Page 128 of Hot Streak

“Okay,” she said. “Send me the links.”

He did.

“Well, first off you want something a little distracting, right?”

“Different feeling, I think, is more what we’re going for. A very minor distraction. Just something at the edge of my mind to keep me from spiraling.”

“Oh, Connor.”

“Don’t start,” Connor warned her.

“You know we love you no matter what, yeah? Doesn’t matter what your ETA is.”

“ERA. ERA, baby sister,” he reminded her.

“Oh, yeah. Right. Well, if you don’t want to become a professional baseball player, you don’t have to, right? Dad would love it if you came home and worked with him at the dealership.”

He rolled his eyes. He did love baseball, but he couldn’t deny that part of his original motivation to play well enough to get drafted and then keep moving up was avoiding the dealership. Working there had always sounded like the seventh level of hell.

“I heard that,” she said.

“You did not.”

“Okay, so you want something comfortable enough, with some stretch, yeah?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Connor said. “Something not . . .not too distracting.”

“Alright. Not too distracting . . .hmmm. What about these?”

A screencap of a pair of lacy briefs in a bright pink color appeared on his phone.

“They’re good. Uh, that’s good. But the color—”

“Pink isn’t just for girls, Connor,” Maya reminded him.

“I know that, it’s just that I worry they’ll . . .show. I do wear tight white pants, remember.”

“Oh yeah. Well, good news for you, there’s a beige option. But there’s a few other pastels, too. You don’t want to miss out on looking pretty for your new boyfriend.”

“He’s not my . . .” Connor trailed off. What were they? Something, for sure. Maybe Jackson hadn’t come out and said it—but then that was just Jackson’s way, wasn’t it?—but he’d made it clear enough.

“Oh, he’s your boyfriend,” Maya said. “You want him to be anyway.”

“Yeah,” Connor admitted.

“Anyway, that’s probably my best guess. But there’s some others in a similar style and material, if these don’t stretch enough for you.”

“Thanks, Maya, seriously. I looked at this page and my brain blanked out.”

“’Cause of how much you wanna wear these for your boyfriend?” she asked jokingly.

“No,” Connor said. But he was thinking of it now, because how could he not?

And if he had to bet, he’d guess Jackson had, too.

“Sure,” Maya teased. “Well good luck. When are you starting next?”

“A few days. I can overnight these here, hopefully in time.”

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