Part 17 (1/2)
Libby's gaze s.h.i.+fted to Tyson's face. A muscle jerked in his jaw and his eyes went icy, but other than that, it was nearly, impossible outwardly to tell if Harry's arrow had found a mark-but she felt the jab of pain. Harry scored a much larger hit than he realized. The revelation struck Libby. Tyson didn't believe he was lovable. And why should he? His parents hadn't understood or wanted him, and even Sam told him how difficult he was to be around. Her heart ached for him. He stood tall and straight, his shoulders square, staring down Harry Jenkins.
”You can say whatever you like about me, Harry, but it won't change the facts. The drug is flawed and it's going to kill people. You have no intention of fixing it. You want respect for your work, but you're never going to get it unless you get over your shoddy work practices. The drug might eventually be an amazing discovery, but not in its present form. You're rus.h.i.+ng something for glory.”
”Like you care about the people dying,” Harry snapped back. ”You could care less if half the population of the world died from the plague. Don't go trying to portray yourself as the savior of the world.”
”Stop,” Libby burst out, taking a step forward. She marched back down the aisle between the worktables until she planted herself in front of Tyson, her fists on her hips. ”That's enough. You didn't come here to talk reasonably about a drug that obviously, obviously has a major side effect on a certain age group of patients. I heard rumors about the side effects months ago, but not once since barging into this house have you even asked Ty about his concerns or his findings. Neither of you. That certainly doesn't show the least bit of responsibility to me. You can stand here until Christmas, calling Ty all kinds of names, but if he believes there is something wrong with the drug, you can bet there is. And you can't keep a thing like that secret.”
Joe Fields shook his head. ”Dr. Drake, this has gone badly, but we did come to try to resolve this situation. I'm sure you can understand the reactions of a man when he sees someone stealing his work.”
”Stealing!” Libby shook off Ty's restraining hand. ”Ty wouldn't steal a gla.s.s of water if he were dying of thirst in the desert. Harry Jenkins used Ty's research as a foundation. Ty did all the hard work and Jenkins jumped onboard as soon as he saw Ty had something important.”
”I think we'd better leave,” Fields said. ”We're not going to solve this by arguing. I'm sorry you both feel this way, but if you persist, Derrick, you'll be hearing from our lawyers.”
Tyson took an aggressive step forward, setting Libby to one side as he confronted Fields. ”Either you both think I'm stupid or you've forgotten we all work for BioLab and they own all intellectual rights to the drug, research, everything. I'd have to show intent to harm BioLab for you to get lawyers involved, but hey, I'd love for this to go public.”
Fields tugged hard on Harry, practically dragging him up the stairs. Tyson jerked his head at Sam to indicate that he wanted him to escort them through the house. Sam nodded and trailed after the two men.
Tyson stood for a long moment staring up the staircase before turning to Libby. ”I'm sorry about that. Harry Jenkins can be very unpleasant.”
”They scared the h.e.l.l out of me.”
”I know. I could see it on your face. Thank you for sticking up for me. It isn't often that happens and I really appreciate it.”
”Aren't you going to ask me why I stopped by?” Libby challenged him.
His fingers tangled in her hair. ”I managed to work that out while I was pretending to listen to Harry and Joe. I'm sorry, Libby.” He turned to wave his arms to encompa.s.s the lab. ”I've been breaking down the PDG drug, component by component, and time got away from me. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I set the alarm, but if it went off, I didn't hear it.”
”You set an alarm to remember we had a date?” She glanced at the clock by the stairway. A tray of untouched food was beside it, right where Sam must have placed it earlier in the day.
He sighed. ”That sounds so bad. I mean it, Libby, I'm really sorry. It won't...”
She put her fingers over his lips. ”Don't tell me it won't happen again. Of course it will happen again. It's just a fact of your life that whatever you're working on can consume you completely. Where's another lab coat? I want to see what you found.”
Tyson stood in stunned silence. No one had ever reacted that way. And no one had ever asked to share his pa.s.sion with him. ”Are you sure?” He could barely get the words out and his tone was husky to his own ears.
”Before Irene ever mentioned the trial to me, I was reading as much as I could about the drug. It sounded so promising that I researched it as thoroughly as possible. Several colleagues of mine contributed what they knew or thought, and I began to get a very uneasy feeling. That's why when Irene asked about putting Drew in the program I asked her to wait a bit longer until we knew more.”
”You were right to be suspicious,” Ty said. ”The side effects for young people are very different from the side effects for adults, yet they're using the drug for both. The adults seem to be able to handle it, but the kids are definitely having a problem.” He reached over her head to drag a lab coat from a shelf. ”Here, put this on.”
”And then we're going to go out and get you food, Ty,” Libby said. ”You can't go without eating, it isn't good for you.”
”You sound like Sam,” Tyson said as he led her toward the back of the room where he had his work set up. ”He's all about getting me fat.”
”He brought you lunch earlier.”
”Did he?” Ty looked around with a faint frown on his face. ”I don't remember. Poor Sam. I must drive him crazy. He takes the time to make food for me and I don't even notice him. I'm the only family he's got and I'm not very good.”
