The Ninth Inning Read online

  “Tell me. Is it true? What Cole said?”

  “Which part?” Logan asked with a sickening laugh.

  “The part where you’re only with me because you hate him.”

  “No.” He repeated the word, “No, Christina. I’d never do that. What kind of guy do you think I am?”

  He asked the question, and I couldn’t answer it because I didn’t know. I barely knew Logan at all, but he’d come on to me like a freight train out of nowhere and not stopped since the night at The Bar. Doing it out of vengeance didn’t seem like such an impossible notion.

  I might be pissed off at Cole, but I could tell he believed what he said. The look on his face when he had seen me tonight almost brought me to my knees. I’d never seen that kind of pain in his eyes before or the way it grew tenfold when he saw exactly who I had come to the party with. It was more than just a knee-jerk, jealous reaction, more than him not wanting someone else to have me.

  I had been stupid to ever agree to come here tonight with Logan, but even Lauren had pushed me to do it. She said it served Cole right to see me moving on and with someone else. I knew it was a bad idea from the start, but a part of me liked the thought of making Cole hurt the way he’d hurt me so many times before. I thought it would make me happy to see him in pain.

  But when I had seen the agony on his face, it’d made me anything but happy. Hurting Cole hurt me as well even though it shouldn’t have. I didn’t feel vindicated or justified. His pain was my pain. We were connected, and we both sensed it. I was so tired of denying it or pretending like it didn’t exist.

  “Christina, babe,” Logan said, and I scoffed at him.

  “Stop calling me that. I hate it. Take me home, please,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest.

  Logan knew that everything had changed. “Why are you listening to him? Why would you believe Cole over me?”

  The aftertaste of vodka still burned in my throat, and I wished I’d never taken the shots. But Logan had pushed them in front of me, and I’d still wanted to punish Cole.

  “Because I know him better than I know you.” The words slipped out of my intoxicated mouth. “And I don’t trust you.”

  “Find your own way home then,” he said before slamming the car door and walking off into the dark.

  I pulled out my phone and called Lauren.

  Going Out of My Mind

  Cole

  I stood in the front entry of the baseball house and waited for Logan to come back. I knew he would. Staying away when he could poke the bear more would prove to be too tempting for him. He had to come back to see what his handiwork had accomplished. To see how far he’d pushed me. To see just how far I’d cracked.

  I couldn’t stop pacing. I paced from the front door to my bedroom door. Twelve steps. My door to the kitchen—nineteen steps. Then, I’d turn around and do it all over again. When my teammate Brandon asked me what the hell I was doing, I shot him a glare that made whatever smart-ass remark he was about to say next die in his throat.

  Mac and Chance had deemed me less of a threat apparently since Mac was attached to the redhead’s face again, and Chance was nowhere to be found. I pulled out my phone, tempted to text Christina and make sure she was okay and home safe. Somewhere in there, I planned on apologizing as well, but all I could see right now was Logan’s hand on her ass and the look he had given me when he put it there.

  And while I was ninety-nine percent convinced that Logan was doing this for sport, that one percent ate away at me. What if I’m wrong? What if Logan really does like her and my ego is playing tricks on me? Haven’t I been the one to let her go over and over again? How could be so stupid for so long?

  The more time that passed, the more pissed at myself I became.

  Pissed that I’d ever let her go.

  Pissed that I had convinced myself all this time that I never felt anything real for her.

  Pissed that I’d pushed her into someone else’s arms.

  Pissed that I had no one to blame but myself for it.

  Pissed that I’d wrongfully assumed she’d keep waiting for me.

  Every single year, the two of us would circle back to one another, hanging out off and on before I pulled my usual bullshit and pushed her away. I think a fucked up part of me thought I’d never be able to push her far enough that she wouldn’t come back.

