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“Ah, Ms. Reid, welcome back. Can I help you to the elevator?”
Nine years of living at the Alexander and Lewis had never once asked to walk me to the elevator.
My eyes narrowed. “Did Lavena call you?”
The older man’s face took on a polite blankness that answered the question without actually answering. “Not that I recall, ma’am .”
I couldn’t be angry with him. He was doing his job.
“I’m fine, Lewis. Thank you.”
The man inclined his head and held the door for me to pass though.
I made it to the elevator without running into anyone and let it take me to my apartment.
It would be a lie to pretend the urge to stop at Darius’s floor wasn’t there. My finger hovered over the button before moving to the proper floor.
I was in the middle of my foyer, toeing off my sneakers when my phone sprung to life in my pocket. The possibility that Darius was awake had me fumbling for it. My heart jumped into my throat at Lavena’s face inches from her screen.
I had never accepted anything so fast in my life.
“Lavena? What? Is he—?”
“No.”Her head bobbed as she moved around the room. The camera swayed and dipped. I watched her position it next to Darius’s bedside table, angled towered the bed and his face. Hers blocked the screen a moment.“There. Now, get into bed.”
The bundle of anger wedged in my chest loosened as I realized what she’d done. For all her tough love, Lavena truly was one of the sweetest people.
I held on to my phone as if it were the most precious thing I owned and padded in the direction of the bathroom to shower, change, then slip into bed for a couple of hours.
Darkness cloaked my room when I opened my eyes. The absence of noise, of Darius’s heart machine had me bolting upright, panic a thick past climbing up my throat until I recognized my surroundings.
Home.
I was in my apartment, surrounded by my things. The alarm on the nightstand told me it was nine.
I had slept for almost six hours.
My phone, propped against my lamp, was dead. The battery drained. I didn’t bother plugging it in. The traitor was snatched up. The cord was yanked from the wall, and I was sprinting for the door. My shoes were snatched up, laces tangling with my phone cables as I bolted out of the apartment in my socks. Igot my shoes on in the elevator as it took its damn, sweet time descending.
The cabbie was kind enough to let me plug my phone in, not that it helped. It was completely dead. By the time I finally had a little juice, I was already at the hospital.
Two new guards were at the door. They stopped me with firm expressions and a raised hand the size of a catch’s mitt.
“Wrong door,” one said, going so far as to fold his arms over his black t-shirt.
“No,” I panted, trying not to double over wheezing. “No, I’m Kami. I’m on the list.”
The bald one on the left checked his phone, scrolling with a chunky finger until he located what he was looking for. He exchanged glances with the other one and the pair stepped aside mutely.
I hurried inside and stopped. Everyone was there, seated casually around the bed, except Sasha.
“I’m so sorry,” I breathed, shutting the door behind me. “I don’t even remember lying down or passing out.” I sucked in a breath and moved to the small table tucked along one wall and bent to plug my phone in. “And my phone died.”
“Kami, it’s fine,” Marcella said softly. “I only just got here myself.”
Still struggling to catch my breath, I swept my hair back and turned back to the room. “Any change?”
Heads rocked slowly from side to side. I sighed as I padded to the only empty seat — my empty seat from earlier — and dropped into it. My hand reflexively settled over Darius’s.
