I laughed a little, but quickly reached for my throat with my good hand.
Kane placed his hand on my arm. “No more talking, okay?”
I nodded to Kane and looked back to Damien and continued to stare at him.
He cracked under my gaze after a full minute.
“Stop staring at me, I feel like I’m being violated!”
Kane laughed at that then retook his seat at the head of my bed. “How did you know she was in this hospital?”
Damien sat on the end of my bed. “Dominic mentioned it during his phone call last night and I got the first flight out.”
Kane scratched the stubble on his chin. “I thought you were saving your money and staying for your Christmas bonus?”
Damien furrowed his eyebrows together. “My future sister-in-law is seriously injured and you expected me to stay put over three thousand miles away? Get the fuck outta here.”
I smiled and Kane snickered. “My bad, I should have known better.”
“Yeah,” Damien agreed. “You should have.”
I watched the pair of them talk. They teased each other, hit each other, hugged each other and just enjoyed being in each other’s company.
It was beautiful.
I closed my eyes and started to drift off, but when Kane spoke next, sleeping was out of the question.
“What are you going to do about Alannah?” Kane suddenly asked Damien.
My interest peaked.
I cracked my eyes open, but quickly closed them again when Damien glanced in my direction. “Inside voice, bro.”
“It’s fine, she’s sleeping,” Kane replied.
Damien scratched his neck and quietly he said, “I’m going to pray she doesn’t gut me when she sees me.”
Kane lightly chortled. “She’s not Bronagh, she won’t hurt you.”
“You say that now,” Damien grumbled, “but you don’t know how much she hates me.”
“No,” Kane chuckled. “I’m serious. She won’t hurt you. The girl is the polar opposite to the rest of them, she wouldn’t hurt a fly. She doesn’t even raise her voice that much... how she is Bronagh’s best friend still baffles me. They’re so different.”
Opposites attract, even in friends.
“Do you guys spend a lot of time with her?” Damien asked Kane since I was still pretending to be sleeping.
“Yeah, she’s part of the girl’s little clique. When she’s not working, or with her parents, she is hanging with us.” I could hear the smile in Kane’s voice as he spoke. “The girl is killer sweet, bro. She’s adorable.”
Damien’s swallow was audible.
“I’m nervous as hell to see her. What if she blows up at me?” he questioned.
“What if she is completely okay and greets you like a normal human being? That shit between you both happened years ago, she’s probably forgotten about it.”
Was Kane not in the room months ago when Alannah left the house when Damien was on a FaceTime call in her presence? That girl hasn’t forgotten a damn thing.
“Maybe,” Damien mumbled. “Coming back here has me all kinds of messed up. Not in a bad way, so you can stop frowning at me, I just mean it’s so surreal. It feels like I never left.”
“You’ll want to leave after a week in our house. It’s never empty, and the girls are so loud.”
Cheeky pig!
“Worse than just Bronagh and Branna?” Damien chuckled.
“Way worse. Keela and Aideen are like their hype girls, they make them even louder.”
Damien laughed. “I can’t believe the four of you are in steady relationships. I’m the only single one. How fucked up is that? You all used to be scared of the word ‘girlfriend’.”
Kane snorted. “I’m still scared of it, scared of her, but just of how much I love her. It’s terrifying to me that something could happen to her and she wouldn’t be here anymore. I almost lost her last night, bro. I’d cease to exist if I didn’t have her, and I’ve no doubt that feeling will triple when she has the baby.”
I heard a patting sound. “We’ll protect her, and the baby.”
“We have to, they’re both my life.”
“She’s a Slater, we take care of our own.”
I heard the pride in Kane’s voice when he said, “Yeah, I guess she is a Slater.”
“She is, and so are the other three. Bronagh, Branna, Keela and Aideen are it for you guys, I can tell just by the way you all talk about them.”
Kane sighed. “Ryder and Branna are struggling.”
Silence.
