Eve: Drink Of Me (F&L Story #2)

Eve: Part 6

Part 6

Carey looked worse.  An ashy tinge marred his boyish good-looks and his blue eyes were dull with pain.  “Hey, bubba,” Eve said softly as she entered his room.  “How ya feeling?”

“Like crap,” he groaned.  “Dr. LeBoeuf upped my radiation today, and I’m feeling it.”

It was a very, very good thing she knew Clint had already left for the day, because Eve had a mind to shove an IV up his ass.  Increasing Carey’s treatments!  Insane.  Plain, retarded insanity.  How dare that man?

“But he said I should feel better by the morning.  It takes a while for the effects to wear off.  Where’ve you been today?  I thought you had the day off.”

Eve settled in a nearby chair.  “I did.  But I got caught up in the Mt. Everest of laundry piles.  You could have called me.  I would’ve been here earlier.”

Her baby brother looked away.  He began to blink furiously as melancholy overcame him.  Eve’s eyes began to sting.  “Hey,” she said.  “What’s wrong?”

“You…and Mom and Dad,” he whispered.  “You can’t keep this up.  Who knows how long I’ll be in here this time?  I feel horrible about you guys coming here everyday.”

She was by his side in a wink.  “No,” she hushed.  “Don’t say that.  We want to be here.  You’re my brother.  I love you.  And I won’t let you go through this all alone.”

“I don’t want all of you to suffer through this with me,” he said hotly and sniffed back another tear.  “I’m not a child.  I can spend a day by myself without my sister and parents hovering over me.”

Eve reared her head back.  Carey had never said anything remotely like this to her before.  Yeah, he tossed her out on her butt the previous night, but that was anger talking.  This was something else entirely.  Pity, self-loathing, shame.

“I know you’re not a child,” she returned with a hurt tone.  “And I know you feel bad about all this, but we’ve always done this together.  We are a family.  Families stick together no matter what.”

Carey grunted.  “Say that to the chick in 413.  She’s been here just as long as me, and she hasn’t seen her family in over two weeks.”

“All families are different,” Eve argued.  Who the hell was the chick in 413 that was polluting Carey’s mind with this crap?  Someone else needed an IV crammed up their backdoor.

“Sage has a different view on the subject.  She says her family doesn’t want to see her like this, all sick and hurting.  I’m beginning to agree with her.”  Carey gave his sister a small, pacifying smile.  The timbre of his voice when he said the chick’s name sparked something in Eve.

“Sage, huh?  That’s a pretty name.”

“Yeah, it is,” he sighed.  Eve bit back a grin.

But she couldn’t help teasing him.  “Ah ha!  You’ve gone sweet on this girl!  Carey’s got a girlfriend!”