Page 42 of Through the Water

He would have had the dark-haired beauty eating out of the palm of his hand, allowing me enough time to escape. And the woman was beautiful—well, what I could see of her. The baggy dress she wore fell to her ankles and was just shapeless enough to keep her body type a mystery. Inexplicably, there were also what appeared to be sewn-in shoulder pads, something I hadn’t seen in women’s clothes since I was a kid.

I imagined if I grinned and used the right tone, I could still sweet talk my way out of this, even without my wingman. “Look, as much as I’d love—”

“Oh no, you’re not getting out of this.” She smirked and raised her voice. “I went to the bathroom and came out to find that my beloved sister had fainted. I’d say you have some explaining to do.”

Alright, I was good, but she was better.

“Is there a problem?”

I flinched again, turning to find a very tiny, yet very fierce-looking woman glaring up at me.

“Not at all,” the dark-haired woman interjected. “Mr… I’m sorry, I don’t think I caught your name.”

“It’s Killian,” I bit out with a tight smile. “Just Killian.”

“You see, Killian here was just helping me get my sister back into the room. She seems to have fainted on us—probably low blood sugar or something like that. Would you mind helping us, Tsega?”

The pint-sized aide agreed and, after firing a million questions in my direction, wheeled the woman back inside. The door closed with a soft click, leaving me alone in the hall with the conniving sister.

I inclined my head toward my room, clicking my tongue against my teeth. “Well, it looks like everything is settled here. So, I’m just going to—”

“Did they make you do the training? Like they do with the families?” She blurted out suddenly, running a hand through her dark hair.

“Uh, excuse me?”

“The seizure training—did you have to watch the video?” She drew closer. “If not, you need to get on that. Today! Yes, do it today.”

Once she stopped tossing fragmented sentences my way, I asked the utterly logical question, “And why exactly would I need to do that?”

“So, you can sit with her—my sister, I mean. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get back, and—I’m Morgan, by the way.” She thrust her hand toward me with a lopsided grin.

“And there aren’t nurses who can do this?” I asked before reluctantly taking it.

Morgan’s expression didn’t waver. “She likes you.”

“What gave it away?” I chuckled. “The fact that she won’t even look at me—or wait, it was the intense glaring, wasn’t it?”

“She’s a little shy,” Morgan said with a shrug. “Do you know it took her a year to work up the courage just to wave and say hello to me?”

I raised a brow. “But she’s your sister…”

Morgan twisted the diamond ring on her finger before bobbing her head in a nod. “Um, right. So, you can imagine how hard it is for her to talk to strangers. But if you took the class, you could get to know her. Then you wouldn’t be a stranger anymore.”

“And what’s in it for you?” I asked, waiting for the catch.

“Nothing.” She swallowed. “I just assumed with the way you were banging on the door, you must have had something awfully important to say. Maybe something you’d like to say to discuss without a bunch of nurses around.”

I released my crutch just long enough to scratch my jaw and consider her proposal. Anything more than an apology was liable to draw the wrong kind of attention.

In and out.

Decision made, I squared my shoulders and moved toward the girl’s room, ignoring the stinging pain in my knee with every step. “You know, if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll just go talk to her now. Let everyone get back to their day.”

Her mouth settled in a hard line. “But—”

I pushed the handle down and let the door swing open. “Yeah, might as well get this out of the way. I’ve got a lot to do.”

At the sound of my voice, the girl hurriedly looked away, but not before I noted the bright spots of color on her cheeks. The mesh enclosure surrounding her bed snagged my attention, and I frowned, wondering why I hadn’t been given the option of a fort bed.

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