Page 54 of Unleashed

Chapter 8

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“WELCOME BACK, STRANGER! Boy, we’ve missed you!” Val hugs Vaughn like he slayed mediocrity. Amos squeezes Val, and I swear to God, if he breaks her in half, I’ll break the fucker’s will to live. When they separate, Vaughn looks at me and grins. I adjust my Legal Eagles hat and pick up my glove from the bench. Maybe if I act like I didn’t see him, he’ll go away.

“Greg!”

Son of a fuck.

Thankfully, I’m not driving the welcome wagon. “You said you weren’t coming back until tomorrow.”

His cheeks puff with his smile. “My mother is doing much better.”

I shake my head with a smartass smirk. “She kicked you out, didn’t she?”

He laughs, and I wonder if his mother is a female version of him or if she’s like Grandma Rodwell, who enjoyed gambling, smoking, and using profanity as her first language. Maybe to spite my mother for hating my grandmother’s influence, Grams taught me how to deliver a brutal smackdown with choice words, win or lose. I just hated the endless smoking. Damn, though. I miss that slick bitch.

Vaughn looks over at the field and toward the bleachers. When he checks out the street, I ask, “Problem?”

He eyes me like I’m Mr. Green, holding the candlestick in the kitchen. No, I’m just Mr. Rodwell at the softball field with a bat. “I take it you...have some issues...to discuss with me?”

I don’t even care who’s listening. “Yeah. What the hell were you thinking?”

He sighs with a prissy nod. “You weren’t supposed to run into each other as long as I was there. I wasn’t trying to arrange an impromptu rendezvous between you.”

“You sound like Cogsworth. Cut it out.”

“Duplicity wasn’t my intention, Greg.”

Before I can argue, goosebumps crawl up my arms and down my spine. I turn and notice Hadley walking toward the field with Wilder. However, he focuses on his other side, where Simone rolls her eyes as Wilder appears to scold her. With low pigtails, a crop top, and low-slung sweatpants that show off her glittering belly ring, my dick is a traitorous fan.

Amos mutters, “No, she doesn’t affect you.”

I tear my eyes from Simone and would choke Vaughn if life in prison wasn’t up for grabs. “Get bent, Vaughn.”

“Hi, Rod,” Hadley says, walking over to us. “Amos! Welcome back!” She hugs him, and I make a face at Vaughn. He wasn’t gone long enough.

“How’s your mother?” Hadley asks as I watch Simone still arguing with her brother.

Allowing Amos to finish his mother’s status report to Hadley, I ask, “What’s going on with Wilder?”

Hadley sighs. “He banned Simone’s boyfriend from watching us practice.”

I sneer, “Which one?”

Amos almost registers surprise. “There’s more than one?”

“I don’t doubt that there’s over two.” I watch Simone get in Wilder’s face, but he remains stoic as he listens to her tantrum. “Why did he do that?”

Hadley squeezes her glove together as she looks over at them with me. “He’s too distracting. Finn knows seeing another man with Simone bothers you, and he doesn’t want more fighting. He’s doing it for the team’s sake, really.” I’m fucking impressed and surprised as all hell. And that’s saying a lot compared to my usual opinion of Finn Wilder.

Amos nods. “That’s considerate of Finn. Don’t you think, Greg?”

I cock an eyebrow at him for even asking. “Whatever,” but silently, I thank Wilder for taking my side for once. What a fucking miracle.

Craning his pudgy neck, Amos studies everyone like he’s at a mixer for hopeless gnomes. “I see almost everyone is wearing their team caps.”

Hadley giggles with a nod. “My husband’s suggestion.”

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