Oh. My. God.
The security guard blinked at Nico, then looked at me and the other girls before looking back at Nico. I was convinced he was about to call bullshit on Nico’s lie until he opened his mouth and said, “You lucky bastard.”
Wait, what?
Nico nodded his ever-expanding head and sighed. “I know, it’s damn hard to choose which one of them to sleep with at night, but we devised a schedule to keep things fair. I don’t want them fighting with each other just to get my attention, you know? I mean, I can barely keep up with them. Sex with each of them daily is a lot of work, but someone has got to do it, you know?”
I felt my eye twitch as I watched Nico effortlessly lie to the security guard who was gazing at him and lapping up his every word like he was talking to Jesus Christ in the flesh.
“Fuckin’ hell,” the security guard breathed.
I looked at the girls and found all three of them shaking their heads at Nico then rolling their eyes at the more than gullible security guard.
“Yeah,” Nico breathed. “Can you let us by to go see my brother? I can’t leave them out here alone. Getting backlash from one woman is torture, but four of them? You’ll be sentencing me to death, bro. Death.”
Oh, a Slater was going to die today and my money was on it not being Kane.
“Man, of course,” the security guard said and reached out and patted Nico on the shoulder like he was ‘the man.’ “Go right on in. Your two other brothers are down the hall and in the last waitin’ room on the right.”
Nico patted the security guard on the shoulder. “Thank you, bro. Thank you.”
Oh, for God’s sake.
I grunted as I took Nico’s extended hand, and I wanted to smile when he hissed as Bronagh took hold of his other hand.
“It’ll be okay, husband,” she growled. “We’ll take it easy on you today.”
“Yeah,” I chimed in as the security guard swiped his keycard and opened the doors for us. “We’ll take really good care of you, baby.”
“Lucky son of a bitch,” the security guard said from behind us.
We walked in sync then when the doors behind us closed, each of us girls landed a punch or a slap to different parts of Nico’s body.
“Ow, ow, fucking ow!” he hissed and jumped away from us.
He turned to face us and walked backwards with his hands raised in front of his chest. “I couldn’t think of anything else to say to get us back here.”
Alannah narrowed her eyes at Nico. “You couldn’t think of somethin’ better than sayin’ the four of us were your wives?”
Nico gnawed on his lower lip. “No.”
Liar.
Bronagh all but hissed at Nico. He refused to look at her, which was the smartest thing he had done in the past five minutes.
“It got us back here, didn’t it? Let’s just find my brothers and find out what’s happening with Kane,” Nico sighed and turned around. “Which room did that security guard say Ryder and Alec were in?”
“Last one on the right,” I murmured.
We all picked up our speed until we reached the waiting room door. Nico walked straight into the room and so did the other girls who were hot on his heels. I hung back for a few seconds, and I had no idea why. The only thing I could think of was that I was afraid.
I was so damn afraid, and that fear worried me.
I wasn’t sure what it meant. I mean, did I care for Kane if I was this concerned about him? Did I like him? Or did I just not want him to be dead for the sake of everyone else? I went with the latter because it was the only choice that didn’t cause my mind to explode with even more stupid questions.
I jumped when Bronagh’s head popped out of the doorway. “Hey, are you okay?”
I blinked. “I’m fine.”
She reached out and took me by the hand. “Come in, then.”
I let Bronagh lead me into the waiting room, and when all eyes fell on me, I looked down at my feet as I waited to hear an update on Kane. Bronagh placed her hand on my back and said, “No news on him yet.”
That pissed me off. I—I mean we—needed an update on Kane.
I balled my hands into fists. “Give me one minute,” I growled.
I turned and pulled the door open, stepping back out into the hallway, and looked up and down. I spotted a nurse reading a clipboard as she walked in the direction of the doors that led back out to the A&E reception.
“Excuse me!” I shouted and briskly walked down the hallway towards the nurse when she stopped and looked over her shoulder.
