Page 76 of Three Pucks and a Baby

Or mine.

When Vivian glanced up at us from the ultrasound, her smile faded. She quickly stuffed the picture back in her purse. The silence around us grew even heavier. After a few painful moments, Vivian stared imploringly at us. “Say something. Please,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry, Viv. This is a big shock,” I replied.

Bennett nodded slowly. “Considerin’ I’ve only been with dudes this past year, this sure wasn’t what I was expectin’.”

A nervous giggle bubbled from Vivian’s lips. “I guess not,” she mused.

Theo didn’t respond. Instead, he remained somewhat glaring at Vivian. I was just about to tell him to knock it off when Bennett placed a hand on his shoulder. “Chill out, bro.”

Slinging him away, Theo snarled, “Don’t tell me to chill out. There’s no way in hell I’m going let this fuck with my life!”

As Vivian recoiled in horror, I grabbed her hand in support while Bennett glared at Theo. “Watch your fuckin’ mouth, T,”he warned.

I nodded. “Besides, this isn’t just aboutyou.Bennett and I were there that night just as you were. That means we’reallin this together with Vivian.”

A wild gleam burned in Theo’s dark eyes. “No, we’re fucking not. Don’t you get it? This bullshit could fuck with my head when the scouts are in the stands. I could blow my last NHL prospects.”

“I’m so sorry, Theo. I never meant for this to happen. I swear,” Vivian said.

He shook his head maniacally. “I suit up every fucking time to keep bullshit like this from happening!”

Although his delivery sucked, I realized that Theo did have a point. Placing my hand on my chest, I protested, “Now that you mention it, I–” I glanced around at the other guys. “Weall used condoms.”

“Lots of them,” Bennett added.

“I’m aware of that,” Vivian replied.

“Then how are you pregnant?” I countered.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Theo said, “Good fucking question considering they’re like 99% effective.”

Bennett shook his head. “Try 98%.” When Theo and I stared questioningly at him for the statistic, he shrugged. “I like to be safe when I hook up, so I did my research.”

“Whatever,” Theo grunted.

Cocking his brows, Bennett remarked, “And that percentage drops to like 87% when they’re not applied properly.”

“Are you saying I don’t know how to wrap my shit up?” Theo asked.

“I’m just sayin’ we were all a little tipsy when I joined in.” When we continued staring at him, he shrugged. “I’m just sayin’ there could’ve been some human error.”

Theo grunted as he pushed past Bennett to stand in front of Vivian. She shrank back slightly at his aggressive stance. “If you were going to be fucking three men like a whore, why didn’t you have the decency to be on birth control to keep a mess like this from happening?”

Oh hell no. He hadnotjust dared to call Vivian a whore. As red crisscrossed over my vision, I shouted, “Motherfucker!”

While I clenched my fist to punch him, Vivian beat me to it. Her palm cracked against his cheek. “How dare you speak to me that way!”

As her body shook with fury, she jabbed a finger at him. “For your information, I can’t be on birth control because blood clots run in my family.”

“What about a fucking IUD?” Theo countered.

As Vivian’s eyes narrowed to fury-filled slits, Bennett growled, “Shut the fuck up, Theo.”

I jabbed a finger at him. “I swear if you don’t shut your fucking mouth, I’m going to lay you out.”

“Fuck you,” he spat back at me. Turning to Vivian, he said, “And fuck you if I think I’m going to let you ruin my life. The only money you’ll see out of me is if you go to a clinic and take care of it.”

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