After going down to the Treatment room and finding no Stella, I called my ma and told her I was going to be late. There was no way I was driving to Cambridge without answers. I don’t even have Stella’s number and when I stopped at the apartment on campus I remembered dropping her off at they said she didn’t live there anymore so Ruma it is.

I’m furious and I don’t even know why. It’s probably not even my kid. I mean she’s in college. I can’t be the only guy she was fucking. She said I was but isn’t that what all chicks say? Whipping my truck into the full parking lot, I curse under my breath. Of course, it’s fucking busy. A couple deep breaths later, I’m getting out of the car and walking through the doors into the dimly lit restaurant. Fucking hell.

“Hi, welcome to Ruma.” The bubbly hostess greets.

“Is Stella Cruz working?” Her smile slips at my question and her eyes narrow.

“Stella’s shift is just about to end” She looks at her watch, “in about five minutes.”

“Great. Can you seat me in her section?”

“No.”

I blink, confused. “Didn’t you say she was here?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then I’d like a table in her section.” I’m starting to get aggravated with this one.

“Do you have a reservation?” The once cordial hostess asks smugly. What is with this chick?

“No, I don’t.”

“Then I can’t seat you in the dining room. You can have a seat in the bar though.”

“Is Stella in the bar?”

“No.”

Okay. I’m done with her shit. “Listen. I want to sit down and I want Stella to be my server. It’s not a difficult or even unheard of fucking request.”

Her eyes widen at the flare of my temper. Then narrow back to slits. “Oh look, her shift is over.” She gestures with a flourish to the bar area, “shall I seat you in our lounge?”

She knows god damn well she can’t. Not sure what I did to piss her off, I storm out the front door before I start cursing at her again. Days like this I wish I didn’t have to watch the way I acted in public because I would love nothing more than to go in there and flip a couple tables I’m so frustrated. I should call the fucking manager and have her fired.

At my car, I turn to walk back in there when I hear her. Stella is walking out the front door with two other servers, laughing at something the guy said. Levi wasn’t kidding, she’s pregnant as fuck and it’s hot. Even in her black pants and white dress shirt I can see the swell of her belly.

“Stella.” She stops in her tracks whipping her head in my direction. Much like the hostess her eyes narrow into thin slits.

“What are you doing here?” She’s not happy to see me.

“Holy shit man! You’re Jason Dagger.” The guy that was making Stella laugh says excitedly. “Holy shit! Can I get your autograph? Oh my god, the guys aren’t going to believe this. Can we get a picture?”

He never lets me answer, just keeps rattling off questions as he pulls a pen and paper from his book all while juggling his phone. Figuring it will be faster just to get it over with, I pose for the picture and sign his paper with a hasty scribble, the whole time keeping my eyes on Stella.

“Oh man, thank you! This is awesome.” He finally notices that I haven’t said anything and that I have Stella in my sights. “Sorry. I’ll let you guys do whatever. Stella, do you need me to wait to give you a ride?” Before she can answer, I make the decision for her.

“I’ll take her.”

“Like hell.” She responds.

“Stella.”

“You can go ahead, Eric. I’ll catch a bus or an Uber.” He looks uncertain so she reassures him again. We both watch him walk to his car before speaking.

“What are you doing here, Jason?”

“Looking for you.” She looks tired. Beautiful. But tired, which pisses me off.

“Well, you found me. Can I go now?”

“We need to talk.”

“I have nothing to say.” She says stubbornly.

“Is the baby mine?” Go big or go home right? No bullshitting around with her.

“Oh, nooowww you want to talk, huh?” She drags out, taunting me.

“God damned right I want to talk, Stella. You’re clearly pregnant. I want to know if the baby is mine.”

I say it through clenched teeth, not liking that we’re doing this in public and doing my best to keep myself in check. Half of me is feeling sheer terror, we were careful, every time. The other half of me is elated. The thought of being a father exciting. How fucked up is that?

“Why do you care, Jason? You sure didn’t care about anything I had to say when I came to see you a couple months ago.” Stella says, hand fisted on her rounded out hip

I treated her like shit that day and regretted it ever since. I don’t know why I cared so much about anyone finding out. Especially the guys. The league would definitely not be thrilled, but my boys wouldn’t have given a shit. Hell, they’d probably be jealous. The only twenty-year-olds that we have a shot of banging are Puck Bunnies and Stella wasn’t even close.

“Is that what you came to tell me that day?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She bites out, pulling her scarf around her neck to ward of the cold air around us.

I think back to that day and try to do the math. It was my turn to have the Cup and I came home with it. And then Stella showed up at my door and I acted a fucking fool.

The guys are posing with the Cup and snapping pictures when the doorbell rings. I put my bottle of beer down and go to answer, it’s gotta be our takeout.

