Page 34 of Change

I was frozen in terror as he strolled to the glass-walled check-in desk and its world-weary attendant. She looked up at us, lowering her lipstick-stained coffee cup back onto coffee-rimmed post-it notes, and turned to the computer. “Mr. Dubois?” She sounded mildly surprised. “How can I help you today?”

There was no way I could speak, and I buried my face into Bryce’s shirt as he continued to take control. I didn’t even care that the hospital people knew his name.

“She fainted,” he said.

The clerk pulled her attention from the computer, looking me over. “Any chest pain?”

She was asking me, but I still couldn’t speak. Only shaking my head once before I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face against Bryce. I was making a scene, and I knew how pathetic I must look, but I couldn’t help it.

I didn’t want to be here. Didn’t. Didn’t.

“Okay,” she said. “It won’t be a long wait.”

The two discussed check-in information, with Bryce sounding far calmer and more collected than I expected, and so, it took a moment to even realize that he’d gotten my birthday correct.

So…he did know when it was. That jerk.

But that was the least of my concerns.

“Wrist, please,” she said, and I thought I might be sick.

I blindly held my arm out in her direction, not wanting to see. But it didn’t matter, the plastic bracelet felt like a brand against my skin, and my thoughts turned sluggish.

No, no, no.

I should have just gone to Damen; I should have taken the good medicine.

Then none of this would be happening right now.

I was so, so stupid.

Bryce trudged through the waiting room, finding an empty corner and tucking the two of us into it. He wouldn’t look at me as he rewrapped the fuzzy pink blanket around my shoulders, and even though I vaguely wondered where he’d gotten it, I was too upset to really care.

“I want to go home,” I whispered, grabbing his wrist before he could pull away. “Please don’t make me be here.”

I loathed that he was seeing me in such a weakened state, but there was no helping it.

Bryce’s stern expression was set in stone as his hand closed over mine. “Youneedto be seen.”

I knew that! I knew it! I wasn’t stupid.

But still, I didn’t want to. “Please,” my voice cracked.

I was so ashamed. It was only a doctor’s visit; it wasn’t like it was the end of the world.

“No, you’re going to talk to a doctor.” Bryce remained unmoved, yet there was a sense of nervous energy that seemed to radiate from his tense form.

His movements were stiff as he removed my hand from his wrist and slid into the chair next to me. He’d settled back in his seat, legs crossed, and rested his arm behind the head of my chair. Even though he’d carried me in here, this almost touching was somehow worse—and not because it wasBryce.

The thought of any further contact with anyone right now made my skin crawl. “Why?”

“Because you passed outthree times—Brayden told me what happened earlier. There’s also the fact that this seems to be a regular occurrence that you’ve been ignoring for years.” Bryce sounded as if he was reciting a line from a well-rehearsed script. “It’s my responsibility to make sure you take care of yourself.”

“But I don’t want to.” How had it even come to this? “I can’t.” I pushed my fists into the tops of my thighs. “You promised.”

We’d agreed that while he had medical power of attorney over me, he’d never pressure me into doing something I didn’t want.

I would never forgive him for this.