Cillian:ER lobby.
I smoothed my palm over Fallon’s forehead, brushing his hair away from his face, and stared down at him for a moment. He looked so innocent like this, a small smile tugging on his lips as if he was dreaming about something nice. I hoped he was, because I’d had a punctured lung before and it wasn’t pleasant. Luckily the doc sounded optimistic.
I swept out of the room and past one of the nurses who’d been taking care of Fallon. She stood beside a cart of supplies and gave me a hesitant smile, though I didn’t miss the suspicion in her gaze as I nodded when I went past her. I could only imagine her reaction when she saw Cillian and Rowen, too; although, they had a habit of charming people with their accent.
By the time I got down to the ER lobby, Vail was a pacing mess. Cillian and Rowen were watching him with pity, and every time Rowen tried to reach out for him, Vail waved him away. Usually perfectly dressed, Vail’s clothes were rumpled, and his blond hair was a bird’s nest. His red bow tie was crooked, and he’d taken off his gray suit jacket, which Cillian currently held over his arm. The white shirt Vail wore was untucked on the right side and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, even though it was cold outside.
The moment he caught sight of me his eyes widened and he came racing over, grabbing my hands in his. The desperation on his face cracked my heart. I hated seeing him like this.
“Where is he?Howis he?” His gaze slid to the right to an elderly woman with a walking stick who slowly stepped past us. It was one of those nights where his attention was all over the place. I’d figured out he got like this when he was worried—it was as though his brain was trying to find any distraction possible so he wouldn’t have to focus on the concerning issue.
“He’s fine, bug,” Cillian said from behind him, laying a hand on his shoulder. He must have showered at home because he was dressed in a gray T-shirt, leather jacket, and jeans, and he smelled like Vail’s favorite apple soap. “Didn’t I tell ye that?”
I frowned at Cillian because it wasn’t completely true. We didn’t know if Fallon was fine, but I understood he didn’t want to wind Vail up. The difference between me and Cillian was that while we both wanted to protect Vail, he did it by lying and acting like Vail wasn’t able to handle anything, while I did it with the truth.
Vail’s gaze snapped back to me and he stared.
I knew what he needed. Rubbing my jaw, I considered my words carefully. There was no use saying something unless it had value, especially if it might send him into a tailspin. “The doctor is taking care of him.”
Vail pouted. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
As naïve as he could be, he was also incredibly smart. Over the months he’d learned how each one of us ticked, and that meant he knew when Cillian was trying to placate him. He adjusted his bow tie, and only once it was straight did he step toward me and pat my chest.
“Please, Aspen? Tell me.” His gaze slid to the side again where a man was muttering to himself, curled up against the wall and twitching, probably high on drugs.
I cupped Vail’s cheeks in my palms and turned his face toward me again, pressing a soothing kiss to his lips. He leaned into me, moaning, and when I pulled back, he still had his eyes closed, reveling in the touch of our mouths.
“The doc is worried,” I said honestly, glaring at Cillian when he heaved a sigh. I wasn’t Cillian and wasn’t going to lie to Vail, not even under the guise of it being for his own good. “And he’s staying overnight. He has a bruised lung, and the severity of it will decide how long he stays in here. They won’t know until some time passes how bad it will be.”
Concern twisted his soft face, and he worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “Can’t they do the tests now? Shouldn’t they?”
“They know what they’re doing.” I drew him into a hug, ignoring the strange stares we were getting, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You know Fallon. We need to roll him up in bubble wrap.”
He laughed into my shirt and gripped the material in his fists. “He’ll turn me gray and I’ll look my age.”
“It’s impossible for ye to look yer age,” Rowen said from our left, a smile settled on his mouth.
Vail nodded, and I stepped back.
“I can take you in to see him,” I whispered, and the grateful smile he gave me made my belly warm. Vail was an open book and wore his emotions like bold tattoos. It was hard to comprehend how he’d fallen forallof us—we weren’t good men, not even Fallon.
“I would like that,” Vail whispered.
I glanced over his shoulder and held in a groan when I saw Nick walk in through the doors. After he’d passed Fallon off to Dr. Bautista, I’d assumed he was going home. Clearly I was wrong. Instead he held a cardboard cup in his hand, steam swirling out from the hole in the lid. He grinned at me and came to a stop at my side. He reminded me a lot of his mother, my auntie Gloria, in that he was too kind and had a penchant for helping people, even with under-the-table work. He looked like her, too, with a similar pointed nose, wide chin, short natural curls, and a big grin. We had the same forehead and face shape, though, and he was as tall as me.
“Where did you get coffee at this time of night?” I grumbled.
“Thought you’d need it.” He shoved the cup in my direction, and I took it, nodding in thanks.
He turned to stare at Vail, head cocked curiously. “And you are... one of the other guys who spent time in Auntie Lisa’s bed-and-breakfast, I assume?”
“Oh. Um, yes.” Vail blinked at him. “I’m Dr. Vail Mifflin, with a doctorate in history, not—” He waved around himself.
Nick laughed. “I’m Dr. Nick Berry, Aspen’s cousin.”
“Oh!” Vail perked up and reached out to grab Nick’s hand in an exuberant handshake. “Your auntie Lisa mentioned you, she’s extremely proud of you being a medical doctor. She thought I was, too, before I corrected her.” His eyes got that faraway look I knew well by now—he was about to go on a tangent. “I liked the cliffs near Auntie’s house. They’re very steep and cold. I lost Aspen’s plane in the ocean near there. It crashed.”
Nick’s grin widened. “Aspen’s lost a lot of planes there. I wouldn’t worry.”