“Can I help you?” she asked when I stopped in front of her.
“Yes, please,” I replied. “I’m with the family of Kane Slater, and we have received no information on his current status. He arrived here around twenty-five minutes ago, and his brothers in the waitin’ room down the hall behind me are getting very impatient. Each of them are over six-foot-tall and combined, they probably weigh the same as a full-grown bull. Please come and give them an update before they... get upset.”
The nurse swallowed, but nodded her head at me.
“Thank you,” I breathed, relieved she believed the brothers would be dangerous.
I mean, they could easily go crazy, but I knew they wouldn’t. My white lie would get us the update we needed though so I didn’t care what was running through the nurse’s mind.
I re-entered the waiting room and again all eyes fell on me, but when their eyes switched to the nurse behind me everyone stood up. Everyone.
“You,” Keela growled to the nurse.
I raised my eyebrow.
Did something happen that I didn’t know about?
“Oh, damn,” the nurse whispered.
“I told you we wanted a different nurse!” Keela snarled.
The nurse shrugged her shoulders. “We’re short on staff today, it’s me or nobody.”
“You might as well be nobody, you evil cow!” Keela bellowed.
Oh, hell.
Keela. Was. Pissed.
I moved over to my friend. “What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice low.
“That bitch refused to give me any information on Kane. She made the security man outside keep me in reception from the moment they wheeled him through the double doors. If Alec and Ryder hadn’t showed up, I would have still been kept out there.”
“It’s protocol!” the nurse snapped. “I told you that. It’s the hospital’s rules, not mine.”
“I’ll show you fuckin’ protocol,” Keela snarled.
I remained in front of Keela. “Calm it,” I grunted then lowered my voice to a whisper, “just until we get the update on Kane from her.”
Keela instantly calmed herself, but I could see she wasn’t happy about it.
I nodded and turned back to the nurse. “So,” I began, “how is he?”
I held my breath after the question left my lips.
The nurse flipped up a few pages on her clipboard and read a few lines then looked around the room. “Mr. Slater is stable. We have him on oxygen, an IV drip for fluids, and we’re running his blood now to see what could have been the cause of him collapsing.”
I blinked and exhaled a slow breath as I let what the nurse said sink in.
Kane was stable. He was alive!
Thank God.
“Why couldn’t you just tell me that?” Keela suddenly screamed at the nurse. Alec had to jump forward and wrap his arms around her body to keep her from attacking the nurse. “Why couldn’t you just say he was alive? How fuckin’ dare you keep that information from me! You made me think he was dead! You made me tell his brothers that he might be dead. How fuckin’ dare you!”
The nurse was on the verge of tears and I didn’t know if it was because Keela was screaming at her, or because she felt bad for keeping precious information away from the family of a patient. I didn’t care though—I wanted the bitch to cry. She worried us sick until we got here and the brothers could prove they were a blood relation.
“I-I’
m sorry,” the nurse stammered.
Keela tried to get at her with her extended arms. “You’re sorry?” she bellowed. “You fuckin’ will be!”
The nurse took a wise step backward. “Ma’am, you’ll have to calm down or I’ll call—”
“Don’t,” I cut the nurse off with a growl. “Don’t threaten to call security and put her out of this hospital when our family is lyin’ on a bed somewhere in this buildin'. I’ll put you in a bed next to him if you do.”
“Shit,” Nico said and quickly moved across the room and stood in front of me. He gently pressed his hands on my shoulders, and nudged me backwards a few steps. He glanced over his shoulder at the nurse. “You better leave; your presence is just further upsetting my girls.”
The nurse mumbled something then scurried out of the room, closing the door tightly behind her.
“You should have let me hit her!” Keela snapped at Alec when she turned in his arms. Alec said nothing, just wrapped his arms tightly around her body and held onto her until she calmed down enough to hug him back.
We were all quiet for a moment until I said, “He is okay.”
