Page 13 of Whispers of Wisteria (The Garden of Eternal Flowers #5)

Bryce finally responded, holding his arm to block the blonde as he grunted. “Like you’re one to talk.”

“That was a completely different situation.” Finn’s eyes narrowed, and his face turned red. His hand brushed my arm, but Bryce’s spazzing was enough to keep Finn from reaching me. “Stop doing that and fight me like a man.”

“I’m not going to fight you,” Bryce replied, squeezing me closer. His awful, scratchy shirt brushed against my cheek, and his heart was beating rapidly under my hand.

“Because you know you’d lose.” Finn grabbed my ankle, halting Bryce’s retreat.

“Will you just stop?” Bryce snapped, finally allowing his frustration to color his voice. “She needs to be seen by a doctor.”

“I’m fine!” I poked Bryce’s hard chest, hoping that the pressure hurt him more than it hurt me. Who was Bryce to speak for me? But at least my protests had finally gotten Bryce’s attention. My brother raised his eyebrow at me while waiting for my explanation.

“I just…” I looked at Finn. It wasn’t like I could talk to him about this in front of Bryce. He was already overbearing enough, and we were learning to deal with each other.

The last thing I needed was for him to learn about Finn’s theory that I was manifesting onmyoji abilities.

“Then what was that?” Bryce finally asked, sighing in exasperation.

“N-nothing.” I pressed against his unyielding arms, trying to squirm free. “Please just—”

My statement ended in a sharp inhale and wince as, at the worst possible moment, a sharp pain radiated through my lower left side, and I wrapped my arms around my stomach.

“See what I mean?” Bryce was saying with smugness—or was that concern—heavy in his voice. “She needs to be checked out.”

“Oh,” was Finn’s understanding reply. “That. That’s her business; you need to butt out.”

Bryce headed for the car again, but when Finn spoke, he froze. “You knew?” he asked, turning back to the onmyoji.

My face grew warm at the realization. But I couldn’t reply yet. I was still gritting my teeth as the sharp pain finally began to ebb away and the dizziness receded.

“She’s like this every time,” Finn answered.

“And—” Bryce began, inpatient. “What did Trinity say?”

“It’s normal,” Finn replied, crossing his arms. “Bianca says it’s not that bad, so she rests around the house for a few days. Just let it be.”

“She’s fainted!” Bryce snapped. “In what world is that normal?”

“Well…” Finn wavered, and he looked back at me. My heart began to race. I knew that look—he was recalculating. “That’s never happened before—”

“I’m fine!” I snapped, pushing against Bryce’s chest. “I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

Finn’s jaw set and he addressed Bryce. “There’s no reason to be dramatic. She can talk to Trinity later.”

“Sure,” I replied flippantly. In about a million years. I already knew what she’d say, and it was not happening.

I would not get an exam.

“Bianca.” Bryce was looking down at me. “You’ll talk to her?”

“Yeah, whatever.” I squirmed in his arms once more. “Now put me down. I feel better.”

Finn stepped forward. “She said to put her down.”

Bryce glanced between us, expression wavering, before he finally set me back on my feet. “Fine,” he was saying as the blood began to rush to my head. “Just so long as—”

And that was the last thing I remembered before my legs gave out.

The cold air blew against my face, at odds with the too-warm blanket that seemed to cover every inch of me. I was jostled against a rigid body, and white and red flickered behind my closed eyelids.

A heavy breath brushed against my face, and I opened my eyes to glimpse a telltale sliding glass doorway. The crimson ‘Emergency Room’ letters flashed across my vision.

No!

Bryce must have felt me wake because his grip on me tightened.

I was frozen in terror as he strolled to the glass-walled check-in desk and its world-weary attendant. She looked at us, lowered her lipstick-stained coffee cup 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. I shook my head, squeezed my eyes shut, and pressed my face against Bryce. I was making a scene, and I must look pathetic, 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. It took a moment for me to 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.

She said something, but I missed it, and Bryce nudged my shoulder.

“She needs your wrist,” he said.

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 became sluggish.

No, no, no.

I should have just gone to Damen and taken the good medicine. Then, none of this would be happening.

I was so, so stupid.

Bryce trudged through the waiting room, found an empty corner, and tucked 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 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 saw 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. “You need to be seen.”

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

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

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

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

His movements were stiff as he removed my hand from his wrist and slid into the chair beside me. He’d settled back in his seat, legs crossed, and rested his arm behind the back of my chair. Even though he’d carried me in here, this almost touching was somehow worse.

The thought of contact with anyone made my skin crawl.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you passed out twice. There’s also the fact that this seems to be a regular occurrence you’ve ignored for years.” Bryce sounded as if he were reciting a line from a well-rehearsed script. “It’s my responsibility to ensure you take care of yourself.”

“But I don’t want to see a doctor.” How did 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.

“I said I would let you make your own medical decisions, as you should.” Bryce sounded bored, but his arms were tense. “But not that you can neglect to make them entirely. I refuse to let you suffer because you’re too stubborn to go to a gynecologist.”

I narrowed my eyes at his blasé expression. He wasn’t even looking at me; his focus remained on the check-in station, but he obviously felt some measure of guilt—a muscle in his jaw had begun to twitch.

