Page 139 of Hometown Halftime

“Okay.”

His movements stay slow while he cleans the top of my thigh carefully. He lightly squeezes my skin, and I place a hand on his arm, grounding me. Then he takes the injector pen from my hand.

“Ready?” he asks, looking into my eyes.

I give a timid nod and hold his arm tight. Then he presses the injector carefully against my thigh before lifting his eyes back to mine.

“Look at me, Kinsey, keep your eyes on mine, okay?”

I do.

“Keep breathing.”

Then he presses the button. The click makes me flinch, my fingers gripping his hand while the medication burns beneath my skin.

“Eyes on me, Kinsey,” Riley murmurs sweetly. “You’re okay. Almost done.”

I focus entirely on his voice while he counts softly under his breath. When the ten seconds finally end, he removes the injector and smooths his hand gently over my other thigh.

“There,” he says quietly. “Done.”

And before I can stop it, tears spill over again. Not panicking this time, just overwhelmed by all of it. Riley pushes up to sit by my side and pulls me against his chest while I bury my face into his shirt.

“I’ve got you,” he whispers into my hair.

Chapter fifty-six

Kinsey

Riley stays beside me on the bed long after my breathing finally calms down.

One of his arms rests around my shoulders while I lean against him, emotionally exhausted in a way that makes my entire body feel heavy. The injector pen sits discarded beside the instruction packet now, waiting to go into the Sharps Container. The worst part is finally over, but the ache in my chest still lingers stubbornly beneath the surface.

Riley brushes his fingers slowly through my hair before speaking quietly.

“Talk to me.”

I close my eyes, trying to figure out the words to describe what I feel right now.

“Tell me what’s going through your head right now.” He tries again.

I pull back to grab a band-aid from the box sitting beside us before pressing it carefully over the injection site on my thigh.

For a second, I just stare down at it. Then the words finally start spilling out.

“I’m scared,” I admit quietly. “And I hate all of it. And most of all, I’m fucking pissed.”

Riley stays silent beside me, listening.

“My body’s supposed to be normal,” I continue, frustration thickening my voice. “I played rugby for years. I’ve always been strong and active and independent, and now suddenly I have this stupid thing that’s attacking my body for no good reason.”

Emotion climbs back into my throat hard enough to hurt.

“It feels like my body betrayed me.”

The words hang heavily in the room as Riley’s hand tightens around mine. I laugh once, but there’s nothing comical in my words.

“And everything feels out of control right now. My apartment flooded and I’m living here while my life basically implodes. I just got diagnosed with arthritis at freaking twenty-nine, and somehow in the middle of all this I fell for you. Things are so damn messy right now.”