  I could see everything I’d done to her so clearly now, and it stung. I’d given her scraps of my attention, little bits on a fishing line that kept her hooked. If I thought she had moved too far away, I’d give the line a little tug, and she’d be right back in my arms like she’d never left. Looking back, I wasn’t proud of how I’d treated her, but I had been too arrogant to see what I was truly doing. And too stupid to put all the pieces together at the time. I’d never had a solid relationship to look up to or build from, so I didn’t know how to do one right. It was no excuse, but it still felt relevant. Maybe she’ll understand?

  My thoughts were interrupted as Logan walked through the door, his chest puffed out, and I stormed to him, ready for a fight. “Where is she?”

  He tossed me a go fuck yourself look. “Home. Apparently, she had too much to drink. Who knew?”

  It hit me then—Christina’s beer-only policy. Logan had known about it.

  “You asshole,” I said before charging him and slamming him up against the front door.

  The sound of his body hitting the wood echoed in the house, and before I knew it, our teammates were between us, splitting us up and yelling for us to stop.

  “Hit me. I dare you to fucking hit me!” Logan yelled, baiting me.

  “Coach has a no-fighting policy. He’ll bench you,” Chance was screaming in my face. “He will bench you, and you know it, Cole. He doesn’t make exceptions,” he ground out, his arms gripping my shoulders as he worked to hold me back.

  I pushed Chance to the side as I screamed around him, “You knew!” I pointed a finger at Logan, who was being held back by Mac and Brandon.

  “Knew what?” he asked, his tone equally as pissed as my own as he fidgeted against them.

  “You knew that she didn’t drink hard alcohol. You knew, and you gave her shots anyway.”

  The possessive way I felt for Christina was almost animalistic. He had intentionally tried to hurt her even more than I’d originally suspected, and I wanted to fucking destroy him for it.

  “Yeah, I knew,” he admitted. “Is that what you want to hear? I knew she hated shots, but I got her to drink them anyway. I wanted her to loosen up. She’s always so tense. Was she like that with you? Wound up tight like a teenage virgin? Is that why you didn’t keep her around?”

  I shoved Chance aside with one last hard push and charged for Logan, my vision blurred red with my anger. “You’d better not have touched her,” I roared. “I’ll fucking kill you if you put your hands on her after getting her drunk.”

  Mac blocked Logan’s body with his own, knowing that I would never hit him. Reaching around Mac, I tried to get at Logan, but Mac wouldn’t allow it. He used his shoulders to completely block me, making me flail around like a fucking idiot.

  “Get out of my way,” I said through a clenched jaw.

  “No,” Mac ground out, using his force to keep me at bay.

  “Tell me you didn’t touch her.” I continued making a scene as a crowd gathered around us, but I didn’t care anymore. At this point, Christina’s safety was the only thing on my mind, not a bunch of baseball groupies.

  “I’m not telling you shit,” he spat over Mac’s shoulder, toward me.

  “Get the fuck out of here, Logan.” Chance’s voice was loud, boisterous, and demanding.

  “Why am I the bad guy here?” Logan actually had the nerve to ask. “Cole’s the one all wound up over some chick who isn’t even his. You can’t be mad at me for wanting her.”

  “You don’t want her. You just want to fuck with him,” Chance said, sounded exasperated. “And we all know it. Stop playing games.”

 
“Tell me you didn’t touch her,” I yelled again, demanding he answer me, but he refused and stayed silent, giving me nothing but a wink he knew I’d interpret badly.

  Mac turned Logan around and shoved him toward the front door where someone opened it. “It’s time you leave,” Mac growled, but Logan shrugged him off.

  “Or what?”

  “Or I’ll let Cole go,” Chance said above the noise, and I made a show of struggling.

  “You won’t. And we both know it,” he said matter-of-factly, but I knew his confidence was because of Coach’s rule.

  Logan moved toward the door. “Way to pick sides, assholes. We’re supposed to be a team,” he shouted before looking right at me. “This isn’t over.” He slammed the door so hard that it rattled on its frame, and I watched as Mac rushed out after him, most likely to make sure he actually left.

