Harmless(30)

"What does that mean?"

"It means she needs to get help. If she plans for this baby to live, she can't continue on  …  the way that she is. As it is, she told us there was no way she could be pregnant, which is the only reason X-rays were done. She's going to have to see a specialist who can measure the baby and follow its progress until birth."

X-rays? They had exposed the baby to radiation?

"Holy fuck. How can she be pregnant? How does she not know?" Roan wasn't sure why he was asking the doctor these questions.

"A lot of women show very few signs of pregnancy early on. If she isn't expecting it, she may not see the signs. She's not showing. It's still early yet. She's small, so it's possible she won't show for another month even. Maybe longer. Because of the drugs, it's possible the baby isn't developing appropriately, which means-"

"That makes no sense. A woman can't be pregnant and not know it."

The doctor gave him a look that asked him how he happened to know this since he definitely was swinging a penis between his legs. And okay, fine. Maybe Roan didn't know that for sure, but seriously. This was Cassie. How did she not know?

"Roan," the doctor began, her voice still calm, still gentle, "it's obvious she has a problem. A very serious problem."

Roan pulled off his hat and brushed his hands through his hair. "I know that."

"Do you know when the last time she used was?"

He shook his head. If he had to guess, it was only a couple of hours ago.

The woman sounded even more sympathetic when she said, "It's important that she understand that everything she puts in her body is hurting this baby."

He nodded. What the hell was he supposed to do about this? Was he supposed to move in with her? Hover over her? Make her do the right thing?

Shit.

Unfortunately, he really didn't see any other way.

Liam jerked in his arms, startling himself. Putting the empty bottle down, Roan shifted him to his shoulder and patted his back. Several minutes later, when Liam was once again dry and full, Roan put him back in the crib and headed for the kitchen. He cleaned out the bottle and set it in the dish drainer to dry.

He needed to sleep, but the stress was getting to him. He knew that was the reason he continued to dream about Cassie. While he wanted to call Seg, to hear his voice again, he knew he needed to stop that nonsense before he did something stupid. He had enough on his plate right now. If there was any hope that he could live a stress-free life, he needed to figure out how this worked for him and Liam. That meant he didn't have time to work anyone else into the equation.

No matter how much he wished he had someone to lean on right now.





Seven

"HELL NO. I'M SERIOUS," LOCKE stated adamantly. "If there was some chick I wanted  …  like, really wanted  …  I'd make sure she knew it."

Seg stared at their backup goalie. At twenty-three, Josh Locke wasn't much different than the rest of them had been at that age. Hotshots in the NHL, they'd all thought they knew every damn thing. Locke was no exception.

"What if it wasn't that simple?" Patrick Benne questioned, clearly playing devil's advocate on this particular topic.

Benne was a newcomer to the team this year. He'd seamlessly transitioned right into the thick of it, too. Everyone liked to give him shit-something about cowboys and Canadian ranches-but the guy had no problem dishing it right back out, which made everyone like him. They were a close-knit group, even if they harassed each other ruthlessly. Right now, Benne was their star on the ice-a left winger who was proving to be one of their strongest forwards.




 

 

"How could it not be that simple?" Locke countered. "I want her. I let her know. Simple."

"What if she's married?"

"That's stupid," Locke said, frowning. "I don't want a married chick."

"You say that now," Benne continued. "Say she's super-hot, super-smart, and her husband's a dick."

"Married's married, dude," Locke said, lifting his beer to his lips. "Not interested."

"Okay, say she's got a kid," Benne pushed. "Not married, but she's got a kid."

"Hell yeah," Mattias Valeri chimed in. "Look at Kaufman's sister. Single mom. Fucking smoking-hot."

All eyes moved to Mattias. Seg peered around, praying like hell that Kaufman wasn't within ear shot. The guy wouldn't hesitate to take Mattias to the ground for saying that about his sister. Worse than that, Seg hoped Kingston hadn't overheard either. Hell, it was obvious the goalie was all sorts of hung up on the woman. Mt. Rushmore would likely pummel the guy for looking at her.

"Kids don't scare me," Locke said, although he had that same not interested look in his eye.