news. What I can tell you is that as we stabilize her, the staff here will do the best job we can, and we’ll help you find a good regime back home in Kentucky. The university is in your town. That should help. UK has its advantages.”
“But it’s…there has to be something else we can do.”
“Call your mother. You both need to understand how fully this is going to impact your family.”
“Believe me,” she said, “I couldn’t be more aware of it. Not at all.”
When he was gone, she slipped into the hall and went first to Rose, standing guard like the perfect and most loyal sentinel outside of her sister’s room. Her friend looked up at her and reached out and held her tightly.
“What did he say?”
“I…she’ll need dialysis until they can find a donor. Mom and I have the wrong type.” Suddenly all those jokes about being A-plus people because of their blood type weren’t funny anymore. She’d do anything if she matched with her little sister, but she didn’t. Hell, if they were the same type, she’d strap herself to the gurney right now and ask the doctors what they were waiting for. “I need to call Mom but I can’t even think. It’s like my brain’s on this weird, fuzzy autopilot, like none of this is real.”
“But I’m here for you, and I’m not the only one,” she said. “It seems someone’s sheikh is here, and you so have tons more to tell me about Bahan later, girl,” she said, pointing Jennifer to the waiting room in the corner.
Bahan was there, sitting alone. Maybe he’d arranged for that—another rich-guy trick that she couldn’t fathom. Or maybe it was just the way the world was today. She and her sister alone and feeling adrift in a cold, cruel universe. Either way, she’d only left him a few hours ago. It seemed like it had been longer. Her life had fundamentally changed since their night together and the relaxed brunch they’d shared with his brother, Fareed. Still, it warmed her heart to see him there. It was something her dipshit of a father had never done for her or Sydney, and it was nothing that Dustin would have done either. It gave her hope that her heart hadn’t chosen poorly this time around.
“You’re here,” she said. Then she looked back at Rose. “Can you go and watch over Sydney? I’ll be there in five minutes. I just need to talk to him and then call Mom.”
“You know I can, boss,” Rose joked, winking back at her before she hurried back to Sydney’s room.
Bahan didn’t say anything, just swept her up in a fierce hug. She needed that, needed to feel the steel cage of his arms around her, giving her the security that the rest of her life lacked. Inhaling deeply, she took in that addictive scent of him that seemed to follow him everywhere. It was already like coming home, and she wasn’t sure what that said about her. She’d tried her whole life not to be dependent on anyone else, and she barely knew this man. But he felt so safe, like he could give her the shelter she seemed to lack currently.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s my sister…I…she has kidney failure. Mom and I aren’t a match.”
“Then we can get her a new kidney,” he said dismissively, almost as if he could go buy one at the local grocery store.
That made her angry.
“God,” she said, pushing away from him, heat flaring in her cheeks. “I know things just happen when you’re the royal head of a whole country. People fall in line and say ‘yes, sir’ and ‘how high, sir,’ but in reality we can’t just have an underling murdered for a good available kidney.”
“That’s not what I’d do and don’t make those assumptions about my culture. We’re not so completely different from you. But I do have the influence. I can get her what she needs with a donor and the best surgeons in my country. You have no idea what I could get for her.”
“Why would you do that? I’m just some girl you met at a club. I’m nothing to you,” she said, her anger
“But it’s…there has to be something else we can do.”
“Call your mother. You both need to understand how fully this is going to impact your family.”
“Believe me,” she said, “I couldn’t be more aware of it. Not at all.”
When he was gone, she slipped into the hall and went first to Rose, standing guard like the perfect and most loyal sentinel outside of her sister’s room. Her friend looked up at her and reached out and held her tightly.
“What did he say?”
“I…she’ll need dialysis until they can find a donor. Mom and I have the wrong type.” Suddenly all those jokes about being A-plus people because of their blood type weren’t funny anymore. She’d do anything if she matched with her little sister, but she didn’t. Hell, if they were the same type, she’d strap herself to the gurney right now and ask the doctors what they were waiting for. “I need to call Mom but I can’t even think. It’s like my brain’s on this weird, fuzzy autopilot, like none of this is real.”
“But I’m here for you, and I’m not the only one,” she said. “It seems someone’s sheikh is here, and you so have tons more to tell me about Bahan later, girl,” she said, pointing Jennifer to the waiting room in the corner.
Bahan was there, sitting alone. Maybe he’d arranged for that—another rich-guy trick that she couldn’t fathom. Or maybe it was just the way the world was today. She and her sister alone and feeling adrift in a cold, cruel universe. Either way, she’d only left him a few hours ago. It seemed like it had been longer. Her life had fundamentally changed since their night together and the relaxed brunch they’d shared with his brother, Fareed. Still, it warmed her heart to see him there. It was something her dipshit of a father had never done for her or Sydney, and it was nothing that Dustin would have done either. It gave her hope that her heart hadn’t chosen poorly this time around.
“You’re here,” she said. Then she looked back at Rose. “Can you go and watch over Sydney? I’ll be there in five minutes. I just need to talk to him and then call Mom.”
“You know I can, boss,” Rose joked, winking back at her before she hurried back to Sydney’s room.
Bahan didn’t say anything, just swept her up in a fierce hug. She needed that, needed to feel the steel cage of his arms around her, giving her the security that the rest of her life lacked. Inhaling deeply, she took in that addictive scent of him that seemed to follow him everywhere. It was already like coming home, and she wasn’t sure what that said about her. She’d tried her whole life not to be dependent on anyone else, and she barely knew this man. But he felt so safe, like he could give her the shelter she seemed to lack currently.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s my sister…I…she has kidney failure. Mom and I aren’t a match.”
“Then we can get her a new kidney,” he said dismissively, almost as if he could go buy one at the local grocery store.
That made her angry.
“God,” she said, pushing away from him, heat flaring in her cheeks. “I know things just happen when you’re the royal head of a whole country. People fall in line and say ‘yes, sir’ and ‘how high, sir,’ but in reality we can’t just have an underling murdered for a good available kidney.”
“That’s not what I’d do and don’t make those assumptions about my culture. We’re not so completely different from you. But I do have the influence. I can get her what she needs with a donor and the best surgeons in my country. You have no idea what I could get for her.”
“Why would you do that? I’m just some girl you met at a club. I’m nothing to you,” she said, her anger
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