Page 204 of Stand: Part One

After he left for the day, I kept my ass in bed, breathing through the nausea until I was able to fall back asleep, waking up another hour later. I found Camaro lying down just next to the bed, my arm able to reach her head for scratches from where I lay. I still felt bad that I’d almost vomited on her just a few days ago.

When I felt fine enough, I got up from the bed to take a quick shower, hoping the water would bring back some energy. When it didn’t, I forced myself to get dressed anyway, moving at a fucking snail’s pace until I made it out the bedroom door.

“Oh, you are awake,” Sloane said from my right. “Feeling any better?”

“Not really, but I’ll be okay. I’m going to go down to see Sid.” I didn’t feel like waiting for him to come find me.

“Then I will accompany you.”

I waved her off. “Oh no, you know you don’t have to do that?—”

“My orders came directly from Mr. Davis this morning. You are not well and should not be left unattended for any reason.”

I cocked a brow at her. A potential stomach bug should not warrant this much attention. “If you insist,” I replied with a yawn, slowly making my way to the infirmary with Camaro and Sloane at my side.

Sid was studying something in his office, his expression a little more bleak than usual. He actually looked nervous for some reason.

“Still not feeling good, eh?” he asked me before coughing to clear the odd hoarseness from his voice.

I shook my head, watching as Sloane moved to stand against the wall. “Not sure what’s going on, but I’ve just been feeling pretty shitty.”

His brows furrowed. “For how long now?”

I shrugged my shoulders as I stepped up. “Few days.”

Sid’s eyes bounced up and down my form, his mouth forming a tight line as he scrutinized me. But I found myself doing the same to him, noticing the dark circles under his eyes and the droopy lids that nearly covered them. His face had been looking very gaunt lately, but his cheeks appeared a little swollen today.

“Okay, well,” he groaned as he stood from his desk, a subtle wheeze in his breath. “Let’s draw some blood and run some tests.”

Three vials of blood later, Sid had also taken my blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, listened to my lungs, and then went over my symptoms.

“You should have come in sooner, Jaden. I don’t know why you try to hide your ailments.”

I scoffed. “It’s just a stupid stomach bug. It’s not like I’m dying, Sid.” I eyed him closely, wondering if he would catch on to the hint that I knew which one of us actually was. He didn’t. That, or he just ignored it.

“Yeah, well, hiding symptoms just makes my job harder. I’ll be back with your test results in a little bit.”

Sid left the room with my blood, leaving me alone with Sloane and Camaro. Getting up from the medical table, I walked over to the leather couch against the wall and lay down, Camaro followed me to plop down in front of the couch.

Sitting up was difficult to do when my stomach still felt off. I wondered what the fuck I had eaten that would cause me to feel like this. Or maybe I’d caught a bug from one of the guards? Oh god, what if it was because Camaro had bitten me? Darren would be fucking furious if her bite mark caused me to get sick.

Twenty anxious minutes later, I’d practically jumped from the couch when Sid walked back into the room, Darren right behind him. My brows knit together in confusion.

Why was Darren here?

Maybe you really are dying?

I cautiously stood from the couch, my hands automatically clenching into tight fists at my sides. “What’s going on?”

Darren’s eyes locked with mine, a hardness set in his fascial features while his jaw clenched like he was preparing for a fight. I felt my stomach roil.

“Sloane, take Camaro with you and give us the room, please,” he ordered, the weight of his stare still holding me in place.

My stomach dropped even harder as I watched Sloane collect Camaro and walk out of the room, the click of the door shutting suddenly making it difficult to breathe.

Oh, shit, maybe I really was dying.

With Sloane and Camaro gone, Darren released a deep sigh and placed his hands in his pockets, finally glancing over at Sid.