Page 30 of Falling for the Forward

From the background of the photo, I can tell they’re in the family room, where our families and close friends can go before and after games. There are snacks, drinks and games for kids. The team even has childcare there for young kids who aren’t interested in the games.

For fuck’s sake, that damn pig is smiling again. I close my eyes for a second, then text Suki back.

Carter: You brought the pig??

Suki: I had to. He got into the pantry earlier and made a huge mess. He spilled Cheerios everywhere and got into some other food. There’s nowhere I can keep him where I know he won’t ruin anything.

Carter: I can’t believe you got through security with him.

Suki: I told them he’s yours. The security guys are the ones who gave him the hoodie.

Carter: How’s his house-training going?

Suki: Not great. He peed once on our walk earlier, but he peed three times in the house. One of those times was on your shoes that were in the laundry room.

Carter: What an asshole.

Suki: The girls are feeding him cupcakes. He’s had three in the past three minutes. I better go.

I set my phone back down, then pick it back up and look at the picture she sent me. Darling is growing like crazy. I swear he’s put on ten pounds and we haven’t even had him for two weeks.

Several teammates are laughing, and when I glance over at them, I see that Bash is part of the group, and he’s looking right at me.

“Bro, you didn’t mention that your new wife sells sex toys. Has she introduced you to the anal invader yet?”

I furrow my brow. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Bash grabs Silas’s phone from his hand and brings it over. “Some hockey blogger wrote about you getting married. He’s got a photo of the marriage license and stuff he dug up online about Suki.”

I take the phone and read the post, which includes several photos taken from Suki’s social media and lists Olivia, Charlotteand Hallie by name. There are also photos of her with a man named Tyler McCane, and business paperwork for a company called Naughty by Nature.

Fuck. If this is legit, what have I done? I’ll be the laughingstock of the league. Parents of the kids at the girls’ schools will see this. And it sure as hell won’t help my custody case.

But I can’t let on to my teammates that I’m shocked by this. I keep my expression neutral as I pass the phone back to Bash.

“Yeah, she doesn’t do much with the company anymore.”

He just looks at me as I pass the phone back. I know him well enough that I can tell what he’s thinking. He’s my best friend. Not only is he wondering whether or not I knew about this, but he also realizes it’s not something to laugh about when the custody case hangs in the balance.

“Let us know how you like taking the Shake n’ Quake up your poop chute, Stanton!” Silas says, poring over his own phone screen with several teammates.

“Jesus fuck.” Isaac looks at the screen. “For a hundred and fifty-nine dollars, that thing better do more than just get people off. You could get like ten handies for that.”

Bash takes Silas’s phone back to him, not laughing anymore. As soon as Silas opens his mouth to make another comment, Bash silences him with a look.

“Move on,” he says.

He comes over to the bench and sits down beside me, not saying anything for a solid thirty seconds.

“Did you know?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I lie. “I didn’t ask for details, but she told me.”

“Okay, good.”

I keep taping my stick, hoping he won’t notice the tic in my jaw. That and a reddening face are dead giveaways that I’m seriously pissed, and Bash knows it.

“You good?” he asks me.

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