Rivals (2010) (11 page)

“RELAX, YOU’RE FINE,” MYRON
said, easing back into the limo’s seat and lighting a cigarette. “Don’t pee your pants.”

“My friend,” Josh said. He sat on the bench seat sideways, and as the car pulled away he saw Benji burst out from the ice-cream shop with his new cone held high above his head like some kind of gold medal.

“The fat kid?” Myron asked, raising an eyebrow and motioning with his thumb. “He’ll be fine too. That ice cream will keep his mouth busy for a minute or two. You and I need to talk, though.”

“You’re kidnapping me,” Josh said. Sweat broke out under his arms.

“Don’t be a punk,” Myron said with a growl, blowing a cloud of menthol smoke his way. “We’re not even
having this conversation.”

Josh coughed.

“You think you saw something today?” Myron asked, smoke curling up from his nostrils. “You think you’re going to mess with the outcome of this tournament? Try to sling some mud at one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived? Ha!”

Myron leaned forward with the cigarette dangling from his lower lip. “That’s not how it works. We’ll bury you and your old man so fast you’ll think you’re a tulip bulb. Do you know what those reporters would do to get an exclusive sit-down with Mickey Mullen on the set of his next movie? Mickey Mullen has the media eating out of his hand. We own the media. And if we ask, they’ll paint a picture of you and your dad that’ll make a cow patty look pretty.”

“My dad’s a good coach,” Josh said. “He was a first-round pick out of high school.”

Myron removed the cigarette from his mouth and flicked the ashes on the floor. He smiled from ear to ear and said, “You mean that old washed-up minor leaguer who tried to pump his kid full of steroids, then sold out his business partner to the cops so he could slip into his own deal with Nike? That dad?

“It’s all how you look at it, see?”

Josh felt his face bunch up. Myron enraged him, but he also made him afraid. He wanted to punch him, but something so clearly sinister about the apelike man let
Josh know that he wouldn’t last two seconds.

“You really want to win this tournament by cheating?” Josh asked.

Myron raised both eyebrows. “What’s the difference how we win it? We’ll win it. That’s a story. That’s life. The strong survive, kid. You think you’re stronger than me? You think you can outsmart, out-hustle, or out-fight me? Make a move.”

Myron stared at him with his beetle-black eyes until Josh dropped his head.

“Pull over,” Myron said, pushing a button and talking into a speaker that Josh knew must go to the driver up front behind his partition of glass.

The car pulled over to the curb. They’d only gone two and a half blocks.

“Get out,” Myron said, flinging open the door. “You don’t say a word about any of this to anyone. You don’t even let me catch you even looking at Mickey or his son cross-eyed or the only thing you and your dad will have going with Nike is the pair of used sneakers they give you at the rescue mission when you’re living on the street. You better leave the girl alone, too, while you’re at it.”

Josh climbed out and stood on the curb. A shiver went down his spine as the long, dark car rounded the corner. When he got back to the ice-cream shop, Benji was gone. Josh peered around the corner and saw no sign of Jaden and Mickey on the bench, either, so he made his way back to the shuttle stop. As he turned the
corner, he saw the powder blue bus just pulling away in a heavy gray cloud of diesel. He ran to catch it, but its gears roared and clanked, and Josh could just imagine the grumpy lady in her Red Sox cap sneering at him in the rearview mirror.

“Shoot,” Josh said, knowing it would be another hour before he could get a ride back. He stuck his hands in his pockets and made his way to Pioneer Alley, where he poked around in the souvenir shops until it was time to catch the next bus.

The round, grumpy lady cackled at him softly as he stepped onto the bus along with a small crowd of people from the camp, some with the Titans, some not. Josh took a seat in the back corner, not interested in having a conversation and only able to think about the bad things he’d like to do to Jaden, knowing it was she who had said something in front of Myron. When he got back to the Beaver Valley Campsite, he found his parents down at the edge of the pond. His dad lay back on a blanket, coated in suntan lotion and filling out the lineup card for their next game, while Laurel splashed her feet in the water under the protective wing of his mom.

“Benji’s looking for you,” his mom said. “I told him to check the cabin. Is something wrong? You look upset.”

“I missed the dang shuttle bus and had to wait around an hour for it,” Josh said. “That’s all.”

“We’ll be eating in about forty-five minutes,” his father said without looking up from his coaching book.
“Then we got batting practice to get ready for tomorrow. I know you guys are thinking about the Comets, but we’ve got to beat the Toronto Eagles and this Corcoran kid, then two other good teams, or we won’t even get to the Comets. We’ll do a team campfire after practice. Should be fun.”

