Although the two of them weren't technically in a relationship, one wouldn't know that by looking at them. Roan was pretty sure Milly was still on the fence about how to make it work, insisting that an accidental pregnancy was no reason for them to fake it. From Roan's point of view, there wasn't anything fake about it. Those two liked each other. A lot. They were both simply clueless about how to make it all work.
"He's excited," Cam told Dare.
"That's an understatement," Roan added.
"So, they gonna get married or what?"
Roan and Cam shrugged at the same time.
"Well, they're running out of time to make it happen before Baby Balcomb gets here."
"Says the man who's living in sin," Cam added. "Wait. They're naming their kid Balcomb?"
Dare smirked. "Ballard and Holcomb."
Cam rolled his eyes.
"And hey. We're getting married," Dare insisted. "We just haven't set a date yet."
"That's not what I heard." Roan leaned back in his chair. "I heard that every time Noah comes up with a date, you shoot it down."
"He wanted to get married on Christmas," Dare grumbled. "I'm not getting married on Christmas. I mean, who would be there to officiate anyway?"
"I would," Cam said. "I got ordained just for this glorious occasion, remember?"
Roan laughed. He remembered when Cam had been harassing Dare about it in the beginning. That quickly took Dare's rebuttal off the table. Now he was down to bitching about the weather patterns of the months that Noah suggested. Too hot. Too cold. Too rainy.
"Do you not want to get married?" Cam questioned.
"Of course I do." Dare glanced down at his hands. "In fact, I wish it had already happened. I'm just not keen on the idea of going through the motions. I don't want a wedding."
"Then don't have one," Roan noted. "Do what Hudson and Teague did."
Dare sighed. "Milly's making a big deal out of it."
Considering Milly was Noah's stepsister, it made sense. She wanted to make a big production out of everything. They'd even caught her in cahoots with Dare's grandmother, trying to plan it all out.
"How's Seg?" Dare asked, clearly changing the subject.
Roan sat up straight and turned toward the computer screen. The last person he wanted to talk about was Seg.
"Have you called him?" Cam inquired.
Leave it to Cam to interrogate him in front of Dare. Since the guy wasn't getting the answers he wanted one-on-one, it seemed the logical route. Didn't mean Roan was going to answer him.
"I heard he's doing a press conference."
Roan spun around to stare at Dare. "What?"
"Yeah. Same reaction I had. Looks like he's gonna come out officially."
This was the first Roan was hearing of it. "Why would he do that?"
"Sounds to me like he's got the support of the team's owner. They just announced it. I was checking the schedule for their next game and it's a side note on their website."
"Interesting." Cam pinched his chin with his finger and thumb. "Sounds to me like you've run out of excuses, too."
Roan glared at Cam, then looked at Dare. "So, the wedding's when again?"
Two could play that game.
The minute he pulled down his street nearly three hours later, Roan knew there was a problem. A big one. There were vans lining both sides of the street in front of his house and these weren't just any vans. They were news vans.
"Looks like we're gonna take a detour, little buddy," he told Liam as he drove right on past their house.
He seriously doubted that it was a coincidence when his phone rang a minute later. The screen read: Hockey Boy.
Yeah.
Not answering that.
The dry ember of anger in his gut sparked to life from the mere thought of Seg calling him. Really. It'd already been a fucking week, and the asshole hadn't had the balls to call him yet. Why was he doing it now?
When the call went to voice mail, Roan dialed Cam's number.
"Hey."
"You mind if Liam stays the night tonight?"
"Not at all. Why? Something wrong?"
"Looks as though the news crews want a piece of me now that Seg has come out of the closet."
"Oh, shit."
"Yeah. They're stalking my house."
"Why don't you stay here, too?"
"You're too good to me," Roan told him.
"That's what friends do."
"We're on our way. And Cam?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks."
"Not a problem. You know we'd do anything for you."
Yeah. Roan did know that. Took him a long damn time to finally admit it to himself, but he knew.
He also knew that he had to do something to make this stop.
Unfortunately, in order for that to happen, Roan had to cut Seg loose forever.