Nico put his arms around me as I burst into tears. Bronagh joined us, and Nico took an arm away from me and wrapped it around her, pulling us together. I put an arm around Nico’s waist and then Bronagh’s as my tears flowed.
I could hear the other girls cry with relief, and I could hear a lot of patting going on. I opened my eyes and looked up as Ryder leaned in and pressed his head against the side of Nico’s head and patted him roughly on the shoulder. I cried harder when I saw tears on Nico’s cheeks.
I had never seen him cry before.
Ever.
I stepped back so he and Bronagh could comfort one another. I knew he needed her at that moment and I was glad they had each other to make this easier. The hard part was only beginning and we would all need one another to get through it. We knew Kane was okay, but we didn’t know what happened to him, or why.
I sat down on one of the many plastic chairs in the waiting room and bent forward. I placed my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. I closed my eyes and focused on breathing. I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. I wasn’t sure if it was from the immense relief of finding out Kane was okay or if it was because of something else.
“Aideen?”
I looked up when Keela called my name.
“Yeah?” I asked.
Keela sat down next to me and put her hand on my back. “You don’t look so good.”
I snorted and sat upright. “I feel like I’m about to puke. I think it’s me nerves. I was just... so afraid.”
Keela leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder. “I know. Me too. When he fell... and the noise of him hittin’ the ground. I didn’t know what to do.”
I hushed her. “You got him here, that’s all that matters.”
Keela nodded her head and sniffled.
I frowned and turned so I could put my arms around her.
Out of all of us, she really didn’t need the stress of Kane being ill hanging over her. She had enough going on inside her mind without adding this to the list. I hugged Keela and whispered soothing things to her.
Alec took over for me after a while, so I got up, hugged everyone else in the room, and then sat down in a chair closest to the door of the waiting room. A few hours passed by and I found myself looking out the window of the waiting room, watching the moon as it inched its way across the night sky.
I blinked my eyes and looked at the door when it opened and in stepped the nurse who nearly became Keela’s punching bag only hours before. I was the only girl awake right now. Bronagh was sleeping on Nico, Keela on Alec, and Alannah and Branna both had their heads on Ryder’s thighs as they snoozed. The lads were watching some American football match with the television on mute in the room, but when the door opened, they all turned their heads towards the door.
The nurse nervously swallowed. “My shift just ended, and I’m supposed to tell you that visiting times are over, but I know you haven’t seen your loved one yet. So I pulled a few favours with the night staff, and they’re letting some of you stay with Mr. Slater in his room, and the rest of you can stay in here then switch in a few hours. It’s my way of saying sorry. I-I’m sorry I upset your friend so much, I was only doing my job.”
I reached out and gripped the nurse’s hand. “Thank you so much and I’m sorry. I speak for Keela, too. We acted wrongly. We were just...”
“Scared?” the nurse finished my sentence and gave me a small smile.
I nodded my head in answer to her question.
“I understand,” she said then handed me a sheet of paper. “This has the name of the ward Mr. Slater is on and the number of the room he is in. You will all have to leave this room by morning, as other loved ones of patients in the A&E will need it. The waiting room in the ward he is on is like this so it will accommodate you all if needed.”
“Thank you,” I said and cleared my throat. “We really appreciate this.”
The nurse inclined her head, gave a tight-lipped smile to everyone then left the room. Things were quiet until Alec said, “We should let Keela threaten people more often if it gets us results like this.”
I snorted and shook my head at him then read the sheet of paper the nurse gave me.
“He is on St. Peter’s Ward in room nine,” I said and looked at the brothers, then to the girls. “You all go up to see him. The four of them will stay asleep until we switch.”
Ryder blinked at me. “Are you sure?”
Was I sure?
“Of course,” I said, biting my lip. “You’re his brothers.”
