Aubrey
Chapter twenty-two
~ Two Weeks Later / May ~
“I don’t get it, doesn’t she have a car?” Emma asks from the passenger side, where she’s reclined the seat completely and lies there with her huge sunglasses on. If she weren’t talking, I’d think she was sleeping.
“Don’t you?” I call back.
“Damn, baby Brey. Pregnancy is making you sassy.” She laughs.
“Sorry, I’m just… Ugh! I don’t even know anymore. I’m exhausted, I’m always hungry, I’m achy all over. And I’m constantly horny, even though Shane and I have sex every time he’s home,” I admit, my skin flushing a deep red. I rarely bring up my sex life, but this was needed.
“Welcome to pregnancy, babe. And you still got weeks to go.” She snickers. “And for your information, yes, I do have a car. But I, as well, am exhausted, and I finally have a day to myself with no kids, so I’m taking advantage of it.”
She pushes her sunglasses over her head. “It’s not every day that someone offers to take care of your two-month-old twins, and your two-year-old, for the day so you can relax and have some mommy time. That is why you are driving, and I’m simply enjoying the ride.”
“Well, see, Ronnie might not have the child excuse. But she, just like you, likes to enjoy the ride rather than drive herself. I’m guessing having two boyfriends comes in handy during that time. Always a ride available,” I point out.
Emma breaks out in a fit of giggles. “Literally.” I join along despite my heating cheeks once I realize what I’ve just said.
“You think your dad will be okay with the kids for the day? It’s the first time you’re leaving them, right?” I ask once our laughter subsides.
“Ugh, don’t remind me because then I’ll start crying.
It’s horrible. You can’t wait to have some time off, but the minute you leave their side, all you want to do is run back to them.
I still don’t understand how my parents were able to go weeks without seeing me.
I could never do that to my kids.” She smiles sadly.
“But yes, my dad will be fine. He loves those little ones so much, plus he has Amanda there to help.”
“That’s good. You deserve some time off and to have peace of mind.”
“Thanks, baby Brey.” She brings her seat back up and claps her hands together. “So, have we thought of any names yet? Because I have a few that could be really cute.” She then gasps. “Wait, does this mean once your daughter is born, I won’t be able to call you baby Brey anymore?”
I laugh. “We aren’t calling her Aubrey, so yes, I think you still can.
” I wasn’t a huge fan of the little name she gave me when we first met, but now I love it and would feel weird if she stopped calling me like that.
“And for baby names, I actually have one in mind, but I haven’t talked to Shane about it yet, so I can’t tell you. ”
“What!? That is not fair! Why would you tease me like that? I’m your sister, don’t I get sister privileges or something?”
“Maybe, but he’s her father, which means he should be the first to hear it. Sorry.” I smile sympathetically as she narrows her eyes at me.
“You’re no fun.”
I laugh as I park the Porsche in front of a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn. Ronnie asked me to pick her up at this address once she had finished getting her hair done. We climb out of the car and head inside the shop, where we’re greeted by a massive mammoth of a man.
“Well, well, well. It must be my lucky day. Three beautiful women in my shop at once.” He grins, a hint of playfulness in his voice. “What can I do for you ladies?”
I’m about to answer and tell him we’re looking for our friend when a woman with a flashy pink pixie cut comes out from behind a curtain at the back of the store, followed by Ronnie.
“First of all, this is my shop. And second, they’re all taken, Bear. As are you.” She points a finger at him.
He lifts his hands up in the air. “Hey, no harm in some playful flirting when it comes to potential clients.”
She rolls her eyes at him as Ronnie comes over to us. Her freshly done hair is now a vibrant deep blue at the top with flashy lime-green ends. She’s always trying new color combinations every month, and every single one of them looks fantastic on her.
“Wow, Ronnie. Your hair looks amazing!” I tell her, reaching out to touch a few soft strands.
I think she may have cut a few inches off as well. It’s not as short as she used to keep it, where the ends touched her shoulders. But now rather than it reaching her midback, it stops at the end of her shoulder blades.
“I know, I think this may be the best one yet. I’m in love with it.” She beams from ear to ear.
“Hey, are you the one who does her tattoos?” Emma asks the woman with the pink hair.
“Yeah, that would be me. Name’s Maze. You must be Emma.” She reaches out a hand to shake Em’s then looks at me. “And Aubrey, if I’m not mistaking.”
