Bloodline [h.s.]

thirty-two.

I nodded as he nervously placed his hand back in mine. This time, I moved faster to shorten the duration. His clenching jaw protruded the veins in his neck. As I dabbed along his knuckles, strangled groans from the sting vibrated his chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I repeated while I frantically disinfected the lacerations. It didn't help that the punches he threw today left his whole hand bruised and sensitive. "Okay, that part is done."

His eyelids fluttered open. The pain was so bad that it produced tears, evident on his damp eyelashes. Thinking the hard part was over, I picked up the tweezers to start removing the shards. The initial contact alone had him near passing out.

"Aiden, this is ridiculous. I have access to a doctor who can numb you and do this right. He isn't employed by my family. Please, let me call him. I can't keep hurting you." I pleaded, biting back my tears. "You can trust him. I have known him since before he was even a doctor. He won't tell my dad anything. I know that for sure."

"Fine, make the call." He muttered. "How do you know him?"

"We run in the same circles." I said, not giving any other details. I just needed him to agree to let me get help.

Before he could ask anymore questions, I stepped into the other room to call. He promised to show up within the hour. I helped Aiden get downstairs to the couch just in time for the doorbell.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Dean." I said, leading him inside.

"I'd do anything for you. You know that." He said, carrying hims bags of supplies with him. The comment pulled Aiden's attention.

"I'm Dr. Forbes, but call me Dean." He introduced himself.

"Jacob. Nice to meet you. I would shake your hand but..." he chuckled and held up his injured hand.

"How did this happen?"

"I'm clumsy." Aiden smirked, not bothering to make the lie believable.

Without asking anything further, Dean began examining the trauma covering his body. He started with Aiden's forehead. I hadn't realised how much pain he was in earlier until he didn't wince as Dean injected a numbing agent into his temple. The one time I experienced that I nearly cried. I didn't even want to imagine how bad the pain in his hand was to produce that reaction. Now, the only sound he made was one barely audible hiss as Dean removed the glass from the wound.

"How do you and Bridget know each other?" Aiden asked as Dean began stitching his hand.

"We dated for two years." He answered casually, keeping his focus on the wound. Aiden bit the inside of his cheek and glanced over Dean's shoulder at me.

Shit.

"So, you're not the private family physician she told me about?" He asked.

"No, definitely not," he chuckled as he tied the last stitch, "I'm a trauma surgeon. My schedule wouldn't allow for that."

Aiden stayed quiet as Dean finished up. Luckily, he didn't think anything was broken, but he said to call if he feels any shortness of breath or clamminess. He gave him some painkillers and antibiotics in case of an infection. As I walked him out, I exhaled in relief before returning to Aiden, thankful the worst of the day was over.

"Want to explain why you didn't tell me the doctor you convinced me to see is your ex?" He asked with a crease between his eyebrows.

"You needed help. If I told you, you would have never let me call him." I said honestly as I sat next to him.

Everything that happened today overwhelmed me to the point of extreme exhaustion weighting down on me. I didn't know if I was on the verge of crying or collapsing, but I did know that I didn't have the energy to fight about this.

"What's wrong?" He asked, coming closer. The mere question broke me.

"You can't expect me to just watch you hurt and not do anything." My voice cracked. Crying it is, then.

"What are you talking about?"

"You told me to watch from the car while Kai beat you half to death. Then, you ran off to go punch a fucking mirror and didn't let me call for help until you were almost in tears from how badly it hurt." I snapped as frustration and exhaustion coursed down my face.

The density of the air thickened with internal conflict. Ignoring how confusing this was, I let him pull me onto his lap with my knees on each side. I didn't care that we were technically broken up or that there were a million lies I was still furious about. I just needed him. His hands cupped my face as his thumbs wiped away the tears.

"I am so sorry for what you saw earlier. I want to promise it will never happen again, but it probably will." He said.

"It's not what I saw. It's you. You have to start accepting help, or you will get yourself killed. If you feel a panic attack starting, come to me. You can't just destroy things. When you're hurt like you were today, you go to a doctor. You have to take care of yourself. If something happened to you..." I sniffled as his hands intertwined around my back.

"I have had much worse injuries than today. I'm okay. Nothing is going to happen to me." He whispered as I nuzzled into his neck.

The warmth of his arms soothed the stampede of turmoil inside me. I welcomed his peppermint breath on my shoulder. It didn't matter that he was the pathology behind the ache of betrayal pulsing through my vessels. Aiden was my medicine as much as he was the disease.

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hope you enjoyed it!

what do think about how bridget is handling everything? should she have cut aiden off entirely?

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