“What’s going on?” Jack jogged over.
Raven glared at us all. Then she turned back to Stryker “if…you want…” her lip trembled. Stryker swallowed hard.
I felt sorry for both of them.
“If you want part in this then come by tomorrow.” She said in a rush “if not, don’t bother.”
“Okay.” Stryker whispered.
“A kid then, huh?” Jack asked with a smirk as he leant against the kitchen table “couldn’t keep your di-“
“Jack” Stryker said flatly, running a hand through his hair “please refrain yourself from making inappropriate comments.”
“You happy about this?” I asked tentatively. I didn’t think so, if his reaction was anything to go by.
Stryker sighed, staring at the drink in front of him “of course I’m not happy about this, Matt.” He said honestly “I mean fuck, I’m- I’m sixteen with…nobody. I mean, financially we’ll manage just fine but I…I don’t know if…if I can support her through this, I’m a fucking emotional wreck.”
“Your dad-“
“Dead,” Stryker wheezed out, cutting me off.
The three of us exchanged glances “what?”
“L-last week.” He whispered “he…I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay.” Jack nodded slowly “I…I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.”
How did nobody know? Shit. I knew what loosing a parent felt like. My heart ached for him.
“We’ll help? Anything you need.”
“Thanks Matt, but…I don’t know.”
“You gonna stick around?” Jack asked skeptically.
I rolled my eyes “unlike you, Jack, Stryker actually has a sense of responsibility.”
“Yeah, I’m sticking around” he muttered “it’s gonna be hell, though.”
“I bet. I heard being knocked up at eighteen makes you pissy.” Theo remarked.
Stryker huffed “she’s pissy anyway. Pregnancy is just gonna make it…so much worse.”
Jack took a gulp of beer “I wouldn’t be sticking around, mate. And you have a good excuse.”
“Jack” my eyes narrowed. Trust him to be a dick in the worse possible moments.
“I’m not letting that kid grow up without a father, and I’m not leaving her alone to deal with this, even if she’s scary and her brothers are scary and her dad want to cut my dick off and the only person who remotely likes me in that house is her mum, and guess fucking what? Her sister just had a fucking miscarriage, and now she’s really upset and so is her boyfriend and they’re all sad and moping and I feel fucking guilty because I don’t even want this kid and I kind of wish...fuck I can’t wishthat” he groaned, putting his head in his hands.
“Stryker…” I looked at him, but I felt out of my depth and quite at loss about what to say.
“Doesshewant it?” Jack asked.
Stryker shrugged “who cares? There’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Just take a drink” Theo prompted, nodding at his still full glass.
