Small Town Daddy: A Dark Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  “Are you kidding me, Avery?”

  “I’m not joking! Hold on!”

  I quickly finished up and then put the pregnancy test down on the bathroom sink. I flushed and then opened the door. Harper came inside and frowned at the test.

  “That’s it?” she asked. “You got it?”

  “I didn’t miss, if that’s what you mean.”

  She just shook her head. “It’s such a small thing for such an important moment.”

  “Tell me about it,” I mumbled.

  I didn’t know how this was happening.

  Gibson was the last guy I’d been with, a bit over a month ago. We were into the very beginning of the first semester, and I had missed my period. I was never late, never ever late. I knew something was wrong the day I realized I was late, but I couldn’t be pregnant. I had watched Gibson put the condom on.

  But condoms could break. It didn’t happen often, but it was possible. I never thought it could happen to me, but I also never thought I’d end up in a football star’s truck feeling his thick cock between my legs.

  Harper and I stood there, staring at the pregnancy test. Neither of us said anything as the seconds slowly ticked by. I had the thing facedown, because I couldn’t bear watching it slowly show me what my future was going to be.

  Was I ready to be a mother? I didn’t think so. Not at all. But if I was pregnant, I had no other choice. I didn’t want to be a mother, wasn’t even close to being ready, but I was going to be anyway.

  “Well?” Harper asked.

  “Give it another minute.”

  “Check it, Avery. Come on, the box said it only needed thirty seconds.”

  “Let’s just wait.”

  She sighed. “Listen. Whatever it says, I’m here for you. We’ll get through this together. I promise.”

  I bit my lip and suddenly wanted to cry. But no, I wasn’t going to start sobbing like a child. If I had a baby growing inside me, I was going to have to grow up pretty fast, or else.

  I reached out, heart racing, and picked up the pregnancy test. Harper looked over my shoulder.

  “Oh fuck,” she said.

  I was pregnant.

  “Hold on,” Harper said. “Let me make sure.” She grabbed the box and compared the little symbol on the test with the symbol on the box.

  “Fuck,” she said again, and put the box back down. “Fuck.”

  I cringed. “Stop saying that,” I said.

  “Okay. Sorry. It’s just, holy shit, Avery. You’re pregnant.”

  “Fuck,” I said, and closed the toilet lid before sitting down on it. “I’m pregnant.”

  Harper crouched down next to me and threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly. “Maybe it’s wrong.”

  “Don’t,” I said. “Don’t say that. These things are basically always right. I knew something was wrong the second I missed my period. And my freaking boobs are tender.”

  Harper couldn’t help but giggle. “I hate that,” she said.

  “Yeah, me too. Harper, what the hell am I going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, “but I promise we’ll figure it out.”

  We sat there in silence together, Harper hugging me tightly. As far as I knew, my entire life was about to change in a way I couldn’t possibly understand.

  Sitting on the toilet in my tiny apartment with my best friend, I couldn’t even begin to picture what my future would look like a year from now. I’d have a baby, a child that would depend on me for everything.

  And yet I was still a baby myself. I was barely twenty-one and hadn’t even graduated from college yet. I didn’t know how to take care of myself, let alone how to take care of an infant.

  “What about Gibson?” Harper asked finally.

  “Fuck,” I groaned again. “I was trying not to think about that.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, “but you need to tell him.”

  “I know. But can it wait?”

  “Yeah, sure,” she said. “You can tell him tomorrow.”

  “I’d suggest we drown my sorrows in wine, but I guess I can’t do that anymore,” I said.

  “Good thing we’ve been really boring since that party,” Harper said.

  “Yeah, seriously.” I sighed and shook my head. “How am I going to do this, Harps?”

  “We’ll figure it out. Come on. Let’s get off this toilet and sit on the couch.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Fine.”

  I let Harper lead me over to the couch. She wrapped me in a blanket and put on some bad reality TV, the exact sort of thing I needed to keep my mind off the baby growing inside me.

  Gibson Evans’s baby. I had no clue how this could happen or what we were going to do. Gibson was a huge star, a famous football player. He was supposed to have a huge future ahead of him. There was no way he was going to take responsibility for some random one-night stand’s baby.

  I had no clue how to tell him any of this anyway. I didn’t know him, didn’t even have his number. After that night, I left him with my cell number, but he never bothered calling me. I wasn’t really surprised or even all that upset, considering his reputation as a player and a bad boy. But still, it would have been nice for him to at least acknowledge me.

  Instead, he practically disappeared. Or maybe he just returned to how things used to be back before we even knew each other. One night was all we were supposed to have, but now things were so different.

  I was pregnant. As I sat there quietly watching TV, cuddling with Harper, I could barely get over that fact. I’d gotten pregnant by a guy I barely knew, some asshole football star. I had no interest in having this guy’s baby, let alone being in his life.

  There was nothing I could do, though. I had to tell Gibson, and tell him right away. I couldn’t keep this from him, not something so serious.

  It felt like my life was over. Really, my life was just beginning.

