ChapterThree
“How are you feeling?” The doctor glanced between Bianca and the chart bearing her name. “Any headaches? Dizziness?”
She closed her eyes, hand on her forehead. The starchy sheet and thin blanket of the hospital bed were uncomfortably familiar, as was the room she was in. She was well-acquainted with it. Given that her family’s name was on this wing of the hospital, there was always a room available for one of the Blacks. Especially if their name happened to be Bianca.
“Slight headache,” she said. “Nothing new.”
The doctor nodded. As he made a note, Bianca turned her head toward the large rectangular window overlooking the Seattle skyline. For a single second, her mind was elsewhere, flying high above those cirrus clouds and pretending she was scaling Mt. Rainier…
Ugh. Rainier. That was the name of the security company her mother had hired.
“The good news is that your blood sugar has returned to normal. I have no reason to keep you any longer.” The doctor folded his clipboard against his stomach as he loomed over Bianca, whose hands curled around the blanket. “But I’m rather surprised this happened, Bianca. Have you had a rise in stress levels recently?”
Where to begin? The never-ending family drama? The latest weirdness with my controlling mom? My constant desire to leave it all behind, somewhere far, far away from here?
Bianca hadn’t considered herself stressed. But maybe she was heading in that direction. “I guess I have been more stressed out than usual. And I haven’t been sleeping well either. There’s… a lot going on in my life right now.”
The doctor gave her a sympathetic look. “I know it’s hard, but you have to be more careful, especially when you’re under pressure. Psychological stress disturbs the body’s metabolic processes…”
Bianca tuned him out. Fifteen years of Type 1 diabetes. I know the drill by now. She could still recall the day she was diagnosed. Mostly because her mother had collapsed in a fit of tears, convinced that it would be the death of her daughter. Even after the doctors had assured her that diabetes was perfectly manageable with diet and medication, she went through stints of crying and praying over Bianca. The woman wasn’t even religious!
“Do you want me to call someone to take you home?” The doctor asked, finally done with his spiel. “As you know, we can’t discharge you without an escort. We can call a family member to—”
Bianca didn’t let him finish his sentence. “Don’t call my family. Please.”
After her last trip to the hospital, she’d arranged with the staff to keep any emergency stays a secret from her family—namely her mother—if they weren’t the ones who admitted her. Who admitted me, anyway? She only had a vague recollection of the minutes leading up to her ass ending up passed out on the floor of a café.
“I… I’ll think of someone,” she said.
“All we need is another adult who can sign you out. We could release you to the friend who came in with you.”
Huh?“What friend?”
“Er…” The doctor looked at his papers again. “The one who called the ambulance and rode with you here. Quite the formidable-looking lady. I don’t think she was allowed in the ambulance, but from what I hear, she made a convincing argument. She must be a good friend of yours.” He glanced back up at her. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
Oh. No.
Memories came flooding back. Sam Reddy. The woman who had stared Bianca down from across the table and told her that she was under no circumstances going to be Bianca’s personal bodyguard.
She was intense. Hot as sin. The kind of woman who dominated all of Bianca’s fantasies.
And I was such a bitch to her!
“Ms. Black?” The doctor bent his head toward Bianca. “Are you all right? Are you feeling ill?”
“No, no. I just realized who you’re talking about, that’s all.”
“Ah. Is it a problem? We can ask her to leave.”
Bianca shook her head. Sam called the ambulance for me. Who else could it have been? Not only was she the last person Bianca had seen, but Sam must have felt it was her duty to accompany the client’s daughter in a medical emergency. And she was still here? Bianca had lost track of time, but it had been half a day, at least.
She didn’t know how to feel. Was she touched that Sam had helped her? Impressed by the woman’s dedication to her job?
Oh, who was she kidding? She was embarrassed.
“I’ll go get her.” The doctor stepped out of the room before Bianca could protest.
Sam is coming! The woman whose face Bianca had seen on the Rainier Protection Services website and had instantly fallen in girlish lust with. Those eyes. Those brows. That set jaw and flawless bronze skin.