His Absolute Insistence: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Fight or flight?  Currently I was in fight mode, adrenaline pushing me into action.  Yes, perhaps I was fleeing, but not necessarily because I was scared, though I was that, too.  I wanted to escape so I could figure everything out.  I hoped there was something to figure out.  I didn't actually know if there was.
    The nurse glanced at me, forcing herself to smile, then she nodded and we left.  I followed her, my feet tapping lightly across the tiled hospital floor.  The chilled tiles kept me awake and aware and my shoes in my hands kept me more alert.  I had purpose and resolve.  I was on a mission.
    Perhaps it wasn't as dire as that, but that's what kept me going at the moment.  Softness, I told myself, don't make a sound.  Hold onto your shoes, keep them tight in your hands.  Act as if nothing is amiss.  Move swiftly, persistent.
    We arrived at one of the elevators and the nurse pushed the down button.  I stood there, awkward.  When I moved, I felt like I had direction and determination, but just standing here, waiting, it seemed like my resolve washed away into nothingness.  Waiting was agony.  The coldness of the tiles beneath my shoeless feet froze my toes.  I trembled, teeth chattering.
    "Should we be taking the elevator?" I asked.  "Wouldn't the stairs be safer?"
    "I... I don't know," the nurse said.
    I had chastised Asher for harassing her before, but now I wanted to do the same thing.  We should just go, I thought.  We shouldn't wait around.  There'd be less people on the stairs, anyways, wouldn't there?  Less chance for anyone to see me.  It might take a little longer, but what did that matter?
    I was about to ignore her and go to the stairs on my own.  A sign further down the hallway indicated they were right there, just beyond a large door.  As I stood there, weighing my options, almost deciding to leave the nurse and head off on my own, the stairwell door opened.  A man with a crisp suit and a news anchor microphone stepped out.  He looked over his shoulder and said something to someone.  Another man with a large camera strapped at his side chuckled and stepped into the hallway after him.
    Oh God.
    I moved around the corner, hiding myself from their view.  They kept talking.  I heard them walking down the hall towards me.  They spoke casually, very openly, and in any other circumstances it would have sounded like friendly banter, except currently they were talking about me and Asher.  No specifics, nothing exact, but by the sounds of it they were hoping to find a nurse who had seen me so they could ask some prying questions.
    Yes, well, if they kept going down the hall like that, if this stupid elevator didn't come soon, they'd see me for themselves and I was fairly positive they'd give up on finding a nurse and question me directly.
    The nurse who offered to guide me downstairs heard them, too.  She scurried to the elevator doors and kept jamming her finger on the down button.  Down, down, down.  She hit the up button after awhile, too.  Up, up, up.  I didn't know why.  I didn't really care.  Up or down, neither mattered.  The elevator doors just needed to open and I'd be perfectly fine with that.
    They did.  The nurse and I rushed inside, pushing aside a confused doctor who was exiting on this floor.  I hurried to the back of the elevator and leaned against the wall while the nurse pushed the button to bring us to the ground floor.  Were we going up or down, though?  A bright arrow above the elevator car door pointed down.  Oh, good.
    "Hey," the doctor said, the one who had just left the elevator.  "We don't allow camera or news crew equipment in the hospital without permission."
    "We got permission," the man with the microphone said.  "Don't worry about it."
    "Oh?" the doctor asked, skeptical.  "From who?"
    The door to the elevator started closing.  I could see the three men speaking from where I stood, leaning against the elevator wall.  I didn't think