“Coming!” I call, although I’m sure the delivery guy can’t hear me over the noise in my apartment. Throwing the door open, I can feel the smile fall from my face as if it were melting off. Stella stands in front of me holding up two brown paper bags of food. Quickly, I close the door behind me, snuffing out the sound of the raucous laughter from my friends.

“Caught the delivery boy in the lobby, and told him I’d bring it up. Hope you don’t mind, I gave him a tip and signed the slip for you.” She shrugs.

“Stella, what are you doing here? You can’t be here like this. I mean, we’re not...like that.” I bite out with a little less tact than I probably should have.

Lowering her arms so that the food dangles at her sides, she tilts her head and looks at me like she’s just seeing me for the first time, and maybe she is. I mean, we fucked around a few times and had a whole lot of fun. The weekend we spent together was probably one of the best times I’ve had in way too long. I was able to just be me. No bullshit. We laid around and talked and just hung out. And fucked. A lot. but...she’s a college student.

I don’t need some stage five clinger hanging around. I can’t even call her a puck bunny because she didn’t know who I was until I told her and up until now I hadn’t heard from her once. Not that she had a way of getting a hold of me. Regardless, I need to shut her down right here and now before she goes and gets attached or some shit. And definitely before any of the guys find out. I’ll never live it down.

Never mind that, I would love to take her inside and let her do all kinds of things to me, if only she weren’t a twenty-year-old kid. Not that she looks like a kid. There’s nothing childlike about Stella Cruz. She’s all woman. With her dark wavy hair, long lean lines, rounded hips and eyes so dark they look like pools of black ink.

She interrupts my wayward thoughts and I can tell by her tone that it’s about to go down.

“Ahhhh, I get it. Your friends are here and you don’t want them to know you messed around with some chick from FU is that it?”

“Stell- “

“No, I get it. I’m good enough to fuck all over your fancy apartment but we wouldn’t want anyone to know you were slummin’ it.”

“It’s not slummin’, Stella, you’re fucking 20.” I hiss. “A student for fucks sake. You know what they would say about me in the league if they knew that while I was checking on their draft pick, I went ahead and fell into some college-aged pussy?”

There’s that Dagger temper that always gets me in trouble on the ice coming out to play. I’m pretty sure it was the “slummin’ it” dig. Like because she’s from Lynn and not Cambridge or because I’m a pro athlete, I don’t want to be seen with her. Fuck that. It’s her damn age that I’m worried about.

“Yeah, Jason, twemty. Way past legal, you asshole. You act like I’m some sixteen-year-old little girl. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a fucking adult.”

Oh, I noticed. I noticed a lot. But still there’s a ten-year age gap that is way too wide to be acceptable.

Her voice raised in anger she goes on, “You didn’t seem to mind my age when I was going down on you. Or when you had my spread across your kitchen counter, and especially not when we fucked in the hot tub on your balcony.”

I really don’t need these visuals right now. The last thing I need is to get hard over this girl and her sassy ass mouth and attitude. But just thinking about the way her perky tits bobbed on the water in time with her bobbing on my cock...

“Keep your voice down, Stella. And watch your damn mouth.” I take hold of her elbow and guide her further down the hall and away from my door. She jerks her arm free and thrusts the food bags at me.

“Don’t tell to watch my mouth.” She grinds out between clenched teeth.

Never in my life have I felt the urge to lay someone across my lap and paddle their ass until this moment. I’m gonna blame it on the way her ripped jeans cling to her thighs and the dip of her hip or the way I can tell she doesn’t have a bra on under the cropped shirt she’s wearing. Yeah. I need to get her the hell out of here.

“So, what, you came here looking for an encore? Another dip in the hot tub, maybe a neighbor will catch us this time?” I ask stepping closer, forcing her to back up even as I continue forward.

“In your dreams” her eyes narrow into slits.

“Maybe.” I smirk. “Most definitely in yours if you’re here right?”

With a fingertip I trace the shell of her ear and let it trail down her neck to the spot I know drives her crazy. “You come back for more, Stell? Four days wasn’t enough? Or maybe...maybe you need a little more to go back and tell your friends about?”

Stella swats my hand away and pushes against my chest.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Dagger. You weren’t that good.”

I laugh at her blatant lie.

“I had scratches down my back that tell me I was.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself. Have a nice life.” Stella says as she storms away not even bothering with the elevator and instead taking the stairs.

“Is it, Stell?” Thinking back on that day has me softening my tone.

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” She asks with just the tiniest hint of a wobble underneath all that bravado.

“Yes.” I don’t know who is more surprised by that, me or her. But it never crossed my mind to doubt her. I may not have known Stella for long, but I feel like in those few days I got to know more than her body. I got to know her character and who she is in the hours we spent naked in my bed and if she says the baby is mine, then it is.