“The fuck?” I grunt, catching his elbow and pulling him back. “We’re not fucking playing. We’re going to the hospital.”

  “It’s four fucking minutes,” Hudson argues. “Coach is right. There’s nothing we can do for Jax right now, and besides, if Jax is going down for this game, the least we can do is fucking win it for him.”

  Shit. I hate it when he’s right.

  Mom’s heels click against the cheap linoleum as she races toward us in the waiting room. “Oh, Logan,” she cries, rushing into him and throwing her arms around him, forcing him to stop pacing for just a moment. “I came as soon as I heard. Have there been any updates?”

  Logan shakes his head. “Nothing yet. Just that there’s a lot of internal bleeding. They’ll need to locate the source and then try to get it under control, but apart from that, we know nothing. I’ve tried getting an update, but they won’t tell me shit.”

  “It’s okay, my sweet boy,” she says. “I’ll deal with them and work out the paperwork. You just focus on keeping calm. You’re not helping anybody by getting all worked up, okay?”

  Logan mutters a barely audible “Mmkay,” before dropping down between Chanel and Hudson, and true to her word, Mom takes control of the situation. “Have your parents been called?” she asks Logan before quickly glancing at me.

  I nod. “Coach Wyld called Uncle Linc straight after, but I don’t know if he’s had any further updates. Not sure about their mom.”

  “Okay,” she says, stepping into me. She pulls me into a quick hug, rubbing her hand in a circle on my back. “How are you holding up? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just—” I cut myself off, shaking my head. “This shouldn’t have happened.”

  “I know,” she tells me, pulling away and giving my hand a firm squeeze. “But the why doesn’t matter right now. We’ll worry about that once Jaxon is out of surgery. I’m sure there will be some kind of internal investigation at school. But if Jax really did forge a doctor’s clearance, he could be looking at some real trouble, and not just the kicked off the team kind of trouble.”

  Mom gives me a tight smile before dropping her hand. “I’m going to check in with the nurses and see if I can get us an update.”

  She takes off as I drop down beside Bri, taking her hand and pulling it into my lap. “You okay?” I murmur, glancing across the room to where Ari sits alone with tears on her face after Logan decided to take his frustrations out on her.

  “Yeah, I’m just worried about him,” she tells me. “We should have seen this coming. He’s been too upset about having to sit out, and plus all the mind-fuck stuff with Ari. He’s been silently spiraling. I should have known he’d pull a stunt like this.”

  “There was no way you could have known. None of us did,” I tell her. “Jax is always so happy and shrugs off anything that comes his way. He never lets on if he’s hurting or struggling, just goes about his day as if it were like any other. But don’t worry, I don’t think this was a cry for help. I think Jax was just being a careless idiot, thinking he’s invincible like he always does. Only this time, he realized he’s only human, just like the rest of us.”

  Bri lets out a heavy breath and scoots back in her seat before curling into my side and resting her head against my shoulder, watching as Ilaria gets up to try and chat with Arizona for the tenth time, only for Arizona to tell Ilaria to leave her alone again.

  Riley and Hudson quietly talk between themselves, trying to include me in their conversation, but my gaze is locked on Mom, watching as she speaks to the nurses and tries to get some kind of answers out of them.

  They talk for about ten minutes before Mom comes back, and the second she does, we are all on our feet. “It’s touch and go,” she tells us, not sugar coating anything. “Jax has lost a lot of blood, but they're confident he will be alright with enough blood transfusions. He should still be in surgery another few hours, and then Logan will be able to go and sit with him as he wakes.”

  A weight drops from my shoulders, and for the first time all night, I feel as though I can finally breathe.

  “Oh, thank fuck,” Logan says, dropping back onto his seat and pulling out his phone. “I should give Mom a call and let her know.”

  “Good idea,” Mom says, reaching over to him and giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Let her know I’ll be staying here if she needs anything.”

  Logan nods and gets busy with his call as Mom settles into a chair directly opposite me. “How was the game before Jax got hurt? Were you doing well?”

