Thirty-one
King Aiden
My cousin was in a hospital bed. Someone else I loved had been hurt because of her. It was time to let the childish notion that we could be together go. The two of us would never be anything but almost. She was part of my childhood, a nice idea, and I had to let her go. My love for her was costing me too much. Right now, my cousin was in a hospital bed after having been shot. Because I loved Lucy, and Lucy wasn’t ever supposed to be mine.
“Aiden,” Tommy’s voice rasped.
I looked over at him. “Tommy,” I said, “what is it? You need water?”
He was breathing heavily. He’d been shot in the shoulder. He would live, but I could see his face. He was very much in pain. “I don’t need water. But there’s somethin’ I need to tell ya.”
“What’s that?”
