Don't Hate the Player...Hate the Game (30 page)

And me? I didn’t even want to begin on the wacked out
rollercoaster of realizations I’d been through. Hell, I’d even
become a hopeless romantic in love with “love” and the good girl.
Jesus, it was too much.

“Have you told Jake’s parents yet?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, I wanted to wait until I was
out of the first trimester. You know, in case something happened. I
didn’t think they could bear losing Jake and his baby too.”

“That was thoughtful of you,” I mused.

“Besides I thought Jake might have told them first.”
As soon as the words left her lips, she widened her eyes like she’d
revealed a great secret.

“Wait, are you telling me that Jake knew about the
baby?”

Presley slowly nodded her head.

The world became tripped out Willy Wonka again. I
steadied myself by leaning against a tree trunk. “Are you shitting
me?”

“No.”

“When? When did you tell him?”

Presley refused to meet my intense glare. “The day
before the accident,” she said in a whisper.

“You’re kidding me, right? You’ve known for five
weeks that you’re carrying Jake’s kid, and you didn’t tell anybody?
What the fuck, Presley!”

She continued staring at the intricate floral design
on her toenails.

“Didn’t you think that was something I needed to
know?” I demanded.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

She jerked her head up to glare at me. “I was afraid
if I told people Jake knew I was pregnant, they’d think that—you
know he killed himself or something instead of it being an
accident.”

Oh geez, I felt like an ass. “But Presley, people
wouldn’t have thought that,” I protested.

“Get serious, Noah. Of course they would have. A guy
like Jake finds out he’s gonna be a father, and then he
mysteriously blows up on a tractor? Wouldn’t you have thought
that?”

I shook my head. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah right.”

“I’m serious. Jake was never the kind of guy to kill
himself—no matter what kinda shit had gone down in his life.”

Presley seemed to appreciate my answer. “Whatever,”
she mumbled.

I took a tentative step towards her. “Um, what did he
say? You know…about the baby.”

“He was pretty shocked. I told him I was sorry I had
to tell him over the phone, but I’d just gotten back from the
doctor, and I was scared. He was really cool and calmed me down. He
asked me what I wanted to do, and I told him I wanted to have it. I
also told him I didn’t expect anything out of him—least of all
marriage. He said we’d just have to see how it went, but that no
matter what he would support our baby.”

“Oh,” I said.

“And—” she began as tears welled in her eyes. “And he
told me he really cared about me, and that he always had.”

“That’s pretty wild.”

She smiled. “Yeah it was.” She reached out and
touched my arm. “Noah, I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t
tell anybody about Jake knowing.”

At the pleading look in her eyes, I realized it would
only cause more trouble and heartache if people knew the truth. I
didn’t want to do that to Presley in her condition, and I didn’t
want to do it to Jake either.

“Yeah, I promise.”

“Thanks,” she said, and kissed me on the cheek.

“So how are you going to play this off?”

She drew in a deep breath. “Well, everybody saw us
together the day of the Pre Break Binge—I thought I’d just let them
assume it happened then.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I said. “So are you like
what two months or something?”

“Ten weeks actually.”

Suddenly, it hit me like a searing bolt of lightning.
“Whoa, wait a minute! You knew you were pregnant when—when
you….when we….” I couldn’t even finish the sentence.
Oh Holy
Hell!
Not only was I crushing on my dead best bud’s girl, but
now I’d been in a partial hookup with the chick who carried his
child. Seriously, I felt like I was on a warped version of the
Young and the Restless
or some lameass reality show.

For once, Presley actually blushed. She shifted on
her feet. “Yes,” she said.

“Dammit, how could you!” I shouted. Like a raving
maniac, I ran my fingers through my hair and then turned on her.
“Don’t you know how sick and twisted that is for me? I defiled the
girl having my dead best friend’s baby!”

Presley rolled her eyes. “You didn’t defile me, Noah.
It was just a make-out session,” she protested.

“Oh, no, don’t cop out on me. You had your hand on
my-my…”

I couldn’t even finish my sentence. I glanced up at
the sky. Oh yeah, I was going to hell for this one. I frantically
thought about maybe going by Pastor Dan’s house and confessing my
sins or something. Of course, I’d never be able to see Maddie after
that. They’d probably ship her off to a convent or
something—anything to get her out of my sinful presence.

