Page 28 of How to Catch a Rockstar

“But I always glove up,” I argue.

“Accidents happen. You know this better than anyone.” Gibson waves toward my forehead where a faint scar is still visible from my fall from a surfboard.

“The question isn’t how this happened,” Cash says. “It’s what are you going to do about it.”

Move to a foreign country and pretend it isn’t happening?

Dylan wags his finger. “You can’t run away from this.”

“What if I want to enter the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race? Entry fees are non-refundable.”

Gibson waves his phone at me. “You’re shit out of luck. It doesn’t start until March 3rd.”

Crap. I rack my brain for another extreme sports competition held in November or December. There must be something.

“Enough.”

I startle at Fender’s shout. Fender isn’t much for shouting. His grunts and grumbles are usually enough to scare people. He has no need for shouting.

“You are not abandoning the mother of your child while she’s pregnant.”

“Maybe the baby isn’t mine.”

The thought has me clenching my hands as jealousy fills my stomach. Has Aurora been having sex with other men? Has she forgotten all about me? Does she not care about me?

I shove those thoughts away. I’m not allowed to be jealous of her with other men. Not when I’ve avoided her calls for the past three months.

“Can I slap him?” Gibson asks the room. “I want to slap him.”

“You can slap him after I punch some sense into him,” Fender grumbles.

“I want in on this,” Cash adds.

Dylan stands in front of me. “No one will be beating Jett up today.”

“Why not?” Gibson pouts. “He deserves it.”

Dylan sighs. “He may deserve it but hitting him will accomplish nothing.”

“It’ll make me feel better,” Gibson says.

Dylan points at him. “Did he hit you when you were out of control?”

“He poured water on me.”

Cash stands next to Dylan. “This argument is getting us nowhere.”

But it does have everyone’s attention averted from me. Go ahead and argue all you want. I’ll sit here and pretend to be invisible.

Cash slaps me upside the head. “Ow.” Guess I’m not invisible after all. “What did you do that for?”

“Dylan said I can’t beat you up. Slapping doesn’t count.”

Gibson jumps to his feet. “I’m next in the slapping line.”

Dylan frowns before nudging Gibson away. “Enough. This fun and games isn’t helping Jett with the situation.”

“There is no situation. I can’t be a father. End of discussion.” I stand and walk toward the stairs.

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