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"FUCK! Not again."
My stomach churns. George doesn’t curse, let alone use the F-bomb.
Wait. Again?
"Where was she when she called?" I hear footfalls in the background.
"Brooks's office." Finally covered, I pick the phone back up and disable the speaker. I hope Mom and Dad didn't hear anything, or I’ll have to answer a lot more questions.
I watch the blinking dots on my alarm clock disappear and light back up seventeen times before George speaks again.
"Miss Lilly!" Pause. "LILLY! Don't do this to me again." Another Pause. "Lilly, your brother will not be happy. Come on, wake up. Please." The last word is spoken with such desperation that my entire body begins to shake. I tighten my hold on the phone to not drop it as I sink to my mattress.
"George, what the fuck is going on there?" I try not to yell, but the rest of the house probably heard me anyway. My pulse is thrashing in my ears, and all I can do is clench and unclench my free hand, waiting.
"George?" Lilly’s faint voice comes through the speaker.
Oh, thank fuck!
Air finally enters my lungs again, and I can feel them scream in relief.
"Yes, I'm here. You gave us quite the fright again, Miss Lilly." George's tone is gentle, a side I have not yet seen of the man.
"Us?" she mumbles, confused.
"JESUS CHRIST, GEORGE! PUT ME ON FUCKING SPEAKER!" I’m losing my shit. They must've heard me because there is rummaging, and then their voices are clearer.
"You were on the phone with Rhys. He called me when you passed out." His soothing tone does the opposite for me.
"What the fuck do you mean she passed out? Calla, are you okay?" I press my free hand against my chest. I’m not going to make it to my nineteenth birthday at this rate. My heart will give out before.
"I'm fine." Her groggy voice manages to calm my nerves a little, but not enough to stop the trembling in my extremities.
"Miss Lilly," he warns her.
"I haven’t told him," she whispers to her bodyguard.
"Told me what?" Motherfucker. More secrets? I stand and start pacing the length of my room. She's not talking to me again. The silence on the other end tells me that they are either in a standoff or somehow quietly communicating.
"Told. Me. WHAT?" I bark into the device. I’m losing my patience—with both of them.
"I passed out after my last migraine," Lilly finally admits meekly.
"YOU WHAT?" Awesome, now I seem to have developed belated puberphonia.
"I am meeting with Lakatos on Thursday. I will discuss this new...development with him. In the meantime, Nate also set up an appointment with his neurologist for the following week."
My knees buckle mid-step, and I sink to a crouch, white-knuckling the device while my other hand is back at pulling strands of my hair out. "What does that mean?" My question is not more than a barely audible croak.
"We don’t know. But we want to talk to Lakatos before drawing any conclusions."
Before drawing conclusions? The reason behind my rapid pulse shifts, and I see red. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I seethe into the phone. "She passed out. TWICE! Draw some conclusions. You don't pass out from a freaking memory if nothing is wrong with you!"
"Rhys," Lilly pleads with me. She sounds better than a minute ago, but I can hear her exhaustion in my name. "I promise you that I will have it checked out. There is nothing we can do right this second. I can’t check myself into the emergency room here."
I let myself fall ungracefully on my ass and drop my forehead to my knees. She’s right. The press would be all over it. Lilly McGuire Suddenly Checks Herself into an LA Hospital. Not to mention that George’s presence would cause a whole other round of questions.
Fuuuck!
