Page 16 of Golden Goal

There’s no way.

We can’t.

She can’t.

“She’s. Yours,” she enunciates, tipping her chin toward the baby.

“What are you saying?” My voice hitches.

“You.” She points at me. “Me.” She points at herself. “Made her.” She points at the baby.

“I know how it works, Kat.” I growl.

My heart starts racing, my throat tightening.

She had a baby?

And didn’t tell me?

I have a daughter.

A daughter I didn’t know about.

What. The. Fuck.

But wait, she was on birth control, and we always used a condom.

Because she didn’t want kids. Told me she wasn’t going to let anyone ruin her figure.

“What the fuck, Kat?” I hiss. “You were pregnant and didn’t think to call me and tell me.” I glare at her. “We haven’t been together since early April. It’s November now. Help me fill in the blanks.”

She puts her hands on her hips. “She’s about eight weeks old.”

“Still doesn’t answer my question, Kathryn.” I grit my teeth.

“She was born two weeks early. Turns out I was a little pregnant when we broke up.”

“You don’t say.”

She shrugs. “I figured it was stress from my job and our relationship that caused me to miss my period. It’s happened before so I wasn’t too worried. I had an annual physical which is how I found out.”

“You didn’t think to pick up the phone and tell me?”

She shrugs again, and I want to snap at her to stop acting like it’s not a big fucking deal.

It is a big fucking deal.

We have a kid.

“I wasn’t exactly going to call you up and tell you. Besides, would you have believed me? Or would you have told me to take care of it? Be real, Holt, you wouldn’t have cared.”

My eyes widen and once again my mouth falls open.

Does she really think that’s what I would have done?

Hell to the no.

I would have definitely demanded a paternity test, but if the baby was indeed mine, I would have stepped up.