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  “We, ahhh-”

  “Tate you don’t have to answer her. She’s a pain.” Audrey said quickly, reaching over and smacking Piper. “Leave him be.”

  “No, she’s fine,” Tate said because he wanted Audrey to know. Since talking directly towards her was awkward for her, this was the second best way. “When the Florida Rays made an offer, my family was really excited. I was going to play in America, on one of the best farm teams in the nation. Elsa, my ex, wasn’t too happy. She didn’t want to leave home, her job, her family. She told me that if I go, we are through.” Tate paused.

  He had made the decision to leave a week after he buried his family. He had to leave; he couldn’t stay in that place. Not being able to hear his mother’s laugh, his father’s afternoon TV court shows, or his baby sister playing her violin or dancing around, honestly killed him. He couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t handle living in the house where they all had lived their whole lives. So he left. He left everything.

  “I told her this was a great opportunity, and that I was going. I asked her to come but she said, “No”. I asked if she wanted to do a long distance thing, but no, she didn’t want anything to do with me at all,” Tate finished. When he glanced up, Audrey was blinking at him while Piper was nodding.

  “Her loss, because America is freaking awesome,” Piper exclaimed with a grin, “I’m also pretty sure that you’re freaking amazing too.”

  Audrey rolled her eyes, falling back into her chair as Piper giggled. Tate smiled and leaned back also, giving Aiden a better place to lie. Aiden glanced up at Tate and smiled before taking another bite of his s’more. Tate smiled back, his heart filling with the love only a child could give him. He loved Aiden, a lot. The kid was just like his dad, and made him laugh constantly. When Tate was learning English, Aiden was always right there, trying to help. He was such a great kid.

  “Are you looking for a girlfriend, Tate?”

  Tate’s eyes met Piper’s as her face broke into a wicked grin. She slowly licked marshmallow off her finger and Tate had to chuckle. For a little woman, she sure was brash.

  “For the love of God,” Audrey muttered, shaking her head.

  “Well, Piper, who’s wondering? You?”

  It was a Lucas thing to say, but this needed to be nipped in the bud. He didn’t want Piper and he didn’t want Audrey to think he did.

  But Piper didn’t even blush, instead her grin grew. “Maybe. Maybe not. I have a source who is very curious but won’t ask anything.”

  Tate smiled, hoping that it was Audrey. He had a feeling it was, but she wasn’t giving anything away. Her eyes were glued to her phone. She was constantly on that thing, he noticed. With a chuckle, Tate said, “If the right girl came around, sure.”

  “Good to know,” she said. Audrey shook her head as Tate leaned back, shifting Aiden in his arms. The little guy had fallen asleep. His eye lashes fanned over his plump cheeks and his lips were slightly parted. He really was a sweet kid. Aiden’s head fell into the crook of his arm and Tate smiled down at him. He used to watch Matilda sleep all the time when she was younger. She was so pretty with her golden hair wrapping around her face. Her eye lashes were longer than Aiden’s, her lips fuller, but staring down at Aiden still brought back all the memories of her causing Tate’s heart to slowly break all over again. Matilda was almost five years younger than he and being a big brother, Tate felt extremely protective of her. He was always scared something horrible would happen to her.

  And it did.

  Before Tate could fully subject himself to the pain that was about to come, he was startled by the sound of hands being clapped together. Tate looked up to see Piper stand with her hands in the air.

  “I am drunk!” she proclaimed, “too much beer.”

  “Two cans,” Audrey said with a shake of her head. She then started dialing her phone before bringing it up to her ear.

  Tate looked up at Piper to see her grinning at him, “I’m a horrible lightweight. I can’t handle alcohol well.”

  Tate chuckled, “I see that.”

  “Its cause she’s a hobbit,” Audrey giggled.

  “Shut up! You are borderline hobbit too!” Piper spat back before falling back into her chair.

  “Ha-ha, whatever, I am a good ole’ 5’5 thank you. You’re what? 4’7?”

  “Oh. My. God. Audrey! That is horrible, I am 5’1!”

  Audrey turned to Tate, giggling, “She is not.”

  “I am too! Now call for my chariot!”

  Audrey laughed, “The cab is on its way.”

  “Right-o, good sir.”

  “Oh Lord, here comes her majesty,” Audrey said, taking a long pull on her beer. Tate watched as Piper sat back sipping on her empty can of beer. “Let’s hope the cab gets here before she goes into full majesty mode. You’ll probably never want to see her again, if she reaches that point.”

  “Majesty?” Tate asked.

  “Yeah,” Audrey giggled, “we tend to think we are awesome British princesses when we are drunk. It’s quite scary. But really, if I had a British accent, or hell, any kind of accent, I would never shut up!”

  Tate laughed, “Why is that?”

  “Because accents are hot,” Audrey blurted out. A second later her hands came over her mouth, as if she had said too much.

  He didn’t think so.

  Tate liked that she thought accents were hot. He had one; anything to make him desirable to her was a plus in his book. Audrey turned her attention to Piper and then they were getting up.

  “Is Aiden okay? I need to help her get her things,” Audrey asked.

  Tate nodded, “Yeah, he’s asleep.”

  “Oh! Okay, I’ll be right back to get him and put him to bed.”

  “No hurry,” Tate said. Audrey smiled sweetly down at the two of them before turning back to her friend and helping Piper to the house.

  As Tate sat alone with Aiden, sleeping in his arms, he couldn’t help but think of Matilda again. She was only 14 when the wreck happened, when her life was cut so short. But that wasn’t the moment he was thinking off. He could picture her when she was nine, with all her top front teeth gone and two on the bottom also missing grinning up at him after his hockey game. Her eyes were always so bright and full of life. Those were some of his favorite times. Matilda was loving and always cared about everything Tate did. A grin covered Tate’s face and he swore he could still hear her screaming for him when he was in goal. She was his second biggest fan, his first being his parents.

  Just as his chest started to ached and his eyes pooled with tears, a cab pulled into the driveway. It didn’t take long before Audrey and Piper were making their way down the steps and towards the cab. Taking in a long steady breath, Tate forced the thoughts of Matilda away. He watched as Audrey put Piper in the cab, reassuring her that she would bring her back to get her car tomorrow after the party. It was then that Tate remembered he had Shelli Adler’s first birthday party tomorrow. He couldn’t wait.

  Not.

  The only upside to the little girly party was knowing that Aiden and Audrey would be there. Tate watched as Audrey made her way towards him, the cab pulling away just as she reached them. She clapped her hands together and looked down at Aiden, a loving smile on her face.

  “Well, this has been fantastic, and it looks like it wore my little Punkin out. Can you hand him to me please?” she asked, her hands stretched out in front of her.

  Tate shook his head, standing up quickly and efficiently as if he wasn’t holding a 60 pound child. “I’ll carry him in for you.”

  Audrey paused for a moment, and then nodded, leading the way into her house. Tate followed behind her, his eyes drifting to the sway of her spectacular backside. He loved her curves, they drove him mad, but what he really liked was the curve of her ass. It was easy to say that those jeans were probably the luckiest things on earth. Tate would do anything to get the chance to hold onto Audrey’s ass again.

  Anything.

  Inwardly groaning, T