Depends on Who's Asking - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,5
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“What do you mean?” I asked, looking at the man in front of me with alarm.
“You’ve been exposed,” the man from the Center for Disease Control, Jace Levine, explained again.
I looked over at Saint to see him staring at Jace with alarm.
“But it’s Christmas!” the mother with the young daughter said. “We won’t be out of here until Christmas!”
Well, it was December first, actually. But still, she was right.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Jace apologized as he looked at her, then at all of us. “But this isn’t really something that I’m able to control. You have to be quarantined to prevent the spread of this virus. And here, we can watch all of you to make sure that you’re doing what you should be doing.”
In all, there were eight of us that were ‘exposed.’
Saint and me, Brielle, the mother and daughter duo, Misha and Tisha. The man that exposed us all, Martin, the barista, Tate, and the security guard that had been guarding the hospital entrance, Darrel.
“You’ll all be put into rooms,” he explained. “After today, you will no longer have contact with anybody but your roommate.”
I prayed hard that I wouldn’t be stuck with Brielle. For the love of God, I’d kill her.
“Do we get to keep our electronic devices? Do we get to go home and get our things?” Brielle asked.
“You have what you have on you,” Jace said, “for now. We’ll be bringing you all provisions. Changes of clothes. Toiletries. Things of that nature.”
“What about tampons?” I asked. “I’m gonna need those today.”
Jace looked taken aback for a long moment, then nodded. “Medical supplies as needed, yes. I’ll get you those things today.”
All of this was said from behind his protective equipment.
He was sweating badly, and he looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here.
So did all of us, now that I thought about it.
“Who are we pairing up with?” Tate asked.
“You two.” He pointed at Tate and Darrel. “You two.” He pointed at Misha and Tisha. “You two.” He pointed at Saint and me. “And you two.” He pointed at Martin and Brielle.
“Oh, hell no!” Martin argued.
“You two are the most likely to be contagious.” Jace shrugged. “We have obtained a hotel for y’all to be quarantined in. Now, we are going to transport you all to your rooms,” he ordered as he gestured to the exit of the cafeteria.
They put us in a hotel. One that hadn’t opened yet, actually. We were transported by ambulance to the new location, put through rigorous decontamination, then escorted to our new homes for the next three weeks.
It was brand new, and out of all the rooms it had, the ones at the very top, the executive suites, were the only ones open.
“I’m not pairing up with him for three weeks! I’ll go with her!” Brielle pointed at me.
Saint, God love him, hooked his arm around me. “Sorry, but my fiancée and I are going to be together. We’re not separating.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that, despite our differences, he wasn’t going to let me go.
Thank God.
Over the last year that I’d known Saint, especially the last four months that I’d been home, I’d made it a priority to give him shit every time that I saw him. He’d made it a point to give it right back.
And, from what I’d learned, he didn’t give shit to anybody but me.
Which made me feel special in a way.
“What?” Brielle screeched. “You’re getting married?”
Four more yellow-suited people came into the room then, all coming up to us.
We’d been showered, changed, decontaminated to the best of their abilities, and now they were leading us to our jail cells for the next three weeks.
Without another word, we followed the silent man that led us to the top suite at the very end of the hallway.
He opened the door with a code, then gestured for us to go inside.
“After you,” he said.
We went inside, and without another word, the door slammed shut behind us.
We both turned to look at the closed door, then back at each other.
“Holy fuck,” he muttered, shaking his head.
CHAPTER 2
I was born annoyed.
-T-shirt
SAINT
“Oh my God,” the beautiful woman at my side said. “My parents are going to freak the fuck out.”
I looked over at her in surprise.
“They’re going to understand,” I pointed out.
“They will,” Carolina agreed. “But my mom’s a nurse. She understands this kind of stuff. She’ll know how bad it is.”
It was officially December first today. That meant we had three weeks