Page 115 of False God

“Why’d you walk away in the hallway at my grandparents’?”

“Because I was losing control.”

I smirk as his talented fingers sift through my hair. “I had all my clothes on.”

“You wreck my control just by existing, Elizabeth Kensington.”

My smile freezes on my face, those words suspended in the air between us like some shimmering force.

I swallow hard. “That’s either the nicest or the meanest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

He kisses the top of my spine, then lets my braided hair drop. “You’re welcome.”

27

For the second time in two weeks, I rush into a hospital. Wind my way around patients and doctors and other frazzled family members until I reach a desk.

“Grace Marlborough.” I slap a hand on the counter. “What room is she in?”

I suck in an impatient breath as the nurse tells me to wait a moment, otherwise still for the first time since my mobile buzzed in the middle of the night with a call from Elsie.

Since I answered, it’s been nonstop motion. Slipping out of Lili’s bed. Packing my stuff. Driving to the airport. Flying back to London. Driving here. The short wait is excruciating by comparison.

“She’s in 386,” the nurse tells me. “But, sir?—”

I’m already jogging down the hall, the rest of the nurse’s words lost in the blood rushing in my ears.

I reach room 386 and discover what the nurse was trying to tell me. Granny is fast asleep, the monitors beside her bed beeping evenly. I exhale for what feels like the first time in hours.

“Charlie.”

I turn to see Blythe standing in the hallway, holding a bag of crisps in one hand. Her tan skin is pale, the usual flippancy on her face replaced by stark fear. I’m to her in three strides, pulling her tight into my arms.

“Elsie called you?” I was waiting until I got here so I could see what the situation was like first.

Blythe nods against my chest. “Elsie called me.”

“Is she still here?”

I need to thank her. For calling me and for getting Gran help so quickly. For going above and beyond the role of an employee once again.

“No,” Blythe answers. “She headed home to get some rest. Granny’s sedated. She won’t wake up for hours. That’s all I understood from what the doctor said?—”

“Shh,” I say, pulling her tighter against me. “Don’t worry. We’ll straighten it all out.”

“She’s all we have left, Charlie.”

My throat feels too thick to swallow as my heart constricts. “She’s still here.”

A gurney gets pushed down the hallway, and we have to move to one side. Rather than return to a waiting room, we end up in the hospital’s cafeteria.

It’s just past noon. Fairly crowded with hospital staff and other visitors and patients who are mobile enough to leave their rooms.

My appetite is nonexistent, but I buy a sandwich anyway. I haven’t eaten since last night. Blythe picks up a yogurt.

We find an open table and sit in green plastic chairs.

“Did the villa sell?” Blythe asks dully, ripping the top off her yogurt.

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