"You should sit," Damon said.

I paced back and forth in the hospital waiting room. My fingers tapped against my hip in a rapid fire tempo. Damon tracked me with his gaze.

"You're making me dizzy," he added.

"I hate hospitals."

The last time I'd been in one had been when my mom died. We'd been in the waiting room for hours as they operated on her, hoping, praying, wishing, only to be told by a doctor with a sympathetic face that he was sorry, but there was nothing they could do.

This time, I'd gotten a call from the mom of the kid next door who mowed the lawn. All I'd been told was Dad had fallen down the stairs and had been found unconscious. So here I was again, back at a hospital, waiting for news.

Damon stood, intercepting me as I whirled around on my heel, changing direction yet again. He took my hands in his.

"Sit," he urged. "Pacing won't make the doctor come any faster."

"It makes me feel better."

He pressed his fingers to the pulse points in my inner wrists. My veins throbbed under his touch.

"All it's doing is raising your blood pressure," he said.

"I can't sit still."

"You want to sneak off and fuck in the storage closet?" he asked, completely serious.

I snorted out a laugh, my lips curling up despite myself. "It's not really the time or the place."

"I can always make time for that sweet puss—"

"Ms. Briars?"

The doctor was here. I took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Whatever she had to tell me, I could handle it, good news or bad.

But I recognized the sympathetic look on the woman's face. My throat closed up.

"I can give you an update on your father," she said. She flicked her gaze to Damon. "Would you like to go somewhere private?"

Damon's hand squeezed mine once. I knew he'd go along with whatever I wanted. I squeezed back.

"No, it's okay. He can be here when you tell me."

She nodded. "Luckily, he didn't take any severe damage to his head when he fell down the stairs. No concussion to worry about. Unfortunately, he broke both legs. There were several fractures. We had to do emergency surgery. He's going to be out of commission for quite some time." She looked at me with worry in her eyes. "I won't lie, there's going to be a long recovery period. He'll need someone to look after him almost constantly."

The lump in my gut turned sour.

"Would you like to see him?" The doctor looked at me expectantly. "He's still sedated from the surgery, but some part of him might like to know you're here."

I ran shaky hands through my hair, smoothing it down. "Um. Maybe I'll wait until he wakes up."

"We'll have someone call you when he's conscious." The doctor gave me one last sympathetic smile and left.

I stood silently, watching her retreating back. I began to tremble, fighting back a sob.

Damon cupped my face. ""Hey. It's okay."

I sniffed and rubbed my eyes with my palms. He tipped my chin up and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"Everything's fine," he said. "It's just a few broken bones."

"It's not fine," I mumbled.

Damon tilted his head questioning.

"You heard what she said," I told him, voice shaky with unshed tears. "Long recovery period. Constant monitoring. I'm already— I can't—" The tears finally, splashing down my face, warm and wet. "I can't do this," I whispered.

Damon tugged me into his arms. "You don't have to do this alone." He pressed another kiss to the crown of my head. "Call your sister," he said, voice muffled by my hair. "She needs to know. You can't keep this from her."

I nodded miserably, then shook my head. "I can't. I lied to her for so long. She'll hate me."

"She won't hate you," Damon said gently. "Hope's too nice for that. She didn't even hate me when I was an asshole to her. And believed me, I deserved it." Damon pulled back to meet my eyes. "Do you want me to call her? I can tell her some of the story. Give her time to process it before she shows up."

A fresh flood streamed down my face at the offer. "Since when are you thoughtful like that?" I gave him a small, teary, smile.

"Hey, I get the urge to be thoughtful sometimes." Damon winked. "I just usually ignore it."

That made me laugh, which was probably his aim.

Damon sat me down in a plastic waiting room chair and walked a few paces away to call Hope. His words were hushed and murmured, so I couldn't hear what he was telling her.

After the phone call me came back to sit next to me. He took my hand again. We waited silently.

My sister arrived twenty minutes later. She rushed into the waiting room with Ian at her side. She stopped abruptly when she saw us there. Hope stared at me for a moment, her face unreadable. I cringed back when our eyes met.

Her gaze went soft. She knelt in front of me and wrapped me in a warm hug, her arms around my neck. I let out a shuddering breath and buried my face in her long, messy hair.

"I'm sorry," I choked out before she could say anything.

"You dummy," she said softly. "What were you thinking, keeping this from me?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

She shocked her head ruefully. "Do I have to give you the same speech my boyfriend gave your boyfriend?"

"He's not my—" I began to protest.

I stopped. Was Damon my boyfriend? That was what he'd told Dad. But then we'd gotten into that fight and now…

I glanced at him. Damon and Ian were giving each other looks, communicating silently. They both had frowns on their face, looking exasperated at each other.

"I guess all twins do that, huh?" Hope mused. She turned her attention back to me. "Damon told me most of the story, but I want to hear it from you. Dad's been sick for a while?"

"Not sick, really. Just… non-functional. I've been trying to take care of him. But it's been hard," I admitted. "And now, the doctor said Dad's going to need so much care and—"

"Faith." My sister stopped me with a sharp look. "You don't have to do this alone. We'll hire someone."

"Don't you think I've thought of that?" I asked. "Personal support workers are expensive. Dad hasn't worked in years. You've been stuck doing unpaid internships since you left school. I'm only an Events Specialist, not even a manager. There's no money left over after his mortgage and our rent and…"

She flicked my forehead with her finger.

I frowned, rubbing the spot. "What was that for?"

"Did you forget who I'm dating?" Hope nodded toward Ian, who was still staring silently at his brother. He and Damon weren't still frowning at each other, at least. "Ian has more money than he knows what to do with."

"I'm not taking his—"

"And I've got my own job now," she continued, speaking over my objections. "I'm working at Darkest Days' label. Entertainment companies pay pretty well, when you're working with a famous band like them."

"You shouldn't have to be worrying about all this," I said.

"Neither should you," she countered. Hope sighed and brought our foreheads together. "Why are you so stubborn?" she asked gently.

"That's what I'm always wondering," Damon said, joining the conversation. "Someone need to keep her from working herself to death."

"And why do I have a feeling you're going to be the one to do just that?" Hope teased.

Damon grinned. He threw his arm around my shoulder and pressed a wet, sloppy kiss to my cheek.

"Gross." I made a face of disgust and pretended to wipe the kiss away, but secretly I was pleased at the public display of affection.

Having sex in public was one thing. Showing tender affection, especially in front of his brother, was another.

Maybe he really was my boyfriend.

"So you agree?" Hope asked me. "No more shouldering all this on your own. No more enabling him. We get someone to take over watching over Dad. You don't need to run his life anymore. Okay?"

For the first time, that lump of anxiety and dread that I felt in my chest whenever I thought of Dad began to fade. "Yeah. Okay."

"Ms. Briars?" A nurse with a kind smile poked her head around the hallway corner. "Your father is awake now if you and your sister would like to see him."

That lump threatened to solidify again. Hope laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Let's go see him," she urged. "We need to talk this out." She squeezed my shoulder. "You need to talk this out. You've been the one taking care of him this whole time."

I inhaled a shaky breath. I nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go talk to Dad."