Throwing Love #4 (Throwing Love #4)

TROWING
LOVE #4

By Nella
Tyler

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Nella Tyler

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Click here to read Throwing Love #3

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Chapter One

I quickly headed back to my apartment, my driving a clear
indication of my mood for the day. I was still furious at Bennett for lying to
me and I couldn't imagine why he had. After everything we had been through, why
couldn't he just be honest with me? I had gone through situations in the past
with guys who would rather lie to me than just be honest. It was a frustrating
place to be in because after awhile, you wondered if you could believe anything
that came out of your boyfriend’s mouth. I didn't want to be in another
situation like that, I would much rather find a man who knew that honestly was
a key ingredient to having a healthy relationship.

I knew deep down that Bennett wasn't a bad guy and that
maybe it did have a lot to do with pride like Connie said, but at the end of
the day, I would not settle for a man that lied to me. So he would need to get
his act together or things just weren't going to work out between us. All I
could think about was getting back to my apartment as soon as possible. I didn't
know what my father’s agenda was during his visit, but I assumed he would be
trying to touch base with me sooner rather than later and the last thing I
wanted was for him to suspect that I was with Bennett during his little visit.

I arrived back to my apartment without issue. I had expected
my father to
call
me by
now, but apparently getting in touch with me was not one of his priorities on
his trip. It was pretty odd, considering my father and I always tried to get
together to have dinner while he was in town. He didn't make very frequent
trips, so it was nice to see him when he did.

My father wasn't at the apartment when I arrived, and I was
relieved to find that he hadn't sought me out there. I didn't think that he
would show up at my school looking for me since he had no idea what time my
classes were, so I would have to wait for that phone call.

I didn't want to return to school only to have to explain to
him where I had been. I would rather him find me at my home instead of anywhere
else, it was just easier that way. It was those kinds of awkward conversations
that were made difficult with a father/daughter bond. My father, for the most
part, was good about staying out of my business, but who knows what he was up
to during this visit.
 

Most importantly, I didn't want him to ask about Bennett or
whether or not I was still involved with him. He was already angry enough
with
Bennett. I was sure that at that point he knew we were still together. He could
have easily heard it through the sporting
grapevine;
it certainly wouldn't be hard to figure
out. But explaining things to him would be difficult since I hadn't exactly
told him that I had continued the relationship after our first few dates. I
hadn't really talked to my father at all in regards to Bennett, so I wasn't
really sure what he did know about our relationship – if anything. I
would rather leave it at that until it was necessary to have a conversation
with him about us.

I decided to make myself breakfast and a cup of coffee to
get my day started. I loved
coffee,
as it
was what got me through the day, especially a day as stressful as this one. I
had expected to get a text message from Bennett at some point, but as the day
progressed, I still hadn't heard from him. Considering his lie, the fact that I
still hadn't heard from him caused me no small amount of irritation and ruined
the rest of the day for me. Seriously, what was wrong with him? Did he not
realize that holding onto things like that was going to be our undoing? It was
a mystery to me how bad some men could be at communication. It was actually
pretty frightening.

I
needed
to rally in my best friend to get some advice.

Connie ended up coming over after her classes were done for
the day; she really didn't have a choice after I had sent her ten frantic text
messages begging her to come over. I could always count on her to give me a different
perspective on a situation, so I knew one way or another, she would lead me in
the right direction when it came to Bennett. He had won her over the last time
we had hung out, but there was a good chance that he would lose her support
after our conversation. She had a far lesser tolerance for bullshit in
relationships than I did. She was usually the one that bailed on a boyfriend
first because she had exceedingly high standards. Not that I didn't, but in
this particular situation, I was wondering if I was waiting too long to end
something that just wasn't right to begin with. But that was what Connie was
for, to hopefully shed some light on a very dark situation.

She came in carrying a bottle of wine and that alone put a
smile on my face. “Okay, let’s hear it. What did he do now?” She was smiling
when she said it, which sort of helped.

I laughed. “Oh wait until you hear this one.” I was really
laughing to avoid exploding out in rage, but laughter was supposed to be the
best medicine, after all.

I grabbed some wine glasses as Connie settled on the couch.
I joined her and watched as she poured us both some wine. “If we have to, we
can order pizza soon, too. I'm starving.”

“Sounds good to me, the meatier the better,” I said.

“So, what's up? What happened to the happy couple? Because I
thought you guys had finally arrived in bliss town.”

“You would think it could last more than a week, but I'm
starting to wonder if that is possible,” I groaned. “Well, my dad's in town.”

“What? What does that have to do with Bennett?”

