Page 37 of I Am Lioness

His eyes flickered between us before he turned his full attention to me.

“This should only take a few minutes. I'll walk her in. You can make yourself comfortable either in there,”—he hooked his thumb toward the SUV—“or in the lobby.”

Was he mental?

I cocked my head to one side. “You're out of your damn mind if you think I'm not going in there with her.”

He sighed, seemingly irritated. “This will be quick, Mr. Carr. No need for all three of us to go in.”

“No, Mr. Fremont, this will not be quick. I’m more than positive Hazel is going to want to be beside Bernie either until they ask her to leave or until she’s ready to leave on her own terms. Therefore, I'm going in there. I’m herefor her.Where she goes, I go. So, you can either come along and keep your mouth shut or you can stay here andmake yourself comfortable.”

Hazel effectively put an end to the rapidly escalating testosterone-fueled show down by pulling me through the large sliding glass doors, leaving a stunned Jason out on the sidewalk. He didn’t proceed to follow us either, though I suspected he would soon enough.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what the hell his problem is lately.” She said, jamming the up arrow for the elevator with her thumb.

“I do.”

She arched an eyebrow curiously.

I pointed to myself. “I’m circling his territory and he doesn’t like it.”

“I’mnothis territory.” She grumbled.

“Clearly he missed the memo.” I chuckled in amusement.

The elevator dinged, bringing our discussion to a halt and revealing an empty cart. We stepped inside and were jetted straight up to third floor, the doors sliding open to a nearly empty and eerily quiet waiting room. Hazel took a deep breath and laced her fingers through mine once more, guiding us to what I presumed was the nurses station.

A very sweet older woman with flaming red curls and graying undertones greeted us with a warm smile.

“Hi, I'm here to see Bernie, uh I mean, Bernardo Gutierrez. He was in three-oh-seven when I left last night but I was told there was a great possibility they could move him at any point today.”

The nurse nodded her head in understanding and began typing away on the computer. Then suddenly an ear-piercing beep began blaring around us. Three nurses came barreling out of a small room, checking the display monitors behind the desk.

“Three-oh-two.” One said, wrapping the sandwich she was holding back into the plastic cling wrap. “He’s coding.”

She threw her lunch onto the desk beside the redhead and disappeared with the other two nurses down the silent hallway. Hazel and I exchanged a look as the nurse cleared her throat, a weary look etched on her round face.

“I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but they’re headed to Mr. Gutierrez’s room.”

No.

I watched Hazel’s eyes nearly pop from their sockets and all the blood drain from her face. She took a shaky step forward and her knees immediately gave out. I caught her before she hit the floor, feeling her body slump over in my arms. The elevator dinged again and out came Jason and Emmanuel, their faces morphing from confused to alarmed when they realized Hazel was limp in my arms, the loud beeping still sounding off from behind the desk.

“What happened?” That was Jason.

“He’s flat-lining.” I said, because Hazel looked ready to pass out and I wasn’t sure she was able to put words together amidst the shock of what took place less than one minute ago.

“Christ.” He muttered, shaking his head solemnly.

Emmanuel dropped down onto one of the chairs, throwing his head into his hands. The beeping ceased abruptly and the silence that replaced it was deafening. Bone-chilling. Hazel steadied herself with a hand at my chest and stood on her feet, burying her face in my tee. She was trembling, nearly convulsing, but not a sound had come out her mouth.

“C’mon, let’s go sit.” My voice was quiet yet still it managed to bounce off the walls of the waiting area.

Hazel followed me and I sat her down beside Manny, dropping onto my haunches in front of her. She gripped my arms with such force, her nails were digging into my skin.

“Breathe,” I reminded her gently, noticing how her chest heaved in panic.

She met my stare and nodded, her eyes glossing with unshed tears once more. Jason lowered himself in the other seat beside Emmanuel and together we waited for what we could only hope would be good news.

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