Page 82 of Falling With You

“Hey, you two,” she said, smiling, looking so strong.

I saw the bruises around her neck again, the ones on her face, the cuts and abrasions on her skin. Her beautiful, beautiful skin, cut up and bruised with some stitches on her arm and on her chin.

That asshole had hurt her. I could barely breathe.

“I’m so sorry,” Dillon said and leaned forward to kiss her softly on the lips.

I raised a brow and looked at the kid, who shrugged.

“She’s my sister.”

“Okay.”

Dillon took a seat next to her and took her hand, just laying his head on the bed, his whole body shaking.

I took a few steps towards them both, meeting Sienna’s gaze, and then put my hand on the kid’s shoulders. “You’re okay. We’re all okay. She’s fine.”

“I can’t lose any of you guys, okay?” Dillon said, sounding far younger than he was.

Sienna moved to reach out and touch him, but then winced, and I shook my head. “She’s fine. She probably just needs some sleep. Why don’t you come back a bit later, okay? She’s fine.”

Dillon stood up then, wiped his tears, kissed her on the forehead, and then hugged me tight around the middle. I wasn’t expecting it, so I took a few steps back and kissed the top of his head. He was almost my height, but because Dillon was leaning slightly, I could do it.

“I want to go and feed all the cats. Well, I need your house key, but I’ll get it from Violet, okay? I’ll take care of everything.”

He waved and then jogged off, and I wondered how that had just happened.

“I forget that he’s a kid sometimes. Even at eighteen. He seems so much older.”

I looked at Sienna then and sank down into the chair Dillon had just vacated.

“I forget, too. And I missed out on so many of those years. All of them, really.”

“You’re not missing them now.”

I tasted salt on my tongue and realized I was crying, so I leaned forward and took her lips. Softly so I wouldn’t brush any of her bruises. The fact that it was hard to do broke me.

“Sienna.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just really tired of being in this hospital.”

“I never want to see you bruised again.”

“I have cats. I run into walls. I’m going to get bruised.”

“But not like this. I don’t want this to ever happen to you again. I don’t think I can stomach it.”

“I don’t want to stomach it either. I want to be okay. They arrested him.”

“I don’t want to talk about him.” I growled out the words, but she didn’t flinch. I told myself I had to calm down. Because she was already pale enough, and I didn’t need to see the fear on her face like I had at the hockey game.

“He had a traumatic brain injury, Aiden. So he had a lot of issues. Always had. And he sort of fixated on me, I guess. I don’t really know, and I figure we’ll hear more about it later. But after my attack in the alley, I think it sort of triggered something in him. Like he thought I was his and he hadn’t been able to protect me.”

I laughed, but there was nothing funny about what she’d said. “I thought the same thing. That it was my fault that you had been hurt. That I should have been there to protect you.”

“Yes. So it’s a normal, common thing. But if you already have a brain injury, sometimes, it can mess things up for you. And it messed him up. I don’t think I can blame him,” she said, her voice hard. “Iwantto blame him. I want to get angry that I’m in this hospital bed again and that my whole body hurts and that I’m afraid, but I can’t. Because you can’t really blame someone who can’t help or think for themselves.”

“You don’t have to blame, but I might blame a little bit. I’m pretty sure your brother or my brothers are going to want to blame a lot, too.”