Page 129 of Redemption
Standing, we all follow her down the hall to a room at the end.
She opens the door, and Langston lays on the bed, pale with pain and refusing to look at us when we enter.
Dr. Harrison is the first one to speak. “Son, we’ll figure this out. It’s not over.”
Langston’s voice is deadly when he speaks. “GET OUT. ALL OF YOU GET OUT.”
MJ flinches, and I pull her back against me, protecting her the best way I can.
The nurse steps in, searching for the commotion. “Maybe we should give him some time. He’s on some pretty strong painkillers, and sometimes they can make people act—out of character.”
“I’m a doctor. Do you think I don’t know that? I’m not going anywhere. That’s my son.”
“I SAID GET OUT.”
“Daddy, let’s come back later. Let’s let him rest. He doesn’t need you picking at him right now,” MJ says, placing her hand on her dad’s arm, but he shakes it off, turning toward her with a look of fury on his face.
“You would think that’s what I’m doing. You never were capable of understanding perseverance and hard work.”
MJ flinches as if he slapped her. Without another word, Dr. Harrison storms out of the room with Abigail on his heels. MJ steps out of my arms, shaking.
“He didn’t mean it, MJ. He’ll apologize later.”
Tears slip down her face, but she dashes them away, stepping out of the room.
“I think he did mean it. And the day he apologizes will be the day that pigs fly. I’m done. I won’t take the abuse anymore. Do me a favor—stick around, and when Langston decides he wants to talk to someone, remind him that I love him.”
“Why don’t you stay and tell him yourself?” I try to stop her from walking away. She’ll regret it if she does, but she shakes her head, already backing down the hall.
“No, Hayes—not this time.”
Then she’s walking away with my name still on her back and a broken heart that I cannot fix.
Chapter 39
Hayes
“Miller, do you copy?”
Another night on shift, and I’m tired.
I’m pulled off on the side of the road, struggling to keep my eyes open until the end of my shift.
Glancing at the clock, I notice that it’s midnight. Nothing good happens when I get a call from dispatch at midnight.
“Go ahead, dispatch.”
“There’s a disturbance at the corner of Clark and West. Can you check it out?”
“10/4. Heading there now.”
Putting the radio back on my dash, I turn and head toward the direction of the disturbance, which in this town could mean anything from an escaped cow to Silas and the others in his gossip group spying on people. You really never know.
When I get to West Street, cars line the street, and I can hear music coming from a house two blocks down.
I reach the house it’s coming from and sigh in disappointment. Teenagers spill out of the house, red solo cups in their hands, and if I were to guess, I’d say it’s not water in those cups.
I keep my lights off, trying not to raise suspicion as I put the car in park.
