“Dad advice?” Matt recovered first, shaking his head as if to clear it.

“What kind of dad advice?” Brick choked on the word.

“I found out a few days ago I’m a father to six-year-old twins.”

Brick jerked back in his seat like he’d been slapped. Matt furrowed his brow and continued to stare at me with confusion. I glanced at Ziggy, who was all ears, his eyes as wide as pucks. Great. Within an hour, the team crier would notify the entire team. I ignored him. I didn’t have any other choice.

I dived into the story, telling them what I knew. Brick and Matt listened intently, along with Ziggy and our backup goalie, Jacques, a.k.a. Jock, who’d joined the conversation. Jock had five kids, so he knew a little something about parenting too.

After I finished, the table was silent as my teammates digested the information I’d given them.

“Part of me is unreasonably angry at the mother for the time I missed with my kids.”

Brick nodded sympathetically. His own daughter had been dumped on his doorstep at five years old. He’d had no prior knowledge of her. “I understand that. I was angry as fuck regarding the time I’d missed, too, but you have to let it go. That anger will eat you up inside, and in your case, she didn’t know. You need to believe what she told you.”

“Forgive and move on. The kids need both of you to present a united front for their sakes. It’s all about the kids now, not about your hurt feelings or time lost. Concentrate on making up that time and being the best father you can be,” Matt added.

“Make sure everything you do is for the betterment of your kids. Selfishness has zero place in a father’s heart,” added Jock.

“She doesn’t want them to know I’m their father yet.”

“I can’t blame her,” Ice spoke up from behind me. “She’s gun-shy, and she’s going to protect her kids. You can’t be mad about that.”

Oh, but I was. I was mad at her for so very many things, unreasonably so. I had to get beyond it, but I hadn’t reached that point yet.

“We should give Big E a baby shower.” Rush sat down across the table. The asshole grinned at me. “We can play party games and watch him open gifts.”

The jerks hooted with laughter.

“They better be drinking games,” Ziggy added and more hilarity ensued. These guys were idiots.

“I’ll give him a box of condoms,” Rush said.

“It’s a little late for the condoms.” Ice snorted and took a chug of his Coke. I was grateful Ice didn’t drink. He was enough of a demanding dickhead stone-cold sober.

“Do they have strippers at baby showers?” Kaden waggled his brows and leered at no one in particular.

“She can jump out of a cake in nothing but a diaper,” Ziggy said.

“I’m in.” Caveman fist-bumped Ziggy, and they both grinned at me.