Page 63 of Broken Bonds

“Okay,” Mom said instead, “we shouldn’t be long.”

“Ryan, will you please let me know what’s going on?” Ace’s nerves were clear in his husky voice as he ran his eyes over me, worry and fear clouding his blue eyes.

“I’ll think about it.” I scowled at my brother. He could be such aprick.

“Ryan, please, I need to know,” Ace begged.

“Why do you need to know?” he shot back, stopping mid-step to turn and look at Ace. My legsbarelymissed the wall. I flinched.

“Because I care about her and I was with her the entire time, making sure she survived, carrying her when she could no longer walk.” Anger darkened Ace’s tone. “We’re friends, Ryan. I care about my friends.”

Friends.

Friends!

Was he fucking serious right now?

He told my brother that we were friends! Friends who kissed, friends who had almost slept together. Friends who got me off and begged me to come.

Who was he trying to convince?

“It better stay that way,” Ryan sneered. “Justfriends, Ace. Don’t get feelings for her, and don’t think about her like that. She’s not for you.”

Slapping Ryan’s chest, tears pricked in my eyes. “Stop,” I seethed, anger burning me up inside.

Ryan’s eyes dropped to my hurt expression, shock coloring his features for a moment. “Celine, he’s no good for you.”

I glared at him. “That’s not for you to decide, especially not now when my legs are on fire, and I can’t walk without crumbling to the ground. Can you please have your pissing match some other time when we aren’t in a doctor’s office for me? When I’m not in pain?” Ryan looked properly chastised, and he cast his gaze away from me shamefully.

A throat cleared from the distance, and amusement flickered in Dr. Alex’s aging brown eyes as all heads turned to the older man.

“Ah, hello, Miss Wilson. Still a raging spitfire, I see. It’s good to know that some things never change.”

chapter twenty-four

CELINE

I cringed at the smile twitching at Dr. Alex’s mouth. He was very conservative in his expectations of women—seen and not heard was more like it. Despite this, he was the best doctor I had been to, and he knew how severe my condition was. Finding a new doctor was not in my best interest.

“Hello, Dr. Alex. How are you?” My father shot me a disapproving glare that had me wincing and stepped forward to shake the amused doctor’s hand.

“I’m well. My wife and I flew out before the storm hit and just arrived back this morning. I understand you weren’t that lucky.” His gaze flickered to me in Ryan’s arms and then down to my legs, almost as if he could see beneath the skin to the damage I’d done.

“No,” my dad agreed. “Celine got stuck at our beach house, then had to evacuate during the storm. She walked about fifteen to twenty miles in two days.”

“Ah, this isn’t good,” Dr. Alex said, his lips flattened into a grim line. He turned on his heel, beckoning us to follow him. “Come into the room. There could be some torn nerves and muscles, so I need to take a look. Ryan, bring her in here, and then you all can wait outside.”

Speaking for the first time, I looked at my mother. “Mom?” She must have seen the uncertainty and fear in my eyes because she stepped forward with Ryan.

“I’ll come, too.” Dr. Alex looked like he was going to decline, but instead, he nodded his head and led us into the first room without a word of protest—thankfully.

Ryan gently deposited me on the cot and kissed the top of my head. “You are the strongest person I know, Cece,” he whispered in my ear before he pulled away and walked out of the room, closing the door with a soft click on his way out, leaving just me and Mom in the examination room with Dr. Alex.

“Celine, can you explain the pain to me and show me where it is?”

Pulling my loose pants legs up, I showed him my black and blue discolored legs. His eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything. My mother gasped loudly from beside me. “My baby, you didn’t tell me.” Mom’s voice was filled with pain. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. To see the fear I knew would be etched into her expression.

“There’s a constant, raging burn, and sometimes, I can’t move my legs at all without the pain whiting out my vision. The pain takes my breath away each time. Every time I try hold my own weight, I fall. I’ve been taking Tylenol every four hours for the last five days, and the pain hasn’t subsided. It’s unbearable, and I just can’t take it anymore,” I confess, tears sliding down my cheeks as I finally opened up about just how unbearable it all was.

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