Page 80 of Press Your Luck

"Hold on a minute. Back up. I'm missing something."

Reed kept his intense eyes on me as he responded to Bo. "Pierce here has a thing for Coach Withers."

Bo nodded. "I thought so. But I thought it was just a crush or something."

"I believe it's more than that. And now it appears that he's acted on it, which to my mind would make him happy."

“So, you’re in love with Coach Withers and she’s pregnant, right?” Bo clarified.

"Right. With triplets."

This time, Reed reacted the same as Bo. Both of their jaws dropped to their chests.

"Triplets? As in three?" Reed asked.

I nodded.

"Holy fuck. I don't know if I should be in awe of the power of your sperm or feel bad for you because... three babies at once. Jesus.”

Reed pulled his composure back together. "You still haven't answered the question about why you look miserable about this. The way you were acting at the party, I thought this would be good news."

I sighed as I dragged my fingers through my hair. "I found out about the pregnancy by accident. I don't think she was going to tell me."

“Why not?" Bo asked.

I shrugged. "Clearly, there's something about me that women make the decision not to tell me when they're pregnant. If you have any ideas what that might be, I'd like to hear them.”

"First of all, you do know about condoms, right?" Bo said.

Reed shot him like a look. "Don’t be a baby, Pierce. There's nothing wrong with you. I don't know why Porter's mom didn't tell you about him. Maybe she couldn't reach you, or maybe she didn't think you'd care—"

"That’s a pretty big assumption."

"I don't know how women think. My point is that for whatever reason, they think they have a good reason. I'm not saying it is a good reason. Although, I have to say I'm a little surprised by Naomi."

"She's young," Bo said.

I looked at him, annoyed that he was suggesting she was too young to tell me the truth. "She's old enough to be coaching a hockey team."

"Well, maybe it’s not that she's young. Maybe it's just your goals in life. You know I've been through this just like you with Ruby. When I found out that I was Laina’s dad, I was pretty pissed off. I am still devastated about the years I've missed with her. But I also know that Ruby's not telling me wasn't done out of malice or because she thought there was something wrong with me. I think she thought she was doing me a favor because I was going off to pursue my dream."

I glared at Bo. "I am over forty years old. I'm essentially living my dream."

"Yeah, but she's just starting hers. Maybe it was less about you and more about her trying to figure out how she could hold onto her dream.” Reed seemed to catch on to what Bo was saying.

I turned my glare on Reed. "She could do it if she has help from me."

Reed stared at me with his hard eyes like he was looking into my soul. I hated when he did that.

"Well, then I guess your being pissed off for the rest of your life makes sense. Just be sure to hide it around the kids. But yeah, you have every reason to be mad forever."

"Fuck you, Reed,” I said to his patronizing statement. “I opened myself up to that woman, and she consistently rejected me and then didn't tell me she was pregnant. I have every right to be angry and to question whether she's the woman I thought she was."

Bo nodded. "Absolutely. Like I said, I was really pissed at Ruby. It’s harder when you love them and they betray you like this—”

“Do you love her?” Reed asked. “Is this different from Porter’s mother?”

As much as I loved these guys and knew I needed them, I didn’t want to open a vein and show them how fucked this situation made me.

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