Fallon: Hey, how’s the song going?
Nothing.
I texted again an hour later.
Maybe he was just in the zone. He was an artist, I could understand how he would be in a creative process that he didn’t want to jinx.
The eleven o’clock news turned on.
“Breaking story out of Seaside Oregon, it seems like vesting celebrity Saint, has been rushed to the hospital for exhaustion, this was shortly after being approached by media about reports referencing his virginity and a certain local girl, Fallon Miller. No details have been released yet by his team, but we hope everything is okay.”
Stunned. I blinked at the TV screen, tears pooling in my eyes.
Had Mags said something?
My phone rang.
“It wasn’t me! I swear I would never say anything!” Mags sobbed into the phone. “I swear, I love you guys I would never—”
“He’s in the hospital,” I whispered hoarsely. “Is he okay? Has the news said anything else?”
She paused. “You weren’t with him?”
“NO!” I yelled, getting more and more terrified by the minute. “I was at the penthouse waiting for him.”
“Then go!”
“Go.” I mimicked. “Right. I need to.” This was not the time to hyperventilate. I needed to go to him. To see if he was okay. To explain it wasn’t me, to tell him how I felt about him. I needed to go.
“Hospital.” I choked out. “I’m going to the hospital.”
“I’ll meet you there.” The phone went dead.
How would I even get past security? For all I knew, he hated me right now. His whole team probably hated me.
I jerked open the door to the penthouse and came face to face with Jaymeson.
“I warned you.” He took a menacing step inside, his normal happy demeanor completely void of any sort of positive energy. “I told you what I would do if you hurt him.”
“Jaymeson!” Wet tears streamed down my face. “I swear, I didn’t say anything! I would never go to the media, he’s more than just my friend I-l—”
“Don’t.” He yelled his British accent suddenly more terrifying than endearing. “Don’t say you love him, you don’t even know him!”
“He told me!” I swallowed back thick tears. “Everything! I know him, okay? I KNOW HIM!”
“No.” Jaymeson’s voice softened. “You know what he allows you to know.”
My heart twisted in my chest as Alec and Demetri wandered into the room, both of their expressions sad.
“Whatever.” I tried shoving past Jaymeson. “I’m going to the hospital.”
“The hell you are!” Jaymeson was back to yelling, this time reaching for my arm just before Demetri stepped between us.
His cool blue eyes met mine. “I’ll take her.”
“She did this to him!” Jaymeson lunged for me again.
“Did what!” I sobbed. “I don’t even know what’s going on, just that he’s being treated for exhaustion.”
“He could be dead.” The fight left Jaymeson, the anger. I wanted it back, all of it, because at least then I knew everything would be okay, but hearing those words, from him, in such a defeated way, chilled me, only to break me into tiny little unrecognizable pieces as my stomach dropped with fear.
“You’re lying.”
“He’s not.” Demetri wrapped an arm around me. “Come on, I’ll take you, none of us know anything yet, but Will wanted you out of the penthouse since people have been camped out at your house all day.”
And suddenly I was just like Zane.
Homeless.
Lost.
Afraid.
I needed to talk to him, to explain to him that I cared for him, that I would never betray him—but it seemed it was more about my own guilt at what happened because apparently the only boy I ever wanted to sleep with ever again—was fighting for his life.
And had failed to tell me why.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Zane
I WAS NUMB.
I felt numb.
Maybe it was emotional numbness, like when news hits you so hard you have no choice but to deny the fact that you have feelings—I wish.
“Here,” Will tossed me a bag of marshmallows.
“No thanks.” I grumbled shoving them off the bed and onto the floor, they reminded me of her, of the pain I felt at finding out that she wasn’t who I thought she was.
I’d given her everything.
Except for one thing—the one thing that could potentially hurt her, hurt us.
I refused to feel guilty for keeping one secret.
The pounding in my head had died down the minute they gave me an IV of fluids, but it was still there.
As was the fear that this was something bigger.
Something I couldn’t control.
“We’ll get news soon,” Will said in a hollow voice. “It’s going to be fine, Zane. You can afford the best doctors in the world, it’s not like this is the end, it’s probably just exhaustion.”
“Great. I’m one of those. My relationship is getting splashed all over the world, #virginwatch is a trending topic along with #saintorsinner and we’re sitting in a freaking hospital room talking about a possible aneurysm that could literally tear and kill me at any given second, and exhaustion is what we tell people.”
“Would you rather tell them the truth?”
“The truth,” I whispered, “Sucks.”