Sheesh. When had he been made the food and water police?
But like the good, obedient girl she was, she sucked down some water. Then she started to feel warm. She rubbed at her chest. Why was it hard to breathe?
She swallowed heavily. There was a lump in her throat. An impending sense of doom hit her. Something was wrong.
She itched at her throat and chest. Anxiety filled her. Was it an anxiety attack? But why was she so itchy?
Shit. Shit. Fuck.
Opening her mouth, she clearly heard the wheeze and she felt the struggle to get the air into her lungs.
No. No. No.
She knew her blood pressure was plummeting. Her airways constricting.
Anaphylactic shock.
Her stomach cramped. No. No.
She needed her EpiPen. She tried to grab her handbag, but managed to knock it off the seat where it had been sitting beside her.
“Juliet? You okay?” Brick turned her. Then his face went pale, shock filled his features. “Fuck! What is it? What’s wrong?”
There was more noise. But she couldn’t talk. She could only concentrate on trying to breathe.
“She’s turning red!”
“Her face is swelling!”
She didn’t know who was talking or yelling. Didn’t care. She just wanted to breathe.
Then she found herself being moved. Her legs were in the air. She couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. But someone was shoving up her skirt to get to her thigh.
She didn’t even have it in her to care that her legs were on show to the whole diner, and probably her underwear. There was a sharp prick of the EpiPen being administered.
Thank fuck.
Xavier rushed into the emergency department, ignoring his buzzing phone. He pushed back the curtain, horror filling him as he saw her lying there.
“Juliet!”
There was an oxygen mask covering her mouth. She was also attached to a drip. Her face was swollen, her chest and throat covered in red hives.
Fuck. Anaphylactic shock.
Amanda, the nurse who stood next to her, quickly turned. “Oh good, Doc X. I had you paged because I knew you’d want to know. She was brought in about thirty minutes ago. Doctor Richardson gave her some steroids. She’s still having a bit of trouble breathing.”
Fuck. Fuck.
He managed to nod. “I’ll have her admitted.”
“Are you sure? Doctor Richardson thought she’d be fine under observation for a few hours.”
“She’ll be admitted.” Where he could watch over her himself for the next twenty-four hours. His shift ended in about six hours.
“All right, I’ll get onto that.”
He nodded woodenly, then remembered his manners as she left. “Thanks for paging me.”