I try. I try with all my heart and soul to slow the torrent of tears that rush over my cheeks. “I’m sorry, Ang. I’m so sorry for what I did.”
“You’re okay now.” Despite the fact my tears continue to flow, he pulls back and snuggles under his coat. “I’m gonna take care of you, okay? You don’t have to worry about anything else.”
“Why?”
Silver-gray eyes watch me, but with a frown, he tilts his head on the headrest of the recliner. “Why, what?”
“Why are you taking care of me?” My voice cracks. “Aren’t you mad?”
His lips pull up just a little. “Because we’re family, and family take care of each other. Family love each other.”
I use the hospital blankets to dry my constant tears. I have an oversupply that won’t stop until I’ve cried them all out. Two years of hell, two years of silence brings me to this dark room, and when I look around, I’m both relieved and hurt that it’s all but empty. “Where’s everyone else?”
“They had to go home,” he whispers. “Your room has been full all day. Lots of people love you, but the babies were getting fussy, and Jessie was falling asleep on her feet. She didn’t want to leave you, but Bish made her go. She promised she’d come straight back as soon as she wakes.”
“What’s the time?”
His coat rustles as he digs through pockets and pulls out a cellphone. Touching the screen, the light illuminates the stubble coating his jaw. “Half past midnight. Everyone slept here last night. We’re not supposed to be here, but family’s family, and Jessie gets what she wants.” His lips twitch. “She slept in your bed last night, even when the nurse said security would toss her out.”
My soft laughter comes out choked and desperate. “She wanted to snug.”
“There was no convincing her to get out of your bed. Not even Kane could talk her around.”
“Kane…” My lips wobble.
Kane is… I don’t even know. He’s back, and I hate him for taking my sister when I needed her the most. But in that same breath, I love him for saving her. Not from bad guys, but from her misery. She might’ve been sitting in a shower with me if he never came back.
She deserves happiness. She deserves him.
“There’s no one on this planet that scares that dude,” Ang murmurs. “Except Jess.”
I swipe an arm beneath my nose to wipe away boogers, but the rough bandaging reminds me of what I did, what I’d let myself become. Pain roars through my arm, and in an instant, my eyes snap back to Ang’s.
He knows me. He knows my thoughts. “Hey, it’s okay. Relax.”
“Angelo, I–”
“You don’t have to apologize to me, and you don’t have to explain. You don’t have to do anything except live. That’s my only request; just live.”
“I don’t know if I can.” My lips tremble. “I don’t know if I want to.”
“You do.” He pushes his coat off and sits up. “Youdowant to. Youhaveto. Because if you go, you take your family with you.” Sitting forward on the chair, his calloused hand comes up to cup my jaw. “You might think it’s all too hard, you might think you have nothing to live for, you might be mad at your own life, but never forget your family. We’reenough, and we demand you stay right here.”
“Ang…”
“Idemand you stay,” he snaps. “There’s no second option, Laine!”
I back away from the hand on my jaw and ignore the way Ang’s eyes flash with anger. Taking a hint, he sits back on the chair and fixes his coat. I don’t want to be touched. I don’t want a man’s hands on me again.
Ever.
I distract myself by studying the way his hair hangs in his eyes as he makes himself comfortable. The room is cool, maybe in the late sixties, so he pulls his coat close and snuggles in, but his eyes don’t leave mine. He doesn’t let me go. He refuses to release me.
“Why are you here, Ang?”
He yanks the coat over her shoulders and glowers. “Because I love you. Because I refuse to let you waste your life. Because it matters to me that you’re happy.”
I frown and burrow deeper into my blankets. Away from his anger. Away from his hurt – hurt I caused. “What day is today?”