Chapter 4
Graham’s POV
I’d had enough. I stepped forward and knocked the bottle of water straight out of Louis’s hand.
It hit the floor with a sharp crack and rolled into the corner.
Louis froze, his hand still hanging in the air, then looked up at me in shock. “Graham, what are you—”
I kicked him back a step.
“Do you have any idea how to take care of someone?” I stared at him, my voice cold and hard. “She’s burning up, and you were about to give her ice water?”
Louis grabbed at his leg, his face twisting. He opened his mouth, but no defense came out.
He had always been like this.
When he was interested, he played at being good to Isolde. The moment something else caught his attention, he tossed her aside.
He had never really cared for her.
And still, he was the one standing in the place beside her.
I shoved down the urge to hit him again just as a soft voice came from the door.
“Graham...”
I turned.
Lily stood there holding a thermos, steam rising from the open lid.
She was still wearing that white down jacket, her nose and cheeks reddened by the cold.
“Louis panicked and didn’t think,” she said quietly, holding the cup out. “This is warm water. I already mixed it. Let Isolde take the medicine first.”
I looked from the cup to her face.
No one else outside had dared come near the RV.
But she had. And she had brought exactly what was needed.
She knew when to step in.
“Get over here,” I said coldly to Louis.
Like he’d just been pardoned, he scrambled up and snatched the thermos from her hand.
“Right. Right. Medicine first.”
Then he turned back to me, reaching for the fever pills.
For one sharp second, I wanted to throw him out of the RV and give her the medicine myself.
But I had no right.
I dropped the pills into his palm. “Make her swallow them.”
Louis nodded quickly and slipped an arm behind Isolde’s neck, lifting her until she was half resting against him.
She was delirious with fever, her brow tightly drawn, her pale lips parted just enough for weak, unconscious breaths to escape.
Louis placed the pills in her mouth and carefully brought the cup to her lips.
“Isolde, come on... swallow. Just a little water...”
A thin line of warm water slipped from the corner of her mouth, and he wiped it away clumsily with his sleeve.
I stood half a step away, both hands in my coat pockets.
My nails were digging deep into my palms. The pain was the only thing keeping my face expressionless.
Watching her lean weakly against Louis, watching his hand brush her cheek, felt like something was closing around my chest and tightening.
I had walked through gunfire. I had stood on the edge of death more than once.
And yet I couldn’t even sit beside her.
She coughed twice, weakly, then finally swallowed the pills.
Her body sagged, and Louis caught her at once.
“Graham, she took them.” He looked up at me, pale and rattled.
I turned and gathered the medical kit from the floor. “Take her to my car. The heat in this piece of junk is dead. Do you want her freezing in here?”
“Right. Yeah.”
Louis bent down, one arm under her knees and one behind her back, and lifted her carefully.
The blanket slipped, exposing one slender ankle.
I stepped over, picked it up, and covered her again.
“Move.”
Carrying the medical kit, I stepped out of the RV first.
Snow was still falling. The entire camp had gone dead silent.
The others were still gathered near the bonfire, not one of them daring to speak.
Louis followed behind me with Isolde in his arms, his boots crunching through the snow.
My SUV was parked near the entrance, so we had to cross the middle of the camp.
As we passed the bonfire, a guy with bleached hair pushed his way out of the group.
He usually hung around Louis. Apparently, he thought the worst was over and wanted to smooth things over.
“Louis,” he said with an awkward smile, rubbing his hands together, “take care of your girl first, man. We’ll deal with the rest later.”
Your girl.
My steps stopped.
My boot sank deep into the snow.
Wind and snow struck my face, but the cold spreading through my chest was worse.
Right.
She was my brother’s girlfriend.
If she was sick, he was the one meant to care for her. If she was hurt, he was the one meant to comfort her.
And me—
I was nothing more than an outsider whose jealousy had no right to exist.
“Shut up,” I said.
The smile vanished from his face at once. He backed off without another word.
I opened the rear door of the SUV.
The heat had been running the whole time, and the inside felt almost like spring.
“Put her in. Carefully.”
Louis laid Isolde down on the leather seat.
I grabbed the blanket from the front passenger seat and covered her again.
The tight line between her brows finally eased a little. Her breathing was steadier now.
I shut the rear door and walked around to the driver’s side.
As I opened it, I looked back at Louis, who was still standing in the snow.
“Get in.”
I would settle the rest with him later.
