Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“So all you could do was sit and watch him slowly die,” I whispered.
He laughed humorlessly. “That was the irony of it, actually. He had a feeding tube and IV, so he wasn’t going to starve to death. My parents insisted on physical therapy even though it caused him excruciating pain. When the therapists at the hospital refused to continue the treatment, my parents had Rabbit moved to our house in the Hamptons and hired every conceivable medical professional to take care of Rabbit twenty-four seven. He was sixteen when they began looking for clinical trials to enroll him in. It didn’t matter what country it was in. My father paid whatever it took to get Rabbit into those trials.”
Lincoln used his free hand to run it through his hair. “And I was completely clueless. Rabbit didn’t want any of it, but my father and stepmother refused to listen to him. My father’s money had always gotten him what he wanted, so he’d decided it would be able to make his son whole again. I was twenty-three when I finished my final tour of duty and was discharged from the army. I hadn’t been home since I’d enlisted so I had no idea Rabbit was so sick. He’d kept it hidden so well whenever we’d talked, and my parents never even bothered to tell me.”
Lincoln covered his eyes with his hand even as a choked sob escaped his throat. I released the hold I had on his hand, wrapped my arms around his body and squeezed him hard. I whispered inconsequential things in his ear to try and calm him down. His arms wrapped around me like two steel bands, and I could feel his hot tears against my neck.
“The day I finally got home, I went straight to the house in the Hamptons. I didn’t even fucking recognize him, Theo. He was asleep so I thought I’d surprise him and wake him up with a gentle hug. He woke up screaming the second I put my arms around him.” Lincoln shook his head hard and pulled back enough that he could look down at the ground. “If I’d just done something to make my father and stepmother understand that something was really wrong with Rabbit when we were little—”
“You were a kid, Lincoln. The chance that someone would have believed you over a doctor was minimal, to say the least, and if your parents had truly cared enough, they wouldn’t have left you and your brother in the care of employees whose paychecks were dependent on their ability to keep everything running smoothly.”
I wasn’t sure if Lincoln heard my words or not, but he was quiet for a long time. His sobs had stopped, as had the tears. That scared me since I knew the worst was yet to come and he was already trying to shut himself down enough so he wouldn’t need to relive all that hurt. I put my hand on his chin and forced him to look at me. “What happened to your brother, Lincoln?” I asked.
He hesitated long enough to make me realize we were at that point… that point where his secrets hid.
“My parents weren’t even home. They’d flown to Italy for some wedding or something and then had plans to go to Monaco for an extended ‘holiday.’ I couldn’t believe they’d just left Rabbit in the care of virtual strangers who changed shifts every eight hours. Most times he didn’t even have the same people taking care of him.”
Lincoln seemed to hold his breath even as he stared at me. Afraid he was on the verge of another panic attack, I said, “Breathe, baby,” and ran my thumb over his lips. Sure enough, a heavy breath escaped his lips before he pulled in another one. Once his breathing had evened out, I kept touching his face in some way. Not necessarily to explore but to remind him he wasn’t alone.
“When he realized it was me, he cried. He was crying so hard he could barely fucking breathe, but after hugging him I was afraid to touch him again. He had a morphine pump, but it was designed like any other. It would only deliver a certain amount of the drug. He kept pushing the button and reaching for me at the same time. I wrapped my arms around him even though I knew I was hurting him, but he clung to me so fucking hard, Theo.”
“He’d been waiting for his big brother to come home safe.”
Lincoln nodded. “He’d been waiting for me for another reason, too.”
Several beats of confusion corrupted my brain but then something just clicked.
No.
I was so glad I’d managed to keep the denial silent because Lincoln looked like he was going to shatter into a million pieces.
“I sent all of the medical staff away except for one nurse. I told her to give him more pain medicine so he could sleep. She began to argue with me, so I told her to leave all his medications and go. I wasn’t exactly polite in my request,” Lincoln admitted.