95. willow
With my phone wedged in the crook of my neck, I flashed my clearance badge for my favorite recording studio. Dan was still talking about summer training, but the security guard waved at me, trying to get my attention.
"Give me two seconds, Dan." I pulled away the phone. "What’s up?" Before security could tell me, I closed my eyes. "Don’t tell me he’s already here?—"
"The King’s in the building."
I swore under my breath. My husband was supposed to arrive at three o’clock and stay in the lobby. There went the time I needed to get things together. I threw security an exasperated look.
"You just let him in?"
"Jade, he’s the King. Come on."
Yes, he was. Travis King, star defense, beloved by everyone in New York for how he wiped the floor with Boston last season in a record-breaking game. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Especially since my dad was the only one at his college who repped the New York Pilots.
"Sounds like you’re busy, kid." Dan chuckled. "I’ll let you go. Tell King he owes me a phone call."
Once you reach Grammy status, more things open up to you, and in the elevator, I punched in the four-digit code for my restricted floor. "Dan, can you do me a favor and be on the lookout for a call in an hour?"
"I’ll write it in my schedule."
"You promise?"
"You know I’m good for it."
I smiled. "Love you."
"Love you too, kid," he assured me before the line went dark.
Before any of the parentals found out, my husband had to be the first.
My husband.
How long would it take to get used to that?
About as long as it took to remember to keep my new box braids clear of the heavy rock on my ring finger.
I flexed my hand in the elevator’s light to see my wedding ring and my tattoo. The crown stretched a little above my ring, showing I was as much of my husband’s as he was of mine. The only tattoo I had, all for him. Which meant something, dammit, even if Adam liked to point out that King was nearing his fifteenth tattoo for me.
The moment I stepped out, I texted my parents and Lorelei to expect a call in an hour.
Everybody needed to join in. No exceptions.
I couldn’t stop the grin when I saw King waiting for me, with that sexy beard I’d never, ever let him shave off and that blinding smile I would never get over.
"I definitely told you three," I said while he pushed up from the chair.
"Sorry, I missed my wife," he murmured, capturing my lips for a long kiss. "Hands."
That was our private thing between us— hands . The code word we used before weaving our fingers together to hold hands so we could see both tattoos. He kissed our knuckles until I laughed, pulling away from him.
"Where’s Mykola?"
"In the parking garage," I said before slipping out my laptop to connect my equipment.
King took his place behind me, brushing my braids to the side, pressing a long kiss to the side of my neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
When King first pushed for bodyguards, I declined. I didn’t think I needed them. I never expected my album to hit so high in the charts, or to win the awards, or the contracts to play the clean version of Mean Motherfucker in NFL stadiums all over the country. I wasn’t expecting people to rush me when I went to one of Ryan’s games in California, so I finally relented.
"Thank you, Angel," he murmured, sucking gently on my neck.
I reached up to stroke his hair. "No sex here, you know that."
The manager of the recording studio sat me down for a mortifying meeting about how he had to fire five people off his night crew because they were trying to leak our security tapes. While he didn’t want to lose me being part of his studio, he couldn’t have my husband and I using the leather couches for songwriting inspiration anymore.
"Who said anything about sex?" He chuckled. "I just want to taste my wife."
"Mm-hmm. I have a surprise, all for you."
He paused, I had his curiosity. "Yeah?"
"I called you here because I have news about my next album."
King sat in the chair next to mine as I finished getting everything ready. What he didn’t know was I scraped about a quarter of it this morning for a good reason. I was about to spend a lot more time at home. With a new direction to take my art.
When Piper found out she was pregnant with Chase, that’d been a huge surprise. Adam and her weren’t married yet so Chase was what they referred to as a ‘miracle baby.’ Or, as the rest of us liked to call him, ‘Five Dollar Margarita Night baby.’
Then Piper found out she was pregnant again and Kassie aced that test too.
Two of my best friends would be having kids within a couple of weeks of each other and that led to some serious discussions between King and I. Both of us were insanely busy—I was off my first tour, King’s season didn’t wind down until February—and we weren’t necessarily trying to get pregnant. No ovulation schedule on the calendar. But the decision was made, birth control didn’t need to join the equation anymore.
Whatever would happen, would happen.
Sometimes, things happen.
"I worked on a new sound and it’s something we made together. I want you to guess the instrument."
He frowned. "We made it together?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Is this another voicemail?"
I laughed and he laughed too. One of his drunk voicemails from their week of winning the Birchwood Bowl back at Marrs went viral everywhere as the first ten seconds of one of my songs.
"Nope, not that," I said and tapped the space bar.
There was a whooshing sound over the speakers. I listened to that all day after my appointment at the doctor’s, and curled up in bed, and on the drive, and on the walk in here, but I still couldn’t get over the whoosh .
It was one of the most beautiful sounds I ever heard.
King's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Uh…"
"Any guesses?"
"It’s an instrument?"
"Mm-hmm."
He placed his elbows on the table, really concentrating. It was so cute. I could barely hold my excitement while he gazed at my laptop. "I’m going with…drums? Is this like a drum and it’s remixed or something?"
