Page 5 of Walk Off

After a couple of years of whoring around, he ended up meeting a nice girl who made him laugh and burned up the sheets with him. For almost a year, he was happy, never once thinking of Celia, even when he closed his eyes. That all went to hell when Rachel decided she was sick of playing second fiddle to baseball. She wanted him home more and hated that he was always traveling or working out.

They fought for weeks until he’d finally had enough and had broken up with her.

That's when his dreams of Celia started again.

She was in his head and his damn heart and nothing short of death would get rid of her.

It was about a year later when he’d read about Ruby and Dallas on a magazine cover while he was shopping in a grocery store. Ironic, since a grocery store is where he’d first met Celia.

That had made him search for Celia on social media only to find all of her accounts private with no pictures or any public info. Her shit was locked down tight and he took that as a sign that she did not want him to contact her.

So once again, he’d tried to let her go. Until the day he received the invitation to Benji Melton’s wedding.

It was as if the universe was on his side.

He’d never met Ruby when he and Celia had been together but he figured he could approach her and ask about her. After all, they’d been photographed out together at least once, so it was highly likely Ruby knew who he was.

All he wanted was an update on Celia. For all he knew, she was married with a couple of kids. He’d be fine with that.

No, that was a lie.

He didn’t want her married and he didn’t want her having kids with anyone else.

They’d loved each other once and what he really wanted was for her to love him again.

Because he’d never stopped loving her.

He could hear the music pumping loudly in the hallway as he approached the ballroom. There were lots of guests milling around and he looked at all of them to see if he recognized anyone. To his surprise, his eyes landed on Heath Bailey, a pitcher for the Los Angeles Emperors.

“Bailey,” Kyle said as he strolled up to him. “What the hell are you doing here?” The two men shook hands.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Benji and I went to the same junior college.”

“Small fucking world. I sort of fell into this group thanks to my sister. Hannah married Edwin Boyle a few months ago. Since then, I’ve come to know all these guys pretty well and somehow Cassidy and Benji invited me to their wedding.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal.

“At least that gives me a friendly face in the crowd tonight. I’m not sure how many other people I know.” He looked around. “I’ve met some of these guys at sports awards and banquets, but I can’t claim any of them as friends.”

“Let me introduce you around.” Heath slapped him on the back. “But first, I think you need a drink.”

“Fuck, yeah, I do.”

At the bar, he ordered a beer before Heath pulled him over to a group of people. “Guys, this is Kyle Dulanay. He’s the starting first baseman for Arizona.”

“Cooper Holland.” Of course, Kyle knew who Cooper Holland was. Even if he didn’t know anything about soccer, he’d probably know who Cooper was. He was a legend.

“Nice to meet you.” They shook hands.

“This is my wife, Mae,” Cooper said.

Mae gave a small wave. “It’s good to meet you.”

The man on the other side of Cooper stuck his hand out. “Shane Bradley, and this is my wife, Allana.”

“Oh wow.” He’d been playing professional baseball long enough to not get star-struck anymore, but Shane Bradley was a fucking billionaire. And from what he’d heard, treated his team as a family. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“How do you know Cassidy?” Shane tipped his head and studied him.

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