I object weakly. “No—”
“Don’t need my left leg to drive, anyway.” His tone brooks no argument. “And you’re in no condition to drive right now.”
I think he might be right. I’m in no condition to open a goddamndoor, let alone operate a motor vehicle. In the back of my mind, an alarm bell goes off. I can’t let Blake come with me to the hospital. He’ll see me with Jamie. He’ll…know.
But…Jamie, damn it. I just need to get to Jamie, and right now Blake is my best chance of reaching the hospital without me mowing down some pedestrians on the way there.
I don’t argue as he claps a big hand on my arm and leads me away from the door. I realize I was about to leave through an emergency exit that leads to a cargo area, which is on the complete opposite end of the parking lot I needed to get to.
Blake redirects me down the hall. Neither of us speaks as we ride the elevator to the underground level. Rather than take my SUV, Blake shoves me into the passenger seat of a black Hummer. He gets behind the wheel and hightails it out of the underground.
“The guy on the phone said J-Bomb was brought in with a high fever and abdominal pain,” Blake reveals in a quiet voice. “He passed out when they got to the ER. Hasn’t come to yet.”
Bile burns my throat. Is this his idea of a pep talk? Now I’m ready to pass out myself, because the thought of Jamie—unconscious, sick,alone—makes my entire world blur at the edges. I can’t even see the road beyond the windshield. Everything is dark and blurry and fading away.
“Wesley,” Blake says sharply.
My head snaps up again.
“Breathe,” he orders.
I inhale slowly, but I’m pretty sure there’s no oxygen in the air. All I’m breathing in is more fear. I don’t know how he does it, but Blake and his monstrous Hummer speed through downtown traffic like there aren’t even any other cars on the road. When we got into this beast of a car, the Nav screen said our destination was twenty-five minutes away. We get there in sixteen.
The moment we burst through the automatic doors of the emergency room, I’m in a panic again. The large waiting room is packed. Faces whiz past my vision as I race to the nurses’ station and slam both hands on the counter.
“Jamie Canning!”
My yell startles the redheaded nurse, who looks at me from behind thick lenses. “I’m sorry?”
“Jamie Canning!” I can’t seem to formulate any othersentence. Just those four, terror-laced syllables, which rumble out for a third time. “Jamie Canning.”
Blake speaks up in a calm voice. “We’re here to see a patient named Jamie Canning. He was admitted about an hour ago?”
“One second, sir. Let me have a look.” Her red-polished fingernails fly over a computer keyboard. Green eyes study the screen, and then she raises her head again and her expression is grim enough to make my heart beat faster. Though I’m pretty sure it stopped beating a while ago.
“He’s been moved to quarantine,” she tells us.
My surroundings begin to sway again. Or maybe it’s my legs. I don’t know how I’m even upright. Blake, I realize. He’s literally holding me up by the back of my jacket.
“Quarantine?” I croak.
“Flu symptoms,” the nurse explains. “There’s a very low likelihood of DSKH-DL finding its way to our hospital—”
“DSK...what?” I burst out.
“The sheep flu,” she clarifies, and Blake’s expression turns to horror. “As I said, it’s unlikely, but we’re taking every precaution. Are you Mr. Canning’s family?”
“Yes,” I say without hesitation. Because I am.
Her eyebrows rise. “You’re his…?”
Shit. I can’t lie and say I’m his brother, because nobody will believe me. And even if I blurt out that I’m his boyfriend in this room full of people, it still won’t help. If Jamie and I aren’t married, they won’t care. “I’m all he’s got in Toronto,” I say instead. “We live together.”
“I see,” she says in a patient voice. “Let me explain how our quarantine works. While the patient waits for his laboratory results, family members or their designated appointees can see him, providing they adhere to our quarantine protocol.That’s all we can do until we decide that other patients and visitors are not at risk.”
“But…”
“Next!”
