Page 125 of Beautiful Storm

In a few short months, Amelia’s clawed her way under my skin and buried herself deep, but I wouldn’t want to do a damn thing to change it.

I’m getting used to having her around. No, I want her around. All the time.

Our celebrations continue as we head back to the locker rooms, and as we run through the motions of our postgame commitments, my high never wavers.

“We are killing it.” Reed slaps my back as he walks past, dropping down on the bench beside me. “I know they say not to celebrate early, but fuck that. We are going all the way, my man, no doubt about it.”

“Hell yeah, we are.”

I throw my gear into a heap just as Dylan interrupts, his somber expression instantly dampening my mood. “Luke man, have you got a sec?” His eyes flash to Reed’s before settling back on me, and I find myself on edge.

“Yeah, sure.” I turn to Reed. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Reed nods as I follow Dylan to a private corner. “What’s going on?”

“I’ve got alerts set for articles that mention my name.” I raise a brow and open my mouth to tease him but he cuts me off. “Don’t say anything dickish. This isn’t about me.”

“Okay.” I nod. “Go on.”

“On top of that, Summer insisted I set alerts for Thomas’s name too, and I just received this article. It names Amelia and mentions that sources say she attended the same high school as you and Thomas. That's why I got the alert.”

Fuck. “Is it bad?”

He turns his phone around to show me a clear image of Amelia and me walking with Shadow. It would be completely innocent if I wasn’t staring into her eyes like she hung the moon while touching her now-obvious pregnant belly.

While she’s not necessarily hiding her pregnancy around work anymore, this isn’t what she meant when she said she felt better about people knowing.

“It also speculates that you’re the father.”

“Understandably.” I laugh because I don’t know how else to react. “I mean, look at the photo.”

“Yep.”

“I am, by the way.”

“I assumed that too—not because of the image, but because of the way you act around each other.”

“Shit. Guess there’s no point getting my agent to deny it.”

“I doubt it.”

Jesus.“I wish I knew who the goddamn source was and what else they know.”

“Can’t help you there. This is all I have.”

“Thanks for showing me. I’ll handle it.” How? I have no fucking idea.

I have a missed call from my agent when I check my phone and then ten calls from my mom and three from Lainey. Since the article was dated today, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s either very public, or Mom has alerts set for my name too. And I really hope it’s the latter.

I huff out a long sigh and bury my face in my hands. We knew this was a possibility, but I have never been photographed that close to home, so I never considered it.God, I’m a fucking idiot.

“Are you okay?” Reed asks, his bag over his shoulder, ready to go.

“Nope.”

“Is Amelia okay? The baby?” Worry is evident in his tone and I must admit, it hits me in the chest.

“They’re okay.” I hope.“Dylan just showed me an article and we’ve been outed. The world officially knows, or at least assumes, that Amelia’s having my baby. But I appreciate your concern.”

“Damn. What are you going to do?”

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