AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ma,”Iwrapmyarms around her in a tight embrace. She’s thin again and frail in a way that makes my stomach sink. Still so beautiful, with her long blonde, graying hair and fair complexion, but there is something not quite right, I can feel it. And the ping of guilt I have already been feeling sits heavier; I should be visiting her more often now that I can. Over her shoulder, I see Jerry leering, watching us. He’s the reason I don’t come around here as much as I know I should. I have to see him enough as it is around school, and from the moment I found out he was in her life, I couldn't stand any part of him. But I'm here today after her text telling me she had good news. I thought I’d better make an appearance.
Ignoring his presence, I pull back from her so I can study her better. “It’s been too long, Brandon.” Her soft voice hits my ears, and I feel almost teary. It takes me back to when I was a teenager, helpless to make her better. I’ve let her down again.
“I know, Ma, I’m sorry. It’s been harder than I thought to wrangle this team into shape,” I lie, knowing she will see right through me, but hoping she will forgive me anyway.
“I bet. I’ve heard they’re a bit of a bunch of misfits on the football field. Not like your team when you were there.” She smiles softly, remembering. She was my biggest fan, always encouraging me to push harder and follow my dreams. Even though she was sick, she did everything she could to help me be the best player I could. I owe all my achievements to her, and it kills me even more to see her like this now, knowing I didn’t do enough for her.
“We were the last team to bring home the championship trophy.” I return her grin, hoping to focus on the good times, and she gives my hand a squeeze.
Jerry clears his throat to bring my attention to him. “That’s why I brought you back here, Son. I knew you were our only hope for redemption this year.” The creep pats me on the back, grinning in that sleazeball way he has that makes my skin crawl. There is probably nothing actually wrong with him at all. To any other person, he would be just a regular guy in his fifties, slightly overweight, with graying hair. But he's with my mom, and for that alone I despise the look of him. She is too good for him, and I don’t understand what she could possibly see in him. But somehow, he seems to make her happy. And I guess that’s all that matters right now.
She’s never really been lucky in love, picking men who need saving somehow, trying her best to fix them but eventually giving up when it all gets too hard. She’s been that way for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was little and my dad disappeared after the factory fire that killed the Riveras' dad.
Ma really loved Dad with everything she had, and him disappearing on us both like that did a real number on her. I think the hardest part for her was not knowing what happened. He was just gone, with no answers. It was awful for the Rivera boys’ mom when her husband died, but at least she was able to bury his remains and have a funeral. My dad just disappeared without a trace. I have my suspicions now, and I'm sure the Acevedos were involved, but it's impossible to prove anything.
After Dad went missing, Ma was left to work whatever job she could to support the two of us. That was, until she got too sick. Then it was my turn to man up and help her any way I could.
“Hmm,” I respond. I was hoping her good news might have been that she was finally sick of him and had kicked his mooching ass out of her house. How a school principal can’t afford his own home is beyond me, but this asshole has been relying on her from the moment he met her.
“Can I offer you a drink to celebrate? Only got light beer, trying to watch my weight.” Jerry chuckles as he rubs his beer gut, knowing it’s already too late for that.
I look to my ma. Has she gone into remission again? And maybe it’s just the three rounds of chemo she just had that made her so thin. “What are we celebrating?”
He takes her hand, and she smiles at him with so much love in her eyes. I just don’t get it. But she looks so happy, and she needs a little joy in her life after everything she has been through. “We have excellent news, Son,” Jerry says. I glare at him, not liking the way he saysson. I am not his boy.
“Brandon, we got married.” She shows me her ring. “Isn’t it just the most brilliant news you’ve heard all year? Other than you finally coming home, that is.”
My stomach rolls. I know my face must read my absolute disgust at the thought, but I plaster on a fake-ass smile and try to at least be happy for her. “Very exciting, Ma,” I stutter out. “How did this happen?” I point the question more to Jerry. How the hell did he convince her this was a good idea?
“I got some more bad news. The treatments aren’t working as well as they expected. But instead of being down about it, we’ve decided to make the most of the time I have left.” She smiles at Jerry with adoration, and he wraps an arm around her shoulder.