  “Yeah, it was fine,” I tell her, giving her a tight smile and knowing it’s now or never. I have to come clean about the paternity test because waiting is only going to hurt her, but is now really the best time? I don’t want to drop another bomb on her while she’s already stressed and worried about Jax, but I need to get this out. I need her to tell me what the fuck I’m supposed to do. “I, umm … I got the paternity test results.”

  Her back stiffens and she becomes impossibly still, her hands pausing midair as she gapes at me. “And?” she questions, a slight panic in her eyes.

  I swallow over the lump in my throat. Why is it suddenly so hard to breathe again? Is the air getting thinner in here? “And, Rachael was right,” I tell her, feeling as though I’m stabbing her right in the back and twisting the knife. “I’m his father.”

  I prepare for my mother to rain down hell over me, to tell me how stupid and careless I was to get some random girl pregnant, but instead, she just gives me a sad smile. “Oh, Tanner,” she coos, leaning forward in her seat and squeezing my knee. “It’s going to be okay.”

  I shake my head. “How can you say that?” I ask her. “I missed the first year of my kid’s life.”

  “Because I know you,” she insists. “And I know you will do everything in your power to make up for it and be the best father that baby could ever ask for.”

  “I don’t know the first thing about being a father.”

  Mom laughs. “Do you think I knew the first thing about being a mother when I had you?” she challenges. “I’d never felt so lost in my life, but when you hold your baby in your arms, something just clicks and you work it out. You’re going to be just fine, and if you need help or you’re struggling, you know I am always there to help. Though, I’m not going to lie, I’m far too young to be a grandmother. You know I’m only twenty-three!”

  I laugh and roll my eyes. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

  She smirks, always proud of herself whenever she gets away with shit like that. “So, I think first thing in the morning, after we know Jax is okay, we’ll contact our lawyer and see about getting a custody arrangement put in place, and I’m sure there will probably be some child support payments which will need to be sorted out,” she tells me. “Now, I haven’t had any experience with this myself, but I would expect this type of thing can take a little while to hammer out those finer details, so until then, we can work on putting together a nursery for him in the spare room.”

  A weight slams down over my shoulders, crippling me. A nursery. Spare room. Custody arrangements. Holy fuck. This shit is getting real. Not only am I this child’s father, but I’m going to have to care for him, be responsible for his health and wellbeing, and make sure he grows into a respectable, strong young man.

  Fear pounds through my chest, but the moment Bri reaches across and takes my hand, it seems to settle. “You’ve got this, Tanner,” she tells me. “I’ll be right there the whole time. I lean, you lean.”

  They’re the magic fucking words, and just like that, I feel as though I could face down the whole damn world. “Okay,” I tell them both. “First thing in the morning, we make this happen.”

  Chapter 27

  BRIELLE

  Sitting in the waiting room and waiting for Jax to wake from his surgery is going to be what kills me. We’ve been here for five hours already, and I’ve never been so hungry. The only issue is the thought of actually eating right now makes me want to throw up.

  Jax came out of surgery an hour ago, and it was a major success. The second he could, Logan took off to go and sit by his side. But since the moment the doctor came out and told us he was in recovery, it’s been crickets. Logan’s phone died hours ago, so we haven’t even been able to get a text from him, just letting us know the idiot is still breathing.

  The waiting room has transformed into our living room. Hudson sits across the room with Addison laying across three chairs, her head on Hudson’s lap and her body curled into a ball, trying to fit. I’ve never seen anybody look so uncomfortable in my life, yet somehow she’s fast asleep. I could never. If there’s no bed beneath me, there’s no chance in hell I’ll be able to sleep. Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true because I have no issue sleeping with Tanner beneath me.

  Riley and Arizona sit on the floor, slumped against the wall, and it’s moments like this I’m really proud of the giant asshole. Arizona hasn’t spoken a word all night apart from telling us to leave her alone, but Riley wouldn’t take no for an answer. He just sat down beside her and played a movie on his phone, holding it at an angle she could watch without having to admit defeat. That movie ended hours ago and now they’re just sitting there in silence, but at least she has company.

