I wanted to argue that she wouldn’t take proper care of me either, but insulting her wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
“It’s not a ‘random person.’ It’s a good friend of mine. And I’m not completely useless. I’ll be fine.”
“But why would you go there instead of staying with your family who loves you? It doesn’t make any sense.”
It actually made perfect sense. When I’d moved back into my parents’ house after leaving Sophia, I’d lasted two days before I’d felt the mental breakdown coming on. I’d worked as many hours as Rafferty’s would give me, and I’d just picked up another job so I could earn enough money to get out of there ASAP.
If I went back there to recover, I’d be stuck in the house twenty-four hours a day. We’d be a True Crimes documentary within a week because I’d murder them with my crutches.
“I’m a grown man,” I said wearily. “I can make my own decisions about where I’m going to go.”
“If you had somewhere else to go, why did you move home in the first place?” she asked.
“Because they didn’t have space for me then.”
“And they do now?”
Not really. “Yes.”
My mom crossed her arms over her chest. “Andrew, this has gone far enough. You’re not staying in some run-down hovel with a bunch of rowdy guys. You’ll never get better there.”
“That’s not how it is,” I argued weakly because that was exactly how it was.
I knew I was being a little stubborn and probably a lot stupid, but I genuinely believed that, even under those kinds of circumstances, I’d still have an easier recovery than if I moved home. There was something to be said for my mental health too, wasn’t there?
“Fine,” my mom said. “Then tell this Good Samaritan I’ll drop you off over there after you’re discharged.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I’ll drive you to wherever your new place is, scope it out, and if it seems fit for you to be there, I’ll drop you off and disappear from your life like you so obviously want.”
Wow, that guilt trip was as subtle as a two-by-four.
“I don’t need you to go to all that trouble. You could have Cody drop some of my stuff off here later, and then I’ll call you when I get settled.”
“No, I’m not budging on this. I at least get to meet the person. And as God as my witness, if some meathead shows up here, I’m getting one of those caseworkers involved.”
Well…fuck. That was exactly who would show up, and there was no way I could get any kind of caseworker involved since the place I was staying wasn’t somewhere I was strictly allowed to be. Why was she choosing right now to give a shit? I’d been out on my own since I was eighteen. Granted, I hadn’t been recuperating from a motorcycle accident then, but still.
My brain was scrambled as I tried to think of who I could get to show up and take me where I needed to go.
“Um, excuse me. Is this a bad time?”
My head whipped toward the door, and I beheld my savior.
“There she is, Mom. That’s who I’m staying with. You remember Sophia, right?”
S O P H I A
I’d never understood the expression You could’ve knocked me over with a feather.
I mean, how could a feather ever knock anyone over? But after hearing Drew’s words, I finally understood. I felt my brow crinkle as my eyes narrowed.
“What now?”
Drew’s eyes grew comically wide, as if he were trying to telepathically make me understand what the hell was going on.
“You have perfect timing,” he said.
I doubted that. It seemed like horrible timing.
“My mom was just asking to meet the person I was going to stay with,” he continued, enunciating each word and boring his eyes into mine, “while I recuperate. So I don’t have to burden them. Because I’ll be with you. At your apartment. That you live in.”
“With me?”
He nodded slowly.
I looked around at all the expectant eyes on me—everyone’s except those belonging to the old guy in the chair who was just staring at the TV.
Drew must not want to go home with these people, and he needed me to play along. Because I owe it to him to do that.
Swallowing my inner catty bitch, I straightened my shoulders. “Right. Yeah. With me. Awesome.”
My droll delivery might have needed a bit of work, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. I’d only stopped down here because I’d moved back into the sorority house that morning and had the afternoon free. Well, that and Drew’s last request before I’d left him the last time had been weighing on me.
He’d asked to see me again, and for no other reason than I was an apparent glutton for punishment, I’d wanted to see him again too. Fuck me and my good deeds.
“Oh, well…” Drew’s mom dropped her arms to her sides and looked back and forth between Drew and me. “How well do you two even know each other? I’ve never heard you mention her before we met the other week, Andrew.”
There was no use lying about it—that one stung a bit. Not that I’d expected him to tell his parents, but still…ouch.
“Oh, we’ve known one another for a while. Right, Soph?”
So it’s “Soph” now, is it?
“Yup,” I said, popping the p.
“Are you two dating? Because this is a lot to ask of a new girlfriend. It’ll put a lot of strain on the relationship, and I just don’t think—”
“She’s my fiancée,” Drew interrupted, the words booming out of him like he was yelling through a megaphone. The loud sound startled me so much, it took a second for his words to sink in. His eyes rounded and his mouth dropped open as if even he couldn’t believe the words that had just spilled out of his mouth.
His sisters all gasped before everyone started speaking at once.
“Wait. I said wait!” his mother yelled. “Andrew, what are you talking about? When you introduced her the other day, you said she was your friend. Now she’s your fiancée? What in the hell is going on? Drew, are you hearing this?”
A muttered, “Yeah, yeah,” filtered across the room.
