Chapter 5 #2
Seeing Trevor Hall’s name on the screen, I hit connect. My brother’s teammate’s voice instantly filled my car as I navigated around traffic, but I smiled to myself because I also considered the guy a brother.
“Hey,” he greeted.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Just wanted to see how you’re doing,” Trevor said, but his tone made me pause.
“You never call me just to see how I’m doing.” I narrowed my eyes even though he couldn’t see me. “What do you want?”
“I can’t call my favorite Boone and check in? I’m hurt you think so little of me.”
I snorted at his words. “I mean, I know I’m your favorite Boone. I’m everyone’s favorite.”
“Humble as always.”
I grinned. “Not my fault everyone loves me the most. It can be really tiring, honestly.”
“And to think I was calling to apologize. I take it back.”
“You can’t take back an apology if you haven’t even said sorry,” I pointed out.
“You are a little shit,” Trevor said, but there was no real heat to the words. This was typically how calls between us went. “But, seriously. Sorry Tasha and I couldn’t make it this week with the others.”
“It’s all good. You guys didn’t miss much anyway. Plus, you’ll be here for our opening game, yeah?”
I might have been twenty-five, but I still wanted my family there for the first game of the season. Even though they couldn’t attend every single one, they made the effort to come to the big ones, and that’s what mattered most.
“We’ll be there.”
There was something in his tone that had me frowning. I pulled behind the line of cars leading up to the smoothie place before I spoke. “Are you okay? You sound off.” I might’ve been a smart ass at times, but contrary to popular belief, I could be serious.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I just…” he trailed off. Yeah, he was definitely hiding something.
“Just tell me. You’re shit at keeping a secret. It’s honestly a miracle you kept your relationship with Tasha quiet for as long as you did.”
“I can keep a secret,” Trevor huffed.
“Fine, don’t tell me then.” I knew if I gave Trevor a moment, he’d crack and tell me.
When it came to our friend group, I was always the one who knew things before everyone else. Like the time I caught Trevor and Tasha making out in my mother’s bathroom when they were hiding their relationship from everyone. And I knew Josie before Wyatt knew her, so that counts.
“You can’t tell anyone. I mean it, Mateo. Not a single person.” The seriousness in his voice had me sitting up a bit straighter. “You have to promise you won’t say anything.”
“I cross my heart. I won’t tell a single soul.”
Through the phone, I could hear Trevor shuffling around, like he was moving somewhere more private, before he whispered. “Tasha is pregnant.”
“Holy shit.” The words slipped free.
“Holy shit,” Trevor echoed my words back. The two of us sat in silence for a full minute as his words sank in.
A wide grin split across my face. “Trevor, that's amazing. Congratulations, you’re going to be a dad.”
“I’m going to be a dad,” he whispered as if he couldn’t believe it himself.
“Wow, you’re growing up,” I joked.
“When’s it going to be your turn?” he shot back.
“Eh, probably never.”
Trevor went quiet as my car slowly inched forward. “Seriously, though, Trev, that’s amazing. I’m so happy for you guys.”
“Tasha isn’t far along, but she wants to wait to tell everyone until we’re all together at your game,” Trevor explained.
“The girls are going to freak when they hear.” Another niece or nephew to add to the family. I already couldn’t wait to spoil them rotten like the others.
While I was happy for Trevor and Tasha, a small pang ricocheted through my chest. I wanted what they had.
I’ve seen firsthand the lives my brothers built and the love they all had.
It’s something I’ve always craved and wanted…
but I wasn’t sure it was meant for me. That kind of future seemed out of the question.
Before my thoughts could spiral, I shoved them into the corner of my mind.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love that I know first, but why tell me? Why not tell Wyatt, Bryton, or Landon?”
“Like any of them can keep a secret from their wives.” I silently agreed with that one. Knowing them, they’d spill the beans after a few days. “Plus, you aren’t here to be a little shit and tell everyone.”
I gasped. “I would never!”
I totally would.
“Uh, huh.”
“Well, I promise not to say anything. That way, you can surprise everyone in a few weeks.” I may like to stir shit amongst our friends, but I’d never go back on a promise. This was Trevor and Tasha’s news to tell.
“I really am happy for you guys.”
“Thanks, Maty.”
“Make sure to tell Tasha I’ll be her next baby daddy if she wants.”
“Fuck off.” Trevor huffed out a laugh before the line went dead with a click.
“Dude, she tried to put her hand down the back of my shorts,” I said into my gaming headset, my eyes moving around the screen as my hands pressed the buttons on my controller.
It was eight o’clock, and instead of being out at the club with my teammates, I was here in my spare room, gaming with my old college friends and roommates.
“Wait, how old was she?” my friend, Jude, asked. He wasn’t a football player like me, but spent his time in college in the dugout. Immediately after graduating, he was swiped up to play professional baseball, he was that good.
“She was at least eighty.” Laughter rang through the headset. One of them paused the game, guffawing too hard to continue playing. “Yeah, okay, keep it up.”
“Dude.” Oliver, our resident professional soccer player, snorted. He was currently in Spain playing for a team there, so the fact he was able to get on was a rarity.
“Only Mateo would get groped by someone old enough to be his grandma,” Jude laughed, the sound crackling in my ears.
“Don’t act like it hasn’t happened to you,” I shot back.
“Jude loves when fans fall all over him,” Elliot commented.
He was the only one here that wasn’t a professional athlete.
He played football with me in university, but he only did it to keep his scholarship.
The dude was actually a tech genius, so when it came to being drafted, he opted out and started his own business instead, which was doing incredible.
“What can I say?” Jude’s smug tone had us all laughing. “But, seriously, Mateo, that's too funny,” he said. “And now you know you have options.”
“You should have gotten her number,” Oliver joked, finally unpausing the game.
I moved my character through the abandoned building in Call of Duty while I answered. “See, even the old ladies want a piece of me.”
“Typical Mateo. Our resident playboy,” Elliot said, his voice slightly distracted as he tried to kill me on the screen.
“I’m not our resident playboy,” I defended myself.
“You’ve never had a serious relationship,” Elliot pointed out.
“So? Jude is worse than I am.”
“Well, Jude has a reason to not be in a relationship,” Oliver said, followed by a fuck yes as he killed Elliot.
“And I don’t?” Was this pick-on-Mateo night?
“Well…” Elliott trailed off.
I wasn’t sure I liked where this conversation was headed. These guys were my best friends, but why I hadn’t been in a serious relationship was something I didn’t share, and never would, with anyone in my life. Even my brothers.
“Okay, okay, you assholes.” Before they could continue, I turned the conversation to something that I knew, without a doubt, they’d comment on.
“So, who wants to bet that Oliver throws his headset first?”