Mad Gold (Providence Gold 2)

The longer I watched her, not realizing how many hours I’d been doing it for, the more stumped I became. She’d been sucking on ice and knocking back water the whole time, so maybe if it was an allergy, she was reacting to something that she’d had before she’d gotten on the plane?

Was there a list that said: “This is what will happen with every single allergic reaction, ever.”?

Just as I had that final thought, she suddenly went to stand up, forgetting to undo her belt first, and immediately hunched over and squealed. It was her panting afterwards that had me jumping out of my seat – remembering my belt unlike her – and moving quickly over to her.

The tongue that was peeking through her open lips as she gulped in quick bursts of air was definitely swollen, badly enough to have me panicking and wondering how she was still breathing if she was that allergic to something.

Without even second guessing what I was doing, I hit the call button for a member of the crew and sat her back down on her chair, ignoring her protests. Well, the protests that consisted of her hands waving dangerously close to my face that was.

“You’re okay,” I muttered, sweeping her hair away from her flushed face and pausing. The beautiful shade of brown-green eyes looking back at me made my brain function flatline momentarily, until she swallowed and then groaned. Then it all clicked where I recognized her from. “Holy shit, it’s you!”

It was the chick from the bathroom at New Year’s. What were the chances?

Also, what were the fucking chances that she could be close to asphyxiating from an allergy when I’d only just found her again after all these months?

Reclining the back of her seat and shooting a glare at the douche behind her who dared to protest, I tried to make her comfortable.

“Is she okay, son?” the old man beside her asked me, looking worriedly at the sick woman.

“Would you mind hitting your call button in short and sharp jabs, please?” I requested, getting pissed that no one had come yet. I wasn’t exactly difficult to miss, and we had enough people watching what was happening to draw attention from a member of the flight crew – if they paid attention that was, which apparently they did not.

Standing up, the old man did just that and then topped it off by cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling, “Yo!”

Sure enough, someone was there within seconds – one pissed off, overly made up flight attendant with black Nike ticks for eyebrows that looked like they’d come from a Sharpie.

“Yes, sir?” she hissed, making no effort to hide how irritated she was at being interrupted from whatever awesomeness she’d been doing. Snotty bitch!

“Can you get the Captain to request that if there’s a doctor onboard, they come and attend to this woman immediately,” I snapped, giving her back the attitude she was dishing out.

My dad would beat me around the head for leaving off any charm when talking to a female, but this one was pissing me off.

I stood up when she didn’t make a move to do anything, almost hitting my head on the luggage compartment, which was made for people of a more normal height, and growled, “Now!”

Sure as shit, within twenty seconds the message was announced through the plane’s speakers, which made my mystery woman panic even more. Shortly after it, the flight attendant was back beside me, along with the Captain.

“I don’t think there’s anyone onboard this flight with medical knowledge. We have some medication we can give in circumstances like this, but I don’t know if it’ll be strong enough. It’s just Benadryl because someone forgot to make sure we had a proper kit onboard after the last flight,” he explained, a million times more helpful than the ass sucking bitch beside him, still glaring at the sick passenger.

The beautiful mystery woman’s mumbling was getting louder, and she kept pointing to her mouth when she opened it. Then she began pointing down at her crotch too, drawing everyone’s eyes south of the border.

“Give it to her,” I ordered.

What the hell the woman was reacting to if it had moved down to her crotch?

Then again, I didn’t have a medical degree, so what the hell did I know about every type of allergy and how they played out? Maybe what she’d eaten had travelled down and was affecting her intestines? And if that was the case, could she rupture something down there?

On that thought, I turned back to the Captain who was glaring at the back of the haughty flight attendant’s head as she stormed away.

“Bitch,” he muttered, shaking his head.

“No shit! How much longer until we land in Austin?”

Looking worriedly at the motions the woman was still making, he checked his watch. “Roughly forty-five minutes. Do you think she’ll be okay that long?”