Inside the cabin, Benji sat on the couch, munching on a bag of BBQ Fritos and staring at the wall in a daze.

“Hey,” Benji said, looking up at him. “I don’t know how the pioneers ever lived without TV. This place is boring me to tears. Where you been? I came out of Esposito’s and all I see is melted ice cream.”

“Have you seen Jaden?” Josh asked, scowling.

“Just when you did,” Benji said, offering him the bag of Fritos.

Josh ignored the bag and turned to go.

“Dude,” Benji said, catching up with him on the grass and hustling alongside as Josh strode down the line of cabins, “what’s up with you?”

“She’s a traitor,” Josh said.

“You can do better than her anyway,” Benji said. “Remember Sheila Conway? The blonde with the older boyfriend who loved you? That’s more your speed. You’re the man, Josh. You don’t need Jaden Neidermeyer. So, where are you going?”

“To her cabin,” Josh said. “If she’s even there.”

“I bet she is,” Benji said. “I saw that white limo pull
up when I was looking for you. She got out and that Mickey the mullet head, maggot-face Mullen was, like, kissing her good-bye.”

Josh stopped to look at Benji and said, “She
kissed
him?”

“WELL,” BENJI SAID, HOLDING
up his hands, “not exactly, but it was like that. I said to myself, I said, ‘Dude, she is so going to kiss him.’”

“But, she didn’t.”

“No, but that’s next, I’m telling you,” Benji said, making kissing noises. “You don’t look at each other standing there like that all smiling and everything when some serious kissing isn’t just around the next bend. Trust me. I know about these things.”

“How do you know?” Josh asked.

“Genetics,” Benji said with a simple shrug. “I was built for this kind of stuff.”

“Now I’ve heard everything,” Josh said, heading for Jaden’s cabin again.

“Yep,” Benji said. “Ladies and home runs.”

Josh kept going.

“What happened to you, anyway?” Benji asked, catching up. “You still didn’t tell me.”

“I was…” Josh said as the image of Myron’s dark, shifty eyes lurking beneath their thick brows filled his brain. He could practically feel the man’s iron grip. “I saw someone from behind, limping down the street. I thought it was that ump and I followed him.”

“Did you see anything?” Benji asked.

“No,” Josh said. “Wrong guy. And I can’t believe you just left.”

“I looked all over,” Benji said. “Jaden and Mullet Head were gone, so I thought maybe you went with them or something. I didn’t know. You didn’t say anything. What was I supposed to do?”

“Nothing,” Josh said. The two of them reached the tiny cabin belonging to Jaden and her father.

Josh put his hand on the railing and climbed the steps while Benji hung back. The cabin had a screen door and Josh could see right in. Dr. Neidermeyer was sitting at the small table working at his computer. When Josh knocked, Dr. Neidermeyer removed the small, round glasses from his face and rubbed his nose, telling him to come in.

“That’s okay, Dr. Neidermeyer,” Josh said. “I don’t want to disturb you. I’m just looking for Jaden.”

“Come in for a minute, will you, Josh?” Dr. Neidermeyer said. “I’d like to talk to you.”

Josh looked back down the stairs just in time to see Benji ducking behind the side of the cabin. He shook his head and pushed open the creaky screen door.

“Soda?” Dr. Neidermeyer asked, pointing to a cooler on the floor.

“I’m okay, Dr. Neidermeyer,” Josh said.

“Sit. Please.”

Josh sat down and looked at his sneakers.

“Josh, I don’t want to be that dad that gets involved in everything his daughter is doing,” Dr. Neidermeyer said, “but Jaden’s all I really have, and without her mom, well, I guess I worry for two parents. I know how much she likes you and, well, I hate to put you in a bad spot, but something’s wrong with her and for the first time in her life, she won’t talk to me about it. I know you two have been through a lot together, with that Rocky Valentine thing and the steroids and all, and I know there’s no one in the world she cares about more than you. There isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for you. So, I’m sorry, but can you tell me what’s going on?”

“Why do you say something is wrong?” Josh asked.

“Because when I asked her,” Dr. Neidermeyer said, “she ran out of here crying. I went looking for her, to make sure she was okay, and I saw her on the walking trail down by the stream, just sitting there on a rock, looking into the water. I thought it was best to let her be for now. I came back to try and do some work, but all
I’m really thinking about is her. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Josh looked up at the doctor’s pleasant face. He was a thin man with straight dark hair that hung in a small mess. The only physical quality he and Jaden seemed to share was their gold-flecked green eyes. Josh had never seen him look so sad.

