The Ninth Inning Read online

My stomach clenched as I dreaded what he might say next. I’d asked the hard questions, so I had to be prepared for the answers.

  “There are guys who do have girls everywhere we travel. You’d be surprised at exactly who. But I’m not one of them.”

  “You’ve never hooked up on the road before?” I asked.

  I knew there was no way he hadn’t at least made out with random girls while he was away. That seemed way too far-fetched for any single guy to resist, especially the guys on this team. They weren’t just hot commodities in the state of California. They were known all over the country for being the best. Everyone wanted a piece of something like that, no matter how small.

  “I didn’t say that. But I’ve never brought a girl up to my room. And I’ve never left with a girl. It was never worth the risk.”

  “Okay. So, will there be girls on this trip?”

  “There’s always girls,” he said. “They find out where we are and show up there. They hang out in our hotel and wait for the team bus. But ...” He stopped and reached for my hands, his thumb moving back and forth.

  “But what?”

  He smiled. In the middle of this sort of uncomfortable conversation about girls who waited in hotel lobbies, he was smiling!

  “But it’s my choice. It doesn’t matter who shows up. I’m not interested or looking or willing.”

  I knew I should have been satisfied with that answer, but clearly, it wasn’t enough. “But what if it’s someone you’ve been with before? Someone you know? And she’s expecting it to be like last time?”

  Cole looked at me like he would entertain my what-if scenarios all night long if I asked him to. He wasn’t even remotely irritated that I needed more information. He indulged me.

  “Let me put it to you this way. Any girl could show up at my door, naked, holding a six-pack, and it wouldn’t matter. I’d slam the door in her face. Might take the beer first,” he said with a grin, “but never the girl. You’re the only one I want.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry, so I think I did a little of both. “Really?”

  “Yes, really. And while we’re on the subject, it goes both ways, you know?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not the only one out of town.”

  “I’m not following,” I said. I’m not going anywhere, so what is he talking about?

  “You’re here without me too. You could meet someone and fall in love while I’m gone,” he said, and I laughed because just the idea itself was completely ridiculous. “See, you laugh, but I worry too. You never know what could happen while I’m away.”

  “But I’m not even looking for anyone else. I wouldn’t even entertain the idea. I’m so happy with you, Cole.”

  “Exactly.” He gave me a pointed look, and I knew that I’d just proven the point he was trying to get across to me earlier. “We will be fine. I promise.”

  And we were.

  He texted me all the time, more than usual, and I knew he was doing it to make sure I was comfortable. I appreciated the messages and always responded right away to let him know I was thinking about him and missed him too.

  Just landed. Miss you.

  Can’t stop thinking about you. Don’t fall in love with any waffles while I’m gone.

  Heading to dinner with the team. Call you when we get back to the room. P.S. I hate the time difference

  He called before and after every game, and we FaceTimed each night. He shared a hotel room with a teammate I didn’t know very well, and he made fun of Cole for being “whipped,” as he called it. Cole never even argued with him. At least, not while I was on the phone to hear it.

  And when miniature snow globes from various cities started appearing on top of my desk, I realized that Cole had been buying me one from each airport he landed in without telling me.

  When I confronted him one night, he simply said, “So you know that I’m thinking of you, no matter where I am.”

 

  Lauren snapped her fingers in front of me. “Earth to Christina,” she said.

  “I’m right here,” I lied, not even caring that she’d caught me daydreaming with my mouth half-open.

  It wasn’t my fault that Cole caused me to get lost in fantasies. There was something about most baseball players’ upper bodies, but there was especially something about Cole’s. Maybe it was because I was the one who got to run my fingers all over his biceps, tracing the curves of his muscles all the way up to his broad shoulders and then back down again.

  “Well, pay attention. Your boyfriend’s up.”

  Lauren and I had tickets waiting for us at every home game now, thanks to Cole. And even though we could get free tickets with our student IDs, those would put us in a particular section, higher up and farther away from the action. Basically, the seats that Cole got us were better and closer to the dugout. I’d only complained once, feeling bad that I was using his complimentary tickets, but he insisted, reminding me that his dad was swamped with work. We hadn’t even crossed paths at a single game yet, which seemed crazy to me, considering the fact that he only lived about twenty minutes away. But Cole reminded me that when you were self-employed, you didn’t really have days off.

  “Let’s go, Cole!” Lauren shouted into the air as Cole stepped into the batter’s box.

  I was too nervous to cheer for him out loud, my stomach tied into knots every time he was up to bat.

  My hands folded in my lap, and I whispered, “Come on,” over and over. My silent mantra, if you will, to help my man get a hit. I knew how much pressure he was under, and I also knew how many scouts were watching him, wondering if he was going to head back into another slump or not.

  When the sound of the bat making contact with the ball echoed in the air, I jumped to my feet and watched it fly hard into center field, smacking the ground before bouncing toward the wall. The crowd exploded, and Lauren and I clasped hands as we jumped up and down. Cole pointed at me from first base, and I decided that I would never get used to him doing that, but I also never wanted him to stop.