“Start talking,” Pam told her son.
“We, uh, we didn’t want to tell you…like this. I, um, I proposed last week. When she came to see me.”
“You proposed to her in a hospital?” one of his sisters asked. “Gross.”
“Yeah, I, um, I…” He cut his eyes over to me, and part of me wanted to let him drown in his own lie.
But we’d been in so many situations during our short time together that mirrored this one. It was almost instinct for me to step in.
“We’d fought before the accident. Broken up. I didn’t know what had happened to him until a friend let me know, and that’s when I came to see him. Knowing I’d almost lost him, it, uh…” I cleared my throat. “Almost losing him made me realize how much I loved him.”
My throat burned after the words left it. I was giving too much of myself away. Sure, I could make the case that I was just saying things that would sound good to his mom. But Drew knew me. He’d hear the truth I’d desperately wanted to keep buried.
There was a collective “Aw” from his sisters, and even his mom was smiling softly.
“Well, I obviously want to hear all about you and this engagement,” she said, “but for now I guess I just need to make sure you’re up for taking care of him. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to get to know one another once he’s healed.”
I let out a deep sigh before saying, “I’m up for it,” even though I really wasn’t even sure what was going on.
After a bit more get-to-know-you small talk and a promise by his mom that she’d stop by and see us soon, Drew’s family left.
When the door was closed behind them, he sagged into the bed. “Christ, I thought they’d never leave.”
I lowered myself into the chair beside his bed and stared at him.
“What?” he asked.
“Are
you fucking kidding me right now?”
He had the good sense to at least look abashed. “I’m sorry. I panicked.”
“Seriously, though, what the fuck? I can’t take you back to the sorority house. Where are you going to go?”
“I already have that all worked out, but my mom was never going to let it happen, so I needed to adjust my story on the fly.”
“You have it worked out? So where are you staying?”
“At Carter’s.”
“At Carter’s! You can’t go there. You’ll catch an infection the second you step over the threshold. Not to mention the fact he lives with four other guys in a house that wouldn’t even be inhabitable by Animal House standards.”
“It’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t have much choice. I cannot be stuck in my parents’ house while I can barely walk. My mom acts like she’s dependable, but she isn’t. After a couple days, they’ll leave me to fend for myself. And if that’s what’s going to happen anyway, I may as well at least be in a place that isn’t a fucking circus.”
“Drew, you’re going to be living with five football players. If that’s not a circus, I don’t know what is.”
“Yeah, but it’s different.” He groaned, clearly getting frustrated. “My sisters are always at the house, and they’re always arguing. Everyone’s mad at everyone else, they’re manipulating each other, manipulating me… I just… I can’t, okay? Even if it’s insane at Carter’s, at least I’ll know they probably aren’t stealing money out of my wallet while I’m sleeping or taking off with my stuff.”
That brought me up short. For as insane as my family could be, we weren’t steal your shit after your near-death experience crazy. An idea popped into my mind, and I tried to tell myself to quash it. This was a headache I didn’t need or want. After all the bullshit last semester, I just wanted a low-key spring to lick my wounds and get back to my old self. Except…
“I’ll take you to Brody’s.” There was no mistaking the defeat in my voice, even though I’d only beaten my better sense. “My dad signed a year-long lease, and it’s still sitting empty. We can stay there until you’re better.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.” His tone told me he meant the words, but there was no hiding the bloom of hope in his eyes. And no matter what my brain said, my heart couldn’t extinguish it.
“You didn’t ask. I’ll get the nurse, and we’ll see about getting you out of here.”
Chapter Four
S O P H I A
“Dude, you’re heavier than you look,” Carter said, his arm wrapped around Drew’s body as he helped him out of his car. Thank God for Carter. After team workouts, he’d helped me bring down Drew’s things from his hospital room, driven us to Brody’s, and volunteered the rest of his Saturday to help me get Drew settled in and unpacked.
Drew hopped up on the sidewalk and took the crutches I had waiting for him. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult.”
Carter thought for a moment. “I’m not sure either.”
“Thanks for your help, man. I mean it,” Drew told him. “And for checking in on me so much.”
Even though I knew Drew’s comment had been directed at Carter and had only been made out of appreciation, I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I hadn’t gone to visit him since the night of the accident.
Though I truly cared about Drew’s well-being, I’d cared more about saving face and not acting overly concerned for a person who’d left me without any explanation.
And since Carter had been going to the hospital and getting updates from the nurses by phone, I could make sure Drew was making progress without ever having to inquire about him myself.
“You don’t need to thank me. I was happy to do it.”
“Well, I just want you to know it means a lot. Being in the hospital for a month can get pretty lonely, especially without a working phone.”
As I listened to this bromance developing on the street, it became abundantly clear how selfish my choice to avoid Drew had been. And though I had every right to be selfish after how Drew had acted, the situation had become bigger than my feelings. Because even though Drew might not have wanted me, he needed me in a way I wasn’t aware of until I’d finally gone to see him.
