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I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed back against him, letting him silently comfort me.
When I finally felt recovered enough to stop literally leaning on him, I straightened and gripped my forehead. “Be honest. Is she ever going to be able to recover from this?”
“Yes,” my brother told me without an ounce of doubt in his voice. “Over time, with help, she’ll get through and be able to move forward with her life again.”
I looked at him hopefully. “WillIrecover?”
He nodded with the same steady assurance. “Over time,” he murmured again. “With help, yes, you will.”
11LUKE
When JB walked us to the waiting area where everyone was milling about, I slowed to a stop, squinting at the numbers. Except it didn’t look right. There should be more people here, more of them concerned about Chloe.
As if reading my thoughts, JB paused beside me. “The others are over in the pediatric ward with Lucy and the baby.”
Right. That was right. I nodded, thinking that made sense. The Gamble clan did take up more than its fair share of the family. Of course, they’d be with Lucy right now.
My mom was here, though, sitting next to Eva and holding her hand as Eva’s cousin Reese sat on her other side.
As my mom stood and came toward me, JB’s cell phone rang. I could tell it was his wife by the way he answered and started to move away. It made sense for her not to be here, either; she’d no doubt stayed home with their daughter, who was only a year and a half.
“...No, I was just back with Luke, helping him get cleaned up and changed…”
He stepped out of hearing range, and Mom came in, hugging me warmly.
“My Lucian. Are you okay?”
I pulled my arms around her and tucked her in close, meeting JB’s gaze over her head as I answered, “I will be.”
Locking her tight in the hug, I held her a little longer than usual and soaked in her mom smell, so that she looked up in concern when I finally did let her loose. Then her hand lifted, and she touched my face.
“You look so much like your brother in these clothes.”
I sniffed and hooked a thumb around the cloth of the top. “Big J onlywisheshe could look this good in scrubs.”
“Oh! You…” Mom laughed, always tickled by my jokes, and she patted my arm warmly.
Grinning, I slung an arm over her shoulder and tucked her in close as I turned us toward the others.
Only to get a face full of a fuming Trick as he marched toward me.
Apparently, he’d had time to think, and the one conclusion he’d come to was, “She wasn’t blocking the door, was she?”
I pulled back and let go of my mom, shifting so that I was protecting her from Chloe’s irate brother.
“Why didn’t you let me in?” he demanded. “What the hell did you see in that room?” When he shoved me, causing me to stumble a step back, my mom gasped, and his dad jumped between us.
“Hey, hey. Cool it,” Pick murmured, keeping his back to me as he faced Trick and set a hand against his son’s chest. “Just breathe.”
But Trick gnashed his teeth as he glared past Pick, right at me. “What…did you see in that room?”
I exhaled and shook my head. “Chloe didn’t want you in there, so I kept you out. I’m sorry. But sheasked, and I couldn’t tell her no.”
“Damn you,” he growled. “You had no right. She’smysister.”
“And she didn’t want her little brother to see the shit that I saw!” I answered, lifting my voice. “Why the hell does this matter now? She’s safe and okay. Drop it.”
Tears filled his eyes as he clenched his teeth and shook his head. “Why did you make me go look for handcuff keys?” he pressed. “And where were her clothes?”
