Page 6 of Forever Player

“Oh shit,” I say, and my head begins to spin.

The last thing I hear is, “She’s going down. . .”

CHAPTERONE

Brett

She falls into my arms and I catch her and lift her off her feet.

“Holy shit,” Ellie shrieks.

“People are taking videos,” Eden says wide-eyed.

I swear under my breath and whisk Willow down the couple stairs and back on the ice.

“Noble, get back here. Where the hell are you taking her?” Jacob Heaton barks at my back.

Fuck him. This woman had my baby, and I didn’t know. She is the mother of my child and I will make sure she is safe and cared for.

Kaleb and Jacob are on my heels as I walk through the tunnel. When I arrive to the locker room, I walk inside. “ Where is the doctor?” I shout.

Everyone comes to a standstill watching me. Coach Sanders comes out to me.

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouts. “Is that Willow?”

“She fainted. I need Dr. Dillon,” I say. Coach knows Willow because she’s been good friends with his daughter Patty for years. They went to school together in New York.

Willow stirs in my arms and then her eyes turn wide. “Brett, what’s going on?” Her voice is groggy. “Put me down.”

“You fainted,” I tell her. “Let the doc check you out.”

I walk her into the exam room Dr. Dillon has set up. Jacob stands beside us. “I can take care of my sister,” he says tersely.

“So can I,” I bite back.

I place Willow on a chair and tell the doctor what happened. He checks her blood pressure and he gives her the all clear.

“Excuse me,” I say once I know she is okay. I make my way to the bathroom this time, Kaleb is following me.

“Brett, are you okay?” Kaleb asks, sounding concerned.

I make it to the stall in time to vomit in the toilet. I don’t even know what is happening to me. My head is spinning as I remember Willow’s words. She had my baby without telling me. She sent me a text saying she was pregnant and thought I didn’t want the baby. I vomit again and then I heave.

“Shit, Brett,” Kaleb says. “This is going to be okay. Maddie kept insisting something was up at Christmas. I told her she was being ridiculous but she had some weird intuition about this.”

Sweat prickles my forehead and I feel like I’ve been knocked out by a tractor trailer. I leave the restroom stall and throw cold water on my face and rinse my mouth. Then I grab the counter and look in the mirror because none of this feels real. I’ve entered some alternate universe that is fucking with me.

Coach enters the bathroom. “Your little tantrum was caught on video. It’s gone viral,” he says.

Fuck me. This night keeps getting better and better.

“How much of it?” I ask.

“Everything,” Coach Sanders answers, his lips turned down. “Even the part when she tells you she’s pregnant and you told her to bark up another tree.” He has the decency to wince.

“That wasn’t me, Coach,” I say.

“I got that part too. Talk about a whole clusterfuck of events, Noble,” Coach says, but at least he sounds sympathetic.

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