“Dominic mentioned he was worried about them,” Damien murmured.
“It’s bad, and I don’t think they’re going to come out of it still together.” He lowered his voice more. “Don’t say that to any of the girls, God only knows what they will do if they knew Ryder and Branna might break up for real.”
I inwardly rolled my eyes.
We weren’t stupid, we knew things with Ryder and Branna weren’t good. We were just more optimistic than the lads that they would work it out. I had faith in the pair of them. Everyone has their bad patches, and this was Ryder and Branna’s.
I opened my eyes and moved when I heard a voice outside the door of my room. It sounded similar to Damien, which meant it was Nico.
“That’s Nico,” I rasped.
Kane looked at me with surprised eyes before he switched his attention to Damien and jerked his head in the direction of the door. Without speaking a word, Damien leaped to his feet and shot over to the door and hid behind it.
Kane rubbed his hands together and looked to me. “Ten euros he cries.”
I snorted, but didn’t take the bet.
Kane and I looked to the door when Nico stepped into the room, pocketing his phone.
“Hey,” he smiled at me as he slapped hands with his brother. “I thought you’d be sleeping.”
“I’ll sleep later,” I whispered.
A shadow moved behind Nico, and with a hidden smile, I watched as Damien crept up behind his brother.
“Are you feeling better?” Nico asked me, his eyes filled with concern.
“Of course she is,” Damien responded. “She finally saw my face in person, and that makes everything better.”
Nico swung around so fast he almost tripped himself up.
“Damien!” he roared. “What the fuck?”
Like lightening Nico sprung forward, and dove onto Damien who was laughing as he opened his arms wide. Nico’s chest collided with Damien’s and his arms wrapped around his twin while his face dropped to Damien’s shoulder.
Damien was smiling as he clapped his hands against Nico’s back, but he soon lowered his head to Nico’s shoulder and they let their emotions out.
I let my emotions out too; I was in tears watching them.
“You’re both making Aideen cry, you assholes.”
Both Nico and Damien laughed as they separated and wiped their eyes discreetly. They only parted for a second though, because they quickly hugged again. They patted each other on the back a lot and called each other crude names.
“You fucking dick,” Nico stated and punched Damien in the shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home? I was not prepared, bro, not prepared at all. You just made me fucking cry!”
Damien laughed and wiped under both of his eyes. “What? You’re too cool to cry?”
“I don’t cry!” Nico growled, brushing the back of his right hand across his cheeks.
I grunted. “You cried when Kane was in hospital and we found out he was going to be okay.”
Kane perked up. “Aww, sweet little brother, you do care.”
“Fuck you, Kane!” Nico snapped then flicked his eyes to me. “Couldn’t have kept that to yourself, could you, princess?”
I grinned. “No, husband.”
Nico’s lip quirked.
“What does she mean by husband?” Damien questioned, his eyebrow raised.
“Yeah,” Kane chimed in, his brows drawn together. “What the fuck do
es she mean by husband?”
Nico chortled. “The day you collapsed I had to pretend to the security guard in the ER that Bronagh, Branna, Aideen and Alannah were all my wives. He said they needed to be family so I said they were. He believed me, too,” he said proudly.
Kane waited only a second before he burst into laughter. Damien and Nico quickly followed suit.
I rolled my eyes.
Brothers.
“Worst day ever,” I whispered.
That shut them up.
Kane leaned over to me and kissed my head. “I think the worst day ever occurred last night, babydoll.”
When I got hurt.
I blinked. “Do you think he knows I didn’t die?”
The brothers’ faces hardened. Any mention of Big Phil, or their old life, seemed to have that effect on them.
“Wait till I find that motherfucker,” Nico grumbled under his breath.
“Not here,” Kane muttered to his brother then focused on me. “Don’t think about him, he doesn’t deserve a second of your time. Think about our little one. It’s not long now until he is here.”
