"I'm headed out tonight," Emmett informed me, as he zipped up his duffel bag.

"So you're missing school tomorrow?"

He snapped his fingers, shaking his head in feigned disappointment.

"Where's your tournament?"

"Tallahassee," he said, throwing his duffel bag over his shoulder. "I'll be there through late Sunday as long as we keep winning."

"Well keep scoring and you should."

He laughed, heading out of his bedroom, and I followed.

"You have everything you need right?"

"Yes mother."

"I'm just checking," I defended. "You wouldn't want to get all the way to Tallahassee and realize you didn't have any underwear."

He laughed, rolling his eyes as he pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

"Be careful okay?" I asked, taking a seat on top of the counter.

"I always am."

"Let me know how the game goes tomorrow, okay? I want to know if you guys won."

"Well if we didn't, I'll be home Friday night."

"Please win."

He chuckled, checking his phone. "What? Do you already have plans?"

I just smiled.

"Whatever you do, keep it out of my bedroom."

"Wouldn't dream of going near your HIV-infested sheets."

"I wouldn't dream of going near your HIV-infested sheets," he mocked, a higher volume than what I said.

"I wouldn't dream of going near-"

And that's as far as I got before Emmett's phone went off.

"And I'm gone," he said, throwing his duffel over his shoulder and grabbing his soccer bag. "You be careful too?"

"Always am," I mocked.

He rolled his eyes, leaving the apartment.

"Love you!" I called after him.

"Yeah, you too!" he called back, letting the door slam behind him.

~*~

"So we have the apartment to ourselves for the weekend," I said to Parker, with a smile.

"That sounds inviting," Parker said, matching my smile.

I launched myself into his arms, planting my lips on his as he ran his fingers through mine.

He led the two of us back to his bedroom, laying me down on the bed and then straddling me.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him towards me and going to unbutton his shirt.

And then his cell phone rang.

I fell back on the bed with a laugh, smiling up at Parker.

"It's nobody important," he muttered, coming in to kiss me.

"Check it at least."

He let out a groan, pulling his phone out of his pocket to reveal the contact for Cornerstone Academy, Lee's school. He let out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair and falling onto the bed next to me.

"Hello?" he asked, answering his phone.

I sat on top of him, placing my lips on his neck.

"Yes, this is him," Parker agreed, closing his eyes.

I kissed him down his neck, unbuttoning his shirt and planting kisses down his abdomen.

"Okay," Parker agreed.

He rolled his eyes, looking at me. "They placed me on hold. They called me to place me on hold."

"What do they want?" I asked.

"Don't know yet. Lee probably said or did something stupid, probably got a detention or something." He reached up and wrapped his arms around my neck, pulling my lips towards his.

"Hello?" a woman's voice asked.

Parker rolled his eyes, letting me go and picking up his phone, turning it off speaker. "Hello?"

I flopped down onto the bed next to him, running my fingers down his arm.

"Yeah, I'm his legal guardian," Parker agreed, shooting me a smile.

This was a lot of work to get Lee's detention cleared.

And then the smile fell off of Parker's face, replaced with a look of concern. "He skipped class?"

Oh great, here we go again.

Parker listened for a few more moments. "Why wasn't I informed about this?"

I raised my eyebrows at Parker.

"If Lee misses his medication, I should be informed," Parker stated, his voice hard. "That's serious."

I propped up on my side, raising an eyebrow at Parker.

And then Parker shot upright. "He what?"

I sat up as well, watching Parker with concern as he stood up and began to pace the floor.

"Why the hell wasn't I informed about this yesterday?" Parker demanded, his voice rising. "Where is he now?"

I watched Parker with concern, my heart pounding in my chest. This sounded very serious.

And then Parker stopped, the look of anger falling off his face, replaced by shock. "The what?"

I waited, perched on the edge of the bed. Was Lee alright?

"He's in the fucking Emergency Room and you didn't bother to call me?" Parker exploded.

Oh my God.

"Yes, give it to me now," Parker demanded, racing over to his desk and pulling out a pen and paper. He scribbled down what I'm guessing is the name and address.

"You can go ahead and un-enroll Lee from your academy, because I'm pulling him," Parker informed the school, before hanging up.

Silence followed while Parker stood by his desk, motionless.

"What's happened?" I asked Parker.

Parker closed his eyes for a few moments, his jaw taut. He opened his eyes again, looking away from me.

"What's the matter?" I repeated, standing up.

He looked back at me, his eyes bright with tears.

I felt my heart clench.

"They said he's been in one of his moods," Parker informed me, quietly. "And that yesterday morning he skipped coming to get his medicine, and then skipped his morning classes."

I still wasn't putting the pieces together. Why was Lee in the Emergency Room?

"Is he alright?" I asked.

"I'm going to Miami," Parker informed me, turning away and heading out of his room.

"Babe!" I called, hurrying after him.

I grabbed his arm, whirling him around to face me.

"First thing is that you need to get dressed," I informed him, quietly.

He looked down at his pants, which were currently unbuttoned, along with his unbuttoned shirt.

