Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
STEVIE
Beep. Beep. Beep.
What is that sound? Maybe the start of a song? I must’ve drifted off at the pizza parlor on Levi’s shoulder. That means I won’t have enough energy to go to King’s Wolf.
Crap, I wanted to have some fun.
Moving my head to adjust my neck, I feel the soft material beneath me. Did someone bring me home and lay me down? Levi’s done that a handful of times whenever I don’t feel well, but I felt fine while we were eating.
A loud pitch hits my ears, making me wince.
Someone’s yelling. Someone is yelling, and I’m having trouble opening my lids. It feels as if they weigh a million pounds. Then a familiar smell invades my nostrils. A disinfectant. A very specific kind of disinfectant. The pillow beneath me doesn’t smell like lavender, but like…like a hospital.
The yelling intensifies, and I fight to open my eyes as I try to listen.
“You have to let me in! Her family is still thirty minutes away, and she needs to see someone she knows when she wakes up.”
Levi.
Why is he so mad? What the hell happened?
“Sir, you have to calm down. We cannot let anyone in except immediate family for now,” a deeper voice responds.
“This is bullshit. She’s my girlfriend and we live together.” Levi’s voice is dripping with venom. “I know this wasn’t a normal seizure. I saw what the paramedics had to do, what they said.”
No. It couldn’t have happened. Not when I was about to hit one year of not having a seizure like my first.
Finally managing to flutter my eyes open, I take a moment to focus on my surroundings, showing me the hospital room I’m in. My breathing becomes shallow. Anxiety, embarrassment, and fear hit me all at once. The beeping from before intensifies, and I look over to find that my heart rate is spiking.
Two nurses rush in, telling me everything’s okay.
“What happened?” Tears stream down my face.
“Miss, please, we need you to relax,” one of them says calmly.
I know she’s right, but all of my common sense has flown out the window.
“Is she awake? Let me see her now!”
His voice is the only familiar thing in this place, and I need him.
“Levi.” I look over at the male nurse. “Let him in. If you want me to calm down, bring him here,” I say as firmly as I can.
He nods and runs to the hall. A couple of seconds later, a panicked Levi comes into the room and breathes out a sigh of relief at the sight of me.
“Baby,” he whispers.
And that one word retches a sob out of me. I’m not in control of my emotions, and I can’t remember what happened to me. I don’t know how long I’ve been here or what he saw.
Levi runs and hunches over, hugging me as I clutch him as tight as I can with my limited strength.
Another sob pours out.
“I’m right here, baby. I’m not going anywhere. You’re okay.” Levi kisses the top of my head.
I shake my head against his chest. “What happened?”
He pulls away from me just enough to meet my eyes. “You don’t remember anything?”
Feeling my bottom lip tremble, I say tightly, “No. I’ll remember later, but it could take me a while.”
Levi then avoids my eyes. “I should call the doctor in to tell you.”
Lifting my right arm where my IV is attached, I grab his face and force him to look at me. “How bad was it?”
His eyes fill with tears. “Please, baby. Let me get the doctor.”
My boyfriend’s throat bobs harshly with a swallow, and I know he’s at his limit. If he explains what happened, he’ll break down. Meaning, it was worse than it had been last time.
I give him a dip of my chin.
A couple of minutes later, the doctor’s telling me that I had a seizure, as I already suspected and knew.
What I didn’t guess is that I had two. The first ended before the paramedics got to King’s Wolf, lasting for about four minutes, and another when they got there, lasting a little under a minute.
The paramedics had to give me the highest dose of lorazepam to stop the second episode.
The seizures could’ve caused permanent damage if they went on any longer.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. However, I know that they’ll conduct numerous tests to ensure I’m fine as soon as we finish speaking.
I’m drowsy, exhausted, emotional, and my memory is a mess, but the medicine helped.
I got lucky.
Levi sits beside me and holds my hand throughout the entire explanation.
