Sledge: The Hockey Player's Secret Baby (10 page)

Astrid and I were having difficulty staying as composed as the professionals. We turned a corner and drew curious glances from six guys undressing at their lockers. I immediately turned away. Astrid only waved and said: “Hi.”

I headed back in the direction we’d come from then took a quick right. I practically ran straight into Sledge. He was wet and naked except for a towel around his waist. He looked up at me and smiled. I couldn’t take my eyes off his body. I stood there frozen in place like a peeping tom. His broad, hairy chest and six pack abs begged to be touched.

“Bobbi? You didn’t hear me, did you?” he asked, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“Sorry. What did you say?”

“I asked you if you enjoyed the game.”

“It was, uh, yeah- it was great.”

An unfamiliar wet, achy feeling between my legs made me want to run away in embarrassment. Sledge suddenly pulled off his towel. I looked away, but not before catching a glimpse of his cock. He was just as big as I remembered. Thick and long with trimmed dark pubic hair. I could feel my face burning hot.

“I should leave you to change,” I said awkwardly.

I turned and ran straight into Harley. He was fresh out of the shower. Harley didn’t bother with a towel. He was completely lacking any sense of self-consciousness. My eyes drifted down over his body. Astrid was right: he was built like a Greek god. Still, he didn’t hold a candle to Sledge.

Harley smiled brightly at me. “I didn’t think I’d run into you again. How are you?”

Casually, he strolled over to his locker. It was directly across from Sledge’s. He was watching the two of us very closely.

“Get dressed,” Sledge said. “Don’t show off in front of the girl.”

“I’m not showing off. She’s seen me naked before.”

Sledge’s eyes narrowed. “Bullshit.”

“No, it’s true. Ask her.”

Sledge looked to me to deny it.

“It’s a funny story actually…” I said nervously.

I didn’t get any further. Sledge punched Harley in the face. He stumbled back and fell over a bench landing hard on the floor. Sledge was on top of him throwing punch after punch. Harley managed to push him off. The two wrestled on the floor completely naked. Several other players ran over to cheer them on. The guys shouted for Sledge, then Harley. They couldn’t decide who to root for.

I pushed my way through and shouted at Sledge to stop. He couldn’t hear me over the cheers of the guys. I tried to grab Sledge just as he was raising his arm to throw another punch. His elbow hit me in the shoulder, knocking me back against the lockers. He jumped off of Harley and went to my side.

“Are you okay, sweetheart? Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t see you standing there.”

Suddenly Harley’s arm was around Sledge’s neck. He was pulling him back, choking him out. Chick ran over to me.

“Are you okay?” he said.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I rubbed my shoulder.

“You idiots!” Chick shouted.

I’d never seen him this angry before. Everyone thought of him as the gentle giant. The cheers stopped. Harley and Sledge stopped fighting.

“What the hell are you thinking?” he demanded of Sledge. “She’s pregnant!”

You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Sledge looked like he’d just been hit by a truck.

“You’re pregnant?” he said.

Sledge looked to Harley. Harley lifted his hands defensively. “It’s not mine,” he said. “I never touched your girl. I hooked up with her roommate. I invited her to join in, but she wasn’t interested. I swear, man.”

“I’m not pregnant!” I shouted.

I heard laughter from the crowd of onlookers.

“I mean, not now obviously,” Chick said. “I meant that Bobbie was-”

“Chick get out,” I shouted. He looked hurt by my tone. “
Now
.”

Harley picked up a towel and wrapped it around his waist. He walked to the crowd of guys and ushered them away from the unfolding drama. They looked disappointed to leave. Men always pretend like they’re above gossip, but guys love it just as much as women do. They wanted the inside scoop on what was going on between me and Sledge.

Once we were alone, Sledge ran his hands through his hair and paced across the room. I tried to approach him but he kept his distance.

“Are you pregnant?” he asked.

“No, of course not.”

“Don’t lie to me. Just tell me the truth. If there’s another guy I can handle it.”

I seriously doubted that. Sledge was too territorial. He’d kill any man who knocked me up.

“I’m not lying to you. I’m not pregnant. I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

It was an embarrassing admission. Sledge had slept with countless women. I felt like the world was moving on and leaving me behind.

“Why would Chick say that?”

“I don’t know. He’s upset about something.”

I picked at my nails. My hands trembled.

“I don’t understand,” Sledge said gently. “If nothing’s going on, then why are you so upset?”

“Things have been very confusing for me lately. Chick just got the wrong idea. He may think I am or was pregnant. I’m not.”

“How would he get that idea?”

Sledge stared into my eyes. This was it: the moment I could completely devastate his life, or save it with a lie.

