The Artist (The Game Changers #2) (12 page)

Chapter Sixteen

It was over two hours before Maverick returned to the lobby. His face was pale and his hair was a mess like he had been running his fingers through it. I didn’t know what to do to help, but I wanted to do something to take some of the pain from him. It was at that moment that I realized I felt more than just a crush or lust for Maverick. I might have even felt love, but my brain couldn’t make sense of my emotions right then. I was all over the place with worry and fear and other uncomfortable emotions I was sure I had never felt before.

“You’re still here,” he breathed into my neck once he reached me.

“Nowhere else I’d rather be,” I whispered back.

He nodded, then looked around at his friends who were now standing around us. “Hey, guys. Thanks for coming. You’ll be able to go back in a little while. They’re moving him to a room.”

“What did they say?” Hailey asked cautiously.

“CT scan from this morning showed swelling. He went for a PET scan while we were talking to the doctor. They think the tumor is back, based on his symptoms, but they haven’t identified the actual tumor. He’s been sick and disoriented, but this morning he had a seizure. He said it wasn’t his first this month. I feel like I should have noticed something.”

Corbin grabbed Maverick’s shoulder. “No, man. We were just talking about it. He didn’t want anyone to know.”

“He didn’t want to admit it to himself,” Maverick confirmed. “He’s pretty disoriented, but he was aware enough to tell me he didn’t want to be sick again. As if he needed to say anything,” he added and shook his head.

The metal doors swung open, and Mrs. Vaughn appeared again. She smiled sadly at Brock, Corbin, and Hailey while she greeted them with hugs and kisses on their cheeks. She was such a mom, and her familiarity with Maverick’s friends was endearing.

Once she had greeted each of them, she turned to Maverick who still had one hand on me. “Scan is back.”

I looked up just as Maverick nodded. He turned to me. “You’ll be here, right?”

“Of course.”

He planted a chaste kiss on my lips then turned to Corbin. “Will you go get her something to eat? We’ve been here all day.”

“Adam—” I started to tell him I was fine, but he squeezed my hand and gave me a look that told me not to challenge him.

“Sure thing, man. We’ll get you, Katherine, and your mom some food. You need anything else?”

“No, we’ll be leaving after we know what the doctors know. It could be another couple of hours, though, and Duchess hasn’t eaten all day.”

“Go with your mom. We’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks,” he said. After another quick kiss to my hair, he followed his mom through those metal doors.

Corbin and Brock left shortly after to get food while Hailey and I waited on the news. The boys were back, and we had all eaten, before Adam and Mrs. Vaughn returned. It had felt like forever, and while my appetite had been missing, I ate the salad the boys had brought me to pass the time and distract my mind. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t taste the food; I had to do something. Maverick wanted me to eat, so I ate.

Finally, as the sun was starting to sink, Adam and Mrs. Vaughn came through the doors with Ana in tow. She was dressed in teddy bear scrubs and looked no less worried than Maverick and his mom.

We all stood as they approached. Corbin took Ana in his arms and kissed her temple. Maverick wrapped his arm around his mom who looked like she was about to crumble.

“Well?” Corbin asked, and I was grateful because my voice wouldn’t work once I saw Maverick’s face. If I had any hope that Jack was going to be fine before, it was almost obliterated when I saw Maverick’s red-rimmed eyes come through that door. They had gotten bad news back there.

Mrs. Vaughn spoke first. “His tumor’s back. About a centimeter and growing. They can do surgery, but he’ll likely have to have treatment again. No telling what he’ll go through this time.”

“The good news is he survived it once. We know Jack’s a fighter,” Ana reminded Mrs. Vaughn.

She smiled at Ana. “If only he could always have a nurse like you.”

“We have the best here. Don’t you worry. If you decide to go the Johns Hopkins route for the surgery, we will make sure they take good care of all of you.”

“That’s not even on my radar right now. Tonight I need to figure out how we’ll pay for everything. We can’t get him covered by insurance, and these treatments are beyond my reach, especially if we have to move to Baltimore temporarily.”

Maverick rubbed his hair. “Mom, I told you I have a job coming up and I’d sell the—”

“That isn’t an option, Adam. Don’t bring it up again,” she interjected.

“Okay, Mom. Sorry.” He hugged her gently.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said. “Jack’s asleep. I know you wanted to see him, but his seizure and these tests took it all out of him today.”

