I carefully got out of the tub and gripped the counter, then grabbed the towel from the rack and wrapped it around my waist. That was when I decided it was time to ask for some help.
“GQ?” I called out, and not a second later, there was a light rap on the door.
“Jameson? Are you okay?”
“I think I’m gonna need your help after all.”
“Okay. Are you decent? Can I come in?”
I scoffed. Even now he was polite. “Yeah, GQ, I’m decent.”
He came in but drew up short when he realized all I was wearing was a towel. “You’re not dressed.”
“Are you sure? I thought I put on my pants.”
When he arched a brow, I nodded to the clothes on the floor.
“I was too shaky to put them on. Didn’t want to crack my head open on the tile.”
Ryan grimaced. “No, we don’t want that. Do you want me to help you get dressed?”
“No, just back to my room. I’ll feel better about putting them on if I’m sitting on a soft bed.”
“You got it.” He wound an arm around my waist, I looped mine around his shoulders, and he began to help me to my room. “Bet you never thought this is how we’d end up that first night we met.”
Ryan stopped just inside my door, and I shook my head. I’d imagined him in my bedroom, but not like this. “Definitely not.”
“Me either. Anyway, let me grab your clothes.”
He dashed out of my room to grab my things, and when he reappeared, so did his frown.
“You really don’t look good, Jameson.”
He held my clothes out to me, and even the simple task of reaching for them felt like a monumental effort. “Yeah, I don’t feel so hot.”
“I think I should take you to see someone.”
I screwed up my nose and shook my head.
“You seem even worse than when you first woke up.”
“I’ll be fine, it’s just—” Right on cue, a sneeze hit, and with my hand over my nose and mouth, I eyed him. “It’s just a head cold.”
“I don’t think so. It seems like more to me.” He stepped forward then and placed a hand on my forehead. “Holy shit. You’re hot as hell.”
I raised a brow, and Ryan rolled his eyes.
“I’m sure you’ve heard that many times before, but this time I mean it. You really are hot. As in, you’re burning up. I think you have a fever.”
Great, that was the last thing I needed. If you had a fever, you weren’t allowed to work until you were twenty-four hours clear. So I needed to get to the bottom of this, and fast. It looked like I was taking Ryan up on his offer after all.
“Okay, let me get dressed. Are you sure you don’t mind taking me to the doctor’s office?”
“Not at all.” Ryan walked to my bedroom door and looked back at me. “Sure you don’t need help putting your pants on?”
His cheeky grin as he shut the door told me that this time he was definitely not offering because of my illness. But the last thing I needed was to get into a complicated situation with my roommate when we were just starting to get along. It was best we kept things as they were. Friendly…platonic.
Getting dressed took a little longer than usual, and by the time I reopened the door, I felt as though I’d run a damn marathon.
“Ready?” Ryan stood by the front door with my jacket in hand.
“You’re good at this.”
“This?” he asked as I slipped my arms into the jacket.
“Organizing someone. Looking after them.”
He picked up his keys. “I’ve had some experience in the area. Plus, that’s my job description. Literally.”
I supposed it was. I hadn’t thought of it like that. “Well, you kick ass at it.”
“I like to think so,” he said as he opened the door. “Now come on. I called the doctor who looks after Alexander, and he said he could fit you in.”
“What?” I stopped in my tracks. “I can just go to an urgent clinic.”
“Nonsense,” Ryan said as we walked down the hall to the elevator. “The last thing you need is to be around a whole bunch of other sick people. We need you checked out and back to fighting fit. Only the best for our local heroes.”
I didn’t have the energy to argue with him at this point, so I followed him into the elevator and let the wall hold me up, trying my best not to pass out on my feet.
Chapter 18
Ryan
JAMESON HAD THE flu.
Not a sore throat. Not a stuffy head. The flu, and he looked terrible. From the time we’d arrived at the doctor’s office to the time it took for him to have the test, he’d gone from a tepid yellow shade to a deathly pallor that could only be described as grey.
It wasn’t good, but the doctor assured us it should only last a couple of days with Tamiflu. I wasn’t so sure about that. Along with all his other symptoms, Jameson had developed a horrible cough, which had me leading him straight to bed and demanding his station’s number.
“I’ll be fine. I just need to sleep it off.” The coughing fit that took over him after that said otherwise.
“You need a whole lot more than sleep, and certainly more than one night.”
As he flopped down on the bed, I held out my hand. Jameson grumbled but lifted his hips to fish his phone out of his pocket, and I had to remind myself how inappropriate it would be to lust after a sick man.
“Here,” he said, handing his phone over. “Look for Olsen. That’s my lieutenant.”
“Okay.” I pointed to him and then the bed. “Get comfortable and get under the covers. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Bossy,” Jameson muttered as I left the room and hit the lieutenant’s number.
“Clarke, how you doin’, man?” The sound of music and voices filtered through the phone, and I got the impression Olsen was out enjoying his Saturday afternoon. “Did you decide to come hang with us after all? We’re at Mulligan’s—you heard of it?”
Jameson was supposed to go out tonight? He hadn’t mentioned that. “Uh, sorry, this isn’t Jameson.”
“Oh, I thought that’s the number that—”
“It is,” I said. “Is this Olsen? Lieutenant Olsen?”
There was a pause, and then the background noise seemed to dissipate. “Yeah, this is Olsen. Who’s this?”
“I’m Ryan, Jameson’s—”
“New roommate. Yeah, he told us about you.”
He had? Now there was a shocker. Jameson didn’t strike me as the type to tell anyone anything. But the idea that he’d told his crew that he had a new roommate and even included my name made my stomach do a little flip.
“Yes, that’s me. I’m calling because Jameson’s sick. He’s come down with the flu and can barely move. We just got back from the doctor and picked up some meds, but I’m not sure when he’ll be able to come back to work.”
“Oh shit, is he okay?”
“He’s pretty useless right now. Fever, cough, headache.”
“Ugh, yeah, you tell him to stay his ass home. I don’t want him at work, and I definitely don’t want what he’s got.” Olsen chuckled. “Nice housewarming gift for you, though.”