Faked (Ward Family #2)(5)

"No, I saw the video clip," he said, pausing only to cough again, "but I know that's not always all of it."

Saint Finn. He sounded like Influenza's poster child of Yuck, and he was calling to check on his asshole brother.

I rubbed my forehead. "I wasn't the only one under the influence, and believe me, he did something to instigate my rant."

"Yeah, you used some combinations of the F word that I've never heard before."

"And Adele says you'll never learn anything from me," I pointed out.

He sniffled noisily, clearly not amused by my attempt at a joke.

"I'll be fine, Finn," I told him. "I'm on my way to Burton now. I'm going to try to fix it."

He was quiet. "You're on your way here?"

"Shit," I mouthed. "Yeah. I suppose I could've warned you before I showed up at the house later."

"They won't be home anyway."

"Why not?" I checked my blind spot and moved lanes.

"They've got a big fundraiser to attend tonight for some tennis player's charity."

My mind flipped through the mental Rolodex. "Ah, sure. I heard about that. One of my buddies was supposed to go with his agent, but he had to work."

When he hacked through the speaker again, I grimaced.

"I was supposed to go," he said. "But I need to call Lia and cancel."

"Why were you two going? That's not your usual scene."

"To help Mom and Dad. They still haven't secured the funding for the expansion they want. I guess the guy they really want to meet will be there because it's so sports-focused. Thought Lia's connection to football would help them."

Ahh. Of course, Finn and his intrepid best friend would be chipping in for the cause.

My mind started racing, almost so quickly that I could hardly keep up with my own thoughts.

Sports-focused. Athletes and philanthropists, agents and corporate sponsors, all in one room.

There might even be someone from Burton there.

"Just how sick are you?" I asked.

"Sick. If I didn't have a fever, I might try to tough it out, but there's no way I can go." He sighed. "Mom and Dad will be upset because there's no way Lia will go with them on her own."

Listening to him think of others first, I had to admit once again that Finn, on his own, wasn't a complete shit.

A little square, maybe. And Mr. 4.0 Everything definitely had me beat in the brains department, where I excelled was more of a physical nature. Which is why he was in the middle of getting his medical degree that would have him working ninety plus hours a week someday, and I was a semi-professional snowboarder who just lost his main sponsor.

I couldn't do math for shit, but I didn't need to. If any one of my frustrated teachers over the years could point me to a single time in my twenty-six years when I'd needed algebra, I'd eat my favorite Libtech snowboard one bite at a time.

But I didn't hold that against Finn. It wasn't his fault that his mom came from a crap marriage, into the connubial bliss they found themselves in with each other, and the fruit of that union (him) was thereby all good and perfect things. My dad had been a sad, widowed, single father before he met Adele, so he viewed Finn in pretty much the same way my stepmom did.

Finn coughed again, the sound so disgusting that I winced like he'd just sprayed his germs over my face.

"You better not need me to come take care of you," I told him.

"No," he groaned. "But I thought about asking Mom for some of her chicken soup."

"And you think that'll help?" I asked under my breath.

Not quietly enough, though, because he sighed.

"Bauer," he chided. I couldn't blame him. If someone spoke ill of my mom, they'd get an elbow to the throat. God rest her soul. I didn't even really remember my mother, but I'd still punch someone if they bad-mouthed her.

"Sorry." I shifted in my seat, the tires on the highway eating up the distance between the place I called home and the place I came from. It might have been only a few hours on the road, but they were a universe apart from each other for how differently I felt about them.

"Speaking of Mom, I better call her next," Finn said.

"Just ... hang on a second." I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel as I weighed the idiocy of what I was about to suggest. "Maybe I can help."

"You?"

Since I never offered to help our parents, I couldn't even be annoyed at how shocked he sounded.

"What if I went in your place?"

Finn was quiet. "Why would you even offer?"

For a moment, I contemplated telling him I wanted to help. Telling him it was for our parents, but he'd never believe it.

"Maybe I can find someone of my own to schmooze. A new sponsor."

"I don't know, Bauer," he hedged. "I can't imagine them going for it."

"So don't tell them."

"I have to tell Lia," he interjected, voice sounding stronger than it had the entire conversation.

"No, you actually don't."

"I won't lie to her."

"You're a terrible liar, so I wouldn't suggest lying," I told him. "Listen, Finnegan, if Lia won't go alone with our parents, she sure as hell won't go with me, right?"