Page 11 of The Golden Goalie

He grins. “What?”

Aiden comes down the stairs a minute later. “Sorry to make you wait. I needed to take a quick shower.”

“Where’s Brielle?” That’s from Stephanie.

“She’s at her mom’s. Amber’s there too.” He says this with a look over at me, but I keep a neutral expression on my face.

“Is this about her being pregnant?” Stephanie asks as she sits on the couch.

“You know about that?” Aiden asks in surprise.

“Rico called me when she was sick last night, and he didn’t know what to do.”

Aiden narrows his eyes at me. “You called Stephanie over Brielle, her sister?”

I take a seat on one of the armchairs; I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night. “Yeah, I didn’t call Bri because she was on herhoneymoon.”

“You should have called her first,” Aiden argues.

“Is this why you called us over? To berate me for calling Stephanie over Brielle?”

Sebastian raises his hand, like we’re in kindergarten. “I would like to point out that he calledme. Then I passed the phone to my wife.”

“And why does that matter?” I ask, genuinely confused.

“I don’t know; I just felt like it needed to be said,” he says with a shrug.

“I feel like you’re really angry,” I say cautiously to Aiden. “And that it’s not really about the fact that I called Stephanie—” I put my hand up, stopping Sebastian’s dumb argument. “Sebastian...first.” Aiden pins me with a glare, and I’m thankful once again that I playwithhim and not against him.

“Looks like I’m missing a grand time,” Gunner says dryly as he joins our group.

“Cap, when did you get here?” Seb asks.

“Just now. Why is Aiden so mad?” He drops into the chair next to mine.

“He was born that way,” Seb spouts off, and I drop my head to keep a chuckle to myself. Seb grunts, and I have a feelingStephanie just elbowed him in the stomach. “What? That’s a good thing. We all benefit from it.”

“You done?” Aiden asks Sebastian.

Sebastian cocks his head to the side. When Stephanie moves to elbow him again, he catches it and grins. He uses his strength to pull her forward, still grasping her arm. She lands awkwardly in his lap.

“Sebastian,” she growls at him. He just smiles like a Cheshire cat and settles her on his lap, keeping his arms around her. I think it has less to do with hugging her than restraining her, and from the look on her face, I’m pretty sure I’m right.

“Anyway,” Aiden says, drawing our attention back to him. “Amber’s pregnant.” His words settle in my gut, the same way they did last night; but I keep my expression blank.

“She is?” Gunner asks. He’s the only one that didn’t know. He glances at me, but I don’t return the look. “By Adam Grey,” he says, putting it all together. Anger begins to rise inside me.

“Yes. Amber's pregnant. Is there a reason we’re here?” I try to keep the impatience from my voice, but based on the looks my teammates are giving me; I’m pretty sure I failed. I’ve got to get her out of my system. It was bad enough when she was dating, but now she’s carrying another man’s baby. Even if I hate the man, he’s her baby’s daddy. She’s going to have to make it work.

“She didn’t want to, but he pressured her.”

Aiden’s words whip my attention back to the conversation. “He forced her?” My words are low and angry, but I can’t find it in myselfnotto care.

Aiden meets my eyes. “I think there’s a very fine line, and I think he was really close to that line. I don’t think he physically forced her, but there’s other ways.”

“Like guilting her into it,” Stephanie adds.

My anger begins to rise. I never liked Adam Grey before everything went down at the party, but the more I hear abouthim...I shake my head, trying to clear it. And then Aiden says something that makes my blood boil.

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