Cuffs - Cara Lockwood Page 0,43

domesticated.

They had fun together in the bedroom. That was it. Role play only. Not real play.

Gael hugged his sister, and she clung to his neck affectionately.

“Looks like someone got a few more balloons since the last time I was here,” Gael said.

“Maeve said if I get any more, it’s a fire hazard!” Ava said, and then met Mags’s gaze above his shoulder. “But Kathleen told me I could have as many as I wanted.”

“Kathleen doesn’t work in the hospital,” Maeve pointed out.

Ava ignored her. “You brought her!” she squealed, and Gael pulled away to reveal Ava’s beaming face. Mags wasn’t sure what to do, so she held out her hand for a shake, but Ava grabbed it and pulled her in for a hug. “The Quinn family are huggers,” she declared and folded Mags into a warm embrace. It felt nice, actually. Mags couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a platonic hug. When Ava let her go, she declared, “So this guy has been nice to you, right? I told him to be nice!”

Mags couldn’t help herself—she laughed a little. “More than nice,” Mags said.

“Good.” Ava studied Mags’s blue hair and her stark eyeliner but then nodded in approval. “Your hair is so cool,” she said. “I want to do that. Dye my hair. After the surgery, maybe!” She glanced over at Gael for approval as if out of habit. She might be an adult, but she still very much felt like the younger sister, Mags noticed.

“When you’re eighteen, you can do what you want.” Gael shrugged. “But you will have to deal with Kathleen’s wrath.”

“Kathleen loves me. She’d even let me get a nipple piercing, I think.”

Gael frowned, looking more than a little like an authoritarian. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Ava ignored his comment. “So? Can I see the final version of the masterpiece?” She nodded at his arm.

Gael shrugged out of his jacket and unbuttoned his sleeve and began rolling it up. The bandage that Mags had put on it was still in place. Mags felt a pang of nerves then, hoping that Ava liked it. She hardly ever doubted her work, and she knew she’d done a good job, but she wanted his sister’s approval.

Mags had begun to notice that despite Ava’s bright green eyes, her face was a bit pale, her eyes slightly sunken and lined with dark circles. She was putting on a brave face, but she was sick, very sick. She remembered her mother putting on the same brave face even as the cancer ate away her insides. But Ava seemed far, far too young to be dealing with any of this. Mags suddenly felt protective of the young woman.

As Gael gently pulled off the bandage, Ava’s eyes grew wide.

“Whoa! That’s amazing,” she said reverently as she studied Mags’s work. Gael’s skin was still a little red and raw, but in a few days, she was confident that it would seem that the tattoo was meant to be there. She felt a warm swell of pride in her work. She never thought she’d feel that way looking at this particular drawing again. Not after what the band did with it. All those damn hats and shirts and posters. But despite all that, it was still her work. Her design. And the joy that it brought Ava made her feel good.

Mags was so used to taking care of herself—only herself—that she’d forgotten what it was like to have family depending upon her. She’d always thought of family bonds as things that were difficult. Her father, when he was around, before he’d gotten remarried, had always been difficult. But she was starting to understand that bonds could also be sweet.

Gael sat on her bed and shared a packet of fries with Ava. He nodded for Mags to take a seat at the bedside, and the three of them had a little hospital picnic. Mags was amazed about how calm Ava was, how poised, despite the fact she was facing serious surgery in the morning. She dug into the hot dog like a starving college student.

“So good,” she murmured between bites. “This is so good.” She closed her eyes, savoring the Chicago dog. “I’m tired of bland chicken and soggy broccoli.” She rolled her eyes. “How is a girl supposed to get well eating that?”

“Cheese fries will cure what ails you,” Mags said and offered up some melted cheese dipping sauce. Ava enthusiastically dunked a crinkle fry into it and then popped the