Aim to Please

11 | Side Effects

"Do you know what kind of chem?"

She shook her head; his lips twisted in displeasure.

"Nothing else?" he hesitantly asked.

She looked at him to know by the wariness in his eyes that he meant sexual. She couldn't remember them doing anything, but she didn't hurt like if they had; she shook her head, and he sighed in relief. Obviously, he knew what they tended to do.

His grip tightened on her hand and MacCready lifted his eyes to her—they quivered with emotion. "Aurora, I'm so sorry about this happening to you. If I had never coerced you into helping me kill Winlock and Barnes, you wouldn't be hurt right now. This is all my fault."

Aurora smiled at him as she shook her head; she patted his hand on hers. She didn't know how to express what she wanted to say. She looked around in frustration; spotting the table, she made a writing motion to explain that she needed something to write on.

"Why didn't I think of that?" MacCready said as he got up, searched around on the table, then returned with a pencil, paper, and a book to write on. Against the protests of her body, Aurora forced her battered form up and leaned against the bed frame to sit up. Her head swam at the movement—whatever drug they used still affected her.

"Are you alright?" he asked when he sat back down on the bed with her requested items.

She nodded as she took the pencil, paper, and book—her head had stopped spinning now.

"I know that chem is still in you; don't try to pretend it's not. Tell me when you feel it."

She cut her eyes up at him and gestured at her throat to signify that she couldn't talk.

MacCready chuckled. "You can still make a sign."

Aurora turned her attention to the paper with a grin pulling at her lips—even though she couldn't speak right now, she would still find ways to pick at him. She wrote what she wanted to say about Henley trying to dishearten her by saying that MacCready wouldn't come, but he did, and that was all that mattered.

MacCready read what she wrote then looked at her in surprise; she smiled and gestured at the note to emphasize she meant what she said.

He grabbed her face. "Of course I'd come for you; I'll always come for you. You're the only true friend I have." He leaned up to hug her.

Aurora returned the hug, hating how much she loved him around her. She wished they could be more than friends.

***

She had woken up in MacCready's bedroom; he didn't want to leave her at the Memory Den where he couldn't keep an eye on her. Since his bedroom practically became her hospital room, Doctor Amari made house calls when she was still too sore to walk. She also received visitors: Daisy, Hancock, and Fahrenheit—since she never left his side—a Neighborhood Watch that wanted to check on her, and Magnolia from The Third Rail. K-L-E-O never visited her, not that Aurora expected her to.

MacCready helped her a lot—as her recovery drew on, he held onto her as she walked around to ease her tense muscles. When the exercise Dr. Amari had forced on her wore her out, MacCready would carry her back to his bed or a chair. Since it was too dangerous for her to go downstairs for food, he brought it up and ate with her.

His being so gentle and patient with her only increased her feelings for him. He didn't look at her the way she snuck peeks at him. Damn her fickle heart, thinking it could find love in this wasteland. This was why she didn't form connections, for they were easily broken and cause more pain than being shot.