“We’ll be back tomorrow,” Brock announced.

“He’d like that.” She smiled back at him.

“Let’s go, Mom. I’ll drive you home.”

“No need. You take that sweet girl home and relax. Katherine’s been here all day for you.”

“It’s fine. I can see him later,” I tried to tell her, but she wasn’t having it.

“No, no. I need to go home and make some phone calls. I could use the drive to get my head on straight. Last time, I had Paul to do all of this.”

“Mom…”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. Just tired. Go home. All of you. It’s been a long day.”

There was no arguing. She had her mind made up, and we all went our separate ways when we made it to the parking deck.

“You eat?” Maverick asked once we were in the car.

“Yeah, but let’s get you something now that you have a minute to eat it.”

He nodded and started driving back to his place. Once he had eaten the pizza he had delivered and walked Hank, we took a shower. He wasn’t talking, and I didn’t want to push him. I just washed him like he washed me. We took care of each other, but it was in no way sexual. He cherished me, and I returned the sentiment, pouring love into every touch I shared with him.

Later that night, we crawled into bed. I was dressed in one of his larger t-shirts, and he wore a pair of loose boxers. He pulled me close and held me against his body then spoke for the first time in hours. “My dad worked himself to death. He had a heart attack near the end of Jack’s treatments. He never even knew he went into remission.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It wasn’t supposed to come back. Late recurrence, they called it. Now Mom is worrying about how to pay for it again, and she won’t let me help. I was going to sell the bar. I can live off my paintings, but she won’t have it. It doesn’t matter if he goes to Baltimore anyway. I’ll be going with them, which would mean giving up the hotel job.”

“She’s your mom. She wants to take care of you too, you know?”

“Yeah. It’s just…I know how hard it was. That’s why I left Brantley. My parents couldn’t afford to pay for an expensive private school once insurance stopped paying for his treatments. We sold our house and moved to a smaller one. I went to public school. Not that I cared where I went, especially when my little brother was sick. It was just so hard on my parents, you know?”

“I can’t imagine any of this is easy. I don’t know what I can do to help, but I will do anything I can, anything you’ll let me.”

He hugged me closer to his chest and kissed the top of my head. “Tell me something good.”

I turned over, so I could look him in the eye. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” His hand went to my hair, and he mindlessly ran his fingers through it.

“Your brother’s going to be okay.”

He smiled sadly. “Tell me something good and true, something I can believe without question. I need the distraction.”

“Distraction, okay…” I thought for a moment. “Your bacon is the best I’ve ever tasted.”

He cracked a smile and continued to play with my hair. “My bacon’s the only bacon you’ve tasted. Try again.”

“Okay. Hmm…” I paused. “True Blood is vampire porn.”

“Better. Keep going.”

“Unicorns are real?”

He laughed, and my heart soared because I had made that happen. “Fail.”

I leaned up on my elbows, so my nose was almost touching his. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

I watched as the distraction sank in and the warmth filled his eyes. For the first time since his phone rang that morning, he looked like my Maverick. The hand that was wrapped in my hair pulled me closer to him. “Ditto, Duchess,” he whispered just before our lips connected. He rolled us over, so he was on top of me. No more words were spoken, but in every movement, in every touch, he told me he believed me. His kiss? Yeah, that showed me just how much he felt the same. Damn.

Chapter Seventeen

I was sitting at the kitchen table in my condo trying to write while Maverick was at the hospital when the door to my condo opened without a knock. My father waltzed through the door like he owned the place. Well, he did, but he could at least knock or give me a heads up that he was coming over.

“Dad?” I asked once he had closed the door.

“Hello, Kitty,” he said as he looked around. I knew he was looking to make sure everything met his standards. He paid my cleaning lady and hired the decorator my mother had chosen, so he had a vested interest in the upkeep of my condo. As of next week, it might not be mine anymore, though, so perhaps he was considering resale.

Instead of worrying about what he was seeing, I closed my laptop and acted like I had somewhere else to be. “You should’ve called. I was just leaving.” The lie slipped out too easily. I had never been able to lie to my father. I guess standing up to him and falling for a sexy, tattooed bar owner will do that to you.

“Sit down, Kitty,” Dick commanded. “Your doorman told me you were here and alone for the first time in days.”

“Clive?” Traitor.

“Yes.”

