When she still doesn’t stir, he shakes her a little more and raises his voice an octave. Her eyes open briefly, looking up at him, but they are out of focus and glassy. She mumbles something incoherent and her eyes flutter closed once more. She almost looks high and my first thought is that Declan gave her something. And at this rate, I wouldn’t be shocked if he did.
Slamming the laptop shut I shove up from the couch, fury burning in my veins as I stomp through the apartment and into his room. “Did you fucking drug her?”
Declan is still sitting on his bed in the same fashion we left him, his head snaps up when I burst into his room.
“What?”
“You fucking heard me, did you drug her? What did you give her? We can’t even wake her up. She’s completely out of it, and I’m fucking worried. She needs to eat something.” I feel myself unraveling, the knot of panic twisting and turning. I press a clenched fist to my head, trying to figure out how I got to this fucking point. When did I actually start to care about another person aside from my brothers?
Declan gives me a puzzled look before allowing anger to seep through his features. “I didn’t fucking give her anything, get a grip, man.”
“I have a fucking grip. Come and check her out yourself. You either gave her something, or there is something going on that we aren’t aware of.”
He rolls his eyes, and pushes off the bed, coming to meet me in the doorway. We walk back out into the living room together, to find Wes huddled over her body.
She seems so small, so fragile, and I don’t like the idea of there being something wrong with her. I don’t like the way her being here is making me feel, out of control…needed.
I shake my head at the last word. No. These feeling can’t exist in our lives anymore.
“Shit,” Wes curses, placing his hand on her forehead. “She is burning up.”
In an instant Declan is in front of her, his hands gently cupping her face.
“I need the medical kit from downstairs,” he says, his eyes still void of any and all emotion. He doesn’t give anything away, which doesn’t help the knotting panic residing inside me. Wes springs into action right away, as I watch, he gently brushes a few sticky strands of blonde hair from her forehead. Her skin looks clammy, her face sunken in. He leans in, close to her ear.
“I’m going to need you to wake up, Princess,” he whispers softly against her ear, the complete opposite of what he sounded like ten minutes ago.
“What’s wrong with her?” I ask, my heart rate spiking. I run a hand through my hair, mostly out of habit and partially because I need something to do with my hands since all I’m doing is standing here gawking.
“I don’t know, but she has a fever, probably some kind of infection. You said earlier she hasn’t been eating regularly?” I nod my head in response. “What about drinking, has she been drinking enough water?” I shake my head, feeling sick to my stomach.
He tries a few more times, unsuccessfully, to get her to open her eyes and though she opens her mouth briefly as if she’s going to say something, she makes no effort to open her eyes or even move her limbs.
I go into the bathroom down the hall to get a washcloth and wet it with some cold water. About the same time that I return to the living room, Wes is exiting the elevator, a heavy black bag in his hands.
He places the bag at Declan’s side, and I fold the washcloth, before pressing it to Jessa’s forehead. She doesn’t even react at the contact of the cold washcloth on her heated skin. Declan checks all her vitals and takes her temperature, which ends up being a hundred and two.
“Her vitals are good right now, so all we can do at this point is let her body fight off whatever she has. We just need to make sure we don’t let her temperature rise, keep her hydrated, and she’ll be fine. I’m starting an IV now. Trey, you should try to pull her medical records and make sure she doesn’t have any genetic health issues, or pre-existing conditions”
“How could she have gone from being fine to being so sick in such a short amount of time?” I ask.
“She is stressed and dehydrated. Whatever she caught is hitting her hard because of that. She was already weak, and now with being sick, it’s all just overwhelming her body,” Declan explains. He isn’t an actual doctor, but he is pretty fucking close and certainly the best we have available right now.
* * *
“It’s been two days,Declan. She isn’t getting any better.” I try not to yell but seeing her lying in bed pale and sickly for the last two days is making it hard not to. She started coughing yesterday and I can hear the rumble in her chest when she breathes. This isn’t just a cold or the flu.
“We need to take her to a doctor.” I admit, knowing fully what his answer will be.
But Jessa has barely opened her eyes, and the few times she woke up she was so weak and out of it I even had to help her to the bathroom. I’ve never taken care of anyone like this, never had anyone who depended on me aside from my brothers, and though I hate seeing her this way there is something rewarding about being her anchor, about caring for her in this way.
We’ve been trying to keep her fever down, but it keeps spiking and we don’t have any antibiotics here to give her. We all know she needs to see a doctor, but Declan is still not budging and I’m starting to get pissed.
“We can’t risk it. They’re already looking for her and us. I’m not going to let you risk your lives for hers. She’ll lead them right to us. We were going to kill her anyway, so what’s the point?”
“You talk a big ass game about killing her, but are you really willing to have her death on your conscience?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, you know I’ve taken my fair share of lives. What’s another if it saves us.”