  That just leaves Ilaria and Chanel who’ve all but emptied out the vending machine. They sit opposite Hudson and Addie, both looking sick from how much junk food they’ve consumed, but I can’t blame them. We all handle stress in different ways, and for those two, the deliciousness of a chocolate bar and soda is what does the trick. I just wish I could do the same. I’ve sat in the same seat for so long my ass hurts.

  I’m just about to get up and go interrogate the nurses for information when Arizona hastily gets to her feet, gaping at her phone. “Shit, I have to go,” she mutters to no one in particular.

  Tanner straightens beside me. “Everything alright?”

  She shrugs her shoulders, her attention focused on her phone. “Yeah,” she finally says with a breath of relief. “My dog just set off the security alarm at home, but Mom and Dad are out of town for some big work event, so I have to disable it before the neighbors assume there’s an escaped prisoner making his way through our street.”

  Tanner laughs and stands. “Do you want me to give you a ride?” he questions, always the gentleman of the group, concerned about her being out in the middle of the night alone.

  “Is that okay?” she questions. “I don’t want to keep you from being with Jax.”

  “It’s fine,” Tanner says standing before glancing back at me. “I’ll be back in ten.” And not a moment later, they’re out the door.

  Without Tanner right beside me acting as a distraction, my numb ass becomes too much to bear. As I get up to stretch, Riley’s phone chimes with an incoming message. His brows furrow as he checks it out, but when the words, “Aww, fuck no,” fly from his lips, he has my full attention.

  Hudson chokes back a laugh before Riley can even get his next words out. “Who the fuck messaged Zoe?” he demands, glaring daggers at Hudson.

  His hands fly up in a show of innocence. “Don’t look at me, bro. I had nothing to do with it,” he says, though the grin on his face would suggest otherwise. “It was Jax’s idea. Just be happy Tanner stole your phone before he could send some bullshit line about wanting to fuck her on the floor.”

  “What the fuck are you guys talking about? And who the hell is Zoe?”

  “Oh, haven’t you heard?” Addison asks from Hudson’s lap, peeking through one eye, clearly not awake enough. “Riley’s in love with an Insta model, but he’s too much of a pussy to actually talk to her, so he just jerks off to her pics all day.”

  My brows arch as I turn my stare back to Riley, finding a guilty smirk across his face and—what the fuck? Is he blushing? “Oh, hell no,” I say, marching across the waiting room and plonking myself right in front of Riley. “You’ve gotta show me this chick like right fucking now.”

  A wide grin stretches across his face as his eyes light up with excitement. “Yeah?” he questions, almost coming across nervous about it.

  “Ummm, duh,” I say.

  He’s on his feet in two seconds flat, Zoe’s profile already up on the screen.

  Riley sidles up next to me, my shoulder practically squished into his chest as he holds the phone out. “This is her,” he says, clicking on her picture and showing off this girl who he’s apparently falling in love with despite never having a single conversation with her. “Isn’t she hot?”

  I take the phone from him to get a closer look, and holy fuck, this chick is stunning. She’s the perfect match for Riley, beach blonde bombshell with gorgeous green eyes and a few stray freckles across her nose. Though, in the world of social media and filters, who knows if they’re actually real.

  “Holy shit, Riley, she’s freaking hot,” I say as Ilaria pushes into my other side and glances at the screen. “Fuck, I follow her,” she says. “She has this awesome nighttime skin routine I follow religiously.”

  “Oh yeah?” Riley asks, probably the first time he’s ever been enthusiastic about skin care.

  “Yeah,” Ilaria says with a wide smile. “Have you seen her TikTok? She’s super cute and goes live all the time.”

  Riley’s whole face drops, his eyes widening as though someone just handed him the keys to the universe. “She goes live?” He gapes. “How the fuck did I not know this?”

  Ilaria scoffs. “Because you decided to tell your asshole boys about her instead of us,” she quips. “Like come on, that’s the biggest rookie error I’ve ever heard of.”

