Page 151 of Redemption
Tanner groans, throwing his head back against the pillow.
“Nope,” Dr. Harrison chides. “Young lady, you have to leave. Everyone get out so my patient can get some rest. You can argue somewhere else. I will call security if I must.”
“Josephine,” Theo says, standing from his seat. “Follow me to my truck, and I’ll give you your copies of the paperwork and our next court date. Tanner, I’ll be back. Try to get some rest.”
Tanner ignores him, and I see Theo try not to let that affect him.
Instead, he dusts off his pants and leads Josephine and Eric, each with varying degrees of anger on their face, out of the room.
Stretching my hand toward MJ, I wait for her to take it, and when she does, I turn toward Bella. “Come on, Bella. I’ll walk you out.”
“She can stay,” Tanner says from his bed. “She’s the only one who hasn’t betrayed me.”
Bella looks at me, and I nod.
The kid could use a friend right now. I just hope that one day, he realizes that I’m doing what’s best for him.
I won’t see him lose his life too.
Chapter 45
Hayes
It’s Saturday morning after the game, and I’m sitting in the middle of the football field, thinking about the events of last night.
The field is quiet, and I hate it.
Over the course of the last few weeks, Tanner has been at every Saturday practice, not missing one since that second week. His and MJ’s laughter and chatter filled my silence as Tanner slowly started to warm up to us.
Now Tanner isn’t here, and after the long night, MJ is sleeping in.
And the silence pierces my ears.
I needed that boy to come into my life more than he needed me. He helped heal me. He gave me something to fight for again.
And yet, I left him more broken than when I started.
There must be something fundamentally wrong with me.
“I knew I would find you here.” Campbell’s voice echoes over the loudspeaker.
I look up at the press box. Campbell is hanging out the window, waving like a crazy man.
At least his loud mouth will be able to fill the silence.
Cupping my hands around my mouth, I yell, “I thought you were on duty?”
With the grace of a baby giraffe, he climbs out the window and marches down the bleachers, all while yelling, “I am. Someone called in a well-check for you.”
I stand, dusting off the dirt from my pants, and meet him at the bleachers. He’s wearing his uniform with a ball cap covering his eyes, so I can’t tell if he’s serious or not.
“Oh, yeah? By who?”
“Silas. He said, and I quote, ‘there’s an oversized toddler pouting on the football field instead of getting his life together and finding God. Somebody might want to check on him’—end quote. So here I am. Checking on you.”
“That man needs to mind his own business,” I grumble.
Campbell stares at me, blinking like I’m slow to catch up. “Maybe. But is he wrong? You do act like an oversized toddler sometimes.”