“How do you know Clive?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “How do you think I know Clive? I hired him.”

“What? How did you hire him?”

Another insulting look shot my way. “I own the building. You should’ve realized I wouldn’t let you live in a building where I wasn’t certain the security was top notch.”

“So, you bought it?” I’ve lived in this condo for five years and never knew that.

“This is old news. I’m here about more recent events.”

Intrigue had me asking questions that had answers I probably didn’t want to know. “Oh? Like what?”

“Like my daughter going rogue.”

“I still have a week,” I reminded him.

“That may be, but I have a proposition for you that will likely have you changing your mind. Now sit down, and let’s have a conversation like civilized adults.” He took a seat on my loveseat and crossed his legs.

I sat in a chair, crossing my ankles the ladylike way my mother had ingrained in me. “I’m listening.”

He touched his fingertips to each other and spoke with authority. “I heard you were at the hospital yesterday.”

“I was. You came out of your way to remind me you have spies everywhere?”

He laughed humorlessly. “Hardly. I came here because I understand the brother of your little artist friend is sick, correct?”

“He’s not my little artist friend, Dad.” With those simple, petulant sounding words, I stupidly revealed my feelings for Adam. I immediately regretted giving my father ammunition.

“Yes, I figured as much. Here’s the thing, Katherine…” The way he said my name made my skin crawl. He never called me by my real name. “I know a lot of people at the hospital. In fact, the only reason they have the new oncology wing at the hospital is because of my generous donations.”

“What does that have to do with Jack?”

“I understand he’s in need of serious treatment and a surgery that only a handful of doctors in the country are qualified to perform.”

“Yes,” I treaded carefully. I knew where this was going and was starting to dread the next words to come out of his mouth.

“I figure we can solve two problems here.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. You go back to being the daughter your mother and I raised you to be, and I will make sure Jack Vaughn gets the very best treatment without ever paying a dime. I’m even prepared to fly in the surgeon from Baltimore who is known worldwide for his impressive work with Mr. Vaughn’s condition.”

The contents of my stomach rose in my throat. He was telling me I could give up Maverick to give Jack the best medical care. I would have to sacrifice my own happiness to make sure Maverick and Marie never pay a dime. They would be able to focus on Jack without any added worry. It was a no-brainer. I would give anything to make Maverick happy, and the one thing he couldn’t be happy without would be his family.

But, what about me? The thought played in my head, but I paid it no attention. This wasn’t about me, and if I wanted to be a better person, this was my chance. I could be selfish and stand by while Adam’s family struggles, or I could move out of the way.

My mind was made up but not without testing the limits of this arrangement. I was going to see if my father was willing to give me any wiggle room. “What about Mom?”

“What about her?”

“She tried to marry me off to a stranger,” I said dryly.

“Hmm…Edward, yes. You wouldn’t have ever married him. That was your mother’s foolish attempt to supersede me. I wouldn’t have you marry an attorney. While Ward is excellent at writing ironclad contracts, he isn’t one who can take over my company when I’m gone.”

“So, you’re still planning to choose my husband?”

“You and your mother cannot make that decision. Lord knows who I’d get stuck with,” he said seriously. “In fact, I have just the man picked out for you. You will meet him when you get to New York.”

“New York?”

“If you want to help your friend, you will be ready to leave by the end of the day. You’ll be in New York tomorrow.”

“Why New York?”

“It’s time to move on, Kitty.” My father looked at his watch and stood. “You agree, or are you going to let his practically destitute mother try to figure this out on her own?” I was sure Marie wasn’t actually destitute, but that wasn’t the point. I wanted to make sure Jack had the best care for Maverick and his family. My relationship with Maverick was temporary. No matter how much it hurt, I was going to have to say goodbye at some point anyway.

“Yes,” I told him quietly while tears threatened.

“Fine. Pack. Say your goodbyes. Quit that silly little magazine job.” My jaw dropped. “You didn’t think I knew? Please. I know everything about you, Kitty. I will have your flight plan ready for tomorrow.” He headed to the door, leaving me feeling raw and exhausted. “Don’t disappoint me, Kitty. You want Jack to get the care he needs, you do what I expect of you.”

“Yes, sir.” It was time for my father to leave before I lost control of my emotions. I had just made a deal with the devil. Tomorrow I would be in New York without Maverick, but his family would have everything they needed to save Jack, and that was what mattered.