Vague snippets of what happened fill my fuzzy head, but I push them away to get back to the race.
“The race,” I mutter. “I have to get back.”
“Tess.”
I let go of the bed and buckle at the knees.
Rome reacts quickly and wraps an arm around my lower back, pressing me to the front of his body.
“Lie down, Princess.”
Gently, he guides me back to my bed and sits me on the edge of it. He bends at the knee, his race suit bundled around his waist, to scoop my legs up and over before covering them with the blanket.
He sits in the chair beside my bed, his attention on me instead of the race. “How are you feeling?”
“Confused.” I fight through the throbbing in my temples. “Why aren’t you in the race?”
He blinks slowly. “Because you’re in the hospital.”
I rest my head against the pillow. “That’s why I’m not there. I asked why you weren’t.”
Rome’s blue eyes dart, and I think I see a pinkish hue spread across his face. “You really think I could’ve kept racing after knowing something was wrong with you?”
“You should’ve.” I close my eyes, too tired to keep them open.
“I couldn’t.”
The heart monitor starts to beep a little faster than before, which is more than annoying. Whose side is it on? Mine or Rome’s?
“I’ve never known Rome Pierce to stop racing for anything,” I whisper.
Rome leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Well, then I guess you’re not just anything.”
My pulse jumps, Rome’s attention moving to the heart monitor.
He leans even closer to the bed. “You like knowing I care about you, Princess?”
I cross my arms and tuck my chin. “No.”
His deep chuckle makes my toes curl. “Yes, you do.”
The door opens, cutting our conversation short.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Rome turn the TV off, the race no longer important.
A tall, tanned-skin man in a white coat comes around the bed. “How are you feeling, Ms. Halston?”
His accent is thick, but I manage to understand him. “I’m tired,” I say.
And confused for more reasons than one.
He nods. “Understandable.”
Rome interjects himself with his eyebrows knitted. “Did the test results come back? Do you have answers as to what happened?”
The doctor glances at me and then back to him.
What? What isn’t he saying?
