Page 1 of Fielder's Choice

Prologue - Lane

Three and a half years earlier…

“Fuck!” I shout, pacing a hole in my living room floor, hands all but ripping the hair from my head. “God, what am I going to do?”

Just then, my elevator doors slide open as the guys finally get here after my panicked text a little bit ago.

“Dude,” Josh says, taking in my disheveled appearance. “What happened?”

“You’ve been doing better lately,” Cole says quietly. “At least, we thought you were.”

I fall onto my sofa, head in my hands, and just sigh. “This isn’t about my grandparents.”

My friends come to join me in the living room. Josh and Cole take spots on either side of me on the sofa while Knox chooses a chair. He hasn’t said a word since he got here, which is to be expected, but the expression on his face tells me he’s worried right now.

Josh turns to face me, speaking gently. “If this isn’t about your grandparents, what’s going on, Lane? You’re clearly not doing well right now.”

“No kidding,” I groan.

I scrub my hands over my face, trying to calm myself down.

It doesn’t do a damn thing.

I think about how to phrase my words, trying to figure out how to admit the news I just got out loud. I can’t think of anything, though, other than just telling them straight up.

Hands still over my face, I whisper, “I’m going to have a kid.”

“What?”The first word Knox has spoken since he arrived, and it’s just his disbelief over my having knocked someone up.

I remove my hands from my face and sit up, elbows on my knees and hands clasped under my chin. “The Miami series,” I sigh. “When we lost game two, I took that girl from the bar back to my room.”

“I recall,” Josh chuckles uneasily. “I had to hang out in Cole’s room for a while.”

“Well, turns out the condom broke, and now I’m going to be a dad come January.”

“At the risk of sounding like an ass,” Cole says warily, “are you sure it’s yours?”

“I mean, I can’t be sure. Not yet, at least. She can’t do a paternity test yet. But the timeline matches up. I’m going to have a fucking kid.”

“It’ll be alright, man,” Josh says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“I just—” I sob, no longer able to control my emotions with everything running through me right now. “I just lost my grandparents a few months ago. My parents died when I was a kid. How the fuck am I going to do this? I don’t have anyone.”

“You have us.” That’s Knox again, speaking only when it matters.

“Exactly,” Cole states. “You’re not alone.”

“Are you going to co-parent?” Josh asks.

“No,” I breathe. “Alicia—the woman I apparently impregnated—doesn’t want kids. She considered abortion but decided she couldn’t go through with it. She’ll just place the baby up for adoption if I don’t want this.”

“Doyou want this?” Knox questions.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But that’s my kid. I can’t imagine giving my kid up.”

“We’re all here for you,” Josh reassures. “I have no doubt Ella and the girls will be as well. We’ll help however we can.”

“Thank you,” I sigh. “This is just so much happening at once. I wish my grandparents were still here. I never imagined doing anything like this without them.”

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