Quarterback's Secret Baby(10)

"Is something wrong?" I asked, as Tasha's friend walked on ahead. "You look-"

"No." She cut in. "Nope. I'm fine. How are you?"

Goddamn, there was that tone again. I hated it. That I-have-better-things-to-do-than-talking-to-you tone. It was almost impossible to respond to.

"I'm good,' I replied. "Won another game this weekend. I threw three touchdowns." Ugh. I sounded like a little kid trying to impress one of the grown-ups.

"That's cool," Tasha said, looking at the time on her phone and clearly uninterested in how my game went.

An awkward silence descended before I blurted out another question, inviting her to the game the following weekend.

"I don't think so, Kaden," she replied, and it was like I could actually feel my heart sinking in my chest. "I'm pretty busy this weekend."

Damn. Is that how it felt to all the girls I blew off like that, with an obvious lie? I definitely wasn't used to being on the receiving end of that. The thought occurred to me that I would rather have been slapped in the face than have Tasha giving me that look, the one that said she was just waiting for me to leave her alone.

"Are you?" I asked, making a fool of myself but somehow unable to stop. "I could come pick you up if you want, and take you home right away. We could-"

"Kaden!"

"What?"

"What part of 'I'm busy' don't you understand?"

She was angry. I could hear her breathing getting faster. When I didn't answer she jabbed her finger into my chest and just tore right into me.

"I'm not Kelsey Richards, OK, Kaden? Do you get that? I'm not Kelsey or any of those other stupid chicks who follow you around like puppy dogs and accept the crumbs from your table with a grateful smile, OK? I'm never going to be like that. I'm not interested in worshipping at the altar of the great Kaden Barlow. So why don't you just...why don't you just leave me the fuck alone!?"

I took a step back, genuinely shocked by the vitriol in Tasha's voice. I think she might have shocked herself, too. Her eyes widened and she looked like she was going to say something else but instead she just turned around and ran away. I watched her for a few moments, stunned and considering whether or not to chase after her and demand she tell me what I'd done to warrant her being so angry. But by the time I'd decided against it, she was gone anyway, so I headed home to wallow in the new and unpleasant feeling of being rejected by a girl.





Chapter 6: Natasha


I regretted the way I'd spoken to Kaden before I was even ten feet away from him, but my pride kept me running anyway. It wasn't even his fault. My mother had seen the doctor earlier that day and the news wasn't good. She was going to need a portable oxygen tank. She told me not to worry on the phone but I could hear the fear in her voice and even as I heard it I knew it was mostly for me and my brother and sister and not for herself. It took a lot not to cry but I kept my voice upbeat, even as she told me that there was no getting better, not by then. Her condition could be managed and that was the best we could hope for.

When I stepped into the house the air felt heavy, everything was quiet. My niece, Rosa, was asleep on the sofa and no one was in the kitchen. I tiptoed upstairs and knocked lightly on my brother's door.

"Ray?" I whispered, turning the handle.

He was sitting in front of the computer with an article on lung diseases on the screen in front of him. When he turned to me I could see his eyes were red from crying. He stood up and we looked at each other for a few seconds, struggling with our emotions.

"Ray," I said, taking a long, shaky breath. "I spoke to mom earlier, she called me. I just want you to know that I'm not going anywhere, OK? I'm not leaving. We need to take care of this family, me and you, and I just...I just..."

My voice broke as I started to cry and my brother put his arms around me. We stood like that in his room just holding each other for a long time, until both of us felt like we could speak without breaking down again.

"I know, Tash. I know. I don't know how we're going to do it but we're going to have to, aren't we?"

I nodded. "Yeah, we are."

"That's not even what's bothering me," Ray said, rubbing his hand across his forehead. "I mean, it is. But this is just so fucking unfair, you know?"

My brother never cried. Well, I'd seen him cry once before that, but that was back when we were children and my father had stood us up again. Watching his eyes swim with tears somehow made everything more real, more painful. I squeezed his shoulder and refused to look away.

"I know, Ray. I know. Mom doesn't deserve this. Of all the people in the world who don't deserve this-"

We both turned at the sound of the door opening again. It was CeeCee and she, too, had eyes rimmed red with sadness. As soon as she saw her brother and I she burst into tears again and we gathered her into our arms and stood together, all three of us shaking with the weight of an unknown future on our shoulders.