Who cared if he felt bad? It wouldn’t stop me from strangling him.

It wasn’t that I was being stubborn; I couldn’t do it. Besides, the details of my menstrual cycle were not a discussion I wanted to have with my older brother.

But if he wanted to start… fine. I had years of practice making Finn squirm.

He thought he was in control, but I would make him regret this.

I didn’t care if he had my picture on his phone; I hated his stupid face. “Why you—”

The air shifted as Titus stormed through the doors, his hair wild. He pulled at his tie while glancing around the space. He spotted me almost instantly. Then he looked at Bryce, his features sharpened into something terrifying and ferocious.

Titus crossed the room before Bryce could stand. The dragon grabbed my brother by the collar and dragged him to his feet. “What the hell are you doing?”

Bryce was a tall man, but not nearly as tall as Titus, and so he stood on tiptoe as he attempted to offset the force of the dragon’s anger. “I’m sure you’ve heard it from Finn: I’ve brought her in for a checkup.”

“Finn said she didn’t want to go.” Titus’s grip tightened on Bryce’s collar.

“That’s irrelevant. Why are you all ignoring a potentially serious medical issue?” Bryce waved his hand in my direction. “Someone has to make her, and it clearly won’t be any of you. So, now I’m asserting my authority. I refuse to sit by as she suffers.”

“We’re not ignoring it. We’re concerned too,” Titus sharply retorted. “But she’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions.”

I groaned and pressed my face into my knees. Luckily, the only other people in the waiting room were clerks, who only watched the scene with mild interest.

This was so humiliating.

Bryce was dumped back into his seat, and a heavy warmth pressed against the front of my legs. I raised my head and was suddenly eye-to-eye with Titus.

The dragon was kneeling on the floor in front of me, and his green eyes flickered over my form. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you ready to go home? Or, maybe, do you want something to eat?”

Food would be good; I usually liked food. But—

“No thanks, I’m not hungry.” I hugged my arms around my knees.

Besides the pain, I was an emotional mess.

First, Damen remained impossible to figure out, then there was Brayden and the discovery of my future sage, and I’d said no to Uncle Gregory.

Plus, I worried about this new thing I’d signed up for with Gloria.

And now, I had Bryce bombarding me out of nowhere.

My mind was so filled with self-pitying thoughts that I didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late.

“See,” Bryce said as he waved an accusing hand in my direction. “She’s not even hungry.”

Titus’s lips thinned, and my limbs grew cold at his sudden look of contemplation.

My spine stiffened. “Hold on,” I rushed to explain. “It’s not what—”

“What’s going on?” Julian had arrived—still in his scrubs, so he must have been summoned from elsewhere in the hospital. He inclined his head in Bryce’s direction as he addressed Titus. “You didn’t kill him yet,” he pointed out. “It’s that bad?”

“She won’t let me take her out to eat,” Titus replied.

Julian’s eyes widened.

Bryce waved his hand in the air. “I told you! And she fainted twice today,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

I was not that predictable. “I don’t always want to eat,” I grumbled.

“Darling.” Julian slipped into the open seat at my other side. “On a scale of one to ten—” he began, touching my shoulder.

“Please stop.” My face burned, and once more, I hid my face in my knees as another stab of pain shot through me. “I’m fine.”

I really should have met up with Damen today.

However, I hadn’t considered that Julian would know. In fact, I only recalled after the cramp had faded and the dizziness had passed.

“Bianca.” This time, when he spoke, his voice had a determination that wasn’t there before. “I agree with Bryce. You’re in pain. Will you please let someone help you?”

The doubt faded from Titus’s expression at Julian’s sudden change in demeanor, and Bryce became suspiciously silent.

“I-I don’t want to,” I told him. “They’re going to push me around, and… well… I don’t care…”

I squeezed my legs closer to me, the tightness almost suffocating.

“But what if they have to do more?” I whispered, pressing my mouth against my knees. “I don’t want anyone touching me down there.”

The silence extended long enough for me to believe I was safe.

But then I glanced up. The boys were looking at each other.

“Can I go h-home now?” My mouth was numb.

Titus’s hands tightened around my ankles, and Julian sucked in a sharp breath. They exchanged one last secret message before Julian finally replied.

“Of course,” he said, although it sounded like he spoke through gritted teeth. He wasn’t happy, but he would listen. “But can I make a suggestion?”

I watched him curiously. This wasn’t exactly a situation where one offered up ‘suggestions.’

“What if you only talked to my mother?” he said slowly, almost hopeful. “She might not even need to do a physical.”

Julian’s features blurred. “But what if she does?” I asked.

“Then refuse.” Julian shrugged. “You don’t have to agree to an exam you’re uncomfortable with. But if that’s the only thing holding you back, you should know that you have options.”

“I can say no?” I bit my lip.

“You can always say no,” Titus cut in, shooting Bryce a dark glare.

“But—” I started, attention flickering between Titus and Julian. “If I just want to ask questions… but don’t want anything more… it’s okay?”

Honestly, it would be a relief to ask questions. Online medical archives were terrifying, and textbooks didn’t help either. I hadn’t even known it was possible.

Julian nodded.

“Okay.” I pressed my chin to my knees once more. “But only for Dr. Kohler.”