“Astrid’s pregnant,” I blurted out. “She slept with Harley… and a couple other guys. She’s pregnant, but it’s a secret. Chick found out and he mistakenly thought that I was the one who’s pregnant.”

Sledge looked at me like he didn’t quite believe what I was saying.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” I said. “Astrid will kill me if she knew I told you. She’s not sure if Harley is the father. I never slept with him. What he said was true. I walked in on them together and he asked me if I wanted to join them for a threesome. I laughed it off and declined. It was no big deal. I never slept with him, I swear.”

Sledge nodded. “Fucking Harley. I can’t believe he asked you to have a threesome with him. And now he’s probably the father of a baby and he doesn’t know it. What an asshole.”

My stomach dropped. Sledge could have been talking about himself.

“Don’t mention anything to Astrid,” I said. “She’s really upset about it.”

“Okay,” he said, taking a step towards me.

In spite of the violence and my lie nearly being exposed, I was extremely aware of Sledge’s nudity. He touched my shoulder.

“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine. It didn’t hurt.”

He took my hand and stretched out my arm. “Does that hurt?”

“No,” I said a bit breathlessly.

Sledge stared into my eyes. I found myself leaning into him. He lowered his head. Our lips were inches apart. My body screamed to feel his touch. I was drawn to him like a magnet.

“Hey guys, do you…” Astrid said, appearing around the corner. I took a step back. “Shit, sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Her eyes briefly darted down over Sledge’s naked body. The way she looked at him irritated me.

“We should get going,” I said to Sledge. “I have class early tomorrow.”

I grabbed Astrid’s elbow and started to lead her away.

“What’s the rush?” she said. “I was talking to your goalie and he invited us all out for drinks. What do you say?”

Sledge looked to me to accept or decline. I hesitated.

“Okay,” he said. “Bobbi, you’re coming too. Don’t argue.”

Strangely, he sounded angry with me. One minute he was about to kiss me, the next he was pissed. I could never keep up with Sledge’s moods.

“It’ll be fun,” Astrid said.

I shrugged noncommittally. It didn’t look like I had much choice.

“Great, I’ll drive. Oh, and let’s invite Harley along too,” Sledge said with a smile.

“Sounds great,” Astrid replied. I felt like vomiting.

10

“Can you order a drink for me? I’m underage and I don’t have a fake ID,” Astrid said with her sweetest smile.

Both the goalie and Harley said yes at the same time. They gave each other a dirty look. The two men had become competitive. Astrid was living for every second. She had two hot guys fighting for her attention. She was in heaven.

Sledge looked on disapprovingly. I knew what he was thinking:
You’re pregnant. You shouldn’t be out drinking at a bar.
He turned his attention to me. “Do you want a drink?”

I never drank when we were in high school. I was always the good girl, the coach’s daughter who stayed out of trouble. Not anymore.

“Yeah, I’ll have a beer.”

I saw a flicker of surprise in Sledge’s eyes, but it passed quickly. He went to the bar and ordered the drinks. I leaned in and whispered to Astrid: “I seriously fucked up.”

“What happened? Did you kiss him? I had no idea the two of you were about to hookup. I’m such an idiot. I walked right in the middle of it and ruined the moment. I swear I won’t be a cock-blocker tonight. If you want to take Sledge back to our dorm, I’ll-”

“No. Just shut up and listen. You’re going to be pissed, but I just need you to play along.”

“I don’t like the sound of this. What happened?”

I spoke as quickly as I could. I knew the guys would be back with our drinks any second. “The guys got into a fight in the locker room. Sledge accidentally elbowed me in the shoulder and knocked me back into the lockers.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing. Just listen. We don’t have much time.”

She nodded excitedly. Astrid lived for drama like this.

“Chick saw it all go down and stepped in. He yelled at Sledge for hurting me because, and I quote: ‘Don’t you know she’s pregnant?’”

“What? Holy shit. Why would he say that?”

“He knows- not about everything, but he knows I had Sledge’s baby in secret. He’s not the brightest guy. I don’t know why he blurted out that I’m pregnant.”

“You’re not, though, right?”

“It would have to be Immaculate Conception. You know my sex life is nonexistent. Anyway, I had to think of something, some excuse.”

“Yeah…?”

“I told Sledge that Chick was mistaken, that he found out that
you
were pregnant and mistakenly believed I was the one having a baby.”

“Wait a minute; they think I’ve got a bun in the oven?”

“Yeah. And I told him that you don’t know who the father is.”

“Great. This is turning into an episode of Maury Povich.”

