I swiped my hand across my face and looked down at my shirt. At the bloodstain the rain hadn’t quite washed out where a spurt of Anna’s blood had hit the fabric. My mind leapt to the next explanation. “I get nose bleeds when I’m stressed sometimes. It must have happened while I was leaving without me even noticing it, and some got on my shirt. I don’t know what else I can tell you.”
Julius nodded, but his wary expression didn’t change. Something I’d said wasn’t lining up with his assumptions, and I didn’t know how to fix it. Had I shown the wrong emotions for the story I’d given? I’d never had a boyfriend before, let alone an awful one. I didn’t know what it was like to be someone desperate enough to take off on that boyfriend in the middle of the night. Maybe I should have tried crying? But tears didn’t come easily to me.
I hadn’t even cried for Anna, not really.
Julius didn’t argue with me, though. He set my tote bag down on the chair. “We didn’t find a phone on you. I’m guessing you don’t want to check in with this boyfriend, but is there a friend or relative you were heading to that you’d want us to get in touch with? If someone was expecting you, they must be panicking by now.”
I shook my head quickly. “I don’t have a phone—he broke my last one a few days ago. No one knew I was coming. I didn’t even know where I was going yet.”
That last part was true enough that a twinge of loss ran through my chest and into my voice. Something shifted in Julius’s expression.
He motioned to the bag. “Well, you can take that with you when you leave. I don’t want to get in the middle of some domestic dispute. And by the sounds of things, you’ll need that stuff.”
Seriously? I resisted the impulse to snatch the bag up right this moment and kept my voice carefully neutral. “So I can go, then? The question period is over?”
“This isn’t a prison,” Julius said. “I do have first aid training from my time in the military, and in my opinion, especially if you don’t have anywhere specific to go, it’d be better if you stayed here another day or two to make sure there aren’t any lingering effects from the crash. Unless you’re more comfortable with the idea of going to the hospital now?”
Would he actually take me to one—out of this room, into a place where I could much more easily escape him and his friends? I wet my lips and decided to call his bluff.
“You know, I was panicking last night and obviously not thinking clearly. I probably should get a doctor to check me out.”
Julius stepped back toward the doorway without any sign of apprehension. “I’ll take you right over there, then.” He motioned for me to join him.
That easy, huh? Still wary, I stood up and reached for the chair to take my bag.
The moment I took a few steps, a wave of dizziness crashed over me. My head spun. I stumbled and banged my knees on the edge of the chair, grasping it with my good hand just before I fell all the way to the ground.
“Whoa, there,” Julius said. He gripped my other arm just above my elbow and guided me back to the bed. My vision swam, my thoughts still jumbling with dizziness. “I think you’d better get a little more rest before you try to go anywhere. I’ll get you something to eat—maybe that’ll help you get your strength back.”
He sat me down on the bed and walked right out of the room, closing the door behind him.
I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead, but now I just felt exhausted. Whatever had happened to me during or after the crash, it was definitely worse than it’d seemed before I started trying to move around.
Didn’t that mean Julius really should get me to a hospital fast? Should I insist he call an ambulance?
I couldn’t focus well enough to decide what the smartest course of action was. One clear thought pierced through the jumble alongside a sinking sensation in my gut.
No matter what Julius had said, this room was essentially a prison, and if he decided he didn’t want me leaving, I was stuck in it with no clear way out.
I’d rest all right. I’d rest and heal, as quickly as I could, and then I’d show these assholes that no one kept me caged for long.