Page 46 of The Voices are Back

Jesus, the man had always had a way about him. So captivating and intense.

I swallowed hard, and a blister of pain filled my features. One in which he saw.

“You’re in pain?” he asked.

I nodded, again painfully.

“I think someone inside might have some medication,” he said. “I should’ve gotten yours filled before we even came here.”

It’d been about an hour since we’d left the hospital. And two hours since they’d given me any pain medication.

At first, I’d been intending to tough it out.

But with the way my throat was starting to feel, I knew I wouldn’t be able to tough shit out.

“I have it,” Folsom called. “I filled it with the vet medication.”

I blinked.

“What?” Aodhan asked. “Why?”

“Because it’s the same shit, for a quarter of the price, and I dosed it so that it’s not fit for a horse, but a human. Don’t worry.” Folsom smirked.

I rolled my eyes, walked up to my friend, and threw my arms around her.

Folsom wasn’t a big hugger. She endured them for my sake, and her daughter’s sake, but ultimately, she hated being hugged.

But, in that moment when she returned my hug, I knew that she’d been worried.

“I’m okay,” I promised.

She sighed, swirling the loose hair at my neck, before letting me go.

“You’re not okay. You’re so far from being okay that it’s comical.” She paused. “But you’ll get there,” she agreed.

I would get there.

In fact, I had a feeling I’d get there faster if she kept giving me hugs like that.

She read the intent in my eyes, and shook her head. “Only one hug a year. You know that.”

I snorted.

She really did have that rule, at least for me.

I got a hug on my birthday, and my birthday only. At least one that was willing on her end.

What she usually got were a lot of nonsanctioned hugs and sneak attacks.

But she endured them for my sake.

“Come on.” Folsom caught my hand and dropped the pill bottle into it. “I have water in the kitchen. You can grab some while I get Aodhan’s help with a horse.”

But then she completely disappeared, leaving me to get my water on my own, and find the horse and Aodhan.

There was another woman there as well.

Matilda.

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