Chapter 159

My heart lurches at Neil’s words.

“Neil,” I say, as gentle as I can. He’s looking at me like I’m some kind of angel, eyes full of awe. “You aren’t dead.”

He seems confused at first, as if the words surprise him. Then he places a hand on his own chest, then his shoulder where the silver is. He’s likely under the influence of many painkillers, yet he still winces when he makes contact with the wound.

“I found you passed out on the floor,” I say.

He looks around the room. “I’m in the hospital.”

“Yes. Your brothers and I brought you here. You were barely breathing Neil.”

“I have to get out of here.” There’s a sudden shift in him. His eyes are wide with alarm, he’s trying to detach his IV.

“Neil, stop,” I start, pushing at his shoulders. I’m still in the bed with him, but I can’t seem to get the leverage I need to keep him still.

Fortunately, the other brothers are now awake as well. Archer comes around, replaces my hands on Neil’s shoulders, and physically pushes him into the mattress. Neil starts flailing as he struggles.

I hop off the bed before I can be flung off. I’m not offended. I know Neil doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s out of his mind with worry right now.

“This can’t be,” he groans. “Let me go, Archer! You have to stop!”

“Just stay put, Neil,” Beau snaps from the end of the bed. “If you walk out of here right now, they’ll have to take you to the morgue next.”

“I don’t care,” Neil says. “I can’t stay here.”

“Neil!” I shout. I can’t hold it in anymore. Watching him like this is too painful. I think of finding him on that bathroom floor, unconscious with such a faint heartbeat. I don’t have it in me to be quiet anymore. “If you dare get out of that hospital bed right now, I will never forgive you!”

I say the words with such sudden force that all the brothers turn to look at me, not just Neil. But Neil is who I am focused on. He’s the one who most needs to hear these words. He’s the one I need to say them to.

“Do you have any idea how scared I was?” I’m fighting back tears now, but they still stubbornly break from my eyes and slide down my cheeks. “I walked into the room expecting to talk to you, and I found you on the ground. I thought you were dead!”

“Chloe…” Neil says. He at least has the decency to look somewhat ashamed.

“I spoke to the doctor,” Archer adds. “The doctor will not try to remove the silver right now, but he is trying to contain the poison, to keep it away from your heart.”

Neil’s brow furrows.

“He’s telling the truth,” Steven says. “It’s all in your chart. And I’ve been keeping an eye on everything they’ve been giving you. As of now, they are trying to contain. Not remove.”

Neil looks at Steven, then at Archer, Beau, and finally at me.

“I’ll stay,” he says, and eases back into the bed.

Archer removes his hands from Neil’s shoulders and takes a few steps back.

Beau sighs. “Must you always be so same stubborn all the time. You’re trying to put us all in the hospital with you.”

Steven goes back to checking the chart.

Neil lowers his head, properly scolded now.

A few moments later, Archer excuses himself to go into the hallway. Beau flops down into the most comfortable seat in the room. Steven is back on his tablet.

Neil looks at me and holds out his hand. I close the distance and take his hand in mine. His eyes are a little sad.

“I’m sorry that I frightened you,” he says.

I shake my head a little. “You didn’t plan on collapsing like that.”

“Still. To find me like that.” He takes a breath. It’s so much stronger than it was before. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

The brothers don’t usually give out apologies. To hear one now seems a special kind of gift. I rub the back of my free hand under my eyes, eager to hide the tear tracks. I don’t know why I bother. It’s much too late to hide them now.

“Thank you,” I say, though I’m not totally sure why I say it. Maybe it’s nice just to have my hurt acknowledged.

I hold Neil’s hand until he falls asleep again. It doesn’t take long. He’s so physically exhausted, and the painkillers are likely helping. Who knows the last time he slept through the night?

Once sleeping, Neil releases his hold on my hand, and I release mine on his.

Beau, by now is on his cell phone, texting away. Steven is still on his tablet, too engrossed to notice much else.

I feel like I’m suffocating, seeing Neil like this, watching him fight to be free from life-saving medicine.

So brave. So selfless. So… infuriating.

I need out of this room, just to catch my breath.

No one’s paying much attention to me, so I duck out into the hallway.

“I really must insist,” the doctor spoke to Archer in a stern tone. “What you are insisting is only a temporary measure. The antidote will not work forever. Eventually, the poison will corrode his heart so much that it will fail, and no medicine in the world will be able to stop it.”

Archer crosses his arms. He stares down the doctor, though the doctor seems immune to Archer’s usual glare.

“Just do what we tell you to do, Doctor.”

“I’m telling you, he will die.”

“And I’m telling you to stay out of it.” Archer walks away from the doctor, so that the doctor is now the one glaring after Archer. But doctors are busy people. This one can only glare for a minute before he is called away to another patient.

Archer spots me on the way back to Neil’s room. I’m not all that hidden. He must have been very distracted not to notice me until now.

He walks up to me quietly. His presence is strong and steady and I lean into it.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

I’m not. Not by far. This whole day or night has been a whirlwind, and I’m simultaneously wired and exhausted.

Maybe if I was stronger, I would lie about how I feel. But it’s been a very long day, and all I want to do is crumple.

So I say, “I’m so worried, I feel sick.”

Archer won’t lie to me. He won’t tell me the lies that would make me feel better just because. So he doesn’t say anything. Without the lies, there is nothing to say that would help what’s happening here.

Instead, he lifts one arm and makes the perfect spot for me to slide up against him. Once, I’m steady beside him, he drops his arm around my waist and pulls me closer. It’s an oddly tender moment for Archer. We’ve had wild intimacy but… simply holding for the sake of comfort is something new.

That’s how I know he’s just as worried as I am.

He holds me close for a long while.

And we don’t say a single word.