The brothers said nothing for a moment, but nodded their heads in agreement with me and carefully moved the girls off their bodies so they could stand up. Nico had a bit of trouble untangling Bronagh from his body so Alec had to help. Watching them made me laugh. I placed my hand over my mouth and shook with silent laughter until he was free from his sleeping beauty’s grip.
He kissed her head, took off his jumper, and laid it over her to keep her warm. He walked over to me then and playfully kicked my leg when he saw I was smiling. “She has the grip of an anaconda; don’t judge her by her size. She may be small, but trust me when I say she is strong. Very strong.”
“I’ve no doubt, husband.” I winked.
Nico snickered then laughed a little when Ryder and Alec asked what I meant by calling him husband. I grinned, too.
Good luck to you on explaining that one, buddy.
“I’ll explain along the way, come on,” Nico said grinning as he took the sheet of paper the nurse gave me.
Ryder winked as he passed me by and Alec fist bumped me. They gently clicked the door shut behind them as they left and when they did, a veil of silence coated the room. I could hear the girls breathing, and every few seconds Bronagh would snore a little, but other than that, it was silent.
I leaned my head back against the wall of the waiting room and sighed. I folded my arms across my chest, and tucked my legs under my behind then closed my eyes and relaxed as much as I could. I was uncomfortable, but that wasn’t what had me uneasy. Kane did that just by being here in the hospital; it wasn’t so bad because he was alive and stable. He wasn’t okay because he was in the hospital, but he was alive and that was the main thing.
I would take alive and ill over dead and buried any day.
“Aideen?”
I groaned low in my throat and wrapped my arms tightly around myself, trying to hold onto sleep for a little while longer.
“Aideen? Hey, wake up.”
I felt a nudge on my legs and it caused me to wake with a jolt. I scrunched up my face then slowly blinked my eyes open. I pulled my head back a little when I found a huge clump of tin foil shoved in my face.
“It’s a breakfast roll, eat it. You need food.”
I blinked at the tin foil then looked up at the person holding it. I stared at Keela for a moment then took the tin
foil covered roll from her extended hand. I sat upright and groaned when my back clicked. I carefully stood up and stretched out my body, making noises close to that of a baby dinosaur.
“Fuckin’ shite chairs,” I grumbled and placed my free hand on my now aching back.
My legs, back, arms, and my neck were stiff and sore. My damn neck felt like a five-hundred pound wrestler had leaned on it all night long.
“You know what?” I mumbled to Keela who sat down next to a still sleeping Bronagh, Branna, and Alannah.
“What?” Keela asked as she opened her own roll.
I sat back down on the God forsaken chair I slept in all night and rolled my head on my shoulders. “I wonder if people ever end up in A&E from these chairs. Imagine that, comin’ to see someone in hospital but throwin’ your back out in the waitin’ room.”
Keela shook with silent laughter.
I opened the breakfast roll and when the smell travelled up my nostrils I groaned out loud. It smelled delicious. My stomach agreed because it grumbled as if to say, ‘feed me.’
The roll was a full Irish breakfast roll that consisted of eggs, black and white pudding, sausages, rashers, hash browns and some ketchup. My mouth watered as I brought it to my lips and sunk my teeth into the yumminess.
I again groaned out loud and closed my eyes as I chewed and swallowed down my first bite. I repeated this action until my roll was completely gone and my belly was full and satisfied.
“Damn, Aideen,” Branna’s voice murmured.
I blinked my eyes open and looked across the room. All the girls were awake now, and each of them was staring at me. I flushed with embarrassment.
“What?” I muttered.
Alannah grinned. “It sounded like you were havin’ an orgasm.”
Oh, my God.
“Lana!” I cried.
All the girls burst into laughter.
“It did,” Keela agreed still laughing, “but it looked like somethin’ out of Bear Grylls. You destroyed that roll in less than three minutes flat, babe.”
I frowned. “I was hungry.”
The girls laughed again and each took their own breakfast roll from Keela who took them out of a plastic bag on an empty chair beside her.