  I knew I was blushing as I sat back down, and the crowd quieted enough that I could hear the girls in front of me talking. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but they caught my attention.

  “Oh my God, I really think he’s pointing at you.” The girl leaned toward her friend, and she sounded so excited that I almost hated to ruin it for her.

  Thankfully, the ruining didn’t have to come from me.

  “You think the guy on first base is pointing at you?” Lauren leaned down to ask, and the two girls turned to face us.

  “Cole Anders, right? I wasn’t sure, but he keeps looking over here, and I just thought maybe—” one of them started before Lauren cut her off mid-thought.

  “He’s looking at this one.” She thumbed toward me, and I braced for whatever insult was about to be hurled my way. “She’s his girlfriend.”

  The two girls’ expressions both morphed into apology and mortification.

  “We’re so sorry. We didn’t know.”

  I actually smiled because it was rare that other females weren’t rude or snide toward me. “It’s okay. You didn’t know. And he is looking this way. I would have thought the same thing.”

  They both visibly relaxed.

  “He’s really cute. You’re lucky.”

  “I know. And thanks.”

  They turned to face the game again, and Lauren gave me an incredulous look. “That didn’t go the way I’d thought,” she whispered, and I knew exactly what she meant.

  I had been braced for an argument or for the verbal insults to start flying. I realized that I was so used to defending my relationship and myself at every turn, even before we were officially a couple, that I’d assumed it was always going to happen. It was so nice when it didn’t.

  As the stands cleared out when the game ended, Lauren gave me a hug before throwing her arms in the air for an exaggerated stretch. We had a game day routine—she drove us both th
ere, and then Cole drove me home after.

  “I’ll see you at home,” she said, heading toward the parking lot as her long blonde hair swished behind her with each bouncy step she took.

  I headed toward the meeting spot where girlfriends and family members waited for the boys to exit the locker room. We never knew how long the guys would take after a game ended. Between Coach’s speech, hitting the showers, and sometimes food, it could be anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour. I usually used the time to my advantage, waiting farther away from where everyone else was so that I could work instead of socialize. I wasn’t trying to be antisocial; it was just that once Cole was out of uniform, we tended to monopolize each other’s time ... willingly.

  I pulled out my phone and started scrolling through my emails, making sure to respond to each one before checking the latest social media insights for my clients. Reaching into my purse, I pulled out a tiny notepad and a pen and scribbled down notes that I needed to add to my spreadsheet at home for comparison. As I jotted down updated page view counts and searched for videos and pictures that not only had the most views, but also the most interaction, a throat cleared, and I instantly looked up. I had no idea how long I’d been lost in work, and my smile instantly fell when I realized that it wasn’t Cole standing in front of me but Logan.

  “Hi,” I said to him, my tone coming out weird, but I wasn’t sure what he wanted or why he was looking for me.

  “Can we talk?” he asked before reaching for my upper arm and pulling at me.

  I shook him off. “Sure, but let go of me first.”

  “Sorry.” He started walking slowly away, distancing us even more from the waiting crowd, and I followed him, wondering what on earth we possibly needed to discuss. When he stopped, he turned on his heel and leaned toward me. “I really liked you, Christina. I still can’t believe that you left me for him.”

  “Left you for him? What do you mean?” I asked because I was not only genuinely confused, but it had been over a month since Cole and I had gotten together, and Logan was coming out of the woodwork now, all upset about how things happened.

  He started pacing in small steps back and forth, and I looked behind me to see if Cole was on his way, but there was no sign of him.

  “What do you want, Logan?”

  He stopped pacing. “I want you back. I want to try again.”

  A sick laugh tore from my throat. “You never had me. We were never together. It was one date.”

  “That’s not fair,” he said a little too loud before glancing up quickly and recomposing himself.

  “But it’s true.”

  “Only because he stole you from me.” He pointed a finger at my chest like he wanted to poke me there to further his point but didn’t.

  Did Logan really forget how things ended that night at the party? How he left me outside and told me to find my own way back home? How it had been exposed that he was only using me to bait Cole?

  “And you let him take you away. Like I meant nothing. Like he meant everything.”

  I could never belong to Logan because I’d always belonged to someone else, but guys like Logan didn’t take well to coming in second place.

  “Logan”—I tried to sound calm so that I didn’t set him off any further—“Cole and I have a lot of history. No one was going to be able to compete with that,” I said, hoping he would take the rejection less personally even though I hadn’t rejected him in the first place.

  “I still like you,” he said.

  “You never liked me,” I argued.

  He shook his head like my words were insane to him. “Cole broke code by dating you after me. I’m better than he is on every level, and he knows it. Tell me you’re not attracted to me anymore.” His tone grew more desperate by the second.

  I found myself looking around to see if anyone, not just Cole, was watching us or not, but the other girlfriends were focused on the entrance, looking for their boyfriends. No one was paying attention to Logan or me. We were too far away.

  I had no idea what to say at that point. Every response was only going to egg him on further. Logan seemed irrational and illogical. You couldn’t win verbal battles when someone was in that frame of mind. He stepped toward me, more words on the tip of his tongue when his eyes caught something behind me and locked on. I watched as they narrowed into slits before he looked down at me one last time and walked away without saying a thing.

