Page 7 of Out of the Shadows

Breathe. Donotpuke on the man. The seven little words replayed in her mind like a mantra. A mantra that was failing miserably.

Her heart pounded as he swapped in a second vial into the blood-draw-needle contraption thing. This needed to be over. Now. Just as the bile started to creep up her throat, he removed the needle and placed a piece of gauze over the tiny puncture.

“All done. Hold that, please,” he said while he placed the vials into a container. “Now,” he continued as he taped the gauze to her arm, “let’s talk about you passing out.”

Let’s not.“Did I break anything in my face?”

The corners of his lips twitched. “I would say no. The bruise is already a nasty shade of purple, and I imagine it’s going to look even worse tomorrow. While I don’t know much about what it is you actually do here at Hudson Security, I assume that it can be highly intense. How are your stress levels?”

Uh, hard pass.“Do you think I have any signs of a concussion?”

The look he shot her said he knew exactly what she was doing. But thankfully, he went along with her subject change. “Your pupils are responsive, and your balance is good. However, you did lose consciousness and mentioned blurry vision. Even though you lost consciousness before you fell, there’s truly no telling how hard you hit your head. I wouldn’t rule out a slight concussion. As such, you need to take it easy for the next forty-eight hours.”

She nodded.Thatshe could do. “No problem.”

Doc narrowed his eyes. “You do realize that part of the taking-it-easy bit means limited activities and avoiding loud noises and crowds?”

“I’m not much of a gym goer or hiker, so limited activities won’t be a problem. And as for crowds?” She shrugged. “It’s safe to say that I’m not exactly a people person. So I’m good there.” Understatement of the year.

He shook his head. “Limited activities also means temporarily halting things that require a lot of concentration.” He nodded to her workstation. “Reading, screens... basically all computer work.”

Her eyes widened. Hell, her mouth may have even fallen open.

Doc chuckled. “Try twenty-four hours, and we can see how you feel after that.”

“You’re kidding, right?” When Doc shook his head, she rushed on, “My job—there are critical things that need to happen and?—”

“And you lost consciousness for an unknown amount of time, fell, hit your face, experienced blurry vision, and you currently have a low-grade headache. Correct?”

She pressed her lips together and shot daggers at the man.

Doc chuckled. “Glare all you want. Am I wrong?”

She huffed out a resigned sigh. “Fine. I’ll need to make arrangements.”

“Good. Now, the last time I saw you, we talked aboutyour diet of processed foods and energy drinks. Any improvements there?”

Rolling her eyes, she let out another sigh. “Pretty sure you know the answer to that one, Doc.”

“Your diet’s still piss-poor then, huh?” He tsked and shook his head, but the humor in his expression softened the rebuke.

“But the good news is I’ve actually been drinking more water.” Which was true. However,morewas a bit misleading since her hydration starting point had basically been zero. Baby steps, right?

“Good. And the energy drinks?”

“Those are still part of the rotation, but I did switch to the less sugary ones. Also, for every couple of energy drinks I down, I drink a bottle of water. I swear.” Granted, they were the smaller half bottles, but whatever. Water was water, right?

He simply stared at her for a moment, and it took everything she had to not squirm. “Bean, you have to ease up on those drinks. All that caffeine and sugar—even the sugar-free varieties—are just not that good for you. But the increased hydration is a plus. Your new goal is one bottle of water to one energy drink.” He rushed on when she opened her mouth to protest. “At leasttryone-to-one. When was the last time you ate today?”

She frowned. She’d missed lunch for sure. Had she had breakfast?

“Bean, my dear, it’s nearly three o’clock. Skipping meals can be a factor in your passing out.” He nodded to the container holding the vials of her blood. “My guess is your blood work is going to show that you’re anemic. The bruising and fainting are all indicators.”

“What’s the treatment for anemia?”

“Depends on what kind of anemia. We’ll check yourthyroid too, but iron-deficiency anemia is the most common. In a nutshell, you might not be getting enough iron in your diet.”

Her frown deepened. “Eat better, then?”

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