“Oh, you have no idea. The saddest part is that I had no
idea he was in town. He still hasn't called me to tell me, so I don't know
what's going on with him at all. He never comes to town without calling me. The
only reason I knew that he was here was because he showed up to Bennett's place
this morning while I was there.”

Connie's eyes grew wide. “Oh no.”

“Oh yes. Thankfully, he has no idea I was there, but I
thought it was pretty crazy that he went there in the first place. The truth
is, Connie, I haven't been completely honest with you lately about my
relationship with Bennett.”

Connie suddenly looked sad and I felt bad all over again for
not being open with her about what was going on in my life. I should have been
upfront with her from the beginning,
and then
maybe I wouldn't be in the mess that I am
now. She could have advised me on what the best course of action would be. I
knew Bennett was doing something wrong, and the fact that I didn't want to tell
Connie about it should have been proof enough for me.

I quickly explained to her what had been going on for the
past few weeks in regards to Bennett and his missed practices. She shook her
head repeatedly as I told her that Bennett had missed so many practices just to
spend time with me. Seeing the look on her face and listening to myself say the
words out loud made me feel that much more stupid. Of course, it had been a
crazy situation and I should have put an end to it long before my father showed
up at Bennett's house. Instead, I had been selfish and took advantage of the
fact that Bennett wanted to spend so much time with me.

“Oh God, Emmi, how could you let that go on for so long? I
don't know much about baseball, but even I think he was crazy to miss
practices. He shouldn't have even missed one, never mind four
– that’s
madness. What was he thinking?”

“I know. I know. I told him exactly that, but he wasn't
listening to me. Regardless of the fact that I know baseball, the guy rarely
listens to me. He thinks he knows what is best, and I thought he had a handle
on it. Then it got to the point where I just gave up and spending time with him
was wonderful. I took advantage of the fact that he is so talented, and I
thought that he would be okay. But even I know that's a foolish way of thinking,
the most talented major league players never miss practices unless they have a
really good reason. I'm an idiot.”

Connie laughed, “You're not an idiot. You were
happy;
you
can't blame yourself for that. Besides, Bennett is a big boy, he should have
known better. Did he really expect a manager to snap him up with that behavior?
It's just ridiculous for him to have done something like that.”

“Well, that's what brings me to today.”

“Seriously? It's connected? That can't be good.”

“Nope. So Bennett and I are finishing up some serious sexy
time when there's a knock on the door.”

Connie is smiling as I tell her the story. “It's not just
regular knocking, either. Someone is practically trying to punch down the door.
So Bennett goes to answer it, and here is the weird thing, he tells me to stay
put.”

Connie frowned. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe he had a feeling about who
it was at the door and didn't want me involved. Anyways, I stay in his bedroom
while he goes out. But I cracked open the door just a little so that I could
hear what was going on.”

“Good girl,” Connie says while laughing.

“So, Bennett opens the door and in walks my dad with
Bennett’s
coach
following right behind him.”

“Oh my God, no! What was your dad doing there in the first
place?”

“Well, I guess my dad's in town to watch Bennett's game.
Maybe he's seriously considering signing him up now. Either way, I don't know
because I haven't talked to him yet.” I threw my hands up in the air in
exasperation. “I guess my dad randomly went to Bennett's practice yesterday to
watch him and found out he wasn't there. What made matters worse is he went to
talk to his coach and found out that he had missed the past four practices. He
was steaming mad when he showed up at Bennett's place today. He practically
yelled at Bennett the whole time about his priorities and telling him his
talent meant nothing.”

Connie roared with laughter. “Oh my God, you must have
wanted to die. How did Bennett take it?”

“Pretty well, considering, but what's he going to do? He has
his idol standing before him telling him that he's a moron. He can't exactly
argue the point. Anyways, Bennett gave him some BS excuse about why he missed
and said it would never happen again.”

“Wow. That's intense.”

“Yeah, the best part was when my dad was leaving, he told
Bennett not to worry about girls. That there were plenty in the big leagues
when he got there.”

Connie's mouth dropped open before she started laughing
again. “He didn't? Oh your dad is a keeper, for sure. He says the most priceless
things.”

“Tell me about it. Wait until he finds out I have been the
'girl' this whole time. I almost wanted to walk out there and shame him on the
spot, but I was afraid of getting hit with crossfire.”

“Oh, what are you going to do?”

“I have no idea but that's the least of my worries,” I said
with a laugh.

“There's more?”

“Oh, I haven’t even got to the bad news yet. So, my dad
leaves and Bennett comes back in the room. He has no idea I've been listening
the entire time. I ask him what my father wanted, and he says that my dad was
just checking in with him and wanted to see how he was doing.”