* * *
“Kane.”Soft lips touch my brow. Then my cheek. Then my ear. “Kane. Wake up. Please wake up.”
I shake my head. “What?”
“You’re still burning up. You’re shaking. It’s been hours.”
“Let me sleep,” I groan. Kneading her thigh beneath my hand, I cuddle in closer. “Can’t get better, ‘cause you keep waking me up.”
“I’m gonna call an ambulance.”
“No.”
“I’ve been on the net,” she snaps. “What did Abel cut the cocaine with? Fentanyl? Washing detergent? Salt? Paracetamol? I need to know so I can help you. You’re in danger right now, Kane. Real,actualfucking danger.”
“Mm…” My calves cramp as I pull my legs closer to my chest. “Maybe. Dunno.”
“Fentanyl kills people! Cocaine kills. You’redying, Kane, and I don’t want you to.”
“Not dying. Sleeping.”
“You threw up three more times.” She shakes me, setting off a chain reaction of nausea as wasps sting the inside of my gut. “Do you remember? You’re having seizures and scaring me to death. You aren’t drinking. You haven’t opened your eyes. You’re,” she tears my head back by my hair. “You’re terrifying me!”
My eyes feel like rusty windows in an old colonial as I force them open. “Don’t be scared, baby. It’s my job to protect you.”
“You’re doing a really shitty job of it right now. I hate you for doing this to me.” Tears dribble along her cheeks and over pinched lips. “I hate you.”
“Did I hurt you? Am I squishin’ you?”
“No!” She wipes a tear from her cheek “But you’re breaking my heart.”
Grinning despite the fire in my stomach, I press a kiss to her chest. “You feel it, too. I like that. G’night, baby.” I take her hand and push her tear-soaked finger between my lips.
Comfortable, I suckle like a baby.