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Right now, home was the last place he wanted to be.
Home.
He'd never really had anywhere feel like home until Holly had come to stay. And now, with her leaving, home would be back to being just another place to sleep.
And it would feel just like he did now—fucking empty.
* * *
After having dinner with his sisters before they left for the airport to go home, he went over Ryder's house to hang out. Brandon was over there too, and to his surprise, Fally. He thought the day would have worn his friend out.
"Hey," Ryder said, opening the front door. "Come on in. Do you want something to drink? Soda's upstairs, beer is downstairs."
"Beer, and keep them coming," he muttered.
"Good thing I'm stocked up." Ryder gave him a curious look.
He followed Ryder down into his self-proclaimed man cave, complete with all leather furniture, a sixty-inch television, and every gaming console known to man.
Brandon and Fally kicked back on the wraparound couch, watching an action movie.
"What's up, D?" Fally asked.
Brandon lifted his beer. "Hey, bud."
Ryder popped the top off a bottle and handed it to Eli. "Have a seat."
He plopped down on the opposite side of the couch as Ryder sank down into his lounge chair.
"You look like shit, D." Brandon raised an eyebrow as he surveyed him.
"Thanks, Jet. I appreciate your candid assessment." He took a swig from the bottle and gave his friend a dirty look.
"I can tell something is off. Your hair is a mess, and you look tired. I don't know." Brandon shrugged. "We're all tired from today, but you look haggard."
"Holly's pregnant."
Three pairs of eyes zeroed in on him.
"Say what?" Ryder sputtered. "Holy shit."
"Wowwww, D." Fally shook his head. "How are you dealing with this?"
"By the looks of it, not that great," Brandon chimed in.
"It's a complete clusterfuck," Eli told them, sinking back against the couch. "She didn't tell me, and I got a text while we were up on stage. It was from an unknown number with a screen capture of the front page ofThe Lucky Bounceblog. It showed Holly holding a pregnancy test box."
"How long has she known?" Ryder asked.
"About a week. She had no right to keep this from me."
"You're joking." Fally gaped at him. "Eli, that's huge news, and you were playing for the Cup. She did the right thing waiting to tell you."
"It's not just that. She's kept a few important things from me. It's a big deal. And they weren't minor things." He paused. "This can't go further than this room, okay? But she was assaulted by a group of guys in a parking lot a while back. I was at practice. The one guy grabbed her. She got away, but..." Eli shrugged. "She never told me. I saw the bruises on the arm and had to pry it out of her."
"Holy fuck." Brandon's eyebrows shot up in the air. "That's awful."
"And then she hid the MG thing from me, too." He paused. "We've gotten close. Really close. So for her to hide this shit... it's fucked up."