“Look Noah, I’m sorry. I’m really, really am. Yes, I
came in the room that night with the intentions of doing stuff to
get information out of you.”

“But why not just ask me directly in the first place
instead of talking to
this
,” I said, as I touched my
crotch.

Presley rolled her eyes. “Would you calm down?”

“I’m sorry. I’m not the manwhore, remember?”

“Look, I just needed to know whether Jake had told
you about the baby or if he’d told his parents. I had to do in a
way that you wouldn’t suspect, and for me, that was making out with
you.” She cocked her eyebrows at me. “It wasn’t like we hadn’t
before.”

I wagged my finger at her. “That was 9
^th
grade for Christ sake, and I barely touched your boobs then!”

“I’m sorry, Noah, but I was desperate.”

I heaved a defeated breath. “Okay, whatever.”

“You can’t imagine how surprised I was when of
nowhere you said something about a ring, and then I knew he hadn’t
said anything. In the end, Jake would understand.”

In a really warped way, I knew she was right. I
started to open my mouth to protest when I heard cheering and
yelling through the trees.

“TAKE IT OFF!”

“Yeah, Maddie’s got game!” someone else replied.

Oh shit, I’d forgotten all about Maddie. “Presley,
I’ve gotta go,” I said, before I turned on my heels.

I started sprinting back through the woods. When I
broke through the clearing, I skidded to a stop. Everyone was
stripped down to their underwear and were swimming in the pond. I
scanned the half-naked bodies for Maddie. My heart skipped a beat
when I saw her.

Casey McKenzie had her pressed to him, and his hand
was inches from the curve of her ass.

I didn’t bother taking off my shirt or jeans. I ran
full force into the water, knocking people out of the way. When I
reached them, I pulled Casey off of Maddie. He threw me a pissed
look. Man-handling wasn’t on my top ten list of favorite things to
do, but I grabbed Maddie by the arm and began dragging her out of
the pond.

“Way to be a cock blocker, Sullivan. We were just
trying to have some fun!” Casey called.

“Yeah, it’ll be real fun when I punch the shit out of
you,” I mumbled.

I pulled Maddie into a thicket of trees away from the
others. She stood before me in the moonlight in a pretty daring
white thong and a thin, white camisole that clung to her frame like
a second skin and left very little to the imagination of what was
beneath. Before I could stop myself, the horny male in me did a
perverted rove over her body.

It took only a nanosecond for that traitorous part to
rear his head. I shifted on my feet.
Quit being a perv, asswipe
and think of something else!!!
Then the most horrific images
flashed in my mind. Presley and me together in her room, my mom and
Greg hitting it on the couch, and finally, a furious looking Pastor
Dan punching me in the face for thinking about his daughter in that
way. The last one was the one that did the trick.

I cleared my throat. “What the hell are you doing?” I
demanded.

She cocked her eyebrows at me. As she brought one of
her hands to her hip, she swayed back and forth. “What does it look
like I’m doing?” she slurred.

“
Well,
it looks like you’re half naked and
drunk off your ass!”

“Maybe I am. What’s it to you?” Maddie
questioned.

“Jesus Christ, I leave you for less than thirty
minutes and you’re drunk?”

I knew in her defense she was a lightweight who had
never tasted alcohol before. Hell, it probably only took one to get
her in the condition she was in.

“I was just trying to have a little fun,” she
protested.

“Yeah and so was Casey,” I countered.

At the thoughts of Casey feeling her up, the blood
rushed to my head, which thankfully caused the other part of me to
fully simmer down.

Maddie’s lips curled into a smile. “Noah, will you do
something for me?”

Oh, shit. I didn’t like the sinfully sing-song tone
of her voice. “What?” I croaked.

“Would you stop acting like a gentleman for five
minutes and kiss me?”

