Anything but Minor (20 page)

And blinked.

And blinked again.

My mouth moved before I had a chance to think it through.

“That really hurt.”

“And you have no idea how to play it cool.”

“That’s because I don’t pretend to be something I’m not, ever,” I snapped as I stood to search for my panties. “Not even for you. Though, I did do three hundred hours of research on the game of baseball to help with
your
game this season.”

“So now that we’re
fucking
, you get to dole out advice on my game.” He remained in bed, his eyes dull as if he were bored. He might as well have slapped me.

I blinked again as I pulled on the rest of my clothes.

“You don’t
f...fuck
me Rafe, and you know it.”

I walked into his living room and called an Uber. Four minutes.

“Three hundred hours?” he scoffed behind me as he leaned against the wall with a sheet gripped around him. He was livid and sexy as hell.

“Yes,” I answered as I slipped on my sandals.

“I’ve spent thousands! Oh, and I play the game for a living.”

“And you’re
still
in the minors, Rafe. You’ve got a slight reputation for being hot-tempered. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to listen to a
nerd
.” God, that word hurt.

“Touché. Do you always bite the heads off after you mate, Ms. Mantis?”

“I’m just being honest,” I declared with my hands on my hips. “I told you I was new to this!”

“Clearly, you’ve upped your game in the last few weeks.”

My phone buzzed in my hand, telling me my Uber was outside. Kristina had dropped me off at Rafe’s last night to throw him off that I was there and waiting for him. I was thankful I didn’t have to wait long to make my escape. “Good day, sir.”

“See, a total nerd.
No one
says that, Alice.”

“I just fucking did,” I spat as my voice shook with embarrassment and hurt. I couldn’t look at him. I was angry and tears threatened.

“Wait...did you just cuss?”

“Goodbye, Rafe.”

“Goodbye?” he parroted as he slammed his front door shut when I opened it. “No, Alice, that’s not the way this works.”

I turned to him with malice as he clutched his sheet loosely around his waist. I tugged at it hard, disrobing him, and as he bent down to retrieve it, I made my way out of the door and slipped into the sleek sedan. I rattled off my address and saw no sign of him in the drive.

Minutes later, a text from him came over. It was a picture of a praying mantis with no head. The tagline read “Was it good for you?”

When I didn’t respond, I got another.

Rafe: Too soon? It was a fight, Alice.

The next text came immediately after.

Rafe: At least let me know you got home safe.

Fifteen minutes later, I answered.

Alice: I’m home.

What the fuck just happened? Damn it, I couldn’t win with her! She’d called me out while my balls were still freshly unpacked, when I was my most vulnerable, naked and in bed with hopes of remaining that way until pre-game briefing. I was sure if she’d brought up my game any other time, my bite would have been much worse. Who in the hell did this woman think she was? And why couldn’t I stay pissed enough to push aside my want of her?

We had over a hundred games left in the season. I had to keep my game sharp, and she was in my head, under my skin, and I wanted more.

I wound up and fired the ball into Andy’s waiting glove.

“Too much, Rafe,” he barked as he punched his fist in the leather.

“Yeah, got it,” I nodded, more determined than ever to keep my shit in check.

I read the ball clock with my next pitch: ninety-seven. I winced as Andy cursed. We were just screwing around on the field as we waited for the others to arrive. I wound up again and followed his signal.

“One-oh-two, Rafe. What the fuck!”

With a groan, I hit the dugout. Andy was fast on my heels as I drained some Gatorade from the dispenser.

“What’s up with you, man?”

“I could ask you the same.” I looked at him skeptically as we watched the rest of the pitching roster cross the field and head toward the manager suite.

“I’ve got a lot of shit going on.”

“So do I,” I shot back. I looked at my best friend and saw a clear rip running through him. In the four years he’d been my catcher, we’d formed a no bullshit friendship. We’d started out in a league together in Savannah and had moved together since, me fresh out of junior college as a rookie and Andy, never getting the recognition he deserved, had remained stagnant until we did well together. We fed off of each other. My pitch got sharper, and his batting average improved, so we’d moved on, both hoping to be exactly where we were now in Double-A, back in Charleston, and ripe for the picking. Except now, I was ready for major ball, and Andy ready to hang up his glove. They could pick either of us up at any time, but Andy was satisfied with his career. He was happy with his bar and didn’t want to leave it. In the rare instance I’d found myself able to trust someone again after the fiasco with my father, Andy had been that someone. The distance he was putting between us was purposeful.

I spoke first. “This is on you, man, until you come clean.”

“I don’t like you very much right now,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Suit yourself,” I snapped as I crushed my paper cup and threw it in the trash can.

Andy called after me with contempt. “You’re going to go up in flames if you let her get into your head.”

“I can separate the game, both of them. I don’t need you harping on me like my old man did. I got rid of him, remember?” The threat was there as Andy took a step back and ran his hands through his hair. I took an aggressive step forward to defend the first piece of happiness I felt good about in far too long. “There’s not a goddamn thing wrong with wanting to be with a woman while you have a career in ball. She’s helping my game not hurting it. If I’m on fire, it’s
because
of her.”

“So you’re in love now, huh?” Andy said with a smug grin. It was the first time I wanted to wipe it off with my fists.