  I walked down along the sidewalk next to the perfectly manicured grass. Ahead of me, the library cut up into the air, a large mural of Jesus raising his arms up into the air painted five stories high.

  The buildings were all in the same style, all brick and archways. Mater Dei was an elite school, one of the best institutions in the country. I was lucky to go here, incredibly lucky. I had worked hard in high school and gotten great grades, but my parents weren’t wealthy. They were incredibly religious people, deeply devoted Catholics, and I’d been brought up in the church my whole life. I was a lot less religious than they were, but I couldn’t help but have a little of that inside me.

  It was their dream for me to go to MD, but they couldn’t afford to send me. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get generous scholarships from the school, and so I barely squeaked in with minimal debt.

  I breathed in the cool Indiana air as I headed toward the stadium. It rose up out of the concrete, an enormous stone beetle resting in the shadow of the library. I headed directly toward it, my heart beating fast.

  It was eight forty-five, exactly when he told me to show up. I didn’t know how this was going to go or what I was going to say to him, but I knew I couldn’t turn around or get out of it. I had to take a deep breath, calm myself, and get it over with.

  Gibson had to know. He had to know that he was the father of my child.

  I quickly crossed the street, looking both ways. Ever since I had found out that I was pregnant, it felt like every single decision I made had such serious consequences, which made sense, considering I was choosing for more than one person now.

  I took a deep breath and shook my head. I had to get my mind straight and concentrate. I walked toward the stadium and headed toward the left, away from the more brightly lit side and toward the statue.

  As I rounded the corner, I saw him standing up ahead. He was hard to miss, considering how tall he was. I slowed as I approached, taken aback all over again by how handsome he was. When he spotted me, he grinned and walked toward me.

  Gibson Evans, the father of my child. He was tall, broad, mu
scular, covered in tattoos, and had a grin that set my panties on fire. I stopped as he approached, smirking at me like he was just about to tell the best joke I’d ever heard.

  “How’s it going?” he asked.

  “Okay,” I said.

  “I expected you to come back for more, but maybe not this soon,” he said.

  “That’s not what I’m here about.”

  He smirked at me and stood close. “We both know you want me to take you into the shadows and slide my cock deep inside that nice little pussy of yours.”

  “Gibson,” I said, taking a sharp breath.

  “Exactly,” he said. “I’ll smack that nice, tight little ass and make you say my fucking name.”

  I shook my head. “Stop. We need to talk.”

  He shrugged and crossed his arms. “Okay then. Let’s talk.”

  “Something happened,” I said. I had no clue how to actually do this other than to come out and say it. “You need to know about it. Neither of us planned on this, but it happened.”

  He sighed and held up his hands. “Look, Avery, if you’re about to ask me for money, you’re wasting your breath.”

  That took the breath from my lungs. I just gaped at him, shocked.

  “What?” he went on. “I get a lot of people coming up to me and asking me for things. I’m just being straight with you, girl. I’m always down to make you say my name, but I just don’t have any money to give you.”

  “I don’t want your money,” I managed to say, getting angry. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, honestly. I don’t know what kind of person you are at all. But you’d be surprised by how many people come up to me asking for things.”

  “I’m pregnant,” I blurted out, and I instantly regretted it. I’d meant to say it a little more tactfully, but he had pissed me off already.

  His cocky smile disappeared at least.

  “What?” he asked.

  I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I was trying to tell you a little nicer than that, but that’s why I’m here. I’m pregnant.”

  “You sure?”

  I laughed a little bit. “Yeah, I’m sure. I took a test last night, and two more this morning. I’m definitely pregnant.”

  He furrowed his eyebrows, staring at me with those intense, beautifully blue eyes of his. “And it’s mine,” he said simply.

  “Yeah,” I said. “It’s very definitely yours.”

  “Well,” he said, “shit.”

  That was the second time I ever spoke to Gibson Evans, the father of my child. The second time we spoke and I had to tell him that I was pregnant with his kid.

  So far, things were not off to the best start.

  3

  Gibson

  I stared down at Avery, not sure what the hell to say.

  So far, every time I met someone, they inevitably came to me with their hands out, expecting something. That was what happened when you got to my level, or at least that was what people told me. Coach was constantly telling me to just say no to everything.

  I had assumed Avery was the same, and I immediately regretted making that assumption. I had known Avery was different the second I met her, but I’d gotten so used to treating people as if they wanted something from me that I had instantly assumed the same about her.

  But this, I couldn’t have expected this.

  I’d worn a condom. I knew I had put one on; I always put one on. I wasn’t fucking stupid.

  Still, just looking at her, I knew she was telling the truth. Maybe there were people out in the world who would fake being pregnant just to get a handout from an athlete, but not Avery. I could see the genuine fear in her face, hear it in her voice. She wasn’t asking for anything, but seemed like she genuinely just wanted me to know.

  “Gibson?” she asked nervously.

  “Yeah,” I grunted. “Yeah, sorry. So, uh, what do we do?”

  “Nothing, I guess,” she said. “I just wanted you to know.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Sure. I understand.”

