Deceitfully Yours

60.

White walls, beeping monitors, the stark smell of disinfectant.

I shifted slightly on what I would hardly describe as a bed and flinched at the discomfort of having an IV cannula inserted into my forearm. It was hard to move, hard to breathe. My head pounded and my eyes were sore. My chest felt tight and every inhalation was agony and as if that wasn't torture enough, my mouth tasted like someone took a piss in it.

How long had it been since I was admitted here?

I could tell time had passed, but I had no idea just how much. I turned my head slowly to the one-drawer nightstand beside my bed where my phone sat and stared back at me, and just as I was about to defy the pain pulsing through my body and reach for it, a shuffle of footsteps approached my door and it opened, revealing my weary looking assistant whose eyes went alight with the sight of me.

"Finally," Stefan said in a relieving breath. "I was starting to think you went west."

He was holding a transparent bag of clothes which made me look down and for the first time today notice that I was dressed in a blue hospital gown. I hated these things. "How-" I croaked. My mouth was so damn dry like the Mojave Desert. "How long was I out?" I struggled to grate out.

"Ten hours." He answered with glee, stepping forward to stand beside my bed. "You were really in a shit position when they rolled you to the ER," he added flippantly, peering down at me. "Thank God you're okay."

I exhaled and lolled my head back on the bed. That explained why my tongue felt lacerated. "Fill out the discharge papers and get me out of here."

"In a few more hours, I will but not right now. You had a heart attack and passed out due to energy starvation and malnutrition. Doctor Ryle thinks your blood pressure is still too high for you to get a discharge permit, and considering your family history of coronary artery disease, you may be at an increased risk of developing the condition so he needs to run more tests."

I groaned and shut my eyes. Fuck.

Stefan sat beside me on the bed. "Lily left an hour ago. She's been sitting in the waiting area and mumbling to herself since you got rushed in here. I think you really scared the shit out of her."

I hummed without opening my eyes. It was best she left, I had nothing to say to that little brat.

"And as for Sienna..." Stefan continued, sending my heart lurching and my body stiffening.

I opened my eyes.

"If you're wondering if I told her about your condition, I didn't. I was waiting to get your permission to do so considering what happened the last time you were hospitalized and she -"

"No," I cut him, throat closing. "I don't want her to know about this."

He looked at me dubiously. "Why?"