  I scoff, scrolling to her next picture. “I think there’s bigger things to deal with right now,” I say. “Like why the fuck haven’t you closed the deal on this one yet?”

  Riley hesitates, looking as though he’s about to shit himself. “Because she’s like … way out of my league. Fucking look at her. She’d have pricks in her DMs all the time. Besides, there’s nothing special about me. I couldn’t hold her attention no matter how hard I tried.”

  I gape at him. “You’ve got to be kidding, right?” I question. “You know if Tanner hadn’t swooped in with the whole ‘I’m going to watch you through your bedroom window and jerk off’ and put on a show-stopping performance, I would have totally fallen in love with you.”

  Riley scoffs. “Liar. You were practically drooling for his dick the second you ran into him at my end of summer party.”

  I laugh. “Ahhhh, good times,” I say before giving him a real smile. “But it’s true. Any woman could so easily fall for your charm. You’re hot as hell and you have this ridiculously sexy smirk that—oooft.” Just to prove my point, I make a show of fanning my face, unable to avoid laughing as I do it.

  “Oh yeah, I know the one,” Ilaria says. “You know I was totally crushing on you junior year, until I figured out just how much of a slut you were. If it weren’t for that, I would have totally followed you anywhere. But luckily for you, she hasn’t got a clue you’re a walking STD, so shoot your shot. You’ve literally got nothing to lose.”

  “You really—”

  “HE’S AWAKE!” Logan’s booming voice fills the waiting room, and we all whip around to face him.

  “Oh, thank fuck,” Addison breathes, pushing up from Hudson’s lap.

  “I know.” Logan sighs a breath of relief before a seriousness comes over him. “Now I can fucking kill him.” And with that, he turns on his heel and bolts back toward Jax’s room.

  A smile pulls at my lips as I hand Riley his phone before dashing back to my seat to grab mine. I quickly bring up Arizona’s number and hit call before pressing the phone to my ear. It rings twice before she answers and before she can even get a word out, the wailing of her home alarm deafens me.

  “Holy fuck,” I curse, pulling the phone away from my ear.

  “Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on,” she chants before I hear four little beeps. The alarm cuts off and relief fills my eardrums. “Shit, sorry,” she pants.

  “It’s fine, but is Tanner still with you? He hasn’t come back yet.”

  “No, he left straight away,” she says. “He should be there by now.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah, don’t stress. He’s probably just getting some fresh air or calling Coach Wyld. He said something about needing to give him some updates.”

  “Yeah, probably,” I say, shrugging it off. “Listen, I’m calling because Jax just woke up.”

  “No way,” she breathes as I hear her dog barking in the background. “How is he? Was he alright? Is he in pain?”

  “I don’t know,” I tell her, feeling like an idiot for not getting those answers before rushing to call her. “Logan just came out here screaming about him being awake and then threatened to kill him and ran back. Didn’t actually tell us anything about how he was, but I’m assuming he’s okay, otherwise Logan wouldn’t have come out.”

  “Good point,” she says before the barking gets louder. “No, Daisy. No, get down—ahhhh, fuck, ya big bastard.” The alarm blares to life, wailing through the phone as I hear Arizona calling after the dog again. “Shit, DAISY, COME BACK!”

  There’s loud rustling through the phone before I hear Arizona panting down the line. “I have to go,” she calls over the noise of the alarm. “If you speak to Jax, let him know I’m going to kick him in the balls when I see him next, and don’t, under any circumstances, let him know I was a wreck during his surgery. Let him think I went home and slept like a baby.”

  I roll my eyes, but she’s gone before I can get a response out, and as I slip my phone back into my pocket and glance up at my friends, I find them all getting to their feet, packing up their shit. “What’s going on?” I question. “Are we going somewhere?”

  Addison rubs her eyes. “Yeah, the nurses caved and said we could go see Jax, but I think they just wanted us out of their waiting room.”

  Excitement drums through my veins and I glance back at the door, certain Tanner should have come through it by now. “Okay, I’ll just go find Tanner and meet you there.”