Page 37 of Finding Redemption

“Thank you.”She hugged me again before I made her put on her seat belt once she was settled on her booster seat.“Is someone going to tell me what happened?”

“Nothing happened,” I fibbed, not wanting to burden her precious heart with my issues.“I was feeling sad earlier.But I had a good cry, and now I’m all better.”

“Why were you sad?”she demanded.“Who hurt your feelings?”When I didn’t immediately answer, she glared at Sariah.“You let someone be mean to Brooke?You’re not allowed to go out alone with her now.You either take me, or you don’t go.”

My friend held her hands up in surrender.“Whoa there, mama.No one was mean to Brooke.She just remembered something, and it made her sad.”

Bella reached for my hand.“When we get home, I’m going to make you a tray of cookies and milk.We can watch any movie you want.That always makes me feel better when I get sad.”

“Good idea.What movie should we watch?”

As soon as we walked through the door at home, Bella led me into the family room and pushed me down onto the couch.Grabbing the fluffy throw off the back, she carefully draped it over my lap and tucked it in.“I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll help,” Sariah offered, putting her sunglasses back in her bag after I took them off.“Maybe we should make Brooke tea instead.”

“Tea tastes gross with Oreos,” she complained.“Right, Brooke?”

“I would definitely appreciate the milk with my cookies,” I agreed, watching them both with a smile.“Thank you both for wanting to make me feel better and taking such good care of me.”

We were almost completely throughTangled, my comfort movie, when I heard Paxton demanding to know where I was.Bella, the only one of the three of us who could efficiently work the remote, hit pause as her father stomped into the living room.

I twisted my fingers together nervously while he ran his hazel eyes over me.My little episode during the MRI had completely ruined his work trip, but while I felt somewhat guilty, I was more relieved that he’d come home.

Every few minutes, a fresh wave of suffocating fear would rush up on me.All the times I was put in the cage, barely the size of a large dog crate, left there for days, with no food or water.No light.No sound.Just the feeling of the steel of the bars digging into me.It all came rushing back to me, as if I’d only run away from St.Andrew’s yesterday.I’d tried to hide it from Bella, but each time I’d begin to tremble again, she would look up at me with those warm brown eyes so full of concern that it broke my heart.

“Daddy!”Bella jumped up, throwing herself into her father’s arms.“You came home early.”

“I missed my girls so much, I couldn’t wait another minute to get back to you,” he told her, kissing her cheek.“Have you been taking care of Brooke for me?”

“I tried.But she’s been sad today.”Bella grabbed his face in both hands, her voice so serious that it made me smile.“You gotta make it better, Daddy.She’s really, really sad.”

He kissed her one more time before placing her on her feet.“I’m going to do my best, Bella-Boo.”His eyes swept over me again, and I had to fight tears.

I didn’t want him to see me like this.Battling the demons from my past.Covered in sweat, eyes swollen, nose snotty.Feeling like a coward because I freaked out over a tight space.Yet there was no one else I wanted to hold me.No one I trusted more not to abandon me in the dark.

Behind him, Luck hesitantly entered the room.My hands gripped the blanket Bella had tucked around me earlier.Seeing my uncle was too much with the day I’d had.

After what Sariah had told me, I understood better.If I’d been given the choice between a day with this amazing family, even if it meant spending the rest of my life alone and missing them, I would take it without hesitation.I couldn’t fault Luck for doing the same thing when presented with that option.

But I couldn’t face him at the moment.I couldn’t look at him when my hands were still shaking, my heart pounding with remembered fear, the darkness pressing in all around me, trying to win.None of that was his fault.My father and stepmother had blocked him from trying to gain custody of me.I knew that.My brain accepted it as fact because I was all too aware of what a monster my stepmother truly was.

My heart, however, was still angry.Hurt.I couldn’t be near him when I was feeling so weak and vulnerable.

On legs that felt like jelly, I quickly got to my feet, planning to excuse myself to go up to my room.But I barely took two steps, and suddenly, Paxton was there, his hands at my waist steadying me, while simultaneously making me weak all over again for an entirely different reason.

Without thinking about what I was doing, I hugged his waist, burying my face in the soft material of the shirt stretched across his chest, inhaling his cedar and citrus scent.One of his giant hands left my waist to cup the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair, slightly tugging.Not quite painful, but each flex of his fingers pulled a little more, and the sensation seemed to go straight to my core.

A breathy moan escaped my throat without my permission.That quiet, needy little sound caused an instant reaction in him that I felt growing bigger against my belly by the second.

Paxton kissed the top of my head.“Riah, you have Bella for the rest of the night.”

“No,” I protested, trying to pull back, but he tightened his hold, not allowing me to move an inch.“That’s not necessary.I—”

“Bella and I are going to make spaghetti,” Sariah announced, cutting me off.“Luck will help.”

“Yes!”Bella agreed, sounding far older than her six years.With Paxton still holding my head so my face was pressed into his shirt, I couldn’t see her.“Don’t worry about anything, Brooke.I’ll take care of it all.And Daddy will take care of you.”

ChapterTwenty-Two

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