AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His agility is off the charts and his stick handling is among the best on the team. He weaves through the Vipers’ defenders with the strength of a bulldozer and the grace of a dancer. Boone rips a fast shot that catches the goalie in the chest. It bounces off… right at Boone who connects his stick perfectly to do a little scoop shot over the goalie’s left shoulder.
The red light comes on behind the net and the arena explodes into a deafening roar.
“Yes,” Tillie screams, hopping up and down with her arms around Harlow. While she normally wears Coen’s jersey, tonight she’s sporting a black-and-purple plaid shirt that I think might be Coen’s it’s so baggy on her. She’s adorable in her tattered jeans and black combat boots, her golden curls bouncing with her exuberance.
I turn to Danica and give her a stinging high five and then lean across her to do the same to Stevie. They’re both wearing their men’s jerseys and while that’s not ordinarily significant, it is tonight for Danica. She’s got on Camden’s jersey rather than Mitch’s, which is a solid statement that she’s living in the present and not the past. I’m sure she’ll wear Mitch’s jersey again and she told me that Camden never minds that she keeps his memory alive, but I think it’s sweet she’s embracing her new relationship.
We watch as the final minute and a half winds down and when the buzzer goes off signifying the end of the first period, we all scoot out of the rows and hit the buffet.
I’m first in line and load my plate up. I grab some vegetables, but I mostly have a mountain of tacos to consume. Parking at a high-top table, I’m soon joined by Jenna and Ava.
“Where did you get that jacket?” Ava asks, eyeballing the purple puffer vest with the Titans logo. “I love it.”
I look down, happy with my wardrobe choice tonight. Unlike some of the other women here who have their men’s jerseys, I don’t have a Hillridge sweater. I have my brother’s, of course, but I didn’t want to wear it tonight. Instead I went with a white turtleneck sweater paired with gray jeans and white Chucks. I’ve got a gray knit infinity scarf, which looks great with the puffer vest.
“It’s Brienne’s,” I say, picking up a taco and pushing stuff back in that’s falling out. “One of the benefits of her dating my brother is I raid her closet all the time.”
“Lucky,” Ava says, nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie. I admire her going straight for dessert.
Ava’s dating Coach West and she’s probably the one I know the least out of the women. We have a massive group text thread going and most of my interaction with her has been there, although we’ve met up for coffee a few times.
“Who’s lucky?” Brienne asks as she nudges in beside me. The wink of her massive diamond makes me smile. Drake’s proposal was perfect and Brienne’s been walking around on cloud nine.
“Your future sister-in-law,” Ava quips, shooting me a wink. “She said she gets to raid your closet.”
Brienne shrugs. “Any of you can raid my closet.”
Ava’s eyes widen. “I’m so there.”
Tillie pouts. “I’m too short and curvy, but I appreciate the generosity.”
“I’ve totally got stuff that would fit you,” Brienne scoffs. “Maybe not the length of my pants but tops for sure.”
“Party at Brienne’s house to steal all her designer clothes,” Tillie yells to the other women and we all laugh.
Once everyone has a plate and we’re all huddled around two side-by-side high tops, Harlow demands to hear more about Drake’s proposal. I listen with a smile on my face, not just from the romanticism of how my brother pulled that off, but also because Bain was involved. It was hilarious he switched out the ring and almost gave Drake a heart attack, but just standing in that kitchen doorway, hand on my hip while we watched my brother seal his destiny, was special. Bain probably had a million other things he could have been doing that would have been to his liking, but he chose to be there with me and my family.
“Okay… enough about Brienne,” Jenna says, her eyes landing on me and sticking. “The more interesting story is that somehow Bain and Kiera have been canoodling behind everyone’s back and she got knocked up.”
Yeah… the secret is fully out of the bag. Bain pretty much ensured the players knew and I sent a text to my girls on our group thread. There was no easy way to say it, but I gave a fairly lengthy explanation of casual hookup to an oopsie to trying for a relationship. Of course, the thread blew up and there were lots of questions, but this is the first time we’ve all been face to face.
“Do you even know how far along you are?” Sophie asks.
“Not sure. My guess is we got pregnant the very first time, so around seven weeks. We see the OB-GYN tomorrow.”
“It’s so exciting,” Tillie chirps. She’s the cheerleader of our group. “What does it feel like? Do you have any symptoms?”
“Yeah,” I reply with a wink. “I’m hornier than normal.”
Stevie was unfortunately taking a sip of her beer at that point and she chokes. Danica pounds her on the back while asking a follow-up question. “Any weird cravings?”
“Sex,” I reply with a grin. “But also food. I’m so hungry, but that’s probably psychosomatic.”
“Hopefully you won’t get morning sickness too bad,” Danica says. “It’s the pits.”
“My tummy feels off at times, but I can’t tell if that’s morning sickness or just the mix of excitement and all-consuming terror.”
The women cast me sympathetic smiles and Brienne hooks her arm around my shoulders to squeeze me. “You got this. You are one badass woman and we’re all here to support you.”
