Don't Hate the Player...Hate the Game(67)

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 9th 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 c**k blocker, Sullivan. We were just trying to have some fun!” Casey called.