Page 110 of Sweet Sin

“You’re up to something. Something that involves Scarlett Ramsey, but it has to wait, Eagle. Raven’s more important.”

And so is Savannah, but I doubt Eagle has a clue what she and I have been through during the last few days. He doesn’t check in the way Hawk does.

You’d think he’d learn after all the shit that went down all that time ago.

A doctor—Raven’s doctor—walks swiftly down the hallway and into Raven’s room, bypassing us.

“Let’s go,” I say, walking into the room. “He might have the results.”

“Raven,” the doctor says. “Are your parents here? I have some answers about the blood work.”

Raven yawns. “They left for the evening. But my brothers are here.” She gestures to us. “What is it, Doctor?”

“Your red count and hemoglobin look great, but…your white blood cell count is slightly elevated.”

“God.” I rub my forehead.

“Easy, Fal,” Hawk says. “Let’s see what Dr. Hayes has to say.”

“Now, it could be nothing,” Dr. Hayes says. “You could still have a virus. As you probably know, when you contract an infection, your immune system responds by making more white blood cells.”

“So you don’t know anything yet, then?” I ask.

Dr. Hayes turns to me. “Your sister has gained weight well, and her hair is coming in. From all standpoints, she looks healthy. She’s responded well to the bone marrow transplant. But she’s still recovering, and viruses will attack when a person is down. It’s likely that’s all it is, but with her history, we can’t be sure without more tests.”

“What more tests do we need?” Raven asks.

“The pathologist needs to look more closely at your white blood cells. If they’re normal, we can be assured this is just a viral infection. If they’re abnormal…”

He doesn’t finish. Why should he? We all know what he means.

Raven doesn’t smile.

Seeing her smile, seeing her feel good was such a wonder once she came home.

“How do you feel, Ray?” I ask.

“Same,” she says. “Sick, but not sick. I don’t expect any of you to understand.”

“I understand,” Dr. Hayes says, “and that’s a good sign. Once you’ve had cancer of any kind, you realize that run of the mill viruses aren’t that bad.”

“Have you had cancer, Doc?” Eagle asks.

I roll my eyes. “Christ, Eagle.”

“I haven’t, and I count myself lucky,” he says. “But as an oncologist, I’ve known more cancer patients than most. I’ve studied the disease relentlessly. I know what patients say.”

“How long until you get the other results?” I ask.

He looks at his watch. “Could be later tonight. Could be early tomorrow. I’ve asked them to rush it.”

“What do we do until then?”

“I’d like for Raven to stay here for the night, no matter what, so we can keep an eye on her.”

“I’ll be staying with her,” I say.

“Falcon…”

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