  Chance still gripped my shoulders, making sure I stayed put.

  “You heard him, right? You heard him say that he knew she didn’t drink liquor,” I asked, my words coming out in a mixture of anger and disbelief as the truth settled in.

  “I heard him. We all did.”

  I stood there, shaking my head back and forth. “It’s not right. You don’t do things like that,” I said to no one in particular as Mac walked back into the house and announced that Logan was gone.

  Cheers filled the air, and everyone dispersed back to wherever they had been before all the chaos broke out. Chance finally released me, and I thanked him for having my back as Mac walked over.

  “You okay?” Mac asked.

  I wasn’t sure how to answer. I wasn’t okay in the slightest, and I was worried about Christina. Did Logan touch her? Or do something to her without her consent? I needed to make sure she was all right.

  “Go get her already,” Chance smacked me on the back and gave me a little shove.

  “Seriously, what are you waiting for? A hand-engraved invitation?” Mac added with a grin.

  “Thanks,” I said before shooting off like a bat out of hell, keys in hand, heading toward my truck in the driveway.

  Just One More Chance

  Christina

  My cell phone vibrated against the coffee table. I leaned forward from the couch and looked at the number and face flashing on my screen.

  Cole.

  I debated not answering, but the warm buzz of emotions from the night left my self-control weaker and more vulnerable than usual.

  “Hello?” I answered, and his breaths came out fast, like he’d been running.

  “Can you let me in?” he said, and I looked at my front door like he might magically appear there.

  “Let you in where?”

  “I’m here. I’m outside your building.” He sounded upset, and I wondered if he was mad at me for showing up with Logan to the party even though he had no right to be.

  “I’ll be right there,” I said.

  “Who’s here?” Lauren poked her head out of her room and asked as I made my way toward the front door.

  “Cole.”

  “Interesting,” was all she said in response before disappearing back into her room.

  I walked down the hallway, and when I turned left toward the front entrance, I saw Cole standing behind the glass door with his head down. As if on cue, he looked up, his eyes locking with mine. A small smile formed on my lips, and I tried to make it go away, but my mouth refused to listen.

  When I reached the door, I pushed it open and held it as he walked inside, and it slammed behind him, making me jump.

  “Are you okay?” he said, looking me up and down, like he was checking for battle wounds of some sort.

  “I’m fine. Why?” I cautiously asked him, the look on his face giving me pause. “Are you okay?”

  “Fuck no, I’m not okay,” he said before reaching for me and pulling me into his arms.

  I struggled against him, but he only held me tighter, so I relented, knowing that I was no match for his strength. I melted against his hard chest, hating the way I always fit into his body like we had been molded for one another. We stood that way, our breaths synchronized in the too-bright hallway of my building, neither one of us moving or breaking contact until someone cleared their throat.

  “Didn’t want to interrupt,” the guy said as he moved around us and headed out the door.

  “We should probably go inside,” I suggested, and Cole nodded.

  He looked awful, but I still had no idea why. Any anger I had felt toward him earlier had diminished the second he showed up, looking so devastatingly broken. He had always had that affect on me. And that was how we always ended up like this, year after year.

  Opening up my apartment door, we walked inside, and I closed and locked it behind us, knowing that Lauren would be paranoid if she didn’t hear the dead bolt click into place.

  “Hi, Cole.” She popped her head out and looked at us. “Twice in one day. How lucky for me.”

  Twice? I looked between them, not knowing what they were talking about.

  Cole read the confusion on my face and answered the unspoken question, “I stopped by after the game.”

  “You did?” I asked him before glaring at Lauren. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “ ’Cause you were On. A. Date,” she clarified.

  “You still should have told me,” I argued.

  Lauren only shrugged. “Looks like it didn’t matter. You’re ending the night with him instead of that other asshole.”

