“It means that I will have four children all under the age of two while you are skating around with no cares in the world!”
Everyone looked up at Shea, waiting for his answer, and when he said, “I made two babies?” Elli let out a loud scream that shook Tate’s ear drums before she stomped back out of the locker room. Tate glanced back up at Shea to see a slow grin go across his face. He looked around the room, and then nodded his head.
“That’s right, boys, I made twins. Two babies, one shot,” he said with his chest puffed out.
“Oh shut up, Adler. Most of us in here have made babies,” Lucas said with a chuckle.
“That is right, but have you made two? Because I have,” Shea said with the cocky confidence only he could have. Everyone around the room was laughing, joking around with Shea and congratulating him, but Tate sat in his locker area, strapping on his pads as jealousy ate at him. Tate would never have that opportunity to make two babies or even one if Audrey’s condition wasn’t correctable.
For the first time that fact bothered Tate.
The next day after practice, Tate sat between Phillip and Erik at the Assassins regular table at J. Alexander’s. It was one of their favorite restaurants, and it never failed to satisfy the appetites of hungry players who came in to carbo load after practice. Today was no different, Tate’s food and the company were great.
He munched on his salad as Erik told his story of the night before.
“… But then I got her bent over the rail of the stairway, right?” he said softly while everyone listened intently, “and man, I’m giving it to her, hard, then all of a sudden she starts making this noise, and I’m like, what the fuck? So I don’t know what I’m thinking but I keep going, and she gets louder and louder, until finally she is full out making goat noises. I had to stop, I was laughing so hard, because I swear I was convinced I was fucking a goat.”
Everyone lost it, and Tate was glad they were in the back of the restaurant where no one could hear them. He shook his head, watching his teammates laugh as he ate. They were a group of nuts, but they had become family and he loved them all the same.
“That’s why I am a one-woman man,” Shea said with a grin. “I know her noises and always will, no crazy surprises, thank God.”
“Whatever, dude, you wish you were me,” Erik teased, but even Tate knew Shea didn’t. “No way. I’ve lived those years,” Shea said with a laugh. He glanced over at Tate and smiled. “You know, when I was your age, Tate, a steady girlfriend was the last thing on my mind, but boy, didn’t you choose a great one.”
Tate nodded. “She’s perfect,” he said while Lucas nodded. “But something has been bothering me,” he found himself saying.
All eyes rested on him, and when he glanced across the table at Lucas, he wished he hadn’t said anything.
“What? Trouble in paradise?” Phillip teased.
“All of you know how I want to have children. I have never been quiet about that. Well, Audrey can’t have kids, and I’ve sat here and told her it doesn’t bother me, that maybe something can be fixed and she will be okay. But today,” he said, glancing up at Shea, “when Elli came in pregnant with twins, I hoped that one day that would happen for me, only it won’t. Not with Audrey’s condition.”
No one said anything. Lucas’s mouth was hanging open. Shea looked equally stunned, and Erik and Phillip looked bored.
“Audrey can’t have kids?” Lucas finally asked.
“Who cares if she can’t?” Phillip said with a shrug. “She’s great, you really like her, just adopt when it’s time to do all that. It really isn’t a big deal. Kids aren’t everything. It’s about finding that person who makes you happy.”