“I’m living my life. I’m a professional athlete, like you. If I fuck up, it’s
on me
. If I do well, that too is on me. If you really give two shits about me or my career, you’ll do the one thing nobody else in my fucking life has ever done and respect that. Respect me and my decisions.”

“Fine, you’re right. I’m out,” Andy said, making his way back to the locker room.

“Just like that, huh? We have briefing, Andy,” I barked after him.

“
You
have briefing, hot shot. I have a fucking business to run.”

I threw my glove at his back and just as quickly he flew at me. I took his lick and barely remained on my feet. Lip bleeding, I looked at my best friend, my fists curled at my sides.

Andy eyed my lip with regret. I could take a punch way more than I could handle his next words. “She loves you, man. She’s
in love
with you. Of all the fucking men in the world to compete with, Kristina loves
you
.”

I felt the weight of the world land on my shoulders at that moment. I thought of Alice and how it would kill me if she’d fallen for Andy and never looked my way. I took a step forward. “I’ve never laid a hand on her, man, and I never will.”

“Do you think that matters?”

It didn’t, and I knew the truth of it in that moment. “I won’t come to the bar again. I’ll stay away.”

“You think
I
want that?”

A few moments of silence followed as I stared at Andy and knew it was ruining him.

“I don’t know how to navigate this play, Andy.
You
are my wingman. She’s a friend, sure, but it’s never been deep.”

We both stayed silent for another minute until Andy spoke up. “And Alice?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Deep.”

Andy surprised me with a smug smile. “I called that one.”

“Yeah, you did, and I’m thankful you checked me on that, but this...” I scrubbed my hands down my face as management barked our names behind us. “I don’t want to lose your friendship, man.”

I’d surprised both of us with my honesty. I wasn’t one to spit it out so easily. It was a growing change in me. It was a change Alice brought out in me.

“Good for you,” Andy said, trying his best to hide the bitterness in his voice.

“All right, so you coming?” I asked, my lip throbbing. The son of a bitch could throw a punch.

“Nah, I need to get my head straight.”

I nodded and turned to go to the meeting.

“Just give me some time, Rafe.” I paused briefly then nodded again as I made the walk down the hall.

Jon looked behind me as I closed the door and made a quick excuse for Andy. “Emergency.”

He nodded but not before he noticed my lip. He knew better, but ball was business, and he got back to it.

An hour after our meeting wrapped, I got a text from Kristina. I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to engage at all. This was one fucked up position to be in. I mean, sure, we had a friendship, and I coached her kid’s little league team, but our relationship had never been intimate. I’d never saw her that way, especially after Andy had shown interest.

Kristina: Alice is stranded on 526. Her car broke down. She texted me, but I’m already at the bar for a shift. Can you go?

Rafe: What exit?

Kristina: Just past the airport.

Rafe: I’m on it. Thanks.

I paused with my fingers over the text. I thought of all Kristina’s and my interactions over the years and couldn’t find anything to indicate anything other than friendship than a lingering kiss on New Year’s Eve last year. I thought maybe it was just the alcohol or my imagination. Kristina knew me and well. I suddenly felt the guilt of pulling her into my wager with Alice and kissing her at the bar like I had that day. Though I had none of
those
feelings for Kristina whatsoever, I knew that had to have been hard for her if she had them for me. Even if she’d said a word, I wouldn’t have pursued her, and she knew it. That’s probably why she kept silent.

The girl I couldn’t keep in my bed was stranded on a busy highway and was all that I wanted to concentrate on. I pulled up fifteen minutes later, thanking Christ it wasn’t rush hour. It was the difference between minutes and hours. Alice had her hood popped and was waist deep in the engine of her Prius.

“What the hell are you doing?”

She froze, and I heard her mutter “Oh great” as she kept busy with her inspection. Jesus, she was a tiny woman who packed one hell of a little body. She was dressed in slacks and heels, and that’s all I could see as she buried her head in the engine of her clown car.

“Give me your phone. Turn on the flashlight, please,” she held out her hand, and I gave it to her as I studied her sweet ass bent over the hood.

“If you’re going to just stand there and stare at my butt, you really aren’t of use here.”

“You called for help.”

“I called Kristina for a ride and company while I waited on a tow.”

“I’m of use,” I said as I moved her seat back and sat in her tiny car. “My little nerd’s car.”

“I heard that.”

“Good.”

“Rafe...just go away.” I looked around her cabin and picked up her phone. I turned up the volume and listened for a few moments to her John Hughes Flicks playlist.

“You really are stuck in the ‘80s.”

“Indefinitely, now eff off before I bite your head off again.”

“You have to mate with me first. Those are the rules, and it was a fight, Alice,” I called out as traffic buzzed by.

“Rafe, I have a degree in aeronautics. I’ll figure out what’s wrong and fix it. You can go.”

“Planes aren’t cars, baby, and if that were the case, you would have it figured out by now.”

“Don’t call me, baby!”

I turned her key and grinned from ear to ear in silent knowledge and then made my way toward her, deciding it was too dangerous to continue to argue on the highway.

She pulled her tiny body from under the hood to peer up at me. Her beautiful, brown eyes trimmed in dark black lashes would be my undoing. Her golden, honey colored hair slipped from a loose bun, and she had a grease smear on her nose. No woman had ever looked so beautiful and so pissed off.