I Hate Football Players 3 | 18+

Chapter 105: Ellie

A/N: Mature content.

At the news that Logan gained not one but two new siblings at the age of twenty, every muscle in my body locked up, my eyes refused to blink, and only my thoughts were rendered operable. My mind went through the mental calculations based on how Olivia was eight weeks pregnant.

Babies should be due some time in May... or April?

Since Logan now sat frozen like a statue, his jaw dropped down so far open it looked unhinged, I blinked my eyes a few times until I shook myself out of my own sense of shock. Despite my best composure efforts, my voice came out strained and I squeaked, "Th-that's wonderful. Congratulations."

"Wonderful," Logan echoed in a detached tone of voice that obviously showed he wasn't enthusiastic. "Olivia's not but aren't you too old for a baby, Dad?"

Ouch. Logan's dad was... Twenty when they had him? So he's... forty or forty-one?

My eyes averted as Logan technically dished out two digs, at not just his father's age but also the gap between his age and Olivia's.

Not surprisingly, a frown creased over Mr. McCallister's forehead. "Not that we owe you any explanation, but Liv is twenty-nine and the mother's age has more bearing on a healthy pregnancy outcome."

"Outcome?" Logan scowled and his voice deepened like the word lit off a chain reaction inside him. "Is that what you're calling it? Is this where I'm supposed to assume it was planned? Or be excited that you've created a separate family? You tossed aside Mom, so I suppose it was just a matter of time before you tossed aside me and Brody."

Olivia and I drew in simultaneous silent breaths, his Dad's stare hardened into a glare whose intensity matched the one Logan now wore, and the entire table fell silent at Logan's accusations. The longer Logan and his dad held their silent glare-off, the thicker the air became.

A small tremble twitched Logan's fingers, which then clutched me tightly against him. My lower lip rolled under as my reactions mixed between uncertain what his Dad's response was and seriously impressed with how easily Logan blurted out his feelings. I patted his nearest thigh, where the muscles sat rock hard with tension, and looked up to the same tension that clenched his jaw shut, tinted his cheeks pink, and blazed a bright blue in his eyes.

"Logan," I used as gently a voice as I had and rubbed my palm over his hand that now tightly gripped my shoulder, not painfully but more like a lifeline. "Maybe we should take a moment and get some... fresh air."

"Good idea," he spat out in a voice more bitter than I'd ever heard from him and threw his napkin down on the table. With an abrupt screech across the restaurant floors, he pushed back his chair and yanked mine out as soon as I stood up.

"Excuse us." I threw Logan's dad and stepmom a tight smile while Logan's long legs stepped away from the table without another word spoken.

"Took it better than Brody did." Mr. McCallister's voice was low but uncertain as he ran one hand down his face then looked up at me. "We know this changes things but it -"

"It's a blessing," I interrupted and shifted my gaze back to Logan's large-framed figure, which had now retreated halfway towards the restaurant exit. "We'll, umm... be right back."

With quick steps that hadn't closed the gap between me and Logan, I rushed after him. A night breeze blew into my cheeks when I pushed open the restaurant's entrance doors and found he'd walked out under the covered overhang area wide enough for two cars.

"Logan!" I called after him and quickened my pace until I jogged up to him.

Once his head turned in my direction, the sight I saw clenched my heart around itself. Even in the clouded over, dark evening sky, his eyes filled heavy with a storm of emotion, hidden behind a glossy cover of threatened tears.