I swear to God her lips were already pursed, and she
was purring. No lie, she was freakin’ purring like a cat in heat.
Before I could protest, she wrapped her arms around me. Her full
breasts pressed into my chest, and I groaned. She stared up into my
eyes, and I couldn’t help myself. I brought my lips to hers. They
were everything I’d imagined they’d be. Warm. Soft. Inviting.
Sexy.

One seemingly innocent kiss sent my hormones up and
raging again. Almost on autopilot, I thrust my tongue into her
mouth to dance against hers. My arms snaked around her waist,
jerking her flush against me. I groaned against her lips as I
thrust my hard-on against her. Instead of pulling away, Maddie
rocked her hips back into mine. Holy hell! How was this chick a
virgin? She was so fucking responsive to everything I did.

Maddie released my lips and dipped her head, kissing
along my neck. When she ran her hands teasingly down my chest, I
moaned. She glanced up at me through hooded eyes. “I’ve wanted to
touch you here for so long.” Raising my shirt up, her warm palms
rubbed against my chest, and she giggled. “That day when Josh puked
on you, and you had to take your shirt off—I wanted to touch you so
bad.”

I laughed. “I think I got that impression from the
way you were ogling me.”

“Noah,” she whispered, her breath was like fire
scorching against my neck. “Will you be my first?”

Motherfuckingshitdamnhell!
My eyes snapped
open as the world around me screeched to a halt. I shrugged away
from her. “Maddie, you’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re
saying,” I protested.

She slowly shook her head at me. “No, I know what I’m
saying, and I know what I want.”

“Well,
I
know you, and I know the sober you
would never be standing here in your underwear propositioning me to
sleep with you.”

Her face fell. “Don’t you want to sleep me? I mean,
don’t you find me…sexy?”

At her words, my lower half caught on fire, causing
me to shift on my feet. I cursed under my breath. “Oh come on
Maddie. Don’t ask me things like that.”

She pressed herself closer against me. “Please Noah,”
she begged.

So let me recap here. I was out in the middle of
Eastbumblefuck. The girl I thought I was in love with was standing
before me, soaked to the bone, in nothing but a
white
camisole and her underwear. Oh, and she was begging me to sleep
with her. What do you think I did?

Like some testosterone raging Incredible Hulk, the
horny asshole in me broke free, and I seized the moment. I crushed
my lips against hers. Her lips opened momentarily, and I took the
opportunity to plunge my tongue in her mouth, thrusting hard and
fast against her.

Panting, we rammed against the trunk of an oak tree.
Then I became an eight armed octopus, raking my hands over her
body. I cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples to hardened points.
“Noah,” Maddie moaned.

All the while, I moved my hips against her, mimicking
what I wanted to do once we weren’t clothed. I slid my palm along
her thigh and then between her legs. When I began stroking her
gently, she cried out and rocked against my hand.

But as I dared myself to slide one finger in her
heat, an overwhelming feeling of disgust and regret washed over me.
That was all it took for the Horny Hulk to deflate. I jerked away
from her. I tried catching my breath while I raked my hand through
my hair. “I can’t,” I murmured.

Tears sprung in her eyes. “Why?”

“Because I care about you too much to do this. You’d
hate yourself in the morning, and you’d hate me even more. It’s
your gift, remember? It’s yours to give, and I’m not your husband
to take it.”

“It’s me, isn’t it?”

I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, are you even listening to
me? More than that, are you incapable of
feeling
how much I
wanted you?” I gestured wildly towards my crotch. “Damn, I’ll
probably either have to go take a dip in the pond or take a cold
shower tonight because of you.”

My little pep talk didn’t help. She started sobbing.
“I just want someone to love me.”

Man, you’re so fucking blind. Jake loved you…hell,
I love you.
I tentatively put my hand on her shoulder. “You
have lots of people who love you, Maddie.”

She shook her head. “Not like that. I mean a guy—a
guy like you who wants me as more than a friend. I’m almost
eighteen years old, and I’ve never had that!”

There had been so many times that I should’ve told
her about the ring, and here was another example. Most of all, I
needed to tell her how I truly felt about her. I opened my mouth to
say something, and then it happened. She turned around and puked
all over a bush. I grabbed up her hair as she heaved over and over
again. She wiped her hand on the back of her mouth.