Not fucking likely.
“I don’t want to tell anything because we’re done speaking about that,” I said firmly. “And we’re done discussing injections of any type. I am not doing that shit again. No fucking way.”
The amount of fear that consumed me at the thought was too much for me to bear. I could never do that on a daily basis. I wasn’t strong enough.
“It’s not up for discussion, Kane,” Branna interjected. “Ye’ will be takin’ the injections. I’ll do them for ye’—”
“No!” I cut her off. “Just ... no.”
Ryder stepped towards Branna. “Stop pushing him.”
She turned to him and glared. “One of us has to. Otherwise, he will get sick again. Is that what ye’ want?”
Ryder didn’t respond; he only looked away from her.
“She’s right, Ryder,” Bronagh commented. “He needs to take them. Ye’ can’t baby ‘im.”
Alec’s face became hard as he looked at Bronagh.
“We aren’t babying him, Bronagh. We’re being considerate. He doesn’t like needles. End of fucking story.”
“Hey!” Alannah snapped at Alec. “Don’t talk to ‘er like that!”
“Don’t shout at ‘im, Lana,” Keela sighed, clearly not wanting anyone to argue.
Alannah glared at Keela. “Tell ‘im to back off Bronagh then.”
I wanted to punch a wall.
“It would help if you all stopped talking about me like I’m a fucking invalid. I can hear what you’re all saying, and I can make my own damn decisions when it comes to my body.”
Branna moved to the opposite side of the bed and stared down at me.
“D’ye want to die?” she bluntly asked. “Because that’s what will happen if ye’ don’t take the insulin daily.”
“Branna,” Ryder shouted. “Fucking stop.”
Aideen jumped with fright, and that irked me because it meant Ryder had frightened her, and I didn’t want her to be scared of any of my brothers.
“No!” Branna bellowed right back at him. “I love ‘im! I don’t want ‘im to get sick again!”
Everyone began to talk at once again, couples arguing, and friends snapping at each other.
“Kane?”
I looked at Aideen and tensed. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“What?”
“Kane, you need to take the insulin. You’ll get sick if you don’t,” I mimicked her.
When she smiled, my heart thumped against my chest.
“Yep, that was pretty much it.”
I swallowed. “I don’t do needles, Aideen. I just don’t.”
Ryder suddenly moved past Branna and leaned down to me. “What can we do to get you to take the insulin shots?”
“I. Don’t. Do. Needles,” I repeated.
“You don’t,” Aideen butted in, “but I do.”
The room went silent.
“What?” I balked. “What are you saying?”
Aideen leaned forward, and said, “I’ll give ye’ your injections every day. Ye’ let me do it once; will ye’ let me do it every other time, too?”
Everyone in the room looked at Aideen, then I felt their gazes turn to me as they awaited my answer.
“Why would you want to help me?”
She hated me.
Aideen’s lips twitched. “I enjoy arguin’ with ye’, and I need to keep ye’ around for that, so I guess I’m doin’ this for me own selfish needs. Sue me.”
The tension in the room when people chuckled, and I grinned.
“Aideen,” I said. “Thank you, but I don’t—”
“Hey,” she interrupted with a beaming smile. “Me and you?”
I wondered if she knew just how deeply those words rooted in my heart.
I exhaled a deep breath and said, “Me and you.”
“We got this.”
I stared at her for a long time. Every part of my mind screamed at me that no matter what way I looked at the situation, I was still going to be stabbed with a needle, and that scared the life out of me. I tried to assure myself that when Aideen injected me minutes ago, I felt nothing once I focused on her entirely. I wondered if I kept her in my mind’s eye, then maybe, I could get through daily injections. Once it was her handling the needle, I knew I would be in good hands. This fear was rooted in me because of Big Phil, and it shamed me knowing that he had power over me when I swore long ago I wouldn’t allow him to have it. I focused on Aideen and decided then that through her, I would beat this fear and shatter Big Phil’s control over me once and for all.
“Well,” Aideen pressed. “What d’ye say?”
She had no idea of knowing, but she just intertwined her life with mine, and I intended on keeping things that way.
“I say okay, baby doll.”
CHAPTER SIX
Twenty-six years old ...
“Kane.”
I looked at Ryder as he drove. We were on our way home from a job—a job neither of us wanted to do. My brother looked like a broken man. I knew it was breaking his heart to lie to Branna, but he had no choice in the matter. My heart went out to him. We had been out of the game for a few years now, but unfortunately, our past with Marco had caught up with Ryder and landed him neck deep in shit with the feds.