My heart sinks. I have no words. I should have been here with her, taking her to the appointments. I should’ve been the one who knew what was going on so I could help her. She’s giving up, talking like she’s dying, but she’s not, she can’t be. She’s my ma and the only blood family I have.
“We have wanted to tell you for weeks, but you’ve been so busy, and it’s not the thing you tell someone over the phone. We would have invited you, but it all happened so fast, and you were away that weekend for work. I knew you would be so happy for me that you wouldn’t mind.”
I smile through clenched teeth. “Of course I’m happy for you. But you can’t talk like this is the end. Ma, I have the money. We can find you a better doctor, one who can get you better treatment.” I hug her again.
“Better than the top oncologist in the country? You have already done more than enough, Brandon. I know what you gave up for me back then, but it’s just too late now. I don’t want to spend my last months being poked and prodded. I have had years of it already. I have accepted what is coming, and I’m okay with it.”
She reaches up and brushes a hand through my hair, making me feel like a little kid. Then she hugs me, and I wrap my arms around her, holding her close. I’ve failed. My sadness turns to anger as I glare at the asshole who I know is in this for something more. And it seems a bit too convenient to me that he was the one who organized for me to be out of town the weekend they decide to get hitched. “If you hurt her in any way, there will be hell to pay. She has been through enough,” I warn him.
She pulls back from me. “You can’t talk to him like that. He signs your paycheck.” She laughs nervously. She knows I’m not his biggest fan but has been trying desperately to get us to connect, and I think she was hoping by me taking the job at his school we might, but if anything, it’s just made me think less of him, seeing his single-minded focus on winning. But she has made her choice, and now I have to do the only thing I can: respect it. But it doesn’t mean I won’t be watching him carefully.
Yeah, he signs the paychecks I don’t need. I would never have to work again if I didn’t want to, with the millions I made playing football. But I took the job as coach and moved home to be close to my ma. It’s just a plus that I get to give back to my community, hoping I could change the lives of some youngsters like my high school coach did for me.
Jerry smiles at me, and it’s smug. The bastard knows he has me, there is nothing I can do about any of this. “He’s just looking out for his mother like a good boy should.” He goes to the kitchen and returns with cold beers for the two of us, handing me one like a peace offering.
I stay for one drink for Ma then decide I’ve had enough of being in the same room as Jerry, so I message Cassie, telling her we need to talk. Life is too short to fight with the ones you love. I know she’s pissed with me about what happened yesterday, but things are more complicated than she knows, and right now I’m just trying to protect her. But in her usual fiery way of run first, ask questions later, she took off before I could explain. I have given her a day to cool off now. She needs to hear me out, because I’m not letting her walk out of my life, even though I know things are about to get messy.
CASSANDRA
I SEARCH FOR BRANDON'S car, finding it tucked behind a hedge just off to the side of my parents’ driveway. He messaged asking me to meet him. He’s leaning up against his car, looking like he has just come from a workout, his skin glistening and his hair tousled, and it's a little bit amusing to me because he is normally so well put together. But that's what he gets for pissing me off. He messaged me this morning, but I wasn’t jumping just because he decided to be a decent human and talk to me about what happened yesterday in the school gym. Besides, I have to get my hair and makeup sorted for Andy’s wedding this afternoon. So I made him wait till I was ready.
I put my shoulders back and prepare for a fight. I came to hear him out, but it better be fucking good. “Start talking. I don’t have all day. I’m supposed to be getting ready for Andy’s wedding.”
“Okay, but you can lose the attitude. You sound like a spoiled brat.”
I raise a perfectly shaped brow, both hands going to my hips. “Are you kidding me, after the way you treated me yesterday?” Amusement crosses his face, and he pulls me toward him, mauling me, and as much as I would like to fight him off because I’m pissed with him, my desire takes over, and I kiss him back angrily, letting his tongue invade my mouth in the possessive way he has. My heart pounds in my chest, and when he pulls back, his eyes are filled with such affection for me that I soften.
