Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“I know that now.” His voice roughened. “But back then, all I could see was you giving up your future for me. I’d already fucked up by getting greedy, thinking I could score enough to set us up for life. I couldn’t drag you down with me.” He took a step closer, close enough that I caught the scent of him, leather and something darker and unfamiliar. “But you’re right. I made the choice for you. And then I missed knowing my daughter because of my own stupidity.” His brutal honesty knocked the wind from my lungs. I’d expected excuses, defensiveness, not this raw acknowledgment of fault.
“You had no right,” I whispered, but the fury had ebbed, leaving something more complicated in its wake. “I loved you. I would have waited forever. Instead, I had to figure out how to raise Brynn alone while grieving you like you died.”
“I know.” Knight’s voice caught. “You deserved better. No matter what my reasons were, I let you down in the biggest way possible.” His tattooed hands flexed at his sides, as if he wanted to reach for me but held himself back. “If I could go back --”
“But you can’t.” I cut him off, unwilling to hear hypotheticals that changed nothing. “We can’t undo the past eleven years. Brynn grew up without you. I built a life without you.”
“I know.” The simple acknowledgment hung between us. “I’m not asking for forgiveness, Lavender. I don’t deserve it. But I’m here now, for Brynn. For as long as she needs me. For as long as you’ll let me be here.”
The intensity in his gaze made my skin prickle. Despite everything I still loved the bastard. We had a tether between us that had stretched but never broken. I became acutely aware of how close we stood, of the electric current humming in the narrow space between us.
I opened my mouth to respond, unsure what words might emerge, when I heard footsteps. We both turned to see a doctor walking toward us, clipboard in hand, her expression professionally neutral.
“Mr. Leahy?” she asked, glancing between us.
Knight straightened, his hand briefly touching the small of my back before dropping away. “That’s me.”
The doctor nodded, her eyes moving to her clipboard. “I’m Dr. Patel, part of the transplant team. I’ve got your preliminary results. Do you mind if I discuss them in front of Ms. Calloway?”
My heart jumped into my throat. I stepped closer to Knight without thinking, fisting my hands in his T-shirt. Knight wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close to him as we faced the doctor together.
“Already?” Knight asked, his voice steady even as I caught the tension in his posture. “I thought it would take longer.”
“We expedited the tests, given the circumstances.” Dr. Patel offered a small smile. “And I wanted to let you know right away that things look promising. We can go ahead with the rest of the testing, which will take place over the next several weeks, and we still have the hurdle with the hypersensitivity reaction so we’ll know more the closer we get, but I believe we have a real chance of making this work.” Her smile brightened considerably.
My knees nearly buckled. I pressed my hand to my mouth, heat building behind my eyes. Knight tightened his hold on me, wrapping his other arm around me.
“What happens next?” he asked, his voice rougher than before.
Dr. Patel looked between us, her expression softening slightly. “We need to complete the biological testing, which, like I said, will take several weeks, maybe even three or four months. Then we’ll need a full evaluation -- physical exam on you, Mr. Leahy, more detailed blood work and a psychological assessment will happen soon. If everything checks out, we could have a better idea of the timeline.”
The doctor smiled. “I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves, but this is a very encouraging start. I’ll let you two discuss this, and we can talk in more detail tomorrow morning. I’ll be back to check on Brynn in about an hour. If we can keep her healthy enough to make it just a little while longer, we might be able to avoid dialysis altogether.”
Knight looked down at me, his expression transformed from anguish to cautious hope. The argument that had blazed between us just moments ago now smoldered, unresolved but temporarily overshadowed by possibility. And there was no possible way to stay mad at him as tightly as he held me. It felt so fucking good to have his arms around me again.
I blinked rapidly, fighting back tears that threatened to spill over. Knight stood so still he might have been carved from stone, but I caught the slight tremor in his body where he held me so closely. Dr. Patel gave us a moment to process before continuing.