I didn’t think I would ever stop thinking about the man who almost killed my unborn child, an innocent student, as well as me.
I thought of Caleb then, and felt so grateful to him. Most teenage boys wouldn’t have risked getting hurt in order to help a teacher of theirs, but Caleb did. I met his parents earlier in the day and thanked them profusely for their son’s bravery. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, because like me, his throat was pretty torn up from coughing. The good news was he would be leaving the hospital soon, which comforted me; it meant he wasn’t harmed as badly as he could have been.
I smiled for Kane’s sake and said, “She.”
Kane grinned. “You aren’t going to let up on that, are you?”
“Nope, because she is a girl,” I whispered.
“You’re going to give my son a complex, calling him a girl all the time.”
I smiled wide and rested my head back against my pillow.
“Where is Bee?” Damien asked Nico as the three of them sat down.
Damien sat back down on the end of my bed, but was mindful that he didn’t touch my injured leg. You couldn’t miss it though even if you tried. The cast on it was bright blue, and there was a ramp of sorts along with pillows tucked under it to keep it elevated.
Nico jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “She was following me up. She wanted to park my car.”
“And you let her?” Damien gasped.
Nico laughed. “I taught her how to drive, she’s decent.”
The ‘for a girl’ he implied in that statement was silent.
“I want to freak her out,” Damien stated happily. “How will I do that?”
Nico stood up and shrugged out of his grey hoodie. “Put this on and sit with your back to the door. There are no extra seats so she will sit on your lap thinking you’re me.”
Oh, this was going to be so good.
Damien had a shit-eating grin on his face as he put Nico’s hoodie over his head. Nico moved over to the door and hid in the same spot Damien did only minutes before. Damien then sat in Nico’s seat and pulled up the hood as Kane fluffed up the blanket on the bed, making it look like there was less room to sit down than there really was.
We waited a few minutes, but when the door to my room opened, we all held our breath.
“Hey,” Bronagh whispered as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her without turning around.
“She’s awake,” Kane smiled. “No need to whisper.”
“Oh,” Bronagh frowned and walked over. “Have you slept much?”
I shook my head.
“How are you feelin’?” she asked as her eyes scanned the room for a seat. When she saw there was none, she did exactly what Nico said she would do. She touched Damien’s shoulder and she moved around him and sat on his lap. Damien’s arms went around her, snuggling against her.
“I’m much better,” I whispered, smiling.
Bronagh’s eyes brightened. “I’m so happy to hear that, after last nice that’s so good to hear. You’re on the mend.”
I nodded my head and just stared at her.
She was unknowingly resting against Damien’s chest. She glanced at Kane and myself and furrowed her eyes when she found us staring. She leaned her head back to speak to who she thought was Nico, but as soon as her eyes landed on Damien’s face, she instantly widened them.
“Damien!” she screamed and wrapped herself around him.
I threw my uninjured arm up in the air.
“How can she tell?” I rasped and tucked my burned forearm against my chest. “I want to know the difference between them, I don’t like not knowin’.”
Kane was laughing at me, and so was Nico who came out of the corner of the room. He lost his smile as he walked over and kicked his brother’s leg when Damien’s hand slipped very low on Bronagh’s back.
“Oh, give me a break,” Damien groaned. “I haven’t touched her in years!”
“I love you, but I’ll break all your fingers if you don’t let go of her.”
Damien removed his hands from Bronagh and held them up in the air. Snickering he said, “She’s the one who is all over me, bro.”
“Damn it, Bronagh,” Nico snapped, but he had a smile on his face as he said it.
“I’m not lettin’ go,” Bronagh cried. “He might run away again.”
Damien rolled his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere you big baby.”
“Speaking of a baby,” Kane grinned.
Nico looked to Kane and smiled before he looked to Damien. Damien looked to Nico and frowned. “Whose baby? Kane’s?”
Nico shook his head.
“Then whose?”