Maze turns to Ronnie. “You said there were two blondes, but this one looks like the virgin, not the married one.” Then cups a hand beside her mouth as she whispers loudly, “Although, not so much of a virgin anymore.”
Ronnie and Emma both laugh while my eyes go wide, and I blush from embarrassment.
“Jesus, babe! How much did you tell this girl about us?” Em asks through her chuckles.
“Everything, she’s told me everything.” Maze winks. “Now, why were you questioning about the tattoos? You interested?”
“Actually, yeah. I have something in mind, but I can’t seem to put it together.”
“All right, well describe it to me and I’ll draw you something up,” Maze offers. “I usually charge for a sketch, but since you’re a friend of my girl here, I won’t.”
“Oh, you can charge her, she’s loaded,” Ronnie tells Maze while winking at Emma who frowns.
Emma and Maze go off to a desk further in the back of the shop while Ronnie and I talk with the man I’m assuming is called Bear.
Once Emma’s done explaining what she wants to Maze, she rejoins us.
Barely twenty minutes later, Maze comes back with a sheet in her hands and lays it out on the counter before us.
“Now, this is just a rough sketch to give you an idea of what I had in mind. If there are things you want to change, we can do that. And when you’re satisfied with it, I’ll get to work on the real thing,” Maze tells Em.
Emma gasps when she sees it, covering her mouth with her hand as tears fill her eyes. “It’s perfect…”
“May I ask what this means to you? It helps knowing the story behind the artwork, makes it easier for me to connect to it while I’m drawing.”
Em sniffles as she nods. “My husband and I have nicknames for each other. He’s my Wolf and I’m his Bunny”—she points to the wolf and bunny that are touching nose to nose—“my daughter, Gracie, she’s going to be two tomorrow.
I’ve called her my Little Tulip from the moment I met her.
” Her finger touches the tulip that stands between the wolf and bunny, right beneath their noses.
“And my two-month-old twin boys, Parker and Maddox, are my Little Duck and Little Goose.” Her hand trails to each side of the tulip, where a duckling sits to the right and a gosling sits a little taller to the left.
The rough sketch is beautiful, the two parents with their children between them as the main focus, but the background is what has Emma getting emotional. Behind them seems to be a body of water, like they are standing by it, and the surface of the water is covered in lotus flowers.
Emma’s fingers glide above the lotus flowers in the distance as a tear trails down her cheek.
“This is for Maddison, my Little Lotus… She… she wasn’t technically ours, but she felt like it.
” Bear hands a tissue to Emma, who quickly takes it and wipes her tears away. “She died of cancer last summer…”
I rub along her back in a soothing way as Maze places her hand above Emma’s. “Give me two weeks, and I’ll bring your vision to life.”
“Maze is the best. You won’t be disappointed.” Ronnie touches Em’s arm then looks over at the giant man. “Sorry, Bear.”
“No offense taken. I know how talented my girl is.” He laughs.
“Thank you,” Emma says with a soft smile.
We leave the shop shortly after and head toward Ronnie’s place. I love how close Ronnie and I live to each other, only eight minutes away by car.
“The boys should be done with their practice soon,” she says from the back seat, looking down at her phone with a smile.
I look through the rear-view mirror and smile at her, but I can’t help the ache of jealousy I feel inside.
Dating a coach is not at all the same thing as dating a player.
Yes, the players have a crazy busy schedule.
But on days when they only have practices, they get to go home to their family and spend the rest of the day with them.
While the coach stays back for a few more hours and often doesn’t make it home before four in the afternoon, leaving us only dinnertime and our nights together.
It’s even worse on game days—sometimes I only see Shane for an hour during that time.
But the season is almost over, and then we’ll have our whole summer together. I’m excited for that.
“God, I can’t wait to spend the day alone with Grey. We haven’t had sex since the twins were born, and Mama is more than ready to ride that horse.” Em waggles her brows suggestively.
Ronnie laughs. “You mean wolf. Ride that wolf, girl.”
“Ugh! Can we please stop talking about intercourse with my brother!? And why is there so much traffic all the time!?” I hit the back of my head against the seat then reach into the cup holder for a Twizzlers. Because yes, I have a cup filled with licorice in my car.
“Jesus, what’s wrong with her?” Ronnie asks, popping her head between the seats to look at me.
“She’s horny,” Emma provides as an answer while laughing.