Page 139 of Hot Streak

“Thought you’d look a hell of a lot happier,” TJ said as he walked into the clubhouse, directing his comment towards Jackson.

Jackson made a face. Did everyone know he was pouting? That was embarrassing. But it would be worse if they all knew why.

Connor wore these fucking lace panties last night for his start that got me hot as hell just thinking about them, and I thought we’d share an epic phone sex orgasm, except he ditched me for his teammates.

“Why would I?” Jackson challenged.

“Well, first off, you’re only a few dingers away from the record.” Jackson nodded in acknowledgment. He was happy about that. Less happy—though he kept telling himself it did not matter—that he’d end up breaking it without Connor here. “Second off, didn’t you hear the good news?”

“Good news?” Jackson questioned.

“Tommy Jane came off the disabled list. You know what that probably means,” TJ said.

Jackson knew Jane’s stint on the DL had made room for Connor in the rotation, but with the playoffs looming—and the expanded roster major league teams were allowed during that time—there was no way Connor was going anywhere. Especially not with how he’d pitched last night.

No, he was going to have to wait a few weeks longer to see him. If he was lucky. And, if Connor even wanted to see him anymore.

“Don’t give the man false hope,” Deke said casually.

It occurred to Jackson, as he watched them talk about him and Connor, that maybe they hadn’t been nearly as circumspect as they’d hoped. Maybe more than just Deke had figured out their secret.

“Yeah, that’s just cruel,” Kevin agreed. “You see Connor’s pitching line last night? He was legit on fire. They’re not gonna let him go after that.”

“I don’t know, it could happen,” TJ said. “And if it did, we could use the extra pitching, to make the playoffs, too.”

“Like the major league club gives a shit about us making the playoffs,” Ro muttered under his breath.

It was true. They were only a game or two out of the playoffs, and while it didn’t mean anything in the scheme of things to head to the playoffs, it would be nice.

Especially since the longer this season dragged on, the more Jackson realized it was probably going to be his last.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to go out after not only setting the record, a personal achievement, but helping the Rogues to a title—even a minor league title?

Maybe he’d never wanted to be traded here, but now, a few months in, he loved these guys. He wanted the best for them, and a great run in the playoffs wouldn’t hurt any of their chances.

“I want to talk about something that is a sure thing,” Jackson said, raising voice. “Like this team, and how close we are to proving everyone wrong. They thought that skid we had in August would finish us off. But it didn’t.”

“Nope,” Deke agreed, a smile emerging.

“We got this, and I wanna see us all focused and motivated for these next few games,” Jackson said.

He looked around the clubhouse and saw everyone nodding in agreement.

When he’d first gotten here, he hadn’t wanted to overstep, to take over a clubhouse that already had a leader. But while Deke was the de facto leader, he was really too quiet, too introspective, to be the kind of leader this clubhouse needed.

It had felt natural to step up, the way these guys—and Connor, too—had needed.

He didn’t want to let them down now, no matter how torn up he was about Connor.

They deserved his best, and he was gonna give it to them. Once he’d told Connor there were no leaders in the minors, but in this case, he was happy to be wrong.

He’d already begun to see it, begun to change his mind, that night they’d created the rainout and the way this team had come together, during the home stretch, had proved that a team was what you made of it.

“You got our backs, and we got yours,” Deke said, patting him on it.

“Damn right,” Jackson agreed.

He managed to push his discontent with last night away during batting practice, and through the game, even. But when the game ended, and he checked his phone in the clubhouse and realized that Connor hadn’t texted him the way he’d promised he would, after blowing him off last night, his dark mood crashed back down on him.

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