"And second thing, you're in no condition to drive."

"I'm going to Miami."

"Let me drive you."

Silence stretched between us.

"I'll drive you to Miami," I offered. "I just don't think you're in the right state of mind to go alone."

Parker's eyes flickered over to the door and then to me again. He closed his eyes for a few moments, before opening them again and nodding.

"Okay," he agreed.

"Go put together an overnight bag," I said, lightly kissing him on the cheek. "And then we'll go."

It all happened so fast, it seemed like a blur.

Parker didn't explain what had happened any further, and I didn't press him for details as we headed to Miami, silence stretching between us.

Our fun weekend together had just seemingly turned into a nightmare.

"I can drop you off up front," I offered to Parker, as we pulled into the hospital parking lot.

He shook his head, and so I parked the car, the two of us climbing out together.

I'd never seen Parker emotional, but he'd never looked so vulnerable stepping through the hospital doors.

The last time he was in a hospital was probably to see his family.

I took his hand in mine, giving it a tight squeeze.

He brought my hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it.

We approached the receptionist's desk, and I looked to Parker, who seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Lee Adams," I said to the receptionist.

"Relation?" she asked.

"Brother," Parker informed her, quietly. "Legal guardian."

The woman looked at me.

"She's with me," Parker added.

The woman nodded, typing on her computer for a few moments.

"Room 403," she informed us.

We took the elevator to the fourth floor, Parker silent the entire time.

Once we stepped off the elevator though, Parker froze for a few moments, his eyes closed.

"It's okay," I promised.

"The last time I was here was to say goodbye to my mother," he said, quietly. "It's not okay."

My heart broke for him.

He was always nonchalant when talking about his parents, keeping the conversation brief. But I knew he was trying to keep his emotions in check.

"It's okay not to be okay," I told him, as he opened his eyes and looked directly into mine.

He let out a long sigh, nodding before we headed to Lee's room.

I still didn't know why we were here, what had happened. So I stopped outside Lee's room, signaling for Parker to go in alone.

But Parker tugged me inside with him.

Lee was asleep in the hospital bed, an IV pumping what looked like fluids into him.

Parker practically deflated when he saw Lee, letting out a sigh.

He headed over to the hospital bed, bracing his arms on the edge. He let his head droop, standing there in silence for a few moments.

And that's when I noticed the white gauze on Lee's arms. And I was able to put the pieces together.

"This is bad," Parker said, quietly.

"I think it might look worse than it is," I said, as he turned to face me.

"You don't understand," Parker said, quietly. "I've already had the government on my ass for being an unfit guardian. This is going to give them everything they need."

There was no way they could take Lee away from Parker.

"You're not going to lose him," I promised, crossing the hospital room and wrapping my arms around him.

"I didn't even know," Parker said, his voice breaking. "He was hurting and I didn't even know."

That broke my heart.

"I'm supposed to be there for him," Parker continued, pulling away from me. He began to pace the floor, his hands on his hips. "I'm supposed to protect him."

"You can't protect him from everything."

"But I can protect him from this," Parker said, his eyes flickering over to me.

He had tears in his eyes, and I felt my chest start to ache.

"I should've been there," Parker continued. "I should've never sent him to Miami."

"You did what was best for him," I consoled, knowing that Parker didn't mean any of it.

He was heartbroken and upset. And it was natural to want to blame yourself, but it wasn't his fault.

Parker took a seat next to Lee's hospital bed, wiping a tear away. "I should've been there."

It was a couple of hours before Lee woke up. His doctor came in the meantime and informed us that Lee had lost a lot of blood and required a blood transfusion, which just upset Parker all over again.

They said Lee would feel tired for the next couple of days, and that we just needed to be there for him because he was going to be unstable and confused.

People usually don't expect to live after attempting suicide.

"Hey," Parker said, as Lee came to.

"Where am I?" Lee asked, his eyes drooping.

"The hospital," Parker said, his voice thick.

Lee was silent for a few moments. "I want to go home."

"I know," Parker said, squeezing Lee's hand.

Lee remained silent until he fell asleep again.

Parker looked up at me, pain filling his eyes.

"Let's step outside for a moment," I suggested.

"I can't."

I took Parker's hand. "Lee is going to sleep for a little while and it'll do you some good to get some fresh air."

Parker nodded, standing up and letting me lead him out of the hospital room.

***************************************************************************************************************

I don't know, my usual questions right here just don't seem appropriate. So I'm just going to leave it at that.

The picture off to the right was submitted by hallieb650. Check it out! -->

I warned you that this chapter was going to be the plot twist of the century. Um, I know it seems a bit heavy now. But this has been planned since the beginning of the story. If you've ever read any of my interviews or watched my Q&A video, you know I usually write the ending while I'm still starting the book. And this is how it was planned all along. I'm just saying that this wasn't a rushed ending that I decided to pop out. This has been written for multiple months.

Teaser: Parker has to face Social Services, who aren't too keen on what happened. And Lee starts to come around, and he isn't too keen on what's happened either.