“There’s no keeping score between friends, Caden Kelly. When will you get that through your head? I know you’d do the same for me. But I’m not going to say no to a dinner I don’t have to cook.” She hefted the tote she used for school more securely onto her shoulder, in preparation to leave.
I couldn’t blame her, wanting to get the hell out of this hospital. As much as it made me a coward, I would do almost anything else to avoid my dad. I hadn’t been away from him long enough to build a wall of numbness toward the verbal attacks that would be aimed my way.
“Tell your mom I said bye, okay? When she’s out of the hospital, I’ll be around to help like usual. Think your dad will get her to the rehab stuff after?”
“I will tell her. I don’t know about rehab, but I’ll figure it out, don’t worry.”
Her expression looked unconvinced as she started walking away, presumably to one of the other exits.
I had no idea how I’d do anything except stand here, my anxiety eating me up inside.
But I had to see my mom.
And to do that, I’d have to face whatever hurtful bullshit my dad decided to throw in my face today.
seventeen
ASHER
Instead of sitting at one of the tables in the hospital cafeteria with my coffee and waiting for Cade’s text, I couldn’t help but wander in the general direction of the ER.
Each sip of the slightly burnt-tasting liquid brought some life back into my sluggish brain cells.
It wasn’t that Cade needed me to be there, but it just felt wrong not to be nearby just in case. If he wanted my help for any reason, I didn’t want a massive building between us.
Rationally, I knew I had no place in Cade’s private family matters, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to be by his side in case everything became too much to cope with.
He’s not your boyfriend. Stop trying to act like he is.
Shit. I was a goner. There was no denying it now. Those stolen glances on the drive up here had pushed me over the edge from crush to full-blown hope in becoming more important to Cade.
I knew my footsteps had taken me too close to the ER when I heard someone call out to Cade.
“Caden! What the hell are you doing here?” The gritty voice sounded angry, which didn’t make any sense.
Why wouldn’t Cade be there?
“Hi, Dad.” Weariness infused Cade’s reply. “I’m here to see Mom.”
“She’s going to be fine. The doctors will fix her right up. Your ass should be in Belleville at practice this morning. How the fuck did you get up here, anyway? I know that bitch of yours has your piece of shit car because she’s always coming by my goddamn house when I’m not there.”
The man’s sneering condescension was a kick in the gut to me. Was this stress, or was this what Cade always dealt with from his father?
I couldn’t fathom either of my parents speaking to me or my brother that way, no matter how much they disagreed with us. Hell, as a kindergarten teacher, my mom’s first response to anything was to offer comfort, even in conflict.
I’d always known how lucky I was to have parents who loved their kids as much as mine did. But something about what Cade was going through right now made me hyperaware of just how shitty things could be for someone, and you would have no goddamn clue what they were going through.
A brief pause preceded Cade’s answer. I wished I could see the expression on his face to know how he was reacting, as his tone was completely neutral, void of any emotion.
“Uh, yeah, Kait does still have my car,” Cade began, making no mention of his father’s insulting words. “I managed to get a ride up with someone coming this way. Mom had a fall bad enough to need emergency hip surgery. I wanted to get up here as fast as I could to make sure that I saw her before they took her in.”
“All those stuck-up assholes you had for teachers must have been lying to your mom about you being smart, otherwise you’d already know that life isn’t fucking fair. You know you got a spot with the Hammerheads by the skin of your teeth. We were lucky enough that you managed to fool them into thinking you wereworth a goddamn thing. You finally have a chance at the kind of money to pay me back for all the work I put into you to get you where you are. And what do you do? Go AWOL from the team and fuck everything up, you little piece of shit.”
The rage that sparked inside me grew into an inferno. How fucking dare a father talk to his son that way?
It was like my brain disassociated from reality for a few seconds, my thoughts obliterated by a kind of aggression that I’d never felt anything close to.
I edged toward the end of the wall where the two hallways would combine. I just needed to see Cade’s face.
