Bennie sighed. “But what if it did?”
Finn climbed under his covers, pulling his comforter up to his nose. His tea stood on the floor next to his bed. He lookedso miserable, his cheeks still splotchy, the bags under his eyes becoming more and more pronounced by the day.
“If it changes how I feel about him… I’m not sure I want to know.”
No matter how weird whatever was going on between us was, I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want to lose him. Ever.
And that meant making sure he wasn’t digging himself an early grave by ignoring his body and my advice.
Chapter 5
Finn
Finn,
Please, I urge you to take this seriously.
Iron deficiency in men can hint at more severe medical issues going on, such as gastritis, ulcers, or even cancer.
You need to get your iron levels up and find the cause of the deficiency. See your primary care doctor ASAP!
I took the liberty of ordering groceries for you—foods that are rich in iron.
Take your health seriously!
I stared at the note in disbelief, my stomach cramping as I read it for the third time.
What the fuck?
Like, seriously. What the fuck was this guy—or, well, for all I knew it could be a girl too, though I had the feeling it was a guy—trying to achieve?
Freak me the fuck out?
Yes, great, he’d done that.
Cancer?Was he trying to gaslight me into believing I had cancer?
I mean, sure, my stomach fucking hurt, but I was stressed. I always got a stomachache when I was stressed. And yeah, it didn’t take a doctor to tell me that all the coffee and energy drinks I’d drunk hadn’t done anything to soothe my stomach, but… this was nothing a couple of days of rest wouldn’t fix.
I didnothave cancer.
I did not have ulcers or tumors or whatever this guy—or girl—was trying to convince me I had.
I had a stress-induced upset stomach.
And the whole iron deficiency thing? Yeah, those symptoms were par for the course with sleep deprivation.
Now that I’d handed in my thesis, I could take a couple of weeks off—at least, if my boss at the coffee shop let me. Which I wasn’t certain he would. But that was future Finn’s problem. Right now, my bed was calling me.
Shredding the Post-it felt like it wasn’t enough, but I couldn’t very well just light it on fire in the hallway, could I?
Maybe I should keep it the way it was, just in case this fucking psycho escalated and I needed to call the police.
Yeah… I really didn’t want to do that, though. I could just imagine the way they’d look at me upon telling them someone was leaving notes for me, telling me to see my doctor for an iron deficiency that no one could know I had.
I mean… someone would’ve needed to draw my blood for that. And the last time I’d had a blood panel done was three years ago. And back then, my iron levels had been fine. Probably. Otherwise, surely my doctor would’ve told me.
I sighed as I stuffed the little pieces of the note into my pocket and opened my apartment door.
