He needed to be okay... he just needed to be.

After I had parked the car, I locked it up, got a parking card from the machine and left the multi-story car park to head straight for the A&E. I glanced up at the Accident & Emergency sign as I walked into the hospital and swallowed down my nerves.

I looked around for the brothers and Keela but didn’t see them. “Crap,” I murmured out loud.

What in the hell was I going to do now?

“Can I help you, miss?” a security guard asked me from my left.

I nodded my head and walked over to the man. “Yes, please. Me friend was taken through A&E not so long ago; he arrived in an ambulance. His name is Kane Slater, me friend, Keela Daley—she’s a little redhead—came in with him. He collapsed. Two of his brothers came in here about ten minutes ago lookin’ for him, you couldn’t miss them. They’re both tall, over six foot, one has a buzz cut on both sides of his head with longer brown hair on top, has a dragon tattoo down his right arm, really good lookin’ like his brother—”

“Ah, yeah. American blokes, right?” the security guard cut off my rambling. “Pretty sure the lad you just described threatened to break me nose if I didn’t let him and his brother through the doors to see their little brother.”

I winced. “Alec is usually really nice, I swear.”

The security guard snorted. “I’m sure, but unfortunately I can’t help you. You have to be family or a patient to get through the doors behind me.”

Crap.

“Well, it’s funny that you mention family because—”

“Aideen!”

I jumped when a voice shouted my name. I spun around and almost burst with excitement when I spotted Nico running through the automatic doors of the A&E closely followed by a worried looking Bronagh, Branna, and Alannah.

“He is family!” I said to the security guard. “He is Kane’s- I mean the patient’s younger brother.”

The security guard looked at Nico when he came to my side and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Any news?” he asked me.

I shook my head. “I was parkin’ the car, and now I’m tryin’ to get back to see what’s happenin’, but I need to be family.”

Nico glared at the security guard. “She is family. They all are,” he said and gestured to the girls beside him.

The security guard groaned. “You expect me to believe all four of them are—”

“My wives,” Nico cut the security guard off.

I looked at Nico with wide eyes and so did the other girls.

“What?” the security guard said after a pregnant pause.

With a straight face Nico gestured to me and the other girls. “They’re my wives. My legal wives... we aren’t Catholic.”

Oh. My. God.

The security guard blinked at Nico, then looked at me and the other girls before looking back at Nico. I was convinced he was about to call bullshit on Nico’s lie until he opened his mouth and said, “You lucky bastard.”

Wait, what?

Nico nodded his ever-expanding head and sighed. “I know, it’s damn hard to choose which one of them to sleep with at night, but we devised a schedule to keep things fair. I don’t want them fighting with each other just to get my attention, you know? I mean, I can barely keep up with them. Sex with each of them daily is a lot of work, but someone has got to do it, you know?”

I felt my eye twitch as I watched Nico effortlessly lie to the security guard who was gazing at him and lapping up his every word like he was talking to Jesus Christ in the flesh.

“Fuckin’ hell,” the security guard breathed.

I looked at the girls and found all three of them shaking their heads at Nico then rolling their eyes at the more than gullible security guard.

“Yeah,” Nico breathed. “Can you let us by to go see my brother? I can’t leave them out here alone. Getting backlash from one woman is torture, but four of them? You’ll be sentencing me to death, bro. Death.”

Oh, a Slater was going to die today and my money was on it not being Kane.

“Man, of course,” the security guard said and reached out and patted Nico on the shoulder like he was ‘the man.’ “Go right on in. Your two other brothers are down the hall and in the last waitin’ room on the right.”

Nico patted the security guard on the shoulder. “Thank you, bro. Thank you.”

Oh, for God’s sake.

I grunted as I took Nico’s extended hand, and I wanted to smile when he hissed as Bronagh took hold of his other hand.

“It’ll be okay, husband,” she growled. “We’ll take it easy on you today.”

“Yeah,” I chimed in as the security guard swiped his keycard and opened the doors for us. “We’ll take really good care of you, baby.”

“Lucky son of a bitch,” the security guard said from behind us.

We walked in sync then when the doors behind us closed, each of us girls landed a punch or a slap to different parts of Nico’s body.

“Ow, ow, fucking ow!” he hissed and jumped away from us.

He turned to face us and walked backwards with his hands raised in front of his chest. “I couldn’t think of anything else to say to get us back here.”

Alannah narrowed her eyes at Nico. “You couldn’t think of somethin’ better than sayin’ the four of us were your wives?”

Nico gnawed on his lower lip. “No.”

Liar.

Bronagh all but hissed at Nico. He refused to look at her, which was the smartest thing he had done in the past five minutes.

“It got us back here, didn’t it? Let’s just find my brothers and find out what’s happening with Kane,” Nico sighed and turned around. “Which room did that security guard say Ryder and Alec were in?”

“Last one on the right,” I murmured.

We all picked up our speed until we reached the waiting room door. Nico walked straight into the room and so did the other girls who were hot on his heels. I hung back for a few seconds, and I had no idea why. The only thing I could think of was that I was afraid.

I was so damn afraid, and that fear worried me.

I wasn’t sure what it meant. I mean, did I care for Kane if I was this concerned about him? Did I like him? Or did I just not want him to be dead for the sake of everyone else? I went with the latter because it was the only choice that didn’t cause my mind to explode with even more stupid questions.

I jumped when Bronagh’s head popped out of the doorway. “Hey, are you okay?”

I blinked. “I’m fine.”

She reached out and took me by the hand. “Come in, then.”

I let Bronagh lead me into the waiting room, and when all eyes fell on me, I looked down at my feet as I waited to hear an update on Kane. Bronagh placed her hand on my back and said, “No news on him yet.”

That pissed me off. I—I mean we—needed an update on Kane.

I balled my hands into fists. “Give me one minute,” I growled.

I turned and pulled the door open, stepping back out into the hallway, and looked up and down. I spotted a nurse reading a clipboard as she walked in the direction of the doors that led back out to the A&E reception.

“Excuse me!” I shouted and briskly walked down the hallway towards the nurse when she stopped and looked over her shoulder.

“Can I help you?” she asked when I stopped in front of her.

“Yes, please,” I replied. “I’m with the family of Kane Slater, and we have received no information on his current status. He arrived here around twenty-five minutes ago, and his brothers in the waitin’ room down the hall behind me are getting very impatient. Each of them are over six-foot-tall and combined, they probably weigh the same as a full-grown bull. Please come and give them an update before they... get upset.”

The nurse swallowed, but nodded her head at me.

“Thank you,” I breathed, relieved she believed the brothers would be dangerous.