When I open my door five minutes later, Judge Rowe stands with a murderous scowl on his face. The lights are turned off in the clinic. Johnna, the only one left aside from us, gives me a quick apologetic wave before bolting.
“Judge,” I greet, my tone cool.
He pushes past me to find Sophia digging through her box of supplies. She looks up at him and smiles. Innocent as fuck. Little liar.
“Why were you screaming?” he demands, his chest heaving.
She blinks at him. “My hip, Daddy.”
A stab of jealousy hits me like a punch to the gut. Daddy. I send her a glare over his shoulder that says, You’re going to call me daddy later.
A smile tugs at her lips. “It’s been hurting worse lately,” she admits, the defeat in her voice real. “The therapies are okay but nothing ever takes the pain away.”
I swallow down the guilt knowing I stole her crutch. Her illegal pills.
“So why was the door locked?” he bellows.
Soph, apparently used to her dad, simply shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “Drew had to take a look at it and didn’t want anyone to see me like that. You know I have to pull my jeans down some, Dad. It’s embarrassing.”
God, is she ever a little liar.
“The swelling is worse,” I cut in. “Dr. White still hasn’t called with the results. Her skin is red and hot to the touch. I suspect more than simple inflammation going on.”
Max Rowe’s stiff posture relaxes as if he’s convinced now that I wasn’t just buried deep inside his daughter’s teenage cunt. “What are we going to do about it?”
“Nothing until we know more,” I admit, my voice on edge. It’s the most infuriating thing in the world—not being able to figure out the source of a problem when it hurts someone you care for.
Max launches into a barrage of questions regarding his daughter’s therapies. I don’t get a chance to ask him why he’s even here. I’m assuming to check to see how she likes interning here. From the way her pussy milked my cock earlier, I’d say she likes it pretty fucking well.
He keeps barking out questions but my gaze is on Soph. Her face has paled and she clutches onto the side of the desk with white knuckles. I push past him and make it to her just as she collapses.
“Sophia,” I holler as I pull her limp body into my arms. Her skin is on fire.
“What’s wrong with her?” Max demands, crouching beside me. His palm runs over her cheek and he growls. “She’s burning up.”
“Call an ambulance,” I instruct, my voice hoarse. When he rises to make the call, I kiss her hot forehead. “Baby, what’s wrong? Open your eyes and tell me what the fuck is happening.”
Her eyes flutter open and confusion dances in her dulled green eyes. They roll back into her head again, scaring the fuck out of me.
“SOPHIA!” I yell, shaking her.
Max kneels beside me again. “They’re on their way. What the hell is going on? Is she sick?”
I frown as I study her red face. “I don’t know. I don’t fucking know.” Terror clutches at my throat. “She was addicted to oxy but I don’t think this is related.”
Fire blazes in his eyes when I look at him.
“Oxy?”
I don’t really want to tell him his daughter almost got gang raped when she made a drug deal, so I skip over that part.
“I discovered she had pills that belonged to someone else. She was taking way too many.”
Heartache flashes in his eyes. “You noticed that here?”
I ignore that question.
“Her leg also gave out. She hit her head but she was pale then too. Hot as could be. I didn’t know what was wrong. I’d thought it was withdrawals. But it’s something else. It’s getting worse.” I turn my attention to her. “Soph, wake up.”
She lazily opens her eyes again. “Hey…”
“Have you had any more symptoms?”
“Uh…M-Monday I fainted on the football field,” she whispers, her eyes dazed. “Saturday, at your house, w-was the first time my leg gave out. It did it last night too before I went to bed.”
Max is growling like a fucking bear but I don’t have time to get my ass kicked. Right now, I need to get my girl well. I rise with her in my arms and meet his nasty glare.
“We’re together,” I bite out, unapologetically.
“The fuck you are—”
“We. Are. Together,” I snarl. “End of story.”
Rage blazes in his green eyes which remind me so much of his daughter. “I’ll have your ass arrested, motherfucker.”
I curl my lip at him and bare my teeth. “I fucking care about her. She’s mine to look after. Arrest me. See if I care. I’ll be back though because she’s mine.”
With her passed out body between us, we stare each other down. I know if I didn’t have his baby girl in my arms, this guy would be throwing punches.
