to be a fucking seven-foot tall Incredible Hulk with lizard eyes instead of green skin.”

She laughed and pulled a thermometer out of her pocket. “I actually thought Dr. David Banner was sexy, personally. Open your mouth.”

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. “Sexy as a dorky scientist, or big, mean and green? Because I’m neither one of those. Usually.”

“Both, actually. And Titan Formula or not, you’ve always been somewhat dorky and ‘hulky’ in my eyes. Now open.”

Jaxon watched Celise as he let her stick the thermometer under his tongue, and closed his lips down on it to hold it in place. Her own full, pouty lips were messing with him, making him think of a several things he’d like to do with them. When she pulled the thermometer out, she caught his gaze and their eyes met briefly, but then she cleared her throat and kept her eyes on her clipboard as she made some notes.

“It’s like staring into the eyes of Kermit the Frog, eh?”

“Not exactly.”

“I don’t get it. Of all of the unexpected results—how the hell did I get gator eyes?”

“The regenerative traits are reptilian in origin.”

“You mean to tell me they really did manage to splice me with a lizard?”

“Amongst other things. But all of that was explained to you at the very beginning, Officer Wentworth.”

“I know, I know. I guess I didn’t know what I was expecting. And stop calling me Officer Wentworth, we’ve been seeing each other three days a week for four months. Jaxon works.”

Celise tried a few times to wrap the blood-pressure gauge around his thick forearm, but the Velcro ends didn’t even come close to touching. He found himself almost laughing at how she gave up and simply tossed the device to the side. “What exactly
were
you expecting when you volunteered for this? You’d said that you’d wanted to be a better cop. What exactly did that mean to you?”

“The regenerative abilities, mostly. I didn’t want to ever be limited by injuries again. Especially not injuries inflicted by some hooligan scumbag. They said I’d be faster, stronger, and able to develop muscle more quickly. If it was mentioned that it’d happened like this and that I’d end look looking like an entirely different person with major attitude adjustment issues, then I missed the fine print.”

“I don’t think the intent was for any mutation to change your behavioral characteristics, nor to alter your appearance so drastically and so quickly. We’re thinking there might have been something you were recently ingesting or exposed to that caused unexpected results.”

He snorted and shook his head. "Can you fix me?”

“It won’t be easy, but I’m going to make sure we put forth our best efforts to try. Examining you and this blood sample will be the first step. We have to diagnose what is wrong with you or what went wrong before we can come up with a solution.”

“You guys don’t already have an antidote? Or an anti-formula or something already on hand?”

“We modified your genetic makeup, Jaxon. There’s no simple undo button. We do have a procedure we could try that could modify your DNA again to try to match the way you were before, but even that could go wrong if we don’t figure out what the original problem was. At least you’re healthy right now. I’m not going to further risk your health just because you look a little different.”

He closed his eyes trying to fight the effect her voice and scent were having on him. “I didn’t realize you cared,” he managed to mumble.

“I’m a doctor, it’s my job to care,” she smirked. He grunted and nodded his head. But she totally threw him off with her next response. “Besides, how can I ever take you up on a real offer for dinner together if we don’t get you all better?”

Jaxon watched her out of the corner of his eye, as she smiled and raised her brows at him, her version of winking. He wasn’t certain if she was just saying that out of pity, or to make him feel better, or if she genuinely meant it. At the moment the reason didn’t matter—the fact that she’d said it was enough to get him going. Damn, why was she so gorgeous, so sexy? And why did he feel
everything
so deeply now? Not just anger and fear and frustration. Lust, and desire and attraction. All of it. Multiplied by ten. Looking at her made him feel like he was going to lose control again. He sighed deeply.

“What,” she frowned. “You’ve changed your mind about going out with me?”

“Not at all,” he grunted. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’d want to go out with me
now
. I wasn’t big and manly enough for you before?”

“You were plenty enough man for anyone before. Besides, I didn’t say I
want
to go out with you now. Just saying I can’t consider it if you don’t get better. And get that temper in check.”