He shook his head. “No. Nothing like that.”
She let out a shaky breath.
Lonnie turned around from the front passenger seat. “Claire, it had nothing to do with your ex. This seemed to be a medical emergency. No one in the crowd was involved.”
Ben’s head snapped toward Claire. “Shit. I’m sorry, Claire. I didn’t realize that’s what you were asking.”
She clenched her trembling hands together and nodded. “It’s okay. Thank you, Lonnie. When Miranda and I heard the commotion in the hallway, we got worried it was related to me.”
Lonnie patted her knee. “I understand, but you’re okay. This has nothing to do with you.”
While that eased a little bit of stress, it didn’t eliminate it. Jake had collapsed. It was a medical emergency. Worst-case scenarios flooded through her head. Heart attack? Aneurysm? Stroke? The possibilities were endless.
“How much longer until we’re there?” Ben asked.
“About ten minutes,” the driver responded.
Migraine? Brain tumor? Cancer?
She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes.
Seizure?
A hand circled her wrist and gave it a light squeeze. She pulled her hands away from her face and looked over at Ben.
“We’re here,” he whispered.
The car behind them had the additional security personnel who had followed behind, and Ben and Claire were instructed to wait until they could be flanked before exiting the vehicle.
The paparazzi had already gotten wind of Jake’s collapse and were lined up outside the hospital doors, pointing their cameras at the vehicle.
“Do you want me to go in alone? I can have the driver go around the block, and Lonnie can bring you in at a different entrance,” Ben said.
Claire shook her head. Waiting any longer would make her scream, and the paparazzi likely had every entrance covered.
“No. Let’s do this.”
At Lonnie’s wave, they climbed out of the vehicle and were surrounded by security as they quickly made their way inside the hospital.
“Claire! Where have you been the last several years?”
“Claire, is it true you left the father of your child?”
“Over here, Claire! One picture for the camera.”
When they got inside, the closing doors muted the voices of the paparazzi. They continued walking quickly until they were out of sight of the press before Claire clutched her chest and sagged against the wall. She always hated dealing with the press, but somehow those questions felt much worse than normal.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Seems to me Charles went to the press,” Lonnie said. “We’ll worry about it later. Let’s get you two to the waiting room with the rest of the guys.”
“I can’t believe Charles would make up a story that you’re pregnant,” Ben said.
Claire pulled a lip between her teeth and furrowed her eyebrows. Lying to Ben wouldn’t do any good because he would find out soon. Especially if the press already had wind of it.
“He didn’t make it up. I am pregnant,” she whispered.
Ben didn’t have a chance to respond because they were hurried through the waiting room doors where security personnel were standing guard.
