Graceful Deception

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“Grace, can you hear me?”

I groaned as the voice managed to penetrate the fog surrounding me.

“Grace, do you remember what happened?”

I blinked a few times, trying to focus on the guy currently shining a light into my eyes.

“Stop that,” I grumbled, pushing the little flashlight away from my face.

“My name is Ron. Can you tell me how you’re feeling? Any dizziness?” he persisted, pressing his hand against my shoulder when I tried to sit up.

“I’m fine,” I said but I stopped fighting him. “Maybe a little dizzy,” I amended, taking a deep breath to alleviate the head rush I was feeling. I frowned as I finally realized that the guy asking me these annoying questions was a paramedic. “How long was I out?” I asked, looking over Ron’s shoulder to see Wes standing there, his expression unreadable.

“Not long,” the paramedic replied, standing up before addressing my father. “She’s got a pretty bad flu. She needs a couple days of rest and lots of fluids.”

“She’s going to the hospital,” Wes growled, glaring at Ron.

Ron took a step away from Wes. “O-of course, you could bring her to the hospital just to make sure, but fainting isn’t uncommon with this kind of sickness.”

“Wes is right,” Blake said, drawing my gaze to where he was standing with Oscar, a few feet away. “She should go to the hospital and get a checkup. Oscar, we’ll need to be discrete about this. If the paparazzi realizes she’s sick, they’ll jump to conclusions. Can you get a car to come around back? The rest of us can go out the front. That should distract most of the photographers long enough for her to get out without being noticed.”

“That’s really unnecessary,” I said, swinging my legs to the floor and sitting up on the couch. It may have been a slow process but I didn’t pass out. Go me. “I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’m tired and sick and I just want to go back to the hotel and go to bed.”

“Grace,” Wes said, his tone low and filled with a warning as he glared at me.

“Wes, I’ll be fine. Please.” My voice may have wobbled slightly and I winced at how weak I sounded but his expression wavered and I was pretty sure I almost had him convinced.

Wes opened his mouth to reply but Blake cut him off. “Twenty-four hours,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Wes before stepping closer to Ron and shaking his hand. “If she doesn’t show signs of improvement, we’ll take her to the hospital.”

Ron nodded and picked up his bag before leaving the room.

“You sure you’re okay?” Wes said, frowning down at me as he reached out to brush a strand of hair behind my ear.

I nodded, my eyes shooting to Blake in time to catch the tight expression on his features. His lips were pressed into a thin line and his brows were lowered as he looked at Wes.

Wes was ignoring him entirely.

What was with all the tension?

“Can you stand?” Oscar asked, looking up from his blackberry. “The car’s here.”

“Give her a minute,” Wes grumbled, shooting a glare in Oscar’s direction.

“I’m good,” I said, pushing off the arm of the couch until I was upright. The room only spun a little bit so I took that as a good sign.