He reaches out weakly, gripping my fingers.“I couldn’t allow Liam to get hurt again.He’s in this feud because we brought him into it.I acted quickly.I didn’t think, and I wasn’t meant to fall.It...it happened so fast.”
“It doesn’t matter.All that matters is that you are okay,” I assure him.I step closer to the bed, my voice lowering.“You really fucking scared me.”
“Same,” Luke whispers.“Don’t ever try to be the fucking hero again.I love Liam like a brother, but he isn’t you.”
Isaac’s eyes flutter closed.“I heard you yelling at me to wake up,” he mumbles.
I gulp.“Because you were out of it.I thought you were dead.”
“Sorry.Wasn’t thinking clearly.I...I was thinking about...”
“Get some rest,” I rasp, placing a hand on his shoulder.“You are going to need it.Everyone is waiting to see you.Summer said she hopes you get better soon.”
“She’s been a rock,” Luke admits, briefly glancing at me.I can see the concern, and I know it’s not over me.He’s worried about Summer.He doesn’t need to be.I’ll never hurt her.
“M-mum?S-she okay?”
“She’ll be here next.”
“N-need her.Tell.I’m sorry.”
Luke clenches his hand into a fist.“You don’t need to be sorry.We’ll get her.I promise.”
Isaac’s eyelids barely flutter open when he says, “Did you get a picture?”
God, he really is fucking okay.
Still...“No, I fucking didn’t.Please don’t make comments like that.”
He drifts off, and this time, I think he’ll be out for a while when a soft snore slips past his lips.Luke glances at me, his eyes watering.“New rule: no pictures when the injury is this serious.”
“It was serious when I got stabbed,” I growl.
Luke scoffs.“Barely.”
“I have a scar,” I argue.
He side-eyes me like the wound wasn’t serious.“Okay.”
A nurse walks in, interrupting the argument we were about to have, and smiles at the sight of us.“Oh, woah, triplets?”
Luke nods.“Yes.I’m the better looking one.”
I arch an eyebrow and roll my eyes.“Okay.”
She grabs Isaac’s papers from the folder at the end of the bed, watching as Luke moves out of her way.“You don’t need to leave.I’m just checking his vitals.”
“We need to let other family members come in.We got first dibs since we shared a womb,” Luke mutters, staring at our brother.“If he wakes up, tell him I won’t be far.”
“I will,” she promises him.
We are barely out of the room, when I stop, looking back at him in the bed.My heart begins to race once more.We’ve had near death experiences before, but never like this.Never where we have been trapped in limbo, not knowing whether or not a family member survived.Never where I’ve watched the colour drain from their face, or felt their blood seeping into my clothes or staining my skin.
“Hey.Hey!”Luke calls, slapping his hand on my shoulder.“He’s okay.He’s good, Reid.”
“Fuck, Luke.It can never get this close again.He cheated death today.It was...I need...”God, my flesh is burning.I suck in a sharp breath.I can finally breathe without this weight compressing on my chest, yet I still feel tightness in my chest.Fuck, I need—
My gaze meets Summer’s down the hall.She’s standing next to the nurse’s station watching us, her hands clinging together.I needher.I rush down the hallway toward her.She pushes off from the counter, worrying her bottom lip.
