Page 10 of Finding Redemption

Reaching up, he tore off his helmet.My pain-filled, shocked gasp was not part of the role I was playing.All pretense left me as I gazed down at the man before me, my mind rioting.

Messy blond hair with just a hint of curl to it.Golden-brown stubble along his jaw.A tiny scar through his left brow that was real and not the handiwork of a barber, which seemed to be the masculine fashion trend because of a particular movie star.I had no idea how the man on the floor had gotten that scar, but he’d told me who had given it to him the first time we’d met.

Tears burned my eyes, and I struggled to filter through all the emotions swarming me.

Anger.Regret.Disgust.

The last time I’d set eyes on this man, my heart had been breaking.Losing my mom had been the worst day of my life, quickly followed by the day I’d buried her.Family secrets had been spilled that day, ones I never wanted to think about again.

Eyes the same shade of green as my own snapped to mine, and he jerked as if he’d been cut by a lightsaber.“The fuck are you doing here, kid?”

“Hello, Luck.”

ChapterSix

Paxton

Eyes manic,my best friend jerked to his feet, grabbed Brooke by an elbow, and stomped out of the room, half dragging her behind him.Without any argument, she let him.I had an overpowering urge to follow them and find out what the hell was going on, but then I saw Bella watching them go, confusion scrunching up her brows.I wasn’t sure if I should chase after Luck and the princess or stay and comfort my daughter.

Around me, the other parents were whispering in their groups, already spinning their own stories of what had just happened, despite everyone witnessing it firsthand.Fucking annoying assholes.

All the little girls quickly swarmed Bella, distracting me from their pain-in-the-ass parents.“That was so cool!”someone gushed to her, and for the first time since she’d walked into the party, Bella genuinely smiled.“This is so much more fun than Uma’s party last month.”

“I’m not even mad that it’s better than my party,” another girl giggled—Uma, I assumed.“I wanna watchStar Warsnow.”

“I want to play with the light sword,” someone cried.“Do you have any more?”

“I want a turn!”

Bella’s eyes narrowed, her smile dimming with irritation.“It’s called a lightsaber, not a sword.And I have a few more in my room.Princess Brooke gave them to me for my birthday.”

“Let’s go get them,” a taller blond girl, one of the few who didn’t have her hair up in the Cinderella style, suggested.

Sariah stepped out of the crowd with a large box in her hands.I hadn’t seen her since she’d stormed off after demanding I fire Kayla.I assumed she had gone to get rid of the newest nanny since the woman hadn’t joined the party yet.When it came to the person who was trusted to watch over Bella when I couldn’t, Sariah didn’t fuck around.She’d been the one to fire the last three caretakers.

“Who wants a lightsaber?”she enticed.“Look, Bella-Boo, your uncle Luck brought one for each of your friends.”

“Me!”

They all swarmed her, including Bella.Satisfied that she wasn’t upset any longer, I followed Luck.There was no sign of him or Brooke when I exited the great room.Expecting him to have taken her to my office, I turned in that direction.

Finding the door slightly ajar, I started to push it open, but Brooke’s wobbling voice gave me pause.“Don’t!You don’t have the right to question me like I’m a criminal.You’re the one who left.I was the one forgotten.”

“That wasn’t what happened, and you know it!”Luck yelled.Of the two of us, I was the hothead.It took a lot for him to blow up, but it sounded as if he was close to detonation.“I thought you were with them.That you were safe.Happy.Cared for.After everything else, that was all I wanted for you.”

Brooke snorted.“You were just glad I wasn’t your problem.”

“I would have done anything to keep you with me.You are all I have left.He fought me for you.He—”

“He abandoned me just like you did.Like every other man does in the end.I’d hoped it would be different with you.That we could be a family.But all you did was let me down.And now you’re going to stand there and yell at me for making my own life?”The wobble in her voice was gone, replaced by the fire she’d burned me with earlier.

My hands clenched into fists.I’d enjoyed her spark, her sass, and I found myself not liking that she was directing even an ounce of her ire toward my best friend.Pushing the door open, I walked in.

I had an all too brief moment to take them in.Luck in his black costume, towering over the delicate-in-appearance-only princess.Her hair looked like sunlight had been spun into each strand, the flowers and charms braided into the thick tresses adding a hint of innocence to her ethereal beauty.

She snapped her head around, her eyes full of emerald flames…and so much sadness it nearly knocked me on my ass.Luck didn’t take his gaze off her, but I saw the same emotions twisting his face.

“This is a private conversation,” she said dismissively.“You weren’t invited.”

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