Page 95 of Be With Me
She tipped her head back, looking at me with unfocused eyes through her mask. Her skin was paler than usual, her forehead glistening with a thin layer of sweat. She blinked at me, confused.
“Say something,” I pleaded. My heart felt like it was on the brink of stopping. What was this? Not exhaustion. She was fine seconds ago when she was negotiating with me. Then, in the blink of an eye, she was unconscious.
This wasn’t normal. Was she sick?
“Get me out of here.” Her voice was weak. She clasped my shoulder with one hand. “I need air.”
“I’ve got you.”
I led her through the crowd, my arm wrapped securely around her waist. The people around us scattered the moment they saw the murderous look on my face. We moved quickly, weaving through the galleries filled with milling guests until we reached the exit and stepped out into the cool evening air.
Mia ripped off her mask and sucked in a deep breath. She was still tucked against me, and I wasn’t planning on letting go of her anytime soon.
She’d said not to let her fall. Like she’d known what was coming. Whatever this was, it hadn’t been a surprise to her the way it’d been to me.
We sat down on the front steps of the museum. Her color was slowly returning. I rubbed my palm against her hip. “Better?”
“Yeah.” She pressed the heel of her palm against her forehead and sighed. “It always happens at the worst time.”
It. What the fuck wasit, exactly? I wanted to interrogate her and demand a full review of her medical history, but since I was the guy who'd just told her he wanted to fuck her out of his system a few minutes ago, it didn’t feel like I’d earned the right.
I didn’tjustwant to fuck her. But it was the one thing I thought she might actually give me.
And she'd been ready to.
Until “it”happened.
Funny how the only fucking thing I wanted now was for her to be okay.
“Is ‘it’ curable?” I asked, watching her closely.
“No.”
My stomach plummeted. I refused to believe that. She just needed a better doctor. I doubted Morales had gone out of his way to get his daughter the best care she could get, given how busy he was showing his fucking face on every TV network in the city. Obviously, she wasn’t a priority.
Mia twisted under my arm, her gaze meeting mine. “Kassandra. Is she… Please tell me she’s okay.”
“She’s in Vermont. Opening a new studio.” I needed to get someone to hack into Mia’s medical records so that I could have the full picture. We had people on our team who could do it—Jimmy. Clive. If needed, I’d even ask fucking Messero for some help.
She exhaled in relief. “Next time—although I pray there is no next time—lead with that, would you? The words ‘dealt with Kassandra’ coming from someone like you could mean a variety of things.”
“Yeah. Fine,” I said, distracted. I couldn’t give a fuck about Kassandra, but of course, Mia, who’d just fuckingcollapsed, was worried more about others than herself.
She rolled her head, sighed, and straightened out her back. “Okay. Let’s go.”
We did need to go. To a doctor who could examine her and run every test there was to run.
I made a signal to the guy behind the valet stand. He nodded and broke into a light jog to get my car. It wasn’t far from the entrance. I'd handed him a bill when I arrived to park it up front.
“I’ll text you my address.”
I gave her a sharp look. Her address? “What for?”
A blush colored her cheeks. “We’re going to my place, right? Like we…discussed.”
My face twitched. Was she crazy? She still wanted to fuck tonight?
Yeah. No. Not until I knew what was happening to her and had a detailed plan for how to fix it.