“I think I should talk to her to make sure myself,” Josh said. “That’s kind of why I came.”

Dr. Neidermeyer studied him for a moment before nodding and saying, “If you follow those red markers through the woods, it’ll take you right to her.”

Josh thanked him and trod down the steps. He was halfway to the woods when Benji caught up to him.

“Dude, what happened?” Benji asked. “Does he know she’s hooked up with Maggot Head? Where is she?”

“Let me go find Jaden by myself,” Josh said. “I’ll meet you back at the cabin for dinner.”

Benji took hold of Josh’s arm and said, “You gotta promise me one thing, Josh. I’ll go, but you gotta be strong. You gotta put Jaden in her place, at the back of the line. You can’t let her smile at you like she can do and you melt like popcorn butter. You gotta be firm and tell her the deal, how she betrayed her friends for some California mope. With his tan and his girly looks and all his money and private jets and mansions and all that crap. That doesn’t go with us Syracuse boys.
We’re straight up. That’s what you gotta tell her.”

“And I will,” Josh said, pointing back toward the cabins. “But alone. I’ve got to do it alone, Benji.”

“’Cause you just said she was a traitor but now you look kind of mushy,” Benji said.

“Trust me.”

“I just care about you, man,” Benji said, nodding wisely. “I know it’s tough. I know all about girls and what they can do to you, get you in their spell and all that, but if you can break free, it’ll be better in the long run. You’re the man, Josh. You deserve someone who’d walk on water for you.”

“You mean walk through fire?” Josh said.

Benji looked at him with serious eyes and said, “That too, brother. I mean both.”

Benji held up his hand, Josh slapped him five, they clasped hands, and Benji pulled him into a hug before breaking away and disappearing back down the path.

Josh turned and followed the trail. The trees soon thinned, and he saw the rocky stream. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, and the gurgling water calmed his nerves. Jaden sat with her back to him atop a giant boulder, staring at her reflection in a flat pool of water.

Josh walked up to her and cleared his throat.

Jaden jumped and spun, slipping from the rock and stumbling into the shallow pool of water, shattering
its still surface. Her expression changed from shock to anger before crumbling into a tortured sob.

“Josh,” she said, leaning toward him, “I did something horrible.”

JADEN HUGGED HIM, AND
Josh kept his hands stiff to his sides. She was crying.

“You told Mickey Junior what I saw right in front of Myron,” Josh said quietly.

She nodded her head against his shoulder.

“I know,” Josh said. “He paid me a visit.”

Jaden separated from him, holding his elbows. “Are you okay?”

“For now,” Josh said, shrugging. “He basically told me to keep out of it or I’d be sorry.”

“He threatened you?”

“He said the whole thing never happened,” Josh said. “He said if I made any noise, the media would do a big story on my dad and make him look really bad. He said Nike would never get near him again and that we’d be living on the street.”

Jaden groaned. “I was so stupid. I thought Myron would just laugh and say how crazy it was, but instead he got this insane look on his face and I
knew
. When I said something to Mickey Junior, he just laughed it off and said something about his dad being a little too competitive sometimes. I’m sorry, Josh. I’m so sorry.”

Josh shrugged.

“You’re mad,” she said, turning away. “I know.”

“I was mad,” Josh said. “But if you’re sorry, then I can’t stay mad.”

She turned back to him, glowing. “I appreciate that.”

“Yeah,” Josh said softly. “That’s okay.”

He took a deep breath, smelling the warm scent of bark and pine needles and feeling things between them shift back to the old way.

Finally he said, “I still feel all twisted up inside, though. I can’t believe they’re going to win this tournament by paying off the umpires. That is so bad. I was hoping we could win this thing. Nike told my dad he’d get a five-year contract if we did.”

“What are you going to do?” Jaden asked.

Josh shrugged and said, “Just play and hopefully make it to the championship and then they’ll roll over us. Like Myron said to me, that’s not how it works.”

“Because you don’t want Myron coming after you,” Jaden said.

“Honestly? That guy is scary,” Josh said. “Even if I could prove it, which I don’t see how I can, there’s no
way I’m going to have him coming after me for telling people about them cheating.”

“But you don’t have to tell people,” Jaden said.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“It’s bad enough they’re doing this,” Jaden said, “but it’s a hundred times worse if I’m the one who helped them, even if it wasn’t on purpose. You don’t have to be the one to tell everyone and ruin their plan.

“I will.”