Don't Hate the Player...Hate the Game (21 page)

“Oh,” I murmured. Gerard raised his eyebrows at me.
“Sorry,” I said.

He smiled. “No problem, sugar.”

On that note, I started backing out of the kitchen.
“Where are you going?” Mom asked.

“I-uh, I gotta see about my date,” I replied.

She nodded, and I gratefully escaped out the door. As
I climbed into the Jeep, I couldn’t help thinking about how Jake
would have reacted to Gerard. At the insane things he might’ve said
or done, laughter started bubbling out of my mouth. As I wiped the
amused tears from my eyes, I couldn’t help thinking that Jake would
be proud for Mom. He would have certainly enjoyed partying at the
rehearsal dinner and wedding. He also would have probably made some
lameass excuse that he should be made my baby sitter’s
godfather—like any of us would want that. With my spirits raised, I
headed over to Maddie’s.

When she answered the door, I couldn’t help myself,
and I broke into a goofy grin. “Hi!”

“Hi Noah,” she said. Her expression was strained, and
suddenly, I felt like an idiot for just showing up on her
doorstep.

“Um, I’m sorry for not calling. Is this not a good
time?”

Maddie hesitated. “It’s just, um, Josh had a
treatment today, and he’s not-”

A small voice interrupted her. “Is that Noah?” Josh
called.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I answered.

“Tell him to come in and visit me,” he said.

I looked at Maddie, and she nodded. She stepped
aside, and I walked into the foyer. In the living room, Josh
stretched out on the couch. He was so pale he could’ve passed for
an albino. I hesitated at first, and then I sucked it up and headed
over to him.

I eased down on the couch and smiled. “Hey Little
Man, how’s it going?”

“Not good.”

“I’m sorry.”

Maddie stood behind the couch. “Hey, how about some
ice cream?”

“Yeah,” Josh replied, with as much enthusiasm as he
could muster.

Maddie smiled. “Okay, I’ll go fix you some.” She
headed into the kitchen leaving Josh and me alone.

“So treatments suck pretty bad, huh?” I asked, trying
to make conversation.

Josh widened his eyes. “You’re not supposed to say
words like that.”

“Oops, sorry.”

He grinned. “That’s okay cause they really do
suck!”

I laughed. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a
dollar. “How about you taking this money instead of the cuss
can?”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“Okay,” he said, and he grabbed the dollar out of my
hand. “I haven’t gotten anything for a treatment in a long
time.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Mommy and Daddy used to buy me a present for each
treatment I had to do. But they can’t afford it now.”

“Why not?”

“Cause we don’t have a lot of money now cause my
medicine and stuff costs so much.”

“Oh,” I murmured. Damn, not only did the Parker’s
have to deal with the emotional pain of Josh’s illness, but they
also had to get kicked when they were down with the financial part.
It just wasn’t fair.

A panicked look entered Josh’s eyes. Before I could
ask what was wrong, he jerked forward and puked all over me.

I sat in shock as my mind processed what had just
happened. Part of me was utterly disgusted and wanted to race out
the door and never look back. Then another part felt awful for
Josh—especially after the expression of pure horror came over his
face at the sight of me drenched in his vomit.

Maddie rushed back into the room. “Oh no!” she
cried.

“I-I’m s-sorry, Noah,” Josh stammered.

My heart dropped at the sight of tears pooling in his
big dark eyes along with his chin trembling.

“Hey, Little man, don’t cry. It’s okay.”

“N-No, it’s n-not,” he whimpered.

“Yes, it is. It’s totally fixable, okay? I
promise.”

I stood up, which caused the vomit to slide down my
shirt onto my jeans. Maddie rushed over to the couch. She yanked
the blanket covering Josh and quickly started patting me down. When
her hand dipped below my waist and brushed across my crotch, I
gasped. Raising my gaze to the ceiling, I silently willed my dick
not to get the wrong idea and spring into action.

Maddie flushed bright red from her cheeks all the way
down to her neck while stumbling away from me. “Oh, um, I’m
s-sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She quickly turned her attention away from me and
started patting Josh down. Luckily for him, he only had a little on
the top of his Scooby Doo pajamas. The rest had managed to hit me
and the blanket.

