My heartbeat thrashes as the pain reaches its peak, and a piercing sound rings in my ears. My body goes rigid, and for afew blissful seconds, blackness sinks in before the land of the living starts dragging me back.
Shallow breaths heave from my lungs as the arteries in my temples pulse, and something warm touches my skin.
I force my eyes open to find Gabi’s blurry silhouette sobbing above me as she props my body against hers.
The realization that she tried to catch me, and I fell on her, fucks me up.
I want to crawl into a dark hole and never come back out. But I still can’t get my limbs to cooperate, and I know it will be a while before I even have the strength to stand up.
“Let’s put him in my bed,” Gabi chokes out, presumably to the other shadow hovering above me.
It takes me a minute to distinguish some of Rafe’s features, and I try to tell him to fuck off as he drags my limp body up off the floor.
“Quit being so goddamned stubborn,” he grunts. “Just relax.”
I don’t have a choice, and it only irritates me more.
I don’t like Gabi seeing me this way, and I have every intention of leaving the minute I can get my useless body back in order.
The pain is still too intense, even though the pressure in my skull is slowly subsiding. It can last minutes, or sometimes an hour—but the aftermath will drain me for the entire day.
Rafe and Gabi manage to get me on the bed, shifting me around until they’re satisfied.
The fog weighs me down for a few more minutes before I can open my eyes again. When I do, Gabi’s sitting cross-legged, cradling my head in her lap.
Our gazes meet, and she lets out another sob as tears track down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry for me,” I rasp. “I’m having a great time.”
“Romeo.” Her lip trembles as she fights a smile. “Do not make me laugh right now.”
“I’ll be right back,” Rafe says.
“Can you get him a cool cloth?” Gabi calls after him.
My brother nods and disappears, and Gabi massages my temples as her gaze lingers on mine. It’s a painfully long moment of eye contact for her, but she doesn’t sever it until Rafe returns and nudges a pill against my lips.
“Here.” He presses a bottle of water to my mouth, and I force the pill down.
With that out of the way, he hands Gabi the cold cloth, and she drapes it over my forehead.
Rafe glances out at the city skyline before he looks at me.
“Storm’s coming,” I bite out.
“Your head is more accurate than the weather most of the time,” he says.
Gabi stiffens beneath me, and I recall what she said about being terrified of storms.
In the years since I returned to the island, I’ve never been with her during bad weather. The one and only time she saw another migraine episode, I made my brothers take me to my wing and holed up there for the rest of the day.
I had every intention of leaving this room as soon as I could, but now, the thought of her being alone when she’s scared isn’t one I can live with.
It doesn’t help that she’s touching me all over, dragging her fingers over my scalp to dissolve the tension there.
“I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.” Rafe glances between us, a smirk playing across his lips. “Looks like you have a much better nurse than me on the job.”
“Nurse Gabi to the rescue,” I murmur, my words slurring from exhaustion.
