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“Nothing,” I assured her, and pulled her close.
“You don’t understand,” she whispered, like she was ashamed. “I smiled. I smiled because I knew it was all as it should’ve been. What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” I repeated, and held her as she cried everything away. During that time she started relaxing into me and clinging to me, now that she’d finally let her worries out.
It felt like hours had passed when she said, “I don’t know how to feel about it all. I feel wrong . . . broken.”
I smiled and corrected her. “Cracked.” Pulling back enough so I could tilt her head up, I searched her eyes and promised, “But I’m going to fix it. I love you, Harlow.”
She smiled shakily, and one hand lifted to frame my mouth as she leaned in to kiss me. But just before her mouth met mine, she vowed, “To the stars.”
Chapter 23
Harlow
Present Day—Richland
“WHO SAID WE were leaving?”
“Family only? Don’t we look like family? We’re her brothers, we’re practically triplets,” Deacon said, and imitated Graham’s intimidating stance.
“This is no longer about family; visiting hours are about to be over,” the older nurse said sternly.
She was met with twin looks of indifference. “And?” Graham finally said.
The nurse’s eyes bounced back and forth between the two, then over to Knox, and then to me.
I had to fight back a smile. “I’m sorry, but the other nurse said she was getting my discharge papers?”
“Right, because we’re leaving and taking our sister with us,” Deacon said arrogantly.
“Deac,” Knox murmured, then shook his head once when he had Deacon’s attention.
When she left with an exaggerated huff, Deacon turned and asked, “Where’s the nurse from earlier? The hot one,” he clarified. “She needs to come back; she didn’t question us being in here.” He snorted, then mumbled to himself, “Like we’re just gonna leave without you.”
I shook my head as Graham studied the monitors even though I was no longer hooked up to them, and Deacon started on his definition of “family.” I looked at Knox and we both mouthed, “Mother hens.”
There was a quick knock on the door a couple of minutes later, and Knox cursed. “If you got security called on us, I will never forgive you,” he said as Deacon went to answer the door.
“We’re not leaving,” Deacon said as he swung the door open. “Have a nice night!”
The door was halfway shut on my parents’ confused faces before I could yell, “Wait!”
“Harlow!” my mom cried out, and pushed past the door. My dad and Hadley followed, and a sharp cry burst from my chest seeing my sister so much better than she’d been just the day before.
Knox mumbled something, and he and my mother hens all stepped closer to my bed in unison—as if to protect me from my family—but I just looked at the doorway expectantly.
“Where’s Hayley?”
“She and the family are getting a hotel for all of us so we don’t have to worry about it when you can get out,” Mom explained as she hurried to my side. She grabbed my hand and sat on the side of the bed as her eyes roamed all over my body. “Oh, sweetie, how could you not tell us?”
Graham scoffed, and Knox sneered, “How could you not notice?”
“Knox,” I whispered, hoping he would get the hint.
“I knew within seconds of—”
“Knox,” I said harder, and held his stare for a moment. “I had a role I had to play in front of them. I couldn’t let them see what he was doing to me.”
