Page 15 of Sven

Sven fell back on his bed and covered his eyes. “I’ve been a little busy. We’re back in practice and games.”

“I’ll be watching your game tomorrow. I hope you’re finally able to get a goal. You should be outscoring most of your teammates. You need to get your fucking head in the game.”

“I know. Believe it or not ... this is not helping.”

“If you can’t take a little tough love from me, then you’ve gotten a little too soft.”

“I gotta go.”

“Wait—”

But he didn’t wait. He hung up and pulled one of his pillows down over his face to muffle a scream... Only the pillow smelled like perfume, and he remembered the naked woman he’d found lounging on his bed.

Then his dad called back.

He couldn’t deal with any of this. In the past, he would have called a teammate, maybe gone out for a few drinks, but he didn’t want to do that anymore. He didn’t know what he wanted to do. His life was upside down, and he was just holding on.

Then he heard another ring, but he picked up his phone. It wasn’t ringing anymore. Then he heard a voice answer it.

“Hello,” Stacie answered.

The baby monitor was sitting on his nightstand, so he moved to turn it off, but then she started talking.

“I’m working on it... Yeah, I’m still here ... I just need a little more time... I’ll get it to you. Please, just a little more time.”

Sven wasn’t sure he liked that. This was the second time in a few days he’d overheard her on the phone with someone who sounded like they wanted something from her. Was she behind on bills? He would help with that... but he was starting to get the feeling it might not be something that simple.

“Okay, I’ll call you when I know more... Bye.”

She hung up, and Sven turned off the monitor. He picked up his own phone and had a call of his own to make.

“You’ve reached the offices of DiMaggio and Ordaz.”

“Yeah, this is Sven Olsson calling for Victor DiMaggio.”

“One moment, please.”

He took a deep breath. It was time he got his lawyer involved in all of this because he sure as fuck didn’t know what to do.

7

Sven

It had been about a week since Winnie and Stacie had come into his world, and while things were still up in the air, they had settled down. It was Saturday morning. Sven had his own game and had missed his sister’s, but he was glad she managed to find some time away from her team. He opened the door to a big smile on his little sister’s face.

“Let me see my little niece,” she said, walking right in.

“Hello to you, too, dear sister,” he chuckled as she brushed right past, barely stopping to slip off her boots. “She’s in the living room.”

He followed Tillie into the living room, where Winnie was on the play mat, playing with toys.

Tillie gasped. “Oh, Sven, are you sure she’s yours? She’s perfect!” she said, kneeling next to the little baby.

“Brat.”

Winnie’s eyes took in Tilda cautiously before her bottom lip popped out and trembled. She fussed and reached for Sven.

“See, she knows who her daddy is,” he said to her as he picked her up. He sat on the couch and reached for the container of puffs on the coffee table.

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