“Just play along, please? I swear I’ll make it up to you.”

She didn’t have time to respond; the guys returned with our drinks. Astrid looked down at her rum and Coke.

“You know, I changed my mind. I shouldn’t be drinking,” she said.

In truth, she was already drunk. I’d lost count of how many beers she had while we were watching the game. I was sure Sledge could smell it on her.

“You don’t want
another
drink?” he asked suspiciously. He definitely knew she was already drunk. This had the potential for disaster written all over it. Wasted, Astrid was ten times worse than normal. She’d play the part of the confused pregnant girl like she was starring in a Lifetime movie.

Dramatically, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “A woman in my condition can’t indulge,” she said.

I gave her a hard look. She didn’t have to lay it on so thick.

“What do you mean?” Harley asked. “What’s your condition?”

Her pregnancy was supposed to be a secret, but apparently in her drunken state Astrid had missed that part of the lie.

“I’m- I’m…” She grabbed a paper napkin and brought it to her face. “I’m pregnant!”

She made a crying face, but no tears were coming out of her eyes. She rubbed them with the paper towel and sobbed loudly.

“What the hell?” Harley said.

The goalie looked like he wanted to die. “Um, I think you’re a cool chick and all, but I’m not ready to be a father especially not to another man’s baby. So, maybe I’ll just…” He stood up and left without further ado. I’d never seen a guy run so fast from a girl.

Astrid sobbed loudly. Harley looked to Sledge for help, but he only stared at Astrid with a look I couldn’t quite decipher. Harley put his arm around Astrid and brought her in close.

“It’s okay,” he said awkwardly.

“I just want you to know,” Astrid said to him, “that I won’t take advantage of you in court. Half your salary should be sufficient to support us.”

“What? I’m not the father. I can’t be. We only just slept together last night.”

“Sometimes a woman just knows.”

“We used a condom.”

“Condoms aren’t one hundred percent.”

“They’re pretty close to one hundred percent.”

“Famous last words.”

“Impossible. It can’t be my baby. You’re not going to pin this on me.”

Astrid sobbed loudly. I had to do something to end this. “Astrid, I thought you were further along? Have you even taken a pregnancy test?” I gave her a meaningful look. I hoped she understood that I was trying to put an end to this charade.

“No,” she replied. “But my women’s intuition is very strong.”

She was too drunk to pick up on the fact that I was trying to stop this, not make it worse.

“Women’s intuition isn’t science. You need to take a test, though I suspect you’re not pregnant.” I smiled at Harley apologetically. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “She usually doesn’t drink this much.”

“What are you whispering?” Astrid demanded. “You all think I’m nuts, don’t you? Harley believes me. Tell them, Harley. Tell them that our baby will never want for anything.”

“You’re completely insane. This is what happens when you stick your dick in crazy,” he said with a sigh.

“I may be crazy, but you’re terrible in bed.”

“What?” He looked like he’d been slapped.

“Astrid, please…” I pleaded.

“I may be crazy, but you’re nothing more than a two pump chump,” she went on, making things worse.

“That is bullshit. I’ve never received a complaint from a girl. They’re usually coming back and begging for more.” Astrid laughed in his face. “Why are you laughing? I made you cum, didn’t I?”

Astrid shrugged and took my beer from me. She drank it down, then rubbed her mouth with the back of her hand. Harley looked to Sledge to back him up.

“Tell them,” he said. “Tell them that girls go wild for me.”

Sledge stared at him with a look that fell somewhere between disbelief and contempt. He was clearly still pissed off at Harley. After the fight in the locker room, I was surprised he’d agreed to go out to drink with Harley. I had the feeling something else was going on.

“Do you always drink when you’re pregnant?” Sledge asked Astrid.

“Not always.”

I kicked Astrid under the table.

Sledge frowned. “What’s really going on here?”

“She’s drunk.” “I’m knocked up.” Astrid and I said at the same time.

“I should take you home,” I said.

“I’ll drive you,” Sledge announced.

“No, we’ll take an Uber. Thanks though.”

I didn’t want to get into a car with Sledge and have to deal with his suspicions. He wasn’t stupid; he definitely knew there was more to the story. What if he started to investigate? What if he talked to Chick? I needed to talk to him as soon as possible.

I stood up pushing my chair back hard. I grabbed Astrid’s elbow and pulled her to her feet.

“Hey!” she said, clinging to her drink.

“We’re going,” I said harshly.

I dragged her from the bar as quickly as I could. I expected Sledge to chase after us. Thankfully, he didn’t, though the fact that he stayed behind made me even more suspicious. He was on to me. It was only a matter of time before he learned the truth.