Jace is the first to recover. “You’re gonna be a dad?”
I nod.
Hunter whistles. “Holy shit, man.”
Noah points at the TV. “Let’s finish this and then we can talk about the rest after.”
I send an apologetic look at Jack who doesn’t seem fazed at all about any of this. He just pats me on the shoulder and that’s it.
We watch the video, and I have to see Ben’s way too excited face once more when he realized what he’d just revealed. God, I wanted to punch that dumbass in the face so badly. If Harper hadn’t been there, I might have done it.
The video ends, and still images from the video, alongside snapshots of me, pop up on the screen before a picture of Harper is added as well. But that’s not the bad part. The bad part is Natasha Leopolt’s voiceover, scandalizing the whole story to the max.
“Sources report that Coach Martin was furious about the situation and the betrayal of his swimmer, Ryan Monroe. After a heated argument between the two of them, Coach Martin cut all ties with his new swimmer. Seems like things aren’t very favorable for one of our kings of the water and his effort of winning more medals in next year’s Olympic Games, not now that his coach kicked him off the team. We’ll see how his sponsors will feel about this troublesome scandal, and if they’ll cut ties with him like Mr. Lewis of The Lewis Group did a few years ago.”
Curses echo around the room, and Jack mumbles, “Wow, that woman is a serious piece of work.”
The others all grumble their agreement while still wearing their dumbfounded expressions.
Jack turns to me. “I’m guessing none of this is true?”
I shake my head. “Nope. Haven’t seen or talked to Bill since Thursday.”
He nods and gets up. “Noah, can you send me the link to the video?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.” He turns to me. “I can get a cease and desist letter sent to her if you want, unless you’d like to skip that step and go straight to suing her?”
I grimace. “Let’s try the letter first. I really don’t feel like dragging her to court if I don’t have to.”
Jack snorts. “Fair enough.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, man. For everything. I really appreciate it.”
“Happy to help.” He stares at his phone before pocketing it. “Let me know if anything else pops up.”
“Will do.”
“And congrats, man. I hope you’ll get everything figured out with Harper.” He tilts his head toward the hallway. “I’ll see myself out.”
“Thanks.” I watch him leave and turn back to my friends, who weirdly enough were quiet during this whole exchange.
The second I make eye contact with them, that silence is over, and they all talk at the same time. Well, at least Jace and Hunter do.
“What the hell is going on?”
“How couldn’t you tell us?”
“Harper? How did you even meet her?”
“And it’s your baby?”
“What are you going to do now?”
I snort and rub my eyes. “Now, I’m going to see Coach.”
Jace’s eyes widen. “You are?”