  Cole’s head snapped toward me. “Did he hurt you?”

  “Hurt me how?” I cocked my head and stared into his blue eyes. They looked so pained, and I realized that he was suffering for me.

  His hand reached for my arm, and he moved it up and down, as if to comfort me when he was so clearly the one in need of comforting. “Did he try anything with you after he took you home? He didn’t force you to do anything, did he?” Cole stumbled on the words, asking the questions through clenched teeth, as if to hold back the emotions it made him feel.

  “After he took me home?” I realized Cole didn’t know that Logan had left me in the dark driveway. “He didn’t take me home, Cole.”

  “What do you mean? Where did he take you?” he asked before he started pacing, like my answer might be too much for him to stomach hearing.

  “Cole,” I said, but he kept moving. “Cole!” I reached for him, and he stopped, his expression distressed. Pulling him by the hand, I led us to the couch and sat down. “Logan didn’t take me home. He told me to find my own way. I called Lauren, and she picked me up.”

  Cole shot straight back up. “He did what?”

  “He’s a real asshole,” Lauren shouted from her room.

  “Can I get some water?” he asked as he moved into the kitchen and helped himself before I even answered. He downed an entire glass before filling it up again and doing the same thing. “Okay. He left you. Why?”

  “He wanted to know why I believed you over him,” I started to explain.

  Cole gently sat down, his body angled toward mine as he rested his hand on my thigh. “What did you say?”

  “I told him that I knew you better. And that I didn’t trust him.” I placed my hand on top of his, and he quickly switched our positions so that his hand covered mine as he squeezed it tight.

  “And he left you out there? Alone?”

  “I thought you knew. I figured he walked right back inside.” I shook my head because it was the only logical explanation I had.

  “He didn’t come back in until enough time had passed that I had lost my damn mind.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Because he wants me off my game. He wants my position. He knew this was the only way to get it. Through you,” he explained, and my heart started pounding.

  What did I have to do with any of that?

  “I didn’t mean to say what I did at the party about him using you. I mean, I meant to say it, just not in front of everyone. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you,” he apologized, but I w
asn’t mad about that. At least, I’d stopped being mad at him once I realized that he was right.

  “I was a little embarrassed. But I’d never seen you like that before, so I knew there was something serious going on.”

  “I shouldn’t have done that though. Not in front of everyone, but it was killing me to see him touching you. I wanted to rip his limbs off, so he couldn’t ever do it again.” Cole sounded so sincere that I couldn’t help but believe him.

  “Why was it killing you?” I asked, so desperate to hear the answer that I could practically taste it on my tongue.

  “Because you’re mine, Christina. You’ve always been mine. And everyone knows it.” He squeezed his eyes closed before staring at our hands.

  “But I’m not yours. You won’t let me be,” I started to argue, but he leaned over and stopped my words with his mouth.

  His tongue pressed against my bottom lip, and I hesitated before letting him in. His lips apologized, his kiss spilling all of his feelings and emotions into me, and I took them without hesitation. I wanted everything Cole was willing to give in this moment even though I shouldn’t.

  “You’re mine,” he whispered against me, his breath warm. “At least, I hope you are. Because I’m yours. And I always have been too.” He looked into my eyes like he was searching for a truth hidden in there. “It’s only fair that we belong to each other, don’t you think?” he asked with an unsure smirk.

  My heart leaped into my throat, begging for me to say yes, but my brain flashed warning signals like a train was coming.

  “Is this a game? Some sort of trick?”

  He leaned away from me, his expression revealing that he had expected me to ask exactly that. “No. I mean it. I mean every word. I have so many things I need to say to you. So many things to apologize for. I don’t know where to start.” He looked so frustrated, his brow creasing. “I knew I should have made a list.”

  I laughed. Because I wanted to ease the tension that was building and because it was so damn cute to see him so flustered over me for once. “Lists are always helpful.”