Page 122 of Fierce-Jax

“Shit,” he said, jumping back. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” she said. “Just hold me. Don’t let me go. Please. Promise me you won’t.”

He held her tight and let her cry until she fell asleep.

“I won’t,” he whispered, but he was positive she didn’t hear it.

38

TRUSTED IN YOUR HEART

“Hello, Dillion.”

The last person who Dillion thought she’d see was Carolyn Fierce as her first patient of the day when she came in and looked at the schedule.

“Hi, Carolyn. I have to say I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I didn’t make this up,” Carolyn said, grinning. “I swear I didn’t. I’ve got this patchy spot on my arm and it doesn’t want to go away. It’s been a few months and when I was at the doctor last month he recommended I have a dermatologist look at it.”

“Let me see,” she said. She’d read Carolyn’s chart and knew she was here for a patch on her arm. She pulled her small microscope out and examined it closer. She rolled back from the stool she was on and put a pair of gloves on to get closer and touch it. “It looks to be actinic keratosis. I’m going to scrape some of it off and send it out for testing. I’d also like to freeze it off of you today if you’re okay with that?”

“What do you mean freeze it off?” Carolyn asked. “It’d be cold?”

“It’s liquid nitrogen that I’ll spray on. It’s going to be cold enough to burn but will kill the cells. If left untreated itcould,but may not, turn into a form of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. Not always, but you have to ask yourself, do you want to take that chance?”

“No,” Carolyn said, shaking her head. “Not at all. You can freeze it off. You’ll know though if it was?”

“I’ll get the results back within a week,” she said. “Do you have any other spots you’d like me to check besides your arm? I’m going to look at your neck and face too. Those are the common spots you’ll find it.”

She was doing the exam and found the start of another spot on the side of Carolyn’s neck. She took the sample there too.

“If you want to look anywhere else you can,” Carolyn said. “This is the last thing I thought would happen when I made the appointment. Here I thought I could get the scoop on you and Jax and a little tube of cream or something.”

Since Carolyn was looking so nervous, Dillion figured she could throw her a bone.

“Things are going very well with us,” she said. “It’s been several months, as I’m sure you know.”

“I’ve heard,” Carolyn said. “I try to get information out of Roni, but she doesn’t say much more than things are well.”

“She’s loyal to her brother that way,” she said, nodding. “But they are well. Gianna loves Jax.”

Carolyn smiled. “As much as you love him?”

She rolled her eyes. “Probably not as much. Or at least not the same. You know, she’s four. If you give her food and play with her, everything is happy in her world.”

“As it should be,” Carolyn said. “That is what parents do. Protect their children from anything and everything that they can.”

“We do,” she said as she collected the other sample and put the slides down once they were sealed up.

And to protect her daughter, she’d met with Trent and retained him as her attorney.

She could have gone to a bigger law firm that specialized more in family law, but went with her gut and knew that since Trent was family of sorts, he had a bigger interest in it.

He’d fight harder and stronger and maybe put her first if need be rather than leave her hanging for other cases.

Trent knew what it felt like as he’d gone through some of these things with Roni and her ex.

Sometimes the best was who you trusted in your heart and not who had the biggest name or cost the most.

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