“Yeah, we know. Uggh,” Quil stated, wrinkling his nose in disgust. When Linc frowned at him, confused, he added, “You forget weekend before last while we were camping? We all heard your performance, ‘Big Daddy.’”
The five of them laughed heartily at a blushing Linc, and TJ patted Brett’s bicep. “This one will be next, mark my words.”
“Me?”
“Yup. Madi’s next. I guarantee it.”
Brett scoffed but, even as he attempted to guard his girl’s good name, he understood his friends knew what was up. His and Madi’s chemistry was indisputable; he simply shrugged.
He’d love to see Madi pregnant with his baby. The thought of it made his heart flutter, and he grinned big.
“Well, I’m gonna sit this one out fellas,” Pax muttered, hands up in surrender.
“You don’t want kids, Pax?” TJ asked as if Paxton were insane.
“Nah, it isn’t that. This here surfer boy’s still got some wind left in his sails. I’m not ready to settle down yet.”
“He’s still a young sprout,” Brett muttered and ruffled Pax’s long unkempt hair. “He’ll ease into the idea.” Pax was the youngest of them; a couple years younger than their “newbie” Quillan, who happened to be twenty-seven years old.
“Single and ready to mingle, I get it. Just give it time, Junior.” Travis smirked. “Find you a girl that you can’t think straight around but also one you can’t possibly live a day without. That’s the money shot, Poseidon.”
“Amen to that,” Linc and Brett added, pointing to one another.
They all laughed again before Linc said, “Hey, wait a sec. We still haven’t named our newcomer here. It’s time. It’s our first pre-season game. We have to get him titled so we can sell it.”
They all regarded Quil who looked around at them, seemingly eager and anxious to know what they’d come up with.
Brett began to think. Quillan was fast, he was smooth, seamless in the way he caught the ball and ran it into the end zone. He was their only acting TE now that Lang was gone. He was powerful. But Brett sucked at picking these god names, maybe Google would help. He was about to turn to his locker to retrieve his phone only to stop as Travis said, “He’s tall, dark, and solemn. Fast and volatile.” Ok, now he was just spouting random shit off. “We’ve got Zeus and Poseidon… I think it’s time Hades joined the team.”
Quil gave him a crooked grin and a shrug. “I mean it fits pretty good, I guess.”
“He does disappear in a black cloud of smoke when Zeus throws him one of those thunderbolts of his,” TJ winked, getting a laugh out of the rest of them.
“Hades. I like it. Welcome, King of the Underworld.” Brett reached out his hand and Hades took it, shaking his head in amusement. “We’re glad to have you, brother.”
Madi’s knees were knocking before Brett ever made it up to the box, long after the game was over. She had been watching them practice following the game and saw it would be a while. She decided to read a book from the Kindle app on her phone; it was an interesting read, but the nervousness began to take over. She gave it up after reading the same paragraph three times without comprehending the words and just looked out over the field, trying to calm her breathing.
She tried to reason with the fact that Brett loved her and would be happy about this baby, though she couldn’t, for the life of her, settle her pounding heart. She rubbed her belly where their baby nestled—probably smaller than the tiniest fish she’d ever seen—but the fact that he was there made her heart soar with love, awe, and happiness.
She heard her God of the Gridiron’s heavy footfalls before his deep voice called in a huff, “Damn, sorry, Sunflower. Coach was wanting to run drills and talk and all kinds of shit. I got out of there as fast as I could.”
He stopped when she didn’t turn to look at him; tears were flooding her eyes at the thoughts of confessing this secret to him.
“Madi, baby—please talk to me. This has been the longest four hours of my entire life, love.” He knelt down in front of her, resting a hand on her knee.
“It has been for me, too.” She never kept secrets from him; not telling him when she and Hunter were trying to get pregnant was one of the hardest things she’d ever done.
“Ok, I’m here. Let’s talk. Tell me everything. I want to know. Did I do something?”
She held back a laugh and nodded.
“Oh, crap. What did I do, baby? Did I hurt you?” The anguish in his eyes tore through her, and she shook her head, not wanting him to think he’d hurt her; no, he’d given her the best gift of all. “Did I upset you?” Again, Madi shook her head. “Oookkkayy. Ummm…” He frowned. “Perhaps, I should go first.”
Madi was the one frowning this time.
“You said we should talk and you’re right. I haven’t been completely honest about something. It’s been weighing on me, and the only reason I haven’t told you is because there just hasn’t been…well, the right time never…”
Madi gulped, anxiety filling her heart. What was he about to say?
“It’s about Hunter.”
Madi shook her head. No, right now wasn’t the right time to talk about Hunter. She wanted to talk about her and Brett, their future, their baby. Hunt was gone. He’d died six months ago.
“Madi, I spoke with him on his death bed.”
And suddenly Madi’s mind was whirling, her memory reaching painfully back to that awful day. The day that blurred between a veil of nightmare and reality. There was so much about that day that she didn’t know, hadn’t asked because she didn’t need or want the gory details. All she’d known was her husband had passed away as a result of a deadly car crash, and her life had turned completely upside