He squeezes it, and I glance over at him as he gives me a small smile, his eyes still watery.
He had to witness my first time being in status epilepticus.
It’s an epileptic’s worst fear, other than sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
Squeezing his hand tightly, I give him the same smile back.
As the doctor continues to explain what tests they’re going to run, flashes of memories come back to me of being at King’s Wolf.
“None of this makes any sense,” I tell the doctor once some time has passed, and I begin to remember more and more. “I know I didn’t miss my dose, and I didn’t have any partials before it happened.”
He asks me a couple of more questions about my sleeping schedule, menstrual cycle, what I ate, and what I drank.
“Nothing unusual or new then?” Dr. Lin flips through my chart for the third time.
Levi clears his throat. “The mocktail,” he tells both of us.
I tip my head to the side. That particular detail still hasn’t come back to me, but I don’t doubt what he’s saying.
He runs a hand through his hair. “All I know is that it was yellow, had some passionfruit syrup, thyme syrup, and club soda.” His soft eyes meet mine, and his thumb strokes my hand. “Kami called the bar, and they said that’s all there was in it.”
“Are you allergic to any of those things?” Dr. Lin asks.
“No.” I pause and shut my eyes.
There has to be something I’m not remembering. Think, Stevie, think.
Talking, laughing, dancing…a lot of dancing and kissing Levi. After that, things are blurry, but I remember having a conversation with Brad at the bar, I don’t know what about, but I was away from Em, Jenn, and my drink. My heart sinks as the thought hits me.
Shit.
Letting out a deep breath, I voice the question I never thought I’d have to.
“It was bitter. Not the normal bitter I sometimes taste before a seizure, but one I’m not used to anymore, a vodka kind of bitter.
” Levi’s head shoots in my direction, but I ignore it.
“If someone put alcohol in my drink, or maybe switched theirs with mine that had alcohol, could it have caused all of this?”
The doctor thinks about it for a moment. “Yes, it could’ve, due to the medications you’re taking. It probably wasn’t more than a small amount since it didn’t reach the extent it could’ve, but yes.” He looks at me solemnly. “Do you believe someone did this on purpose?”
“But Jenny and Emma…” Levi trails off. His look tells me he wants to believe anything but that.
“They could’ve gotten distracted after the drink was done,” I say casually, although I’m feeling anything but. Turning back to the doctor, I reply, “I think it’s possible. Can you test my blood?”
“Of course. Meanwhile, we can run the other tests, and we’d like to keep you here for a minimum of seventy-two hours. If everything goes well and you have no more episodes, you’ll be free to go.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“A nurse will be in soon to bring you upstairs, and tonight they’ll have to put the wires on for an EEG.”
I grimace. “Do I have to wear them the entire time I’m here?”
He gives a straight smile, knowing that it is one of the most annoying things in the world. “Yes, we’ll take it off a couple of hours before we discharge you.”
“Okay. I’ll also need a medical excuse for my classes.”
“Finals?” He taps a pen against his hand.
I shrug. “Yeah.” Now I’ll have an extension and an extra couple of days to study. It’ll take a little over a week to feel completely normal again, according to my previous experience.
He nods and leaves the room.
Levi and I are left alone, and he looks at me with a shocked expression. “You think that somebody did this on purpose?”
My lip trembles again. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“But who?”
Avoiding his gaze, I let go of his hand to wipe my nose. This time, he grabs my chin and turns me to face him. His eyes do a quick scan of my face as I shake my head, and his jaw tenses, his eyes flaring with rage. “Levi, no.”
“I’ll fucking kill him.”
“We don’t know if it was him.” I rub my forehead. Yes, I was terrified, I still am, but this is all a working theory. If this is why it happened, whoever did it deserves to be punished, but we can’t falsely accuse someone. And this kind of cruelty doesn’t scream Andrew to me.