Nico nodded at Bronagh, and Damien moved his line of sight to the blubbering mess on his lap. For a second Damien stared down at her, then his eyes bugged out.
“Bronagh’s pregnant?!”
Nico joyfully laughed. “Yeah, bro.”
“Oh, my God!” Damien shouted at his brother in shock. “Dominic, shut the fuck up!”
Everyone burst into laughter. I almost did, but I quickly stopped myself before I slipped up. I really sucked at not speaking or making noise.
“You’re really pregnant?” Damien asked Bronagh, his smile almost touching his ears.
Bronagh nodded her head, her eyes shining with tears. “I’m really pregnant.”
“Congratulations!” He beamed and kissed her face then hugged her tightly before standing up with Bronagh still in his arms and crushing her into a hug with Nico. Nico laughed and hugged the both of them, happiness radiating from him.
“Is anyone else pregnant?” he questioned. “Tell me now because my heart can’t deal with all of this excitement.”
Bronagh laughed and hugged Damien tightly. “It’s just me and Aideen so far.”
“Holy. Fuck.”
He punched Nico then and said, “You aren’t shooting blanks after all.”
“Ha ha ha,” Nico said, but grinned like a fool.
“Why didn’t you tell me you cocksucker?” Damien asked Nico, a frown forming on his beautiful face.
Nico held up his hands. “She just told me last night. I was in the dark for awhile too, bro.”
We all looked at Bronagh when she nudged between Damien and Nico, and wrapped her arms back around Damien. “I missed you so much.”
He held her and kissed the crown of her head. “I missed you too, babe.”
I watched them with a huge smile on my face and said, “Where are the others? I want to see them surprised, too. It’s so much fun.”
Everyone laughed.
“I’ll call them and tell ‘em to come by,” Kane said and took out his phone.
Nico curiously asked, “What will you tell them?”
“That there is good news and I want all the family here before I tell them what it is. It’ll get them here.”
I grinned.
It’d get them here alright.
We spent the next thirty minutes talking, sharing old and new stories with Damien when Kane suddenly hushed up and jumped to his feet. He shot to the door and cracked it open before quickly closing it.
“They’re coming,” he rushed. “Dame, behind the door. Quickly.”
Damien ran for the door and slipped behind it just as the door opened and Alec stepped into the room. He paused when he saw Kane was right next to the door. He stared at him.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere,” Kane replied. “I heard you guys talking so I was just getting the door for you all.”
“Oh.” Alec’s features relaxed. “Thanks, bro. That’s nice of you.”
We breathed a sigh of relief when he entered the room followed by Ryder, Keela and Branna. I smiled when I saw her. She took time off work just so she could go back and forth between the hospital to help Kane and me with whatever we needed over the next few days.
She was a sweetheart, but looked a shell of her former self as she stood next to Ryder.
“What’s the news?” she asked. “You said it was good news on the phone to Alec.”
“It is good news,” Kane began, a slow smile stretching across his face. “But it’s not something I can show or tell you.”
Ryder raised a brow. “Who can then?”
I chuckled as Damien rounded on Keela’s right and came up next to Kane, patting his shoulder.
“I’ll take it from here, bro.”
I smiled wide as realisation washed over Branna, Ryder, Keela and Alec. Branna let her phone and bag drop to the floor as she shot forward.
“Damien!” She cried and jumped into his open arms.
He laughed as he caught her in mid-air and locked his arms tightly around her. “Mama bear, I’ve missed you.”
Branna burst into tears as Damien’s brothers and Keela stared at him with wide eyes. Ryder stepped forward and, without hesitation, he grabbed hold of Damien. This resulted in a Slater brother sandwich with a Branna filling.
I momentarily wondered if that was the closest contact both Ryder and Branna had with one another since their problems started. I shook my head clear of that worry and looked to Alec and Keela. Keela was in tears as she hugged a close-to-crying Alec.
“You little bastard,” he sniffled. “I’m going to cry.”