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Chapter 17
Billy let his heavy eyes close as he held the phone to his ear and filled Zach in on Charlie’s condition. “He’s doing okay. He looks tired, but he’s cracking jokes and by the time we left there was some color back in his face.”
“Good. And how’s Maxi holding up?” he asked.
Even though Zach was Billy’s best friend and close to Maxi, he still felt like he’d be betraying her if he told his friend the truth. That she’d scared him tonight. He was really worried that this was all too much for her.
Instead of revealing that, he non-answered, “You know Maxi, she’s tough.”
“Yeah, I know.” Worry filled Zach’s tone. “But damn, she’s really been going through it. Any news on the other situation?”
Billy’s shoulders bunched as tension rolled through him at even the mention of it. “No. Nate’s still working on it on our end and Grover maintains it’s his top priority.”
“Does Charlie know what’s going on?”
“No, he doesn’t. Maxi was planning on telling him when he got back from Whisper Lake, but then this happened…”
Billy felt like an asshole for doubting Maxi when she’d insisted on not telling Charlie. If he had pushed it and this had happened…he didn’t know how he would’ve lived with himself.
“Alright man, well I’ll let you go. We’re going to be out there in a couple hours. We’ll drop off Maxi’s bag and then go over and see Charlie. You guys get some rest. We’re here if you need anything else.”
“Thanks. See you soon.” Billy disconnected the phone and when he did he saw his mom’s name listed six times in his missed calls.
He stared down at the device. He didn’t have to listen to the messages to know what they said. She wanted money. He’d told her at least a dozen times over the past week that he would gladly pay for her to go to rehab. But that was it, he wasn’t going to give her the five grand in cash she wanted. She wasn’t taking it well. He’d learned his lesson about handing over cash to an addict. He’d made that mistake once, right after his first big payday, and his mom had ended up being rushed to the hospital getting her stomach pumped.
Now he paid her rent to her landlord directly and did the same with the utilities. He also had a food service deliver groceries once a week. Did he wish things weren’t the way they were? Yes. But that didn’t change the reality. He knew he couldn’t fix his mom, that only she could do that. And at this point he’d given up hope of that ever happening.
“What’s wrong?”
Lifting his head, he saw Maxi standing in the hall. Her hair was wet from her shower and falling around her shoulders. She was wearing a T-shirt he’d given her to change into, it fell to her mid-thigh and wasn’t form fitting at all but there was something primal that got triggered seeing her in his clothes. She was his ultimate fantasy come to life. One word kept repeating in his mind, mine.
“Billy?” She took a step forward, worry etching her delicate features.
“Sorry, you just…” he trailed off then cleared his throat. He couldn’t tell her that she’d just rendered him speechless. That all he thought when he looked at her was, mine. “Nothing’s wrong.”
A crease formed on her forehead. “Who was on the phone?”
“Zach. I called to let him know what was going on.”
“Oh.” She shook her head slowly as she sighed softly. “Yeah, I should’ve thought of that. Did you tell Lloyd?”
Lloyd Gianni had been Charlie’s trainer when he’d been a heavyweight and when Charlie retired as a fighter he went to work as a trainer at Lloyd’s gym. There he’d trained a dozen world champion fighters, including Billy, for over twenty years.
“Lloyd was my first call. He’ll be here later today and he’s going let everyone at the gym know.”
“Thanks.” Her slender shoulders sagged in relief and she looked down at the shirt she was wearing. “And thanks for this. I was so out of it, I didn’t even think about clothes.”
“Jana’s packing a bag for you and Jessie is picking it up on her way here. Zach said they’ll drop it off before they go visit Charlie.”
Her jaw dropped slightly and her eyes widened. “I can’t believe you did that.”
He knew that she didn’t like people taking care of her so he quickly tried to diffuse the situation. “Jana offered, she said that she had keys to your apartment and Jessie was coming out here anyway.”
“No, I mean I can’t believe you even thought about the fact that I didn’t have my things,” she clarified.
Of course he thought about it. She was all he thought about. Not wanting that inappropriate truth-nugget to slip out, he changed the subject. “Are you hungry? I can make you something.”
The last time they’d eaten was at lunch the day before. He wasn’t hungry but it was obvious she was exhausted. There were dark circles beneath her baby blue eyes and her skin was a few shades paler than normal. He thought that maybe some food would help put some color in her cheeks.
