Page 35 of Finding Redemption

“Of what?”he shouted, causing the security at the door to tense.“Her dad?Did that bastard try to do something?I swear I will kill him this time if he’s—”

“There was a last-minute cancelation for an MRI,” I explained, cutting him off before someone overheard him threatening to murder his sister’s ex.

“Ah fuck.”He bent over, putting his hands on his knees.“What did they find?”

“Nothing!They haven’t been able to do the scan because she’s been screaming for the last hour.”

Luck slowly straightened, confusion mixing with his obvious relief.“Why?”

“Because she’s terrified of confined spaces, dumbass.”

My kitten was scared, and that alone was unacceptable.She needed me, and nothing was going to keep me from getting to her.As soon as the driver stopped in front of us, I jumped in the back, Luck right behind me.Once we were in motion, I called Sariah to let her know I was on my way.

She picked up, but I didn’t know if she spoke or not because all I could hear was Brooke sobbing in the background.Helplessness flooded me.She needed me.My precious kitten fucking needed me, and I wasn’t there.

Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on getting as much information from Sariah as possible.“How long has she been like that?”

“I don’t know!”Sariah said just loud enough for me to hear her.“The tech said they have claustrophobic patients all the time.She seemed okay when they took her back for the scan, but then about twenty minutes later, I heard her screaming.Do you understand how loud that machine is?And I heard her screaming in the waiting room.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”Fuck, I should have gone home earlier.Luck could have handled everything, and if he couldn’t, then it could have gone to hell for all I cared.Brooke was more important, damn it.

“Because we were in a part of the building that had zero cell reception, and I wasn’t about to leave her just to call you,” she snarled defensively.“She was worse than she is now, but then they mentioned sedating her, and she tried to calm down.”

“Let me talk to her.”

“I’ll try… Brooke,” Sariah said gently.“Paxton is on the phone.Do you want to talk to him?”

“Paxton?”Her hiccupped sob was followed by a shuddering exhale.“I-I’m sorry.I tried s-so hard to be b-brave.I just d-didn’t expect it to be so tight in there.It…brought back…bad memories.And…” She started crying again.“I-I’m sorry.”

“Baby, I’m the one who is sorry,” I groaned.“I should have been there with you.But I’m on my way now.I’ll be there in a few hours.”

“What?No, Paxton!You have meetings, and the fight is tomorrow night.”

“Do not argue with me, kitten.Not about this.You’re more important.”

“I’m ruining everything,” she whispered.

“Swear to fuck, I’m going to spank you for saying that shit.”

She sucked in a breath.I nearly punched myself in the face, thinking I’d scared her, but she surprised the hell out of me when she giggled.I squeezed the back of my neck, relieved that she’d stopped crying, and trying not to get hard at that sexy sound.

“You want that, kitten?”I asked, completely forgetting her uncle was sitting beside me until he made a snarling sound.I side-eyed him, wondering if I should just throw him out of the moving car so I didn’t have to deal with him.

It probably wouldn’t kill him.

Maybe break a few bones.Definitely leave road rash.But not kill him.

I wasn’t about to risk upsetting Brooke more than she already was, though, so I chose to ignore him instead.

“Maybe,” she murmured, sniffling a little.“I-I don’t know.”

“We will find out,” I promised.“Soon.”

“I… Okay.”

“Good girl.”

“Oh my God!Bella!”she cried.“She needs to be picked up from school.I’m going to be late.And I’m a mess.She will be so worried.”

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