Page 81 of Ruck Me

She closed her eyes and sighed. “Oh, Aoife.”

“I know!” I cried. “Trust me, I see how stupid that was—now. But I didn’t think we needed to. I was a virgin on birth control and Eoin was clean. What were the chances this would happen?”

“I’d say about 1 in 10 if the statistics are correct.”

“Why does everyone but me know this?” I screamed, remembering a similar statement from Brienne. “How come my doctor never mentionedit?”

“I don’t know. She shouldhave.”

“Wait,” I said, going back to her question about condom usage. “You and Aidan use condoms, right? Since he’s clearly been fucking other girls, I seriously hope youwere.”

Tanya dropped my gaze and lookedaway.

“See, you weren’t either!” With a minor sense of victory, I exclaimed, “I’m not the only assholehere.”

Bringing her face back around, Tanya whispered, “Actually, I haven’t had sex in years.”

My jaw dropped. “But I could have sworn you and Aidan were together?”

She laughed cynically, the sound pained. “Yeah, no.”

“But you let everyone think youare.”

Tanya shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

“More complicated than getting knockedup?”

With a hollow laugh, she said, “Yeah, itis.”

“I told you my great tale of woe. Now it's yourturn.”

Tanya sighed and pushed up from her cross-legged position. Putting her hand out to me, she tugged me up from the floor. “This requires wine.” She grabbed both glasses. “And ice cream,” she said, canting her head toward mybowl.

Settling into the sofa for a nice, long chat, Tanya took a sip and said, “I want to hate Katelyn but I can’t. You see, I was her not too long ago. Or she was me. One of those—I can never keep them straight.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, matching her sip for sip with bits of ice cream.

“Five or six years ago, when I was your age, I stalked the team, showing up at all the bars they regularly hung out at and ended up hooking up with a few players. When I say ‘hook up’ I don’t mean it the way it means now. I only ever had sex with one of them, and even though we weren’t exclusive, we were friends. Still are, infact.”

“Aidan?”

Tanya laughed. “No, Padraig O’Dempsey.”

“Padraig? He’s in France now, right?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t play anymore. He retired at the end of last season when he married his wife, part of some fancy winemaking family. Lucky bastard.” She raised her glass in a toast to Padraig's good fortune.

“So, where does Aidan fit in with all this?” I asked, shoving another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.

“Don’t worry, I’m getting there.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled sheepishly.

“No bother.” Tanya waved away my apology. “But as I said, after kissing my way through the younger guys, I decided I wanted a go at one of the real stars of the team. You know what it’slike.”

My face must have registered disbelief because Tanya laughed. “No, not like that. I wasn’t trying to force a ring onto my finger. I just wanted to fuck one of them so I could say I had. A feather in my cap and all that nonsense.”

“Wow.” I shook my head, startled by how forthcoming she was about her sex life. I’d heard the rumors, of course, but since I’d never witnessed anything to support them, I’d chosen not to believethem.

---