“Okay.”
I slipped the robe off her shoulders to find her naked underneath. I pushed my sweats off too before pulling her with me into the bed. My instincts told me we needed to be skin-on-skin. I purred, and Trinity burrowed down beneath the blankets with me.
“I want to say one more time.” Trinity looked up at me. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I broke your heart, and I’m sorry I made you question howmuch we want you. And I’m so fucking happy that you’re here with me.”
She didn’t say anything. Just slid her arm around my ribs and moved one leg over mine, tangling us together. For the first time since she walked out the door, the iron bands of fear around my chest loosened, and I felt like everything would be okay.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
_____________
TRINITY
Iwoke slowly but clearly. My body still ached from the scene with Aiden, but it was better. I was curled on my side, and there was a hand on my ribs.
Slowly, I turned over. Brooks was still asleep across the bed. His arm was stretched out to touch my skin like he couldn’t bear to have me so far away.
The space between us ached too. We would be okay. I knew that. But bruises still had to heal, and this would be tender for a while.
I set my hand on top of his where it rested on my ribs. He stirred, opening his eyes slowly. Stretching further, he managed to pull me closer. “Morning, baby.”
“Morning.”
Last night we’d done exactly what he said. We stayed in bed while he held me, watched mindless TV, and I let myself rest. Was I behind on work? Yes.
Was it what I needed after everything? Also yes.
But today was back to reality. I needed to go to work and catch up on things. I had a couple of deadlines tomorrow.
Sitting up, I grabbed Brooks’s hand and pulled him with me. “Come with me.”
He grabbed his sweats off the floor and wrapped me back in my robe before he let me take his hand again. I brought him to my room and sat him down on the window seat. “Stay.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Grabbing my med bag from my purse—still where I’d tossed it yesterday—I went back and sat next to him. Brooks swallowed. I felt his hesitation, and that was fine, but the only way we were going to get through this together was to address it. He said he wanted to learn. Here was his chance.
“Some people who have diabetes need to take insulin with every meal. Some of them don’t. It depends on the type you have and how controlled the condition is. I only take it once a day, usually in the morning. This much.” I took the insulin pen and twisted it to the correct dose, the clicking loud in the silence.
“I usually check my blood sugar in the morning too, though I admit I’m not as good about that. I’ve been in the same range of blood sugars for so long, it rarely changes now. I’m lucky. Here.” I handed him a fresh lancet and the little mechanism that pricked my finger. “I change the needle out like this.”
I showed him. You were supposed to change out the lancets afterevery poke. I didn’t always, if I had to poke more than once a day, and I kept my supplies safe and dry, but I changed them more often than not.
“This is the glucose monitor.” It was a small black rectangle with a slot and a screen. I pushed in a testing strip and waited for it to tell me it was ready. “Once it shows me that, I prick my finger, and I rotate through them so they don’t get sore.”
My wince was small. Some days hurt more than others for pokes and injections. Just the way it was. “Swipe away the first drop of blood in case there was anything on the skin that could contaminate it, then you put the strip directly into the drop.”
Brooks watched every step carefully. He didn’t need to tell me he was listening, he was drinking in every word with intensity.
The glucose monitor counted down from five and beeped. Better. “It’s still a little higher than normal, but it’s a lot closer. I didn’t get to the gym yesterday, but I will today after work. And this will help.” I handed him the insulin pen. “Want to try?”
He took it gently. “All right.”
I slid the sleeve of my robe off my shoulder and offered him my upper arm. “Gently push the needle in until the plastic bit is up against my skin.” He did, and I hissed out a breath.
“You okay?”
“Some days it hurts, some days it doesn’t. It’s nothing you did. Now press the button and hold it until it stops.”