Once Josh was cleaned up, Maddie turned to me. “Why
don’t I get you something to change into?”

“Okay.”

“Come on,” she said, motioning for me to follow her.
We left Josh for a moment as we headed down the hall to her
parent’s bedroom. She flicked on the light in the closet and
started rifling through her father’s things. Pastor Dan was a big,
muscular dude, so the clothes were gonna be a little awkward.

Maddie handed me a shirt. “I’ll find you some shorts,
too,”

“Thanks,” I replied. Without thinking, I tore my
puke- stained shirt off. Maddie momentarily stopped searching the
racks to stare at me. Not just the way you’d look at somebody who
happened to be undressing in front of you, but more like somebody
you
wanted
to be undressing. I’d never seen that look in her
eyes before, and I had to admit, I totally dug it. A whole reel of
fantasy images flickered through my mind of her running her hands
over my bare chest or kissing a wet trail down to my…
FUCK! Get a
grip, Pervert!
Her sick brother just puked on you, and she’s
just trying to help you, not screw you!

My sex-fiend thoughts were forgotten as Maddie’s face
turned beet red when she finally realized she was openly ogling me.
“S-Sorry.” She thrust a pair of gym shorts at me.

“Thanks.”

Because she looked so cute and sexy when she blushed,
I brought my hands to the button of my jeans. Her eyes widened, and
she flushed all the way down her neck. “I better go check on Josh,”
she muttered and then quickly breezed past me. Inwardly I groaned
as the delicious and dangerously sexy scent of her perfume invaded
my nostrils. It was like a jumpstart to my groin each and every
time.

She practically sprinted out in the hallway before I
could say anything. I smiled as I changed into the shorts. When I
got back to the living room, she’d already gotten Josh a change of
pajamas and a new blanket was covering him.

“All better?” I asked.

“I think so.”

“So where’s your mom and dad?” I asked.

A funny look came over Maddie’s face. “They, uh, had
to take care of some business—um, church business, so I told them
I’d watch Josh.”

I could tell there was something she wasn’t telling
me, but I let it go. I noticed Josh was peering up at me. “What is
it, Little Man?”

“Maddie says you sing and play guitar.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Then will you sing for me?”

“What?” I asked in surprise.

“It’s just Daddy always sings to me after I have a
treatment—you know so I can go to sleep and all.”

I glanced over at Maddie, and she smiled. “Well, I
don’t know…”

“Please?”

Geez, what could I say? “
No, Little man, I’m just
not feeling it this afternoon
?” Yeah, that would make me an
unimaginable asshole.

“Okay, I guess I could. What do you want me to
sing?”

“Know any John Lennon?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Course I do—do you?”

Josh gave me a wide grin, showing the gap from one of
his newly lost teeth. “Yeah, he’s one of my daddy’s favorites.”

“Is that right?”

“Uh, huh. You know
Beautiful Boy
?”

“Yeah, I know it,” I replied. Warmth filled me
because it was one of my mom’s favorite songs. She loved for me to
play it because she said it was exactly how she felt about me. She
also had me change all the times John mentioned “daddy” to
“mommy”.

“Will you play it then? Daddy plays that one for me a
lot.”

“Okay.”

Maddie went to her dad’s office and came back with a
shiny Gibson Southern Jumbo. “Wow, nice,” I mused.

She smiled. “It’s Daddy’s treasure.”

I gently took it from her. “I promise to be very
careful.” After I eased down in the chair next to the couch, I took
the pick out of the top and then stared down at the strings. My
body shuddered as I realized the last time I’d held a guitar in my
hands was at Jake’s funeral. If I closed my eyes, I could almost
hear the symphony of weeping and or smell the sickening sweet aroma
of all the flowers.

“Noah?” Maddie questioned.

“Uh, I’m sorry…I haven’t played in a while,” I
replied as I started strumming a few opening chords. As I focused
on the music, I tried desperately to push away the suffocating pain
ricocheting through my chest at the thought of Jake and his
funeral.

Instead, I focused on entertaining Josh. With rapt
attention, he kept his eyes on me for most of the song. Of course,
they started drooping by the end of the first chorus, and by the
end of the song, he was asleep. I glanced up at Maddie. A strange
look flickered in her eyes before she smiled at me. “Thanks,” she
whispered.