  “Shit,” she said, laughing a little. “This is so awkward.”

  I couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah. No kidding. This is a first for me.”

  “Yeah, same. Never had to tell a stranger that I’m pregnant with his baby before.”

  “Oh, I do that all the time,” I said. “I’m just not used to hearing it.”

  “Of course. I’m sure you tell people that all the time.”

  “Comes with being an athlete, I guess. I’m just constantly telling people that I’m pregnant.” She laughed softly and I sighed. “Look, let’s not make this our last conversation. I’m not just going to abandon you or something.”

  “It’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t owe me anything.”

  “I know that, but that baby is part mine, too. I don’t abandon my responsibilities. Look, why don’t we meet up tomorrow? Same time, same place? We’ll talk about it more, I guess.”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “Okay. That could be good.”

  “I should get going. I have class early tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll see you here tomorrow, same time. And call if you need anything.”

  “Sure. I have your number now.”

  I stared at her for a second. Avery looked so small and scared and awkward. I wished I could pick her up and fix this shit, but I knew I couldn’t. The best I could do was not be a low-life asshole.

  I waved to her as we parted ways. I headed back toward my apartment, my heart racing in my chest.

  I had a lot of experience with low-life assholes. I grew up in a poor part of Texas to two drunk pieces of shit. My grandmother on my mom’s side practically raised me, though there was only so much an old woman could do. My parents were too drunk most of the time to do much of anything, so I had to learn to take care of myself.

  That was how I found football, actually. I joined a league when I was young, mostly just to give me something to do on nights when my parents were drunk and my father felt like beating the piss out of my mother. Football got me out of the house and probably saved my life.

  I knew what it meant to grow up with a deadbeat father. I was lucky I had found football, but I knew a lot of guys who weren’t so lucky. It was like a fucking epidemic of shitty parents where I came from, and most people fell through the cracks.

  I couldn’t do that to my own flesh and blood. Sure, having a fucking baby was going to really make becoming a professional player a problem, but I had no other choice.

  I headed back toward the apartment, my head buzzing, spinning, dizzy with questions. A few hours ago, my biggest worry was whether or not I was going to get through tutoring alive, and now suddenly I had a baby on the fucking way.

  I slowly walked up the front walk of our apartment building and went inside. I slowly made my way up the stairs, not fucking sure what I was going to do.

  I didn’t know shit about babies. I knew they were about the size of a football when they were first born, and that was basically it. I didn’t know how to feed one, change one, nothing. I’d never even held a damn baby before.

  Now I was going to be a father. Unfortunately, I didn’t have many good fatherly role models in my life, except for maybe Coach Taylor.

  As I reached the top of the stairs, I took a sharp breath. It hit me suddenly: babies were fucking expensive. If I was going to help with this kid, I needed some money. I couldn’t let Avery handle this burden on her own.

  But I hadn’t been lying to her when I had said I had no money. College football players, especially guys playing at my level, were heavily scrutinized by the NCAA. We weren’t allowed to be compensated for our play, which meant I couldn’t take so much as a souvenir hat from anyone. I couldn’t sell autographs or appear in commercials. All of my expenses were taken care of by MD, including all my meals and my housing. If I wanted something, I just asked for it. But I couldn’t exactly ask them for a few thousand dollars
to help take care of a baby.

  No, I needed my own money for that, but I had no clue how I could possibly do it. The only thing I was good at was playing a fucking game, and I couldn’t even get paid for that, not yet at least.

  As far as I could tell, I was pretty fucked. It wasn’t like I could take a part-time job or some shit, not without my coaches flipping shit and the media having a field day.

  I stood outside the apartment door, anger wheeling through me. I was trapped by my own fucking success with nowhere to turn. I had to find a way to make some money to help this girl, to be a better father than my own piece-of-shit father was. But I couldn’t do it, not in my current position.

  I slowly opened the door and then shut it behind me. Hynes looked up from the couch.

  “’Sup, man?” he said.

  “I got a girl pregnant,” I blurted out.

  He stared at me and then burst out laughing. “Nice one,” he said.

  “Hynes, man, I’m being serious. Remember that girl from the party in the summer? That alumni thing?”

  He frowned. “Yeah, I remember her. Cute as fuck but pretty quiet. Not your normal type. Same girl that stopped by here.”

  “Man, she came to see me tonight. She’s pregnant.”

  “Quit fuckin’ around.”

  “I’m not joking. She’s fucking pregnant.”

  Hynes just stared at me for a second before standing up. “Shit, man. Let’s get you a fucking drink.”

  I followed him into the kitchen. He set us both up with a glass of whisky and held his up for a toast.

  “To fatherhood,” he said.

  “Fuck you,” I answered.

  We clinked glasses and then drank.

  4

  Avery

  The next morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Gibson had reacted.

  He was so arrogant, such an asshole. I hadn’t meant to just blurt it out like that, but he pissed me off so easily. The guy acted like he could say and do whatever he wanted just because he was some famous athlete or whatever.