Page 12 of The Golden Goalie

“He doesn’t want anything to do with Amber or the baby.” Aiden’s words barely register in my mind.

“What?” I ask, shooting to my feet.

“Are you kidding?” Stephanie stands up as well. “She didn’t tell methatpart.”

“Are you sure, Man?” Sebastian asks, uncharacteristically serious. “Because that’s not cool.”

“That’s what she said,” Aiden answers.

I shake my head as anger courses through me.How could he get her pregnant and then leave her? How could he just toss her aside? And the baby? There’s no way he’s going to get away with it.

“Rico.” Aiden’s voice finally penetrates my spiraling of thoughts. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to go talk to him,” I manage to get out.

It’s quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sebastian starts.

“I didn’t say it was a good idea; I said that’s what I’m doing.”

“No, you’re not,” Gunner says.

I take in the fact that Aiden and Gunner are now standing between me and the door. Sebastian’s leaning casually against the wall, but there’s nothing casual about it. I know what they’re doing. “You guys aren’t stopping me.”

“No, we’re not,” Gunner says in a calm voice. “If you go, we’ll go with you.” Not a single one of them bats an eye at the offer, and I take a deep breath. "But think about what’s best for Amber.” Her name snaps me out of my rage. “If you go after him now, what’s it going to do to Amber?”

I shake my head. “He can’t get away with this. He got her pregnant. How can he walk away?”

Sebastian pushes off the wall. “I don’t know, Man. I get it. It’s terrible. He’s the worst of the worst. I can’t imagine if it were Stephanie.” I see anger reflected in his eyes.

“Well, yeah, that’s because she’s yours.” The words come out before I really realize what I’m saying.

All three of the guys stare at me. “What?”

But it’s Stephanie that breaks the silence. “We all know how you feel about her, Rico.”

I turn to her in surprise, a rebuttal on my tongue. “Don’t waste your breath arguing,” Sebastian says. “We’ve all seen how you look at her.”

I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. “I don’t look at her like anything.”

Sebastian scoffs. “You look at her like I look at Stephanie, and like he looks at Brielle.” He nods his head at Aiden. I turn to Aiden, but he nods, backing up what Seb’s saying.

I shake my head. “No, it’s not...”

“I get it,” Sebastian says, dropping his hand on my shoulder. “It’s probably best not to fight it.” I grunt and run my hand over my chest. “Now, as I was saying. You can go force him to be with her; but is that really what you want?”

“It’s what’s best.” The words taste like sand in my mouth.

“No, it’s not,” Aiden growls. “You didn’t see her when she was talking about him.” His lips curl into a sneer. “Believe me, he’ll get what’s coming to him. That’s my sister-in-law and niece or nephew we’re talking about.” He cracks his neck and meets my eyes. “Hewillget what’s coming to him.”

“But not now,” Sebastian says. “If you go after him now, you could cause him to actually go after Amber and choose to be with her, just out of spite.”

I frown. “Why would he do that?”

“Because when he sees she’s with you, he’s not going to be happy about it. The more you make it obvious by showing up and pushing him around, he’s going to put it all together,” Seb says.

“Whoa, I’m not with Amber,” I remind them.

“But you will be,” Sebastian says with certainty.

---