Page 86 of Bear Hunt

“No! She’s fine. You’re lying!” The nurse comes running in as Pax gets louder and louder. “Take it off. Take it off! Take it off!” He’s grabbing at his IV and I’m trying to hold him back so he doesn’t hurt himself but he’s a slippery kid and would probably be a wrestling champion if he wanted to join the team.

“Sir, I’m just going to take it out. Looks like he’s doing better and him ripping it out would make it all worse.” Like a fucking boss, or someone with a fuckton of experience, the nurse slides the IV out and puts a small bandage on his arm with a sliver of tape just before Paxton gets away from me and runs out into the bullpen of the ER.

“Mom! Mom! Where are you?” Everyone turns to look at him, the doctors scowling, the patients confused, and Athena and me completely overwhelmed and under-experienced for this kind of job.

“Pax, sweetheart? Come here.” Athena crouches down, and when Paxton does a three-sixty, not knowing where to go, he ends up facing her, tears no doubt making it difficult to see. “Hey.”

“Is she dead?” My heart cracks wide open at the sound of his wobbly question.

“I’m sorry, Paxton. I’m so sorry.” Athena’s voice is as gentle as a breeze, and while the emergency room is buzzing with activity, we’re standing there trying to hold the crumbling walls of a twelve year old kid’s life together and failing miserably.

“No. She’s fine. She was just tired and she got a job and Dad… Dad… he… he can’t hurt her anymore. She’s doing better.” Fuck my life, he’s killing me a little more with every word he says.

“I know, sweetheart. I know.” Athena doesn’t try to correct him and she doesn’t try to explain the situation. With theempathy of a saint, she just lets him work through this moment on his own and with our support.

“Sir, you’re going to have to—” I have no idea what my face looks like when I turn around and stare at the security guard trying to tell us to leave. I get it, it’s an emergency room with people dying or needing care, but Paxton’s life is falling apart and I’ll be damned if I let this cop wannabe tell us what to do.

“Walk away, man. Walk. Away.” He pauses and it’s like I can read the questions running through his mind. And no, he does not make enough money to deal with this shit. To be clear, I’mthis shitand he doesn’t make enough to deal with me when I’m all up in my feelings.

When I turn back around as the security guard calls for back-up, I see Paxton rushing for Athena, wrapping his arms around her neck and sobbing. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“What’s gonna happen to me?” Athena looks up at me for an answer to Paxton’s broken-voiced question but I got nothing. All I know is that his father won’t be coming near him if it’s the last thing I do on this Earth.

“Come on, Pax, let’s get you back to Maribel’s so you can get your things. We’ll see what she says and we’ll work things out in due time.” None of this is legal but neither is being a dead-beat father who uses his fist on the mother of his kid. Fuck that guy.

“Sir, Paxton needs to come with us.” Fuck. I try the same tactic as with the security guard, but when I come face to face with a no nonsense sister, I know my attitude ain’t gonna fly. By the way her eyes narrow up at me, a smarter man would’ve used honey to notch down the tension.

I’ve probably been hanging around Psycho and Grinder way too long because I choose vinegar without a single moment of hesitation.

“Ain’t happenin’.” Because this is Paxton and the protector in me needs to keep him safe. So I go head to head with a womanwho could kick my ass with just her words. I know, because she’s got that same fire my mama had when she was in fighting mode.

“You his father?”

“No.”

“You his brother?” I hesitate but let’s be real here.

“Not exactly.”

“So, no, then?” Word of advice… it’s when they’re speaking calmly that you should run fast and far.

“No.”

“Are you a cousin?” This time she raises a brow and cocks her head to the side with one hand holding her chart and the other clenching a pencil between two fingers. She knows the answer but is daring me to lie to her.

“No, ma’am.” Fuck, I may be three times her size but it only took one look for her to downsize me to a seven year old who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Um, ma’am, hello?” Athena has Paxton wrapped around her waist when she rises, but she extends her hand for the woman to shake. “My name is Athena.” She hesitates, waiting for the social worker to stop staring me down so she can speak with her.

“May Bennett, with CPS.” The women shake hands as May leads us to an office away from the craziness of the ER. “Look, you’re obviously protective of the child and I can respect that. But… he has a father.”

“Did you get a hold of him?” my girl asks with respect, but also with a little bite to her tone.

“No, he hasn’t answered our calls. And he’s out of state.” I already know what she’s gonna say before the words come out of her mouth. “We’ll take the boy to a temporary foster home until his father arrives.”

“No.” Everyone looks at Paxton when he speaks for the first time. “I’m not going. Not with my father and not in foster care.”

May’s features soften when she looks down, it’s impossible not to when faced with a preteen whose cheeks are reddened from crying just minutes after losing his mother.

---