The Love Game (The Game #1)(52)
Author: Emma Hart

“I love her. I’m in love with her.”

Megan slurps as she sucks the last of her lemonade through her straw. She stands, putting a hand on my shoulder and leaning close to me.

“Then when she comes back, you better be ready with a whole damn production to let her know.”

She kisses the top of my head and leaves. The front door closes, and since it’s still early, I’m the only one up.

I’m also the only one who didn’t sleep last night.

I rub my eyes and look at the clock. Nine a.m. There’s no point going to bed now, so I get up and flick the coffee machine on.

“Enough in there for two?”

My body tenses. “Depends. Any room in your car for two?”

“You know then.”

“Don’t have to be a f**kin’ genius to work it out, Kyle. Maddie’s in Brooklyn, and you drove away five minutes after she left here last night. You took her to the airport.”

“She asked.”

“I don’t give a f**k.” I turn and look at him. He steps back. “I don’t give a f**k that she got there, or how she got there. All I care about is that she’s there, and not here where she damn well should be. She hates that city, so right now she must really hate me if she’d rather be there than here.” I turn back to the coffee pot, slamming two mugs on the counter. I fill them and slide Kyle’s along the counter, stepping to the side.

“Well, shit,” he says, taking the mug.

“What?”

“I never thought I’d see the day Braden Carter cared about a girl for more than what’s in her pants.”

I put the mug down. “You sound surprised.”

“I’m surprised you care. Am I surprised its Maddie you care about?” I look at him and he shakes his head. “Nah, man. Not at all. Much as I hate it, you’re good together.”

I snort. “Just to convince her of that, now, right? Cause that’s a walk in the f**kin’ park.”

“You weren’t the only one that played a game, Braden.” Kyle grabs his mug and stands up straight. “You both set out to play each other, and you did. You wouldn’t listen to her when you found out, and now she won’t listen to you. I’d say that’s a level playing field, wouldn’t you?” He quirks his eyebrows and walks past me, slapping my shoulder once.

A level playing field.

“Hey, Kyle?” I turn. “Thanks, man.” He salutes me and turns.

A level playing field. Another round of the game. Except this time, the stakes are a lot higher.

Because its two hearts invested into it.

~

My foot taps against the back porch as I lean against the wall, staring out at nothing in particular. It’s been a week since I walked out of Maddie’s dorm, and I didn’t think it was truly possible until now, but I miss her.

I miss her so f**king much, it hurts.

But it’s not as if I can cross the road and talk my way into the dorm block to speak to her. Well, look how that turned out last time. No, because she’s in f**king Brooklyn. Brooklyn.

I don’t want to think of the pain it must have caused her to go back there, to a place she hates so deeply. She left because of me. Because I ran off and had a bitch fit for her doing exactly what I was doing.

What I was doing. Whether we both played a game or not, at some point, we would have had the same result. At some point, we would have fallen in love. Because, like Megan said to me, your forever person could be right there in front of you the whole time.

I’m nineteen. I don’t do forever.

At least, I didn’t. And then Maddie let me in. Whether she meant to or not, game playing or not, she let me in. And I saw it in her eyes last night. It was no game to her, and goddamn it all to hell, she’s the realest f**king thing I’ve ever known.

Chapter Forty-Three – Maddie

After scrubbing the kitchen to work out the breakdown of this morning, I grab my coffee mug in both hands and sink into one of the kitchen chairs. It’s not quite Starbucks, but for the first time in a year, I don’t have the energy to make the run two blocks across to the nearest coffee shop.

The floorboards creak from upstairs, and a few seconds later Dad shuffles into the kitchen. He’s already dressed – I guess I blocked everything out when I was cleaning.

“Morning, Maddie.” He kisses the top of my head and stops, looking around. “Kitchen looks clean.”

I shrug a shoulder. “I needed something to do.”

He glances at me as he pours a coffee. He takes four tablets from the bottles lined behind the kettle and throws them back, washing them down with the coffee. Dad makes his way to the table and sits opposite me, his gray-blue eyes studying me.

“So,” I say to break the silence. “Do you usually sleep this late?”

He grunts. “Like I said, damn tablets give me insomnia. So lately, yes.”

I nod. “Has Doc said how long it’ll be for the side effects to wear off?”

“Few weeks. Like normal.”

I know it’s a touchy subject for Dad. As much as he hates the fact he’s living without Mom, he hates appearing weak. To him, depression is a sign of weakness.

It’s not. Depression is a sign of strength – because it means no matter how weak your mind might be to you, your heart is still strong enough to feel.

“That’s not too bad then. Hopefully you’ll be back to normal in a few weeks.” I reach over and pat his lightly wrinkled hand. He looks at me, and I notice the little lines around his eyes, the faint indents around his mouth that should be proper laughter lines.

“As normal as I can be, Maddie,” he replies sadly, turning his hand under mine and squeezing my fingers.

I nod softly, knowing his words are true. Without her, he’ll never be the same person he was when she was alive.

“So. You never did say why you were back,” Dad hedges.

I grimace slightly. “Like I said, I missed you. You must get lonely being here by yourself.”

“I might be alone, Maddie, but being alone doesn’t mean you’re lonely.” Dad sips his coffee. “In fact, I’m never alone. Your mother lives on in my heart. She’s always with me.”

I blink back the tears that rise in my eyes.

“Nice save, by the way, kiddo.” He winks at me. “I get it. You don’t wanna talk right now, but Maddie? By the time you go back to Berkeley, whenever that is, we will be talking.”

I sigh and run my finger around the top of my mug. “Okay, Daddy. Have you…. Er, have you heard from Pearce?”

Dad nods sharply. “Couple days ago. He got picked up for possession on his way back here. He was in downtown Brooklyn just about to hail a cab. Cop smelled whatever crap it was he’d been smoking. You know it ain’t his first offense, Mads, so he’s waiting for bail. If he gets it. He called here asking me to bail him out and I refused. Time that boy stopped being babied and helped by us.” He gives me a pointed look.