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Baron turned me to face him, looking intently into my face. I put one hand to my neck and made a pumping motion with my other one and realization came fast. “She needs an inhaler, Ezra.” He picked me up and set me in the back, climbing in after me after a cursory examination of the items from my purse spread out across the seat. “C’mon!” Ezra jumped and ran around to the driver’s seat.
“What can we do, Jude?” Ezra asked, meeting my eyes in the mirror as he pulled swiftly away from the field. “Hospital?”
I shook my head, forcing myself to breathe as slowly and evenly as possible. My chest ached with the effort. I mimed a drinking motion and Baron latched on to my hand. “A drink. She needs something to drink.”
I patted the seat beside me and found one of the pens from my purse. Picking it up, I wrote on my hand.
Coffee.
Hot.
Strong.
The caffeine would help open my airways until I could get my inhaler. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten it. I never, ever made a stupid mistake like that, especially in the fall and winter seasons, when my allergies were at their worst. “She needs coffee.” Baron looked at Ezra and pulled me against him. “We passed a gas station on the way in. They’ll have it.” Amidst my wheezes, I felt his lips touch my hair. “Hang in there, Pinky. Almost there.”
It was a horrible, helpless feeling. I clutched Baron’s shirt, despising the weakness that had turned a magical night into something so awful, and anchored myself to his low exhortations.
Hold on.
Almost there.
Just another minute.
Can’t you drive any fucking faster?
Call an ambulance to meet us there.
Breathe, damnit.
By the time we made it to the gas station I felt like I was trying to breathe through a collapsed straw, the pressure in my chest growing tighter and heavier. Dimly I was aware of Ezra pulling up diagonally to the store and flinging the door open for Baron to step out. He carried me bridal style into the building while Ezra held the door, barking the word ‘coffee’ at a shocked counter attendant.
Then he was kneeling with me on his knee while Ezra held a cup to my lips and tipped my head back. The fluorescents were bright against my eyes, and scattered with black spots. “Drink, sweetheart. Oh, shit, Baron, her lips—”
I forced one swallow, then another, and again. Slowly the constriction in my lungs began to lessen, and my breath began coming easier. But the lights were still bright, and the spots were still there.
“Jude? Pinky?” A hand slapped at my cheek and I tried to raise an arm that felt like lead to swat it away.
“Stop iss okay…” I muttered, and then watched as the spots converged, and everything went black.
Chapter 31: Baron
Jude in hospital. Pls bring pjs and her laptop. Room 304N.
My finger hovered over the keyboard on my phone as I pondered what to tell Gale, and as quickly decided to leave it until he asked. He could damn well show he cared. We all knew he did, but he was carrying this anti-Jude campaign out until its bitter end.
Pale morning sun shone through the slatted blinds covering the window. My eyes were itchy and burning from being awake for well over twenty-four hours, but I didn’t want to close them. Not yet.
My phone pinged with a notification.
Gale:What happened?
Asthma attack at field party.
Gale:She okay?
She will be. We barely got her help in time, though.
Gale:Be there soon.