“Pedophile,” he rages.
I roll my eyes. “Get over yourself. You and I both know Soph does what she wants. The poor girl was forced to grow the fuck up when her life was destroyed after that accident. Let her be fucking happy for once in her life. And with me,” I growl. “She’s happy. So goddamned happy.”
The fire in his eyes flickers. He reaches up and slides the hair out of her eyes. “Oh, Soph, what have you done?”
“She’s living,” I utter. “She’s finally living.”
When our eyes meet again, his are sad and broken. “We have to fix her.”
I clench my teeth and nod. “We fucking will.”
“Calm the hell down, man,” Miles says, his hand slapping my shoulder. “You’re making me anxious watching you pace around here. You’re scaring my kid too.”
I glance over at his infant daughter who watches me with wide eyes in the crook of his arm. With a sigh of frustration, I scrub my palm down my face. “Why is it taking so long?”
“I don’t know but they’ll notify everyone once they know more.”
We don’t have to wait much longer before an ER doctor comes out to speak to us.
“Are you her father?” she asks, her brows furrowed together. No, but when she’s better I’m going to spank her ass for making me worry and then make her call me daddy.
“I’m her father,” Max belts.
“And I’m her doctor,” I lie. Close enough.
He grunts but doesn’t fight me.
“I’m Dr. Bogner. You can come see her. Just two of you for now. We’ll talk in the room,” she says and asks us to follow her. As we stride down the hallway, Max mutters something about déjà vu.
Once in the room, she closes the door behind us. Soph sleeps soundly with tubes hooked up everywhere. She’s still pale and it scares the shit out of me.
“I’m just going to come out with it,” she says in a grim tone. “We found a mass.”
Max stumbles over his feet and clutches his chest. “W-What?”
I stare at her in horror. “You made a mistake.”
Her lips press together in a firm line. “The tumor is wedged between the head of her femur and the ischiofemoral ligament. The mass is pressed against her obturator membrane and is cutting off supply to the small arteries there. The result is severe inflammation in that area and her body is acting out in other ways trying to defend against it. Sweating. Fainting. Weakness.”
“Cancer? My wife had cancer.” Max has turned as pale as the white wall and his hands are shaking.
“She’s going to be fine,” I snap. She fucking better be.
Dr. Bogner frowns. “We don’t know if it’s malignant or not but it does need to go. It’s large enough that it keeps pushing her hip bone out of socket. I’m sure it’s incredibly painful for her. Walking would be quite difficult.”
“Cancer…” Max is still dazed by the word.
“When?” I demand.
“Well, when she comes to, we can discuss our options with her,” Dr. Bogner starts.
“Do the surgery. Take the mass out. Now,” I bark out.
She lets out an exasperated huff. “Not so fast. A secondary infection has begun. She’ll need to be on antibiotics for a week. Then we can do the surgery. I’d like to send her to a specialist to do that. We can do the surgery here but unless it’s life or death, it’s best to send her to someone who specializes in that type of surgery.”
“Dr. White?” Max questions, his face still sheet white.
Her lips purse together and her nose scrunches as though his name sours her to hear. “Dr. White isn’t my first choice, no. In fact, I think it would behoove you to find a better qualified doctor.” She darts her gaze over to Sophia. “This should have been picked up on sooner. Often, these tumors will strike after an injury. I feel like this should have been noticed. There’s no way she wasn’t in agonizing pain day in and day out. Am I right?”
Both Max and I share the same guilty look.
We should have helped her.
For nine goddamned months, I blew her off. She was just a whiny brat. Not my problem. And Max, he doesn’t look any better. He could have taken her to more doctors. Pushed the issue. Demanded answers.
We failed her.
“Tomorrow she can go home,” Dr. Bogner says softly. “We’re going to get this girl healed up. The mass is large but it’s bulbous and doesn’t seem too difficult to remove. As long as it hasn’t woven itself around those obturator arteries, it should be a quick nip and tug. If it proves to be benign, she’ll heal up rather quickly. If it is cancer, we’ll go from there. Either way, she’s young and strong. We’re going to fix her.”
I wish I could believe her.
Fuck how I wish I could.