“Excuse me, ladies. Be right back,” I say absently as I slip out of their grasp to storm off into the kitchen, ignoring Victoria when I hear her calling my name repeatedly behind my retreating back.
Can’t she take the hint I want nothing to do with her? Everything turned to dust when she finally revealed herself. I spot Beast retrieving a beer from the fridge and don’t even pause as I snag the drink from him as I escape out the sliding glass door.
“What the—ah, well that explains that,” I hear him announce, no doubt glaring at Victoria, just as the door slides close as I slip into the shadows to drown in my sorrows.
“Granger, baby, you don’t need baby drama in your life right now. You're about to get drafted soon, and you need my full attention once you start for a pro team. I took care of everything so you don’t have to worry about a baby in your life. Besides, can you imagine what it would do to my body?” Victoria says with a shudder, shooting back another shot of tequila.
I left her alone for not even five minutes to use the bathroom and came back to her doing lined up shots. I was dumbstruck at what I was seeing and pulled her aside to ask what the fuck she thought she was doing taking shots while pregnant with my baby. I didn’t even want to come to the party in the first place, but she said just a quick in and out to show our faces before heading to dinner. That was over an hour ago, and why the fuck would I care if my face was shown or not?
“What the fuck did you do, Victoria?!” My heart was pounding and slowly dying off because a piece of me was just taken away before I even got to know my child. She got an abortion without even talking to me about it?
“I did what I had to,” she says and turns back to the party with a smile, as if my world wasn’t crashing down around me. She doesn’t even notice when I leave the party without her.
I was fucking done.
I shake myself out of that memory that still causes my chest to ache and anger to rise whenever I think about what she did. It’s something I’ll never get back, a child lost forever just when it started to take place in my mind that I was going to be a dad. I’ll never forgive her for that.
I lean against the old, rickety deck and take a deep breath of the cool night. I sure as shit shouldn’t be standing out here because no repairs have been done to improve the frat house deck since the house has been built, so I’ll probably end up falling through the wood. My arms dangle over the ledge as I watch the group of partiers from my hiding spot. They’re living it up by dancing to the music on the makeshift dance floor as they grope each other, drinking their hearts out, and it would seem skinny dipping in the heated pool is on the agenda tonight. My leather jacket pulls tight over my arms as my muscles tighten from exhaustion, and I start to wonder once again why the fuck I came here tonight. I could be at the rink practicing as I pretend to not be thinking about my new obsession—my cotton candy Princess.
A growl escapes me, and I tip my chin down, touching my chest as I take a deep breath to fight everything that is going through my fucked up mind. I exhale, and my shoulders don’t feel so bunched with tension anymore. I turn around to lean against the rail once I’m somewhat under the control of my emotions, and my eyes widen with disbelief when I see her sitting in the lounge chair that's directly across from me with her phone in her lap as she stares right at me. I didn’t even notice her when I strode outside, she’s so goddamn quiet.
“Wanna talk about it? Have a seat, I’ll be here all night.” She waves her hand to the identical lounger right next to her with a teasing note in her voice.
I walk over to her, staring down at her upturned face as she smiles, until it slips a little when she glances at my beer bottle. Noting that look, I place the bottle on the ground and sit down facing her.
“I see your stalking ability has no bounds, Princess. What are you doing out here by yourself?” I question, looking her up and down from her lounging position and liking what greets my eyes.
Her cheeks are a rosy flush, lips slightly turned up in a saucy smile, and her pink hair is slipping out of the grey beanie hat she’s wearing. I honestly didn’t expect her to be here, since it doesn’t seem like her type of scene. I picture her curled up on a couch,
