Page 93 of Red Card


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I nod but hang back, taking a spot in the chairs beside the floor-to-ceiling window that gives a full view of campus and the rugby pitch. It would be gorgeous in any other circumstances, the sun shining bright and high as fresh snow blankets the ground and buildings.

“I promise you, I’m okay. You don’t have to worry, Cillian, I can handle this,” Aisling says when he sits beside her, fitting his massive frame next to her. “I have to take care of myself.”

He huffs. “It’s hard to do that when you’re currently in a hospital bed, Ais. You could have been… You falling could have been very different.” He reaches out, grasping her chin and turning her head to the side so he can inspect the spot that’s bandaged.

“Yes, but it wasn’t. It’s not like I was careless and forgot. It was a malfunction.”

“I knew we should’ve gotten another one after the issues the other day, but I didn’t want to—”

“Cillian,” she murmurs, cutting him off. “I’mokay. I’m not going anywhere.”

In the panic to get here, I didn’t even stop to think… Their mom.

Oh God. Poor Cillian.

“I love you,” he whispers gruffly, emotion flickering in his dark eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Ais.”

“Me too. Thank you for coming. Both of you.” When she turns her attention to me, I give her a small smile. “Did you read the book yet?”

Of course Aisling would bring up the smuttiest book imaginable when she’s bedridden. My cheeks flood with heat, and I roll my lips together. “Uh… Yes, well I started it. It’s…”

“Spicy.” She giggles.

I nod.

A second later, a nurse walks through the door, pushing a small cart. “Hi, everyone. Can I ask you to step out for a few? I need to get Aisling’s vitals, and the doctor will be coming by shortly to do a physical exam.”

Cillian looks panicked. Aisling asks, “And that means then I can leave, right?”

The nurse’s eyebrows raise, and she tuts. “Now, you know that will all depend on what the doctor says. I wish I could bust you out of here, sweetheart, but we need to make sure that you’re okay. It’s hard to tell with a head injury. There are a few tests I’m sure he’ll want to run. And he’s going to want to monitor your sugar for a bit with the new monitor.”

Aisling groans.

I can tell it’s the very last thing Cillian wants to do, but he slides off the bed and walks to stand beside me. “Ais, I’ll be justout in the waiting room. Text me when you’re done and I’ll come right back, okay?”

“Stop worrying. Everything’s okay. Okay?”

When he doesn’t respond she pins a look on me. “Rory, you’re up.”

I thread my fingers through Cillian’s tense ones, and squeeze. “You got it.”

Once we’re back out in the waiting room, surprisingly empty for the middle of the day, Cillian sinks down into the chair, propping his elbows on his knees and dropping his head into his hands.

“She’s going to be okay,” I say quietly.

Silence hangs heavily in the air between us until he finally lifts his head, and his expression nearly steals the breath from my lungs. His jaw tense and his eyes flickering with a hundred different emotions. Guilt, sadness… pain. He’s hurting, and I don’t know how to make it any better.

“Talk to me. Please, let me hold some of the weight, Cillian.”

“When my…” His voice cracks, and I reach for him, placing my hand on his arm and sweeping my fingers soothingly across his skin. “When my mum died… no one would tell me anything until I got to the hospital. And today when I got the call about Ais, I just—I… I couldn’t stop thinking about that night. About how I could lose her just like I lost Mum. It felt like it was happening all over again, Rory.”

“Oh, Cillian,” I whisper, my voice shaking with emotion as I slide my arm around his shoulders and pull him against me. He buries his head in my chest, and that’s when I feel him trembling. Those big, broad shoulders that have carried so much weight, for so long, shaking as he begins to cry.

“She’s all I have left. I…” The words break on a quiet sob.

I place my lips on the top of his head, stroking my fingers over his hair as I hold him.

It’s the first time in my life that I’ve ever physically ached for someone. To want to take their pain away, even if it means making it my own.