He paces the room and takes his phone out. “Your parents are almost here.” He presses a couple of buttons and brings the phone up to his ear. Whoever he’s calling picks up. “I need you to look into where Andrew was tonight.” There’s a pause, and I know he’s speaking to Jake. “You already looked?”
“What?” I whisper from my bed.
Levi raises a brow at Jake’s response. “Who was on the camera feed then?” His eyes meet mine, and his other hand turns into a fist. “The doctors are testing her for it.” He nods once more. “Keep me updated.”
He brings the phone down, and I stare at him. “What did he see on the camera feed?”
“When Andrew came to the party to try to talk to you, he was trying to be your friend.” His jaw tics. “There’s only one person who hates you enough to do this. One person Jake identified on the feed.”
My eyes widen at the realization. “Tiffany?” He nods. “How?”
Levi tells me more about what Jake saw on the camera feed, but then I think about the few times I felt like somebody was looking at me, following Levi and me.
The girl in the hoodie at King’s Wolf, whose face I couldn’t see because it was partially blocked.
It wasn’t paranoia, it was this psycho who made one of my worst nightmares come true.
As I’m about to tell Levi this, my family walks in, and he’s kicked out of the room. There can only be two people in at a time, according to the nurse.
I’m not even able to say good night as they drag him and my father out of the room. I hear Levi fight, until his voice fades down the hall.
“What do you mean only one family member can stay overnight?” Ma spits out to the doctor.
“Ma,” I warn. I’m far too tired for this. It’s been two hours of MRIs and CT scans with and without contrast. I’m exhausted and my body is at its limit. The test came back, and it is now confirmed that somebody either put alcohol in my drink or switched mine with another without my consent.
“No, Stephanie. Someone hurt you tonight. You need both of us here. Levi should also be able to come in.”
I wince at the last comment. He hasn’t been allowed back into the room since he was kicked out, practically yelling at the nurse to let him back in.
Even Jake’s connections have limits, and hospitals seem to be it.
As much as I love my family, I only want to spend the night with Levi like I have for the past three months, but the doctors aren’t giving in.
My phone is also dead, and I haven’t been able to text him, except to quickly tell him about Tiffany possibly stalking me.
He needed to know so that Jake could look into it.
My moms are the only ones who’ve been keeping me updated on him, and by the simple “Fine” I get every time I ask about his state, I’m beginning to believe that he’s worse than he was before.
“Your wife can come back after eight a.m. tomorrow, and so can your boyfriend,” the nurse addresses me at the end. “Stevie needs her rest.”
My eyes burn, and my chest feels heavy at the thought of being so close, yet so far away from the man I love, after something like this happened.
“She’s right, Ma. I’m tired, let’s get some sleep.”
Without waiting for a response, I turn to face the wall and close my eyes, letting sleep take me, knowing I’ll see him the second I wake up.
“Bambi,” I hear a distant husky voice say. “You need to wake up, my love.” Levi’s voice once again fills my head.
I must be dreaming. He rarely calls me that, and it can’t be eight a.m. yet. I just went to sleep. “Baby, please.” A featherlight kiss presses against my lips.
Finally realizing he’s here, I open my eyes to meet the beautiful man standing in front of me. An exhausted-looking Levi, yet hot nonetheless.
“Hey, Hotshot,” I rasp out with a dry throat. “What time is it?” Moving my hands upward, I feel the wires move against my scalp. I groan. “Oh God, I must look like crap.”
Levi raises a brow, then lets out a ragged breath. “Shut up, you look beautiful as always.” He squeezes my hand.
That’s such bullcrap. Nobody can make these wires work. “It’s almost eleven. I know you needed to sleep, but I couldn’t wait anymore.”
He caresses my cheek, and I lean into his touch, reaching up to do the same to him. “Did you call me your love?”
He kisses the inside of my hand and nods. “Yes. You are my love. The love of my life.”
I inhale a sharp breath. “Levi—”
“Marry me.”