And even that had been Carter’s suggestion. He’d even offered to let Drew stay at his house with him and the other guys. Granted, that place was a maggot-infested dump, but still. There was definitely a special place in heaven for Carter.
“Oh yeah, the no-phone thing must’ve been rough. Having to jerk off without porn is a hardship I hope I never have to face,” Carter said, his tone grave. “You’re truly a survivor.”
Drew laughed, causing Carter to break into a smile. He didn’t disagree or say anything at all to Carter, and I wished that during the silence I could think of anything other than Drew’s penis. Goddamn Carter.
I grabbed two of Drew’s bags out of Carter’s SUV, and he shut the trunk before taking the larger of the two bags from me and rushing over to Drew’s side. He pulled open the door and helped Drew up the small step toward the stairway that led to Brody’s apartment.
When I’d thought of using it as a place for Drew to stay, it had been a stroke of genius on my part. The place was empty except for furniture and some of Brody’s stuff he’d left there months ago.
The fact that our parents hadn’t tried to get out of the lease early just showed how much blind hope they had. Brody didn’t even want to live in this country, let alone go back to college. Luckily, their misplaced faith in him meant that Drew had a quiet place to relax while he rehabbed. It’d taken a little convincing on my part to get him there, but we both knew his options were limited.
We ascended the stairs slowly, Drew repeatedly wincing in pain and looking a little pale but never complaining. Once we reached the landing, I fished my keys out of my bag, simultaneously glad my dad had never asked for my key back and hoping the reason he hadn’t wasn’t because he’d had the locks changed over winter break.
When the key slid in easily and the lock clicked over, I breathed a sigh of relief because as good as this plan had been, it had been my only one. Carter and I could get Drew situated with some food, a new phone, and a comfortable place to sleep where no one—mainly his mom and sisters—could bother him.
Or we’d be doing something else entirely… Because there, on the couch, covered in Dorito crumbs and self-pity, was Brody.
The fuck?
D R E W
“Brody?” both Sophia and I said, as if we weren’t sure if the creature in front of us was real or some sort of illusion—like a Tupac hologram minus the talent or drive.
He brought the can of Coke away from where he’d just had it at his lips. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Sophia’s eyes opened so wide I thought they might actually fall out of her head. “I think we should be the ones asking you that!”
Careful not to bump into me, she pushed past Carter and headed for her brother. He didn’t look nearly as frightened as he should’ve been at Sophia’s approach. Once she was close enough to reach him, she grabbed the bag of chips off his lap and tossed them aside before smacking him on the arm.
Brody rubbed at his bicep, looking confused. “Ouch. What was that for?”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Sophia turned to Carter and me. “Is he fucking kidding right now? He better be fucking kidding.”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard Sophia curse that much in such a short period of time, and I found it oddly appealing.
“I’d tell her you were kidding,” Carter advised him as he helped me into a chair. Then he put down my bag and walked over to the couch, extending a hand. “Hey, man. I’m Carter Blaine. It’s good to finally meet you. The real you.” He glanced at me for a moment before turning back to Brody. “You guys do look pretty similar, though.”
Brody put the soda on the table and shook Carter’s hand. “Brody. And don’t believe any of what you heard if it came from my sister
.”
“Jesus Christ! This isn’t the time to make new friends,” Sophia said, grabbing the remote and shutting off the TV.
“What the fuck?” Brody said, snatching it back. “I was watching that. Jon Snow was just about to find out his girlfriend’s his aunt.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sophia replied. Even Brody couldn’t miss the sarcasm in her voice. “I’m home handing Mom tissues on Christmas Eve because she thinks you can’t even stand to be in the same country as us, and you’re forty miles away the whole time, binging junk food and Game of Thrones reruns?”
Other than the crunch of the chip Brody had just placed in his mouth, the apartment was silent.
“How long have you been here?” She looked around the apartment like it might provide some clues. Though I had no idea what any of them might be.
Brody looked to Carter and me, his eyes begging for help neither of us was going to give him. “I feel like there isn’t a good answer to that.”
Sophia spun on her heels and grabbed the purse she’d dropped to the floor minutes earlier. “That’s it. I’m not covering for your stupid ass anymore. If I have to deal with Mom and Dad, so do you.” She pulled out her phone, but Carter’s voice stopped her from actually calling them.
“Wait, wait, wait,” he said. “You can’t tell them Brody’s here. How are you gonna let Drew stay here if your parents know Brody’s home? They’ll be up his ass immediately.”
Thank God for Carter.
The long sigh Sophia released told me she knew Carter had a point. And truthfully, Sophia’s comment had probably been more of an impulsive threat than it had been an actual intention. In the time I’d known her, she’d never once thought of diming Brody out, even if he’d deserved it.
“Wait, why’s Drew staying here? He doesn’t need to pretend to be me anymore.” He set his eyes on me curiously. “What the hell happened to you anyway? You look like shit.”
“He wrecked his bike,” Carter explained. “He’s been in the hospital for the last month. Sophia figured he could stay here till he’s fully recovered.”
Truth or Dare You (The Love Game Book 2) Page 3
