Sitting up, my heart was racing, and it felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. Ignoring the ache in my arm, I pushed myself up only to see my idiot brother, Isaac trying to manoeuvre a chair through the doorway. What the hell was he doing? There was no way it was going to fit in there.
“What are you doing?” I rasped out, my mouth dry.
Turning around, Isaac had a look on his face that screamed ‘busted’. It was almost comical. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Go back to sleep.”
“I’m fine,” I tried to assure him as he turned his attention back to the chair now wedged in the doorway.
Obviously, he wasn’t going to listen, so instead, I propped myself up against the headboard and watched him argue with the inanimate object. Five minutes and an impressive string of curse words later, and he’d managed to get it through and into my room. Now he had to find somewhere to put it. There wasn’t a lot of space, even if I picked up the clothes and shoes scattered everywhere. With one final grunt, he picked up the clothes, squeezing his eyes closed and trying not to see the G-string on the top.
“There,” he announced with a huff, dropping into the seat.
“Happy now?” I asked, unable to keep the giggle from my tone.
“Yep. You?”
“I still don’t understand why you needed a chair in here. There’s not exactly room for it.”
“’Cause my arse was getting sore sitting on the floor,” Isaac offered by way of explanation.
“You know, you don’t have to watch over me,” I told him, letting him off the hook. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Fine. I’m not. But I will be.”
“Come on, Claire. Let me call Mum. She’s better at dealing with this sort of stuff than I am.”
I almost caved in to his request. He looked so sad. So defeated. So desperate I almost agreed just to put him out of his misery. But I couldn’t. As much as I loved my mother, the moment she found out what had happened she’d fly into overprotective, panicked mother mode and right now, that was the last thing I wanted to deal with.
“How about I make you a deal,” I countered.
“Go on. I’m listening.”
“Give me until Monday. Let me be miserable and wallow until Monday.”
“And what happens on Monday?”
“If I’m not back to my normal self…”
“I don’t think you’ll ever be the same after this, Claire, you can’t be. Hell! It didn’t even happen to me, and I know I won’t be the same after this.”
“If I’m not back to the new normal then by Monday, you can call Mum.”
Isaac rocked back in his chair, sighed heavily before looking straight at me. “Fine.”
“Thank you. I’ll be okay. You know this.”
“I hope so, Claire Bear. I really do. I hate seeing you like this.”
“I hate being like this,” I admitted sadly.
“Well, since we’re not calling Mum, I bought some shit that might cheer you up,” Isaac offered, standing up. “Back in a second.”
Having a second to myself, I started second-guessing everything. I may have just made a deal with the devil which would backfire on me and end up biting me in the arse. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I willed the headache that was building to hold off. I don’t know if it was from dehydration, hunger, lack of sleep, stress, or the hits I’d taken. It was too soon to take more pain killers, so I’d just have to suck it up.
Without any time to dwell on it, Isaac barrelled back through the door with a bulging shopping bag dangling from his fingers.
“What the hell did you buy?”