Libby rubbed his arm. ”Family loves unconditionally.”
Their gazes collided. ”Not my family.”
She flinched at the grimness in his tone. ”Isn't that the way you love Sam?”
He turned to examine the data on the screen of his computer. ”Yes.”
Libby smiled to herself. His voice was gruff. He was uncomfortable with anything to do with his emotions. ”Then most definitely you know how to love unconditionally.”
Tyson drummed his fingers on the tabletop, peering closer at the computer, clearly uncomfortable. ”I know the problem is in the components, but I haven't isolated it yet. Old Harry could be a great biochemist. He's got the right idea, but something is off and I just can't get it.”
”Most research focuses on adults, not adolescents. Much more research on the adolescent brain is needed. We need large focus studies of treatment conducted,” Libby suggested.
Tyson nodded his head in agreement. ”I spoke to the head office about that just the other day. They don't seem to understand that brains that aren't fully developed react differently to meds than adult brains.”
”Maybe they don't want to know, Ty,” Libby said carefully. ”There are too few researchers focusing on children and most are working for pharmaceutical companies. Maybe the answer is for a non-pharmaceutical company to conduct the studies.”
He shook his head. ”I don't believe that, Libby. The men and women on my team are dedicated to what they do, not to the money for the company. They want to find ways to help. I think we need to show the importance for adolescents. People have the unrealistic idea that teens aren't vulnerable to disease and mental illness. Maybe they just don't want the facts in their face so they overlook that particular segment in research, but the reaction these kids are having to this drug is a prime example of why we need to concentrate on the adolescent brain.”
Libby pushed a hip against him to move him so she could see the data as well. ”We should talk to Drew and get his mother's consent to draw his blood.”
”And get the reports on him from this study,” Tyson agreed. ”That would be very helpful. Do you think Irene will give us her consent?”
”She's called the house numerous times and she was very apologetic.”
”She should be. She bashed you over the head.”
”Not just for that. I doubt she would have hurt me if I hadn't already been having a difficult time, but she actually sold Drew's remarkable story of my putting him into remission to a tabloid.”
Tyson stiffened, straightening to frown at her. ”She claimed you healed Drew and sold the story to a tabloid?” He repeated it slowly and Libby could feel the tension in the room go up noticeably.
She swallowed hard. Tyson might be on his way to accepting the magical talents of the Drakes, but he wasn't totally there yet. It made him very uncomfortable and she didn't like the feeling of walking on eggsh.e.l.ls when she talked to him about it. ”You know, Ty, I live with unexplained things every day. They're commonplace in my life. If we can't talk about it, then there's no point continuing to try to have a relations.h.i.+p.”
His eyes narrowed and he caught her chin in his hand. ”I'm not trying to have a relations.h.i.+p with you; Libby, I'm in a relations.h.i.+p with you. I've wanted you as far back as I can remember. Maybe I didn't always recognize that it was you that I wanted, but you were important to me and I couldn't stop thinking, or fantasizing about you. Your family doesn't scare me. I have a lot of failings, but I'm tenacious. I know we're right together. Maybe you don't yet, but I do.”
”I love my family, Ty. I'm always going to love them and I'll always need to be close to them. There's no getting away from that.”
”I know. I can see that every time I look at you with them. If I seemed a bit upset it wasn't over your family, it was the fact that Irene would sell out not only a friend, as you obviously are to her, but her own son. I'm certain the notoriety didn't help his condition.”
Tyson bent his head to kiss her again, because he couldn't resist. Her eyes widened with shock and took on a slow, sensual burn that caused a heated meltdown to his insides. He threw caution to the wind. His palm curled around the nape of her neck to drag her closer, fingers twisting in the wealth of thick, dark hair so he could pull back her head to the perfect angle, to give his mouth access to her. She was everything he'd ever wanted, ever dreamed or fantasized about. He wanted her with every fiber of his body, every cell of his being.
He kissed her, savoring the taste of her, aggressive in his pursuit. He wanted her to feel the things he couldn't seem to convey to her with words. It wasn't only about the excitement of her body. She'd found some weakness and invaded his mind, wrapped herself inside him. She'd been there much longer than he'd ever acknowledged.
”Sometimes, at night, before I go to sleep, I hear you laugh,” he murmured against her lips. He ached with wanting her, with his need of her. ”I lie there wis.h.i.+ng you were with me.”
His mouth was driving her crazy, making the world slide away until she could think of nothing but him. Her arms slid around his neck, her body became liquid heat, pliable, flowing, alive with need. She could feel every muscle in his body, taste his hunger, his pa.s.sion. One hand tangled in her hair, the other shaped the curve of her waist, her hip, slid under her blouse to stroke bare skin. She swore the pads of his fingers sent tiny electrical pulses streaking through her body to find every nerve ending.
She burrowed her hands under his s.h.i.+rt, wanting to get closer to him, surprised by the feel of hard muscle as she ran her palms gently over his chest. She was drowning in his kisses, aching for him, returning kiss for kiss as the voltage went up several kilowatts and spread with the force of thermonuclear energy through her body.