BILLY
Grunting,I place the weights on the rack. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Ezra joking with his friends by the treadmills.
Cam motions to me. “You have murder in your eyes, bro.”
“Pretty much what I was fantasizing about just now, but I’m trying to avoid jail time before the draft.”
Laughing, he nods. “Solid decision.” He lowers his voice. “How did Roxy’s appointment go?” Cam is the only one of our friends besides Charlotte and Jake who knows Rox is pregnant.
A smile erupts on my face. “It was crazy. She had the nurse call me into her exam room at the end to see the ultrasound. I got to hear the heartbeat. It was just whirring away.” I hold my hand over my chest because that moment will go down as one of the coolest in my life. “She’s due in August.”
“Girl or boy?”
“Too early to tell. It looks like a bean, though.” I hold my fingers apart by a centimeter. “Like this big.”
“Y’all gonna make it official or keep pretending you’re just friends?”
“We’re definitely not ‘just friends,’ and I think she’s starting to figure it out.”
He smacks me on the back. “Happy for you.” His eyes travel across the room to Ezra, but his voice lowers to a whisper. “You’re obviously a better candidate than that jackass.”
Frankly, I think so too.
I never told him Ezra is the father, but Cam’s pretty damn perceptive. When he heads to the locker room, I reach for my water bottle.
Jinxy pops up next to me out of nowhere, his eyes wide. “Roxy’s pregnant?”
Water almost shoots out my nose. “Lower your fucking voice,” I growl as I glance around to make sure no one else is around. Jesus, where the hell did Jinxy come from? I would’ve sworn Cam and I were alone on this side of the weight room. “Forget you heard anything.”
“I swear on my PlayStation.”
He crosses himself, and I smack his hand away. “The condition isn’t contagious. You don’t have to ward it off like a vampire.”
Jinxy laughs. “Says you. I’d rather run through campus naked than knock up some girl.”
“First off, Rox is not just ‘some girl.’”
A guilty look crosses his face. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Sorry.”
“Second, she’s pregnant. She’s not infected by zombies. Third, it’s a baby. Women have them every day. It’s not the end of the world.”
His eyebrows lift. “Have you ever been around babies?”
Not much except for my former teammate’s twins. Olly’s girlfriend had them last winter. I babysat a few times since I sublet a room in her house, but the boys usually just slept. It wasn’t a big deal. I could probably handle one small child on my own. How hard could it be? Olly’s boys Levi and Jude are great. And Jake’s three-year-old son Asher is awesome. Really, I don’t know why people freak out when someone gets pregnant.
Jinxy points at me. “Babies smell, they vomit, they shit everywhere. They cry at all hours of the day and night. They’re like wild animals that never stop pooping. No offense, Daddy, but I’ll pass.”
Daddy. The word gives me pause.
Does Jinxy think I’m the father? I almost laugh. But the paternity of Roxy’s child isn’t my news to share, so I wrap my arm around his shoulders and glare at him like he’s an opponent on the line of scrimmage. “Say a fucking word to anyone, and I’ll piss in your Gatorades at home, the ones you leave everywhere half empty but still drink randomly.”
He shivers comically and shakes his head. “I swear, my lips are sealed. I’m a vault.”
We’ll see about that.
After I let him go, he scratches the back of his head. “Serious question, man. How are you gonna juggle everything? School, the baby, football. It’s a lot. And Coach is gonna go ape shit when you tell him. Although that might solve your problem.”
“What do you mean?”