  “Christina?” Cole’s voice echoed through the concrete hallway, and I turned around to see him jogging toward me. “Was that Logan?” he asked, his temper already flaring as I nodded. “What’d he want? What did he say to you? Are you okay?” His hand cupped my cheek as he searched my eyes for answers.

  I tried to navigate the situation in my head before I answered, not wanting to lie to Cole, but also not wanting to tell him anything that could make him want to confront Logan and get in trouble.

  “Christina, just tell me everything. Don’t keep things from me to protect me,” he demanded as if reading my mind.

  “He said you stole me from him. And he wants another chance.” I tried to sound like it wasn’t weird at all, but we both knew that it was.

  “What else did he say?” Cole didn’t seem all that shocked.

  “Um, that you broke code by dating me after him,” I said, emphasizing the words broke and code.

  Cole shook his head. “He’s the one who broke code by going after you in the first place, and he knows it.”

  “What do you think he wants?” I asked.

  While Cole didn’t seem surprised by what Logan had said to me, he did seem a little concerned.

  “To mess with me. That’s always been his goal. To get me so rattled that I choke again at the plate. He knows you’re the only way to do it.”

  “But why now?”

  Cole’s face looked like a lightbulb had gone off as he inhaled a quick breath. “Because he’s running out of time,” he said, and I knew exactly what he meant.

  Their season was winding down, and it was Logan’s last one too. Cole wasn’t the only player trying to ensure he got drafted when it was all said and done. And even though it was obvious that Logan didn’t have what it took to make it to the big leagues—otherwise, he would be starting over Cole instead of sitting on the bench—Logan clearly didn’t agree. The only way to prove that to everyone was to get Cole out of the way so that he could take his place on the field. And he wanted to use me to do it. Too bad I’d never let it happen. I would never be used as ammunition against Cole.

  We drove back to my place in silence with the radio playing low in the background and our windows down a crack. It wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable even though I had a handful of questions running through my mind that I wanted to ask. The way Cole gripped the steering wheel of his truck, his knuckles turning almost white, told me that he was working things out on his own, so I didn’t push him.

  He exhaled, reached for my hand, and gave me a squeeze. “Sorry. I was in my head there for a minute.”

  “I noticed.” I smiled. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. I just really don’t like Logan confronting you like that.”

  I knew what he meant. I hadn’t particularly liked it either.

  “It was weird,” I admitted.

  “Was that the first time he’s talked to you since we’ve been together?”

  Nodding, I said, “Yeah. I don’t even think I’ve seen him since that night at the party.”

  “You’ll let me know if he reaches out, won’t you?”

  “Of course,” I said, hoping to comfort him. “But he probably won’t.”

  Cole smiled, and it was downright devilish. “That’s too bad. I’d love a reason to kick his ass.”

  I laughed. “Then, you’d get kicked off the team.”

  “Worth it.”

  “It’s not,” I argued because I’d never forgive myself if Cole got kicked off the team for fighting because of me. “He’s not,” I emphasized.

  Once we
stopped completely at a red light, he turned to face me. “Then, he’d better not touch my girl. Or come anywhere near her. I’m done being patient with him, Christina. You’re where I draw the line.”

  “And he knows that. We can’t let him win.” I ran my fingers down the stubble on his cheek, and he grabbed my hand and starting planting kisses all over it.

  “The bad guys don’t win in our story. I’ll make sure of it,” he said, and I believed him.

  With every fiber of my being, I believed that Cole would make sure nothing and no one ever came between us. I smiled so big that it actually hurt my cheeks. I was the luckiest girl on the planet, and I knew it.

  Accidents Happen

  Cole

  I wanted to confront Logan in the locker room the next day, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep my temper in check, and I’d do something stupid. Like break his fucking jaw. So, as much as it pained me to let him walk around like he hadn’t talked to Christina and said some crazy shit to her, I kept my distance.

  It didn’t last long.

  Coach Jackson had us doing hitting and base-running drills when Logan came up to bat. I was already on second base after crushing a double against the wall. Logan swung and hit a nice hard ground ball between short and third, but our shortstop nabbed it. The catch was pretty spectacular, but the throw was wild.

  I watched as Mac maneuvered his body in the runner’s base path in order to catch the ball. Logan lowered his head and ran even faster as he tried to beat out the play. They were going to collide if Mac didn’t get out of the way. Mac scrambled to reach for the wild throw while he also twisted his body in an unnatural angle to avoid getting hit by Logan.

  I looked away for only a second, but when I looked back, Logan was on the ground, yelling at Mac as he pushed himself back onto his feet. I bolted in their direction along with my other teammates. A group of us crowded around them, making sure they didn’t come to blows.

  “You tripped on the bag,” Mac shouted as Logan lunged for him but failed, his ankle giving out underneath the weight of him.

  “Because you were blocking it. You did it on purpose. You want me hurt. Cole probably asked you to do it,” he accused as he searched me out, his eyes glaring. He didn’t have to look very far since I was standing right there, ready to defend Mac and anyone else he tried to physically attack.