No. She wasn’t sure of that at all.
“How qualified is he to do this?” she asked Jared in a low voice, eyeing North consideringly.
“I have some experience with stabbing people with needles,” North replied dryly.
“Not helping,” Jared told him. “He knows what he’s doing. Is that what you’re worried about? The needle?”
The needle.
North with a needle.
Stabbing her.
“Because you already have the line in your arm. He’s just hooking it up,” Jared reassured her.
She stared down at her arm. She couldn’t see anything because of the bandage, but it didn’t make her feel much better.
She’d been tempted to rip the bandage off in the shower, but hadn’t wanted to hurt herself.
“My mother used to inject herself with drugs. Sometimes, she’d stick the needles in me after. I was like a fucking pin cushion to her.”
“What?” Jared whispered. “She injected you with drugs?”
“No, she wouldn’t waste her drugs. She’d do it after. I still don’t like needles. I don’t want to see it in my arm.”
Suddenly, Jared moved so he was sitting on the bed. He lifted her onto his lap, holding her tight.
It should have made her panic. The feeling of not being able to get away.
Instead, she felt her unease melt slightly.
“We would never inject you with something against your will,” Jared told her.
She shot a look at North. “We?”
“Now that I know what happened to you, I won’t do that against your will again. And I would kill anyone who did,” North vowed.
Okay.
That was more than she’d expected from him.
Far, far more.
“But you need this,” Jared told her. “This is about your health.”
“We’re not forcing her,” North said.
She blinked at him in surprise. She was shocked he cared that much.
Or, at all.
“No, we won’t force you. But you need to start drinking more electrolyte drinks.” Jared reached for his phone.
Yuck.
She didn’t like those sorts of drinks either.
Was she being silly? Yeah, probably. The needle was already in and she didn’t have to look.
