Page 60 of Unleashed

Still grinning, I check my watch and cross my arms. “Your sister wants me to take half the blame. I didn’t walk away. Can we please get back to practice?”

Wilder scowls at his sister. “I don’t even want to be around your father.” Looking over his shoulder at Tesco, Wilder holds his breath and contemplates what to say next.

“Come on, Wilder. Could you lower your expectations a tad? The ink isn’t even dry.” I glance at Simone’s profile and see a flash of remorse. Maybe? Probably not.

She mutters, “Let’s get this shit over with.”

“Fine by me,” I concur and sigh heavily as I walk away.

As I return to the mound, Hadley sidesteps closer, asking, “Why can’t you help her? If the whole thing was only a ruse, it shouldn’t be a big deal to safeguard her tuition. Right?” Her arched eyebrow and the lilt of her question annoy me. I can’t admit the truth aloud because it’s fucking agonizing.

Returning to home plate, Simone talks to Vaughn before settling into a batting stance, bouncing her ass. Intentional or not, she’s playing to my weakness, and I imagine her pussy polishing my dick. Fuck, I need that. In return, I prey upon her weakness: batting outside the box.

Since I’ve studied softball pitches, I roll out a screwball and drop curve hybrid pitch to give me an edge.

As if she has a prayer of hitting it, Simone swings but only chips the ball, and it lands with a thud in front of her. Son of a bitch, it worked. She gawks at the ball and then glares at me. “What the hell was that?”

I shrug as Amos sweeps in front of Simone to pick up the ball and throw it back to me. “A limp-dick punt?”

Off to the side, Wilder clears his throat a tad louder than etiquette dictates. Prude. Unable to help myself, I pitch a plain screwball, and she swings too late. I feel her fury from here and laugh before I can stop myself. Simone growls and throws the bat, slamming it against the fence. The bat scrapes the protective cage behind home plate, rattling the chain link. Amos stands and pushes up his helmet.

“Simone!” Wilder yells. Uh-oh. She may have just blown our trip all by herself.

Wilder walks over to his sister and scolds her. At center field, Betsy whines, “What is her problem? She’s such a spoiled little bitch.”

Since I have no filter today or rational reasoning, I don’t consider consequences or my audience before walking between Val and Hadley. Within strangling distance, I snap, “Sit and spin, Litman. We all know that’s what you do when you think no one hears you at the office. So, pardon me if anyone gives the tiniest damn about an unqualified, vibrating opinion from you.”

The blood drains from Betsy’s already pale face. Val grabs my arm and whispers, “Greg, go back to the mound. Don’t say another word.”

I go but hear frantic whispers from Hadley to Val and Betsy spewing about how no one cares about me, and I’ll live alone forever. Like, I don’t already know this shit.

Forget about this season. Damn it. I need fast sex, a stiff drink, and/or a massive head wound to make it through this day.

Chapter 9

Simone

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