Things didn’t get any better from there. Aiden felt like hell all hours of the day and night. He had headaches and he wasn’t sleeping. When anyone asked, he tried to say he was coming down with something, but he knew the truth. He wanted Lily back in his life. The only problem was, he still didn’t want to get caught by the damn curse. Half of him wondered if this sudden desire to have Lily in his life on a permanent basis—to marry her and start a family with her, to build a future—was only because of this curse? What if he got to the end of the season and those feelings were gone?
If that were true, he’d just hurt her more in the end. And, one thing he didn't want to do was hurt Lily. In fact, after canceling his own food deliveries with her company, he’d gone to Kane and a few of the other Brawler football players, and asked them to start using her just to be sure she was doing okay financially. They’d agreed so she should have gotten at least three or four new customers out of the whole deal. It didn’t alleviate his guilt or make him feel better, but maybe it would help her out in the long run.
Aiden glanced through the containers labeled with different meals in his fridge. The new food delivery service wasn’t nearly as good, but it was better than a lot of the crap he used to make for himself. The label on the package he grabbed read: Asian Tofu Stir Fry with Rice Noodles. Good enough.
A minute and twenty seconds in the microwave and lunch was served. Aiden ran through his schedule as he swallowed the mushy, overcooked noodles without tasting much of the meal. It was his day off so he would head out after lunch to do some errands, then he had to swing by and meet with the team’s physical therapist. They were adding extra PT sessions for his shoulder since it’d been acting up a lot lately.
After that, Kane was having a few of the guys over for a barbeque.
A sudden wave of dizziness came over him, interrupting Aiden’s train of thought. Hell. It took Aiden about ten seconds to realize what was happening. Throat closing up, tongue swelling, palms sweaty and dizzy as hell. His lips tingled and he knew they’d be blowing up like balloons, too. He didn’t need to read the label on the food he was eating to know someone had screwed up. There was some kind of shellfish in the dish. Most likely, some kind of shrimp sauce or something he should have picked up on if he’d been paying any kind of attention.
By the time he got to the drawer where his epinephrine injection pen was kept in his kitchen, the wheezing had begun and his chest felt tight and panicky. And, there was no injection pen. No! His cleaning people must have moved it. Aiden opened drawers, tossing contents on the counters, searching for the pen. Nothing.
He grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911, before running down the hall to his room where he kept another pen. As he jabbed his outer thigh, he croaked his info and status into the phone to the operator, then went to unlock the front door for the paramedics before giving in and sliding down to the floor, where he focused only on getting his next breath until the ambulance arrived.
Two hours later, his face was still blotchy and red; he’d had his vitals checked a million times, and he had drips of who knows what medicines running into his veins. Oh, and someone had recognized him and snapped a few pictures of him when he came into the emergency room before security shut everyone out, so this would be out on the Internet in no time. Woohoo.
Rafe walked in with a huge bundle of helium balloons with messages ranging from Congratulations Mommy to Yay! The Vasectomy was a Success! Aiden half groaned, half laughed as Rafe set the balloons to the side and sat in the plastic chair next to Aiden’s hospital bed.
“Gage?” Aiden asked, nodding at the balloons.
“Yup. I didn’t think you’d be up to it so I told him he couldn’t come harass you in person, so he sent those instead. I think the vasectomy one was special ordered or custom made, or something. Not sure how he got them to make it so quickly, but he was particularly proud of that one.”
Aiden laughed. “Knowing him, he’s had it on standby, ready to go for just such an occasion.”
Rafe grinned but sobered quickly. “What the hell happened?”
Aiden shrugged. “That new food company I was using gave me the wrong food. They must have put some kind of shellfish in the sauce and I wasn’t paying attention.”
Rafe looked at the tubes running into Aiden’s arm. “Are they letting you out of here soon? They got it under control?”
“Yeah. I’ll be able to leave in a few hours. They just want to watch me for a while, check vitals ten dozen more times, that kind of thing.” He smiled at the nurse who had just walked to the side of his bed and placed her hands on his wrist. “I’m beginning to think Nancy just likes to have her hands on me.”
The white haired nurse scoffed and grabbed the blood pressure cuff from the side rail of the bed and strapped it on. “Watch yourself, big guy. I’m married and I’m not afraid to wrap this thing around other parts of your anatomy if I need to keep you in line.”
Rafe laughed a little too loudly at that as Aiden just grinned at the nurse without shame. They flirted a few more minutes, before she left, leaving them alone.
“You know this is karma, right?” Rafe asked, leaning forward toward Aiden, his tone low. “You left Lily, threw her over for the competition, plus you’re trying to run from the curse ... it’s all catching up to you. This is payback.”
“Really? You’re going there? This doesn’t mean anything, Rafe.”
“Sure it does. Besides, you’ve been miserable since you left Lily. We can all see it. You’re playing like crap, you look like hell every time I see you, and you weren’t all that great looking to begin with. You obviously want her back.”
Aiden didn't say anything. What could he say? He did want her back. But, he still didn’t know if he could give her what she deserved. A real future with him.
“Do you wish you’d taken things slower with Ashlyn? Doesn't it worry you that you’re locked into one woman for the rest of your life?”
“Hell no. I was so caught up in avoiding commitment, I almost lost her. I’m just glad she’s smarter than I am and saw what I was doing. She gave me hell for it, too. Told me what an idiot I was. I’m still not sure why she’d want to spend the rest of her life with me, but screw it. If she’s willing to take me on for a lifetime, who am I to question it. I might be an idiot but I’m not dumb.”
Aiden was quiet for a minute. He had the eerie feeling he was about to miss out on something big in his life.
“Do you ever worry that it’s the curse that’s making you feel this way? I mean, what if you get to the end of the season and the curse isn’t around anymore, and all you’re feeling right now for her just sort of fizzles out?”
Rafe shook his head at Aiden. Damn, he was tired of seeing that. He’d seen a lot of shaking heads lately. “Let me ask you this, Aiden. Can you picture yourself without her for the rest of your life? Can you picture a day where you might wake up and not wish to God she was next to you in bed or a night when you might not want to kiss her goodnight after making love to her for hours on end? Can you imagine a life that doesn’t include her by your side, that doesn’t include you and her having children and watching them grow up? Do you want anything to do with a life without her?”
Rafe didn’t really wait for an answer. He just nodded his head. “I thought so. That’s how you know it’s real, man. That’s how you know this isn’t some stupid curse. It’s just you and her and your life.”