Page 136 of The Home Game

“Yeah, but what about Antoni?” Nico asked with a frown. “He hasn’t been married before, has he?”

“No,” Matty admitted. And then he wondered. Would Antoni have wanted all that if this had been a real wedding? Had Matty cheated Antoni out of some important moments?

But there was no way to know right now and they had more team stuff to do this afternoon, so Matty put his head down and shoveled food in.

He’d have to worry about that later.

“We’re kidnapping you for a bit,” Dustin said firmly as they left the locker room that afternoon, his hand snug around Matty’s bicep like he thought Matty would try to make a run for it.

“Uhh, what?” Matty asked. “Where are we going?”

“My place. I’d like some privacy.”

“Look, I’ve gotta text Antoni’s parents and make sure we’re good on childcare first,” Matty pointed out. “They were expecting me home in like an hour and I don’t want to leave them hanging.”

Dustin’s expression softened a little. “Yeah. Of course.”

Dustin leaned against the wall, his gaze assessing as Matty typed out a text to the group chat that consisted of Eliza, Enzo, Antoni, Andrea, Stephanie, and himself.

Once Matty was sure that Eliza and Enzo could stay at the house until Antoni got home from work, he stuffed his phone in his pocket.

“I’m all yours,” he told his captain with a sigh. “Kidnap away.”

Matty wasn’t really sure they could call it kidnapping when he drove to Dustin’s house of his own free will. But he also figured the guys knew where he lived so there was really no point in trying to avoid this talk.

It would only delay the inevitable.

Matty waited for the lecture to start as the team’s core assembled in Dustin and Charlie’s living room.

“Okay,” Dustin said when everyone had arrived. “We have some questions for you, Matty.”

Dom scowled. “Yeah, like what the fuck were you—”

“Can it, Dom,” Dustin said cooly. “You’re pissed and I get that, but that isn’t going to help right now.”

Dom’s scowl deepened, but he sat back.

Dustin sighed. “Matty, we know you have a big heart. And we were all totally on board with the idea of you moving Antoni into your place and yeah, we all saw that you and Antoni had a—a connection. And we support that! We were happy with the idea of you guys dating. He seems like a really good guy and you deserve that from whoever you date! But marriage—”

“It’s fake,” Matty blurted out. He glanced around the room, taking in the shocked faces of Dustin, Dom, Nico, Jonah, Felix, Colton, and Jordan. “It’s … look, we got married for custody reasons.”

“What the fuck?” Dom whispered. “Matty—”

Dustin shot him a look. “Not fucking helping, man!”

Dom’s expression turned murderous but he clenched his jaw and didn’t say anything else.

Felix chuckled. “Decided to take a page out of our books, huh?” he joked, gesturing between him and Jonah.

Matty chuckled. “Kind of. But look, guys, this is really serious. You don’t know everything that is going on.”

The guys listened intently as Matty told them that the Swansons were trying to get custody and how they’d treated Eli in the past.

“Antoni and I, we can’t let that happen.”

“Of course not,” Dustin said soberly. “I—Matty, if there’s any way we can help …”

“There isn’t,” Matty said, swallowing thickly. “I appreciate it and I’ll let you know if I think of anything. But this wedding, I think it will help Eli and all of the kids. That’s why we did it.”

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