"Tattoos, that’s a heartbeat."
"Huh. That’s cool. Next album is a deep body thing? Veins and organs and stuff?"
"That’s not my heartbeat."
For long seconds, King gazed at me, still not understanding, until realization dawned across his face, an eraser over a whiteboard, wiping away everything else. His eyes flashed to the laptop and back to me while he struggled with his words.
"A—" He stopped himself, his voice a croak. "A heartbeat?"
"Well, cardiac activity, but it sounds like a heartbeat. Still something we made together."
I reached for his hand, gently placing it on my stomach. We were six weeks along and I had no idea. There weren’t any actual changes I could see, but the four pregnancy tests at my doctor’s office confirmed everything I needed to know.
King pushed out of the chair and sank to his knees. Slowly, he pushed up my shirt, an inch at a time, like he was scared of frightening the baby away. He ran his fingertips where Tiny King would be hanging out until Christmas.
"You’re…?"
"Yes."
"With a baby?" he added, breathless.
"Well, not a virus." I giggled, touching the side of his face. "You’re going to be a dad."
His hands were on me instantly, yanking me to crash his lips to mine. Not at all the reaction I was expecting but it was a welcome one. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back while he pulled me to his lap on the floor, his hand already up my shirt.
Fuck the no sex rule .
My phone rang.
"Ignore it," he growled.
But his phone rang.
"What the…?" I panted, reaching to grab mine off the table while he pulled his phone from his pocket.
We were in New York, Adam and Piper were between Oklahoma and Texas while Piper finished grad school and Adam played for the Oklahoma Bison, Kassie and Ryan were in California for the Shockwaves, Miles and Cleo were still in Texas with the Texan Hounds, and all our hockey friends were scattered across the states, so our group chat was the real constant of keeping us together.
It was always going off, but never like this.
"Piper’s calling me," King said, confused.
"Kassie’s calling me?"
We stared at each other before answering.
"Are you pregnant?! " Piper demanded.
A baby’s cry echoed in the background—baby Chase Russell. The unhappiest baby in the world. Adam quickly repeated her question but dipped out to check on him.
"Same exact goddamn question," Kassie said. "Are you pregnant?"
I blinked. "How did…?"
"Adam and I bought tickets for your Las Vegas stretch to surprise you," Piper explained. "I got the cancellation, the fine print said it was a family emergency, I checked your agent’s socials, he deleted all of the listings, and I know you’re not taking birth control—are you pregnant? "
"Oh my god, Piper." I shot an amused look at King. "You should work for the FBI."
Everyone started yelling.
"When are you due?" Ryan asked.
"They’re thinking December. I literally just told King."
King burrowed his head in my neck with a breathless laugh. "I found out forty seconds before everyone else did."
"Well, not everyone. The parentals are expecting a big conference call in an hour."
"Lawson’s going to come unglued," Ryan chuckled.
"We’re meeting up, right?" Adam demanded and his voice softened. "It’s okay, Chase—aw—that’s my baby." Immediately, he reverted back, albeit a little quieter. "We’re off-season, where are we meeting up?"
"Cleo wants us to visit Marrs," Kassie said.
"Is that easier?" Piper wondered. "They’re already in Texas and your family’s there."
I stroked King’s hair. "It’s easier and Shbair’s been hounding me for an alumni thing…"
"I’m checking flights right now," Ryan said. "I hate these sites—why do I need to log in?"
Piper cooed. "All of the babies are going to be the same age."
"Not Chase. He’s one of the babies," Adam snorted.
"No, but you know what I mean. All of us are pregnant right now . The triplets. Oh my god, I hope they’re friends. What if they’re not friends? What do we do?"
"Tie a big rope around them," Adam replied. "Lock them in a basement. They’ll learn to like each other."
"Well, it’ll be nice to get a Chase-break."
"How dare you try to abandon our child again?—"
"It was twenty seconds in a Costco parking lot."
"I won’t leave our son, we’re tied with the ghost of his umbilical cord?—"
"You didn’t even give birth to him!"
King took the phone from my hand. "We can discuss this later, I just found out my wife’s pregnant and we have a timer going until we tell the family, so she’s saying goodbye…"
"Goodbye," I giggled.
All of the well-wishes followed and I knew there would be a million other phone calls to dive into, but all of my attention was on my lovely husband, collecting my things and leading me out of the building.
"Are we coming up with a game-plan for what to say to the parentals?"
"Uh, no." He slipped on his baseball cap and led me into the parking garage. "I’m texting Mykola to call ahead for the hotel because we’re having sex."
I tugged on my hoodie. We’d only be staying for a couple of hours, but I didn’t tease him about the waste of money. I was too busy being deeply in love with him. Embarrassingly in love actually.
The drive was a quick ten minutes and the front desk agent squealed before she led us through the side entrance, our room keys in hand. "Jade the Architect."
"Hi." I smiled, squeezing King’s hand.
Flustered, she explained about the hotel’s amenities before handing over the keys. " Untangled Headphones means so much to me. The string version? I played it at my wedding."
My smile turned to King while he kissed the top of my head. "I played it at mine too."