Bucking Bear (Pounding Hearts 3)

I don’t know what to do from there. I have kind of seen what they do in the news, and the reps from Give-A-Dream have been pretty helpful, but I still have no fucking clue what to do though. I brought some stuff with me... Hopefully that helps.

Finally, the time to get out of the hotel has come. I hate just standing around with my thumb up my ass.

“Hello, I’m Claire. You must be Max,” a blonde smiles at me as I enter the lobby. She has the Give-A-Dream badge pinned to her blouse.

The rep waits as I check out with the front desk then escorts me to her car. She is a kind, older lady and I guess she has seen all kinds of people in her life because she doesn’t flinch when she meets me. I am not the most clean-cut guy but she is all smiles.

Her car though isn’t the largest of vehicles and I kind of get the feeling I might have been better off renting something to move me around in.

Shit, I feel like a circus bear in one of those funny cars.

We pull up to a house in a small suburb outside of Cincinnati and as I look around, I see how much life is just going on as normal outside of the home. But I also know inside the home a little girl is in end-stage leukemia with in-home hospice care.

Fuck, this is feeling weird in my stomach.

Thank fucking god Colt didn’t alert any press or shit like that. I didn’t think he would but I had to make sure he knew not to. I don’t want shit like this publicized. It’s hard enough for the girl and her family with her being so sick, why the fuck would they need some glory hound mixed into it.

Another car with Give-A-Dream is waiting on the street for us and another woman steps out of her car with a camera in hand. They told me about this so I am not put off by the picture she takes of me as we walk to the door. These are for the family and the charity.

The knock on the door helps pull me from the inside of my head. I feel jittery now like right before a fight. It’s not the same, but the nerves are the same.

A tall blue eyed, blonde-haired older teen opens the door. She is pretty in a next-door neighbor kind of way, and she would probably be prettier if she didn’t have giant dark circles under her eyes.

A tall man appears behind her, and he, like her, has the dark eyes. They both smile though and that helps. I know they must be in hell right now.

Both stepping out onto the doorstep, the man says, “Hello, I’m Matt Willows. This is my daughter Julie.”

Taking his hand, I feel the strength in his grip, but he doesn’t try to do one of those power things, he simply shakes my hand like all men should.

“Good to meet you, Matt, you too Julie,” I say as I shake their hands. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“We all wish it was, Max, but we are so very thankful you’re taking time out of your schedule to come see Krista. It’s an honor for us to meet you,” he says.

And I can tell he really thinks this is an honor for his family. Shit, it’s more like the opposite. They are honoring the shit out of me.

“I am honored you guys would think of me to come visit her,” I say.

We head in shortly after that. The whole house is in on the surprise except for Krissy, as they tell me everyone calls her.

“Who was that, Dad?” I hear a rough but faint voice ask as they station me outside in the hallway.

“The delivery guy, he dropped off a package.”

“Oh. Anything for me?” she asks.

The mom, Anna, and sister, Julie, are standing across from me with huge smiles on their faces. I feel goofy standing here like this, a big giant guy with a travel bag in one hand and a teddy bear in the other.

“Let me go check,” I hear him say before he walks out into the hallway.

Nodding my head to him, I walk into the room. Fuck, I have no clue what to say.

We both just stare at each other for about ten seconds. Me smiling and her just staring at me with huge wide eyes. I am so hoping she recognizes me and doesn’t think I am some crazy intruder.

She suddenly opens her mouth and lets out a loud squeak followed by, “Oh. My. God…. You… You… It’s… You’re….”

Nodding my head, I walk further into the bright pink room. The girl is sitting halfway up in a hospital bed with needles stuck in her, tubes everywhere and her pretty face has the largest smile I have ever seen on it. She’s wearing a Cincinnati Reds hat. I can see that she probably lost all her hair from the skin showing on the sides. She is so pretty though. So beautiful. Fifteen and tragically beautiful.

Fuck. That’s not fair.