Saved by the Crush's Brother - Maggie Dallen Page 0,7

barely contain her excitement because she’d just talked to Alex.

“Get in the car.” I jerked my own door open as I snapped at my brother.

I kept watching his poor pretty blonde friend until she’d disappeared back into the school, no doubt still wearing that beaming grin.

I turned the key.

That poor, pathetic girl. If she honestly thought Alex Luven could love anyone as much as he loved himself she was seriously, seriously misguided.

3

Avery

The crying.

Sweet mercy, the crying!

It. Wouldn’t. Stop.

I held the fake baby to my chest and patted its back frantically as I followed my mom from one room to the next as she gathered the last of her belongings before heading out for a romantic weekend with her new boyfriend.

“You can’t leave me like this,” I wailed.

“Honey.” My mom shot me a condescending smile. “It’s only for a weekend. And if you’d talked to me about this little…” She waved a hand at the screaming terror in my arms. “Assignment of yours, I would have told you to pick another week.”

“But you can’t just leave me here on my own—”

“You’re a high school senior,” my mom reminded me. “You’ll be on your own for real in a matter of months.” She winked at me. “You’ll be fine.”

“But...but…” My exhausted brain was trying to come up with an argument when there was a quick knock on the door and then Max’s voice calling out, “Hey, homies, I’m here!” the way she’d been doing for more years than I could count.

My mom turned to smile at me in triumph as she snatched up the necklace she’d been looking for from her vanity. “See? Max is here to help. You’ll be fine.”

I gaped at her. She couldn’t be serious. There was no one less maternal and nurturing than Maxine Fields. “She doesn’t know the first thing about babies,” I said in quiet desperation as we heard Max’s footsteps coming up the carpeted stairs.

“Yes, but you’re an expert.” My mom’s tone held just a little too much glee. “You told me yourself that taking care of babies was a breeze.”

She laughed as she turned away and greeted Max at the top of the stair.

Yeah, my mom was totally loving this. I glared at her back as she walked away from me.

Was it true that I’d said I was a pro when it came to babies? Yes. I had said that. And it was true that I might have told her I wouldn’t even need her help so it was just fine by me if she went off with Dozy Dave—my nickname for her uber boring new guy friend.

But that was all before.

That was before last night when this little demon hadn’t slept for more than twenty minutes straight. Or the next before that when this monster started screaming in the middle of the night and wouldn’t stop for a solid hour. Or before this morning, when no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to stop crying.

“I was wrong,” I said, not bothering to hide the fact that I was on the verge of tears as Max gaped at me in the middle of the hallway. I ignored her to try one last time with my mom. “I was so wrong. I totally need help.”

My mom’s smug smile gave way to one of pity as she eyed me in all my sleepless, showerless, near-tears glory. “You have a partner, right? Why don’t you give him a call and take a break from the single parent life for a while?”

I opened my mouth to tell her I’d tried. Oh, how I’d tried! I’d texted and called Alex so many times I was afraid he’d issue a restraining order. I wanted to tell her—maybe then she’d take pity on me and stay—but the words faltered and died under Max’s concerned stare.

I just couldn’t bring myself to admit that Alex had let me down. That he wasn’t helping...at all. He’d ignored my texts and my voicemails. Maybe...

Oh crap.

Maybe Max had been right. This had been a truly terrible idea.

“Good luck, sweetheart,” my mom shouted over Buttercup’s crying. The door slammed shut behind her and I was left alone with Max who was still looking at me like I’d grown a second head.

“You have…” She brushed a finger to her cheek. “Cereal.”

I reached up and swiped, an obnoxiously large cornflake falling to the ground as I did.

Great. Just great. I was so far gone I had food stuck to my face and no one had thought to