I looked at my brother, and when he looked into my eyes and frowned, I knew he saw the terror that I felt.
“Not a needle, Ryder. Please. Anything but a needle.”
I felt everyone’s eyes on me, especially Aideen’s, but I couldn’t look at her.
Dominic moved closer to the doctor. “He’s had some ... bad experiences with needles in the past.”
That was putting it fucking lightly.
The doctor frowned. “It has to be injected daily. I’m sorry, he has to receive this medication or ... or he will die.”
The women in the room gasped, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t allowing anyone to stick a needle in me ... I refused.
“I’ll do it,” Aideen suddenly announced.
I jerked my head in her direction and stared at her as she focused on the doctor.
He blinked. “I’m sorry, but that isn’t protocol—”
He wasn’t going to let up on sticking me with a needle, and my reaction was to bolt. I made a move to get out of the bed and out of the fucking hospital when Aideen suddenly came to my side and took my hand in hers. She didn’t seem to care that is was slick with sweat. She gripped it firmly and looked me dead in the eye. I couldn’t hold her gaze, my mind was too focused on being stabbed over and over and over.
“Hey,” Aideen said, squeezing my hand. “Look at me, Kane.”
I managed to look at her. “Not a needle,” I begged. “Please.”
Her pretty eyes shone with unshed tears.
“Ye’ trust me not to hurt ye’,” she said just as tears slowing spilled over the brims of her eyes and splashed onto her cheeks. “Don’t ye’?”
I hesitated. “Aideen ... I can’t ...”
“Ye’ trust me not to hurt ye’,” she repeated. “Don’t ye’?”
I wanted to scream.
“Yes,” I said. “I know you won’t hurt me.”
She reached out and placed her palm on my cheek. “Then let me help ye’. Let me do this and get it out of the way. It’ll be over before ye’ know it. I won’t ever hurt ye’, Kane. I promise.”
I looked into her eyes and saw no deceit or malice. I only saw the compassion she held for me. We weren’t friends—not even close. We argued and got under one another’s skin, but Aideen wanted to help me, and I knew she was the only person who I wanted to do just that.
I exhaled a shaky breath, and said, “Okay.”
“Okay,” she uttered with a small smile. “We’ve got this, okay? Me and you?”
“Me and you.”
I kept my eyes locked on hers, just so I didn’t have to look at her hands and see what she was doing.
“Give her the damn needle,” Dominic hissed. “He will only let her do it, so give it to her.”
I blocked out everyone but Aideen then. I would lose my nerve if I listened to what was being said. My heart just about stopped when she said, “Close your eyes for me.”
“Aideen, please,” I choked. “Don’t stab me with it.”
She looked like she wanted to hug me, but she didn’t move.
“It’s going to be one little prick in your thigh,” she said. “That’s all.”
One little prick. I could handle that. I hoped.
“You promise?”
“I promise, sweetheart.”
I held her gaze for a moment longer, then I wordlessly put all my trust in her as I closed my eyes. Seconds ticked by, I felt Aideen’s hands on my thigh after the bed covers were pulled back from my body. I focused on her touch and thought back to the night I had experienced more of her than just a simple touch. I thought of how she looked bare before me, how her face twisted in pleasure as I moved inside her body, and how she cuddled against me in her sleep. I thought about that night all the time, and I wondered if she did too.
“All done.”
I opened my eyes when Aideen spoke, and my lips parted with shock.
“I didn’t feel anything.”
She smiled. “Told ye’.”
Gratitude flooded me, and before I realised what I was doing, I reached out and pulled her against me, hugging her tightly.
“I’ll come back later to discuss a check-up appointment date for next week. I’ll also go through everything with ’im, and with you all, about what to expect with his diabetes. We’ll keep ’im overnight again, and if he is respondin’ well to the injections, he can go home tomorrow.”
My brothers replied to the doctor, but I tuned them out once more and focused on Aideen.
“Are you okay?”
I squeezed her. “Yes.”
I rested back against the pillows on my bed, suddenly feeling drained.
“What the hell was that?” Bronagh demanded of Dominic. “I’ve never seen ‘im like that before.”
My little brother looked at his girlfriend, and I saw the moment he knew that he was going to end up in an argument with her because he sighed. “It’s not my place to explain that, Bronagh. It’s up to Kane if he wants to tell you.”