“No problem,” I replied.

She motioned me towards the kitchen where we could
talk. “I’m really sorry about your clothes and all. I can wash them
for you if you want,” she offered.

“Really, it’s not a big deal at all, so please don’t
apologize. Things like that happen when you’re sick.”

“Yeah, they do.”

I shifted on my feet before nervously raking my hand
through my hair. “Listen Maddie, I came over here because I wanted
to ask you something.”

“You did?”

I nodded. “My mom is getting married two weeks from
Saturday, and I wanted to know if you’d like to go with me.”

Her eyes widened as she gazed skeptically at me. “As
your date?”

“Of course.”

“Sure, I’d love to,” she replied with a smile.

“Great.”

“So does this mean you’re okay with the wedding and
all?”

Leave it to Maddie to always play Dr. Phil. “I’m
still not thrilled with the prospect, but I’m learning to deal with
it.”

“Because you know your mom will be happy?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

She nodded. “I know what you mean. My parents have so
much going on with Josh and with…” She hesitated like she was going
to say something but then thought the better of it. “I just try to
think of things I can do to make them happier, but it’s hard.” She
smiled ruefully. “That’s why I work so hard to keep my act
together—the last thing they need is me worrying them.”

I bit my lip before I finally asked her what was on
my mind. “Um, Maddie, is there something besides Josh’s illness
going on?”

Playing with the hem of her t-shirt, she asked, “What
do you mean?”

“You’re just acting a little funny—like about your
parents being gone. I just wondered if everything was okay.”

She sighed. “No, it’s not okay. It’s about my
brother.”

“Josh?”

“No, my older brother, Jace.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise. “I didn’t know you had
a brother. Is he away at college or something?”

Pain flickered on Maddie’s face. “No, he’s in Charter
Peachford for drug addiction.”

I swayed a little on my feet. Pastor Dan had a son
who was a drug addict? The idea was almost too hard to comprehend.
Maddie and Josh were practically Stepford Children. It was hard
believing there was a bad seed in the perfect Parker gene pool.

“I’m sorry, Maddie. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay.”

“How long has been an addict?” I asked.

“On and off for five years. He started experimenting
when he was fifteen, and it went from there. He hit the really hard
stuff about a year and a half ago. After he lost his scholarship
dropped out of college, we finally did an intervention, kinda like
that show on TV.”

I nodded.

“That’s when he went into treatment. But he’ll stay
for a while and then leave. He comes home and tells us he’s better,
but he’s really not. Mom and Dad refuse to let him come around
anymore because it’s too hard on Josh—both physically and
emotionally.” Maddie sighed. “It’s hard on all of us.”

I reached over to tenderly rub her cheek. “I’m so
sorry, Maddie.”

The moment I touched her, she jumped like she’d been
shocked. We stared at each other, barely blinking or breathing.
Finally, Maddie murmured, “Thanks.”

I wanted to say more, but I didn’t know what. “If you
ever need to talk, I’m here.”

She gave me a weak smile. “That’s sweet of you, Noah.
I appreciate it.”

I nodded, but my heart ached for her at that moment.
I wanted so much to help her—to take the worry and burden off of
her, but I didn’t know how. More than anything, I wanted to draw
her into my arms—to somehow physically shield her from all the
sorrow surrounding her. But I didn’t. Instead, I shoved my hands in
my pockets to keep from touching her.

“Well, I guess I better go. Tell your mom and dad I
said hello, okay?”

“I will. Thanks again for everything.” She handed me
the bag with my puke clothes that were utterly reeking.

As I headed out to my Jeep, my mind was whirling.
Josh’s face flashed before my mind, then Maddie’s, and then the
Parker’s. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do
something for Josh. I wanted to be his personal
Make a Wish
Foundation
. I tried thinking of something that would blow him
away, and then it hit me.

He was a baseball fanatic, and there was nothing more
he would want than to meet his idol. The more my mind raced with
emotions, I thought about the cash strapped Parker’s, and I wanted
to do something for them. In the end, all roads led to Mr. Baseball
himself, Joe Preston.