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The sun sets over the mountains in the distance, and when her dinner comes, we slip out for a quick bite. When we return, she’s nodded off. And a woman in dark blue scrubs is seated next to her reading a magazine.
“Hi. Are you waiting for her to wake up to take blood or something?” I ask, removing Mom’s glasses that she often falls asleep wearing.
The woman looks up from her reading and smiles. “No. I’m just here to make sure she’s comfortable.”
“Oh, I can do that.” My heart pinches.
“I was hired to stay all night.” The woman’s eyes stray to Eoghan.
“All night?” I spin around to find him grinning at me.
All those calls he slinks off to make. Then these things happen.
A twinge of anger bubbles inside me at the decisions made without my consent. Before I say anything, though, I take a deep breath and acknowledge normally I’d be here dealing with this on my own. Instead, Eoghan is here, taking the additional burdens off me. He’s thinking of those little but exceedingly important details because my mind is all over the place right now. Unlike my brother…
What is wrong with him?
“Thank…” I stop when Eoghan narrows his eyes at me.
Clearing my throat with a tiny growl, I step to Mom’s bed and kiss her forehead.
I take a business card from my bag and hand it to the nurse. “Here’s my number if you need to reach me.”
Before accepting the card, the woman looks at Eoghan behind me. I see him nod in my periphery, and the woman smiles and takes my number.
Eoghan scoops up my hand and steers me out of the room. “Let’s stop for more wine on the way home and—”
“Are you playing me?” I ask and stop walking.
It’s all too much. How can this be real?
“What?”
“Is this all some kind of ass-kissing because of your brother?”
“Elaborate. I have six brothers.” He shoves his hands inside his pockets.
“Cormac.”
His face bends into a look of fury. “You know what?”
My heart smashes, thinking he’s going to say yes. It’s all been a ploy, so I don’t try to get his brother back to stand trial on the kidnapping charges.
He takes out his phone, and with his eyes glued to mine, he holds it to his ear. “Lachlan. Cormac. Get his arse back to Vegas.”
My throat goes tight, and I shake my head. “No, no. Wait.”
“You fucking heard me. Get him on a plane, right now. I don’t care what that means. He fucking broke the law. I know, I know. This is different.”
Dear God, he’s sacrificing his brother for me.
I can’t let him do that. “Stop. No. Hang up.” I claw at him.
Daniel did that deal, not me.
While Eoghan shouts at his brother, I leap to get the phone away from him. It miraculously ends up in my hands, and I end the call, keeping it close to my chest.
“I… I believe you.” My heart hammers so hard and my palms are too sweaty to hold his twelve-hundred-dollar iPhone. Shaking, I hand it back to him. “I’m sorry.”
