Page 16 of The Trouble with Players

“We don’t have to be enemies.”

I let his words hang in the night. Of course we had to be enemies. It was the only way to leave this summer less unscathed than when I arrived.

CHAPTER SIX

Not surprising, I woke up alone in my bed. I reached for my phone on the nightstand and found a text from Gina. Did you hook up with Sam?

I laughed to myself as I texted my response. And ruin our newfound bromance? No.

Gina: LOL. Wanna go to the game with me tonight?

Me: Yes, but only bc I told Sam I might.

Gina: I’ll drive. Meet me out front at 5.

Me: K

I finally climbed out of bed around noon and got into the shower. Since my shampoo was in the guest room, I used Crew’s, knowing I’d end up smelling like him for the rest of the day. When I stepped out, I grabbed a towel and used it to ring the water from my hair before wrapping it around myself.

I opened the door and froze. Crew lay on my bed with an open book in his hand.

“Fierce, frightening, fabulous…the ocean is,” he read.

The blood drained from my face.

“Special, symphonic, solitary…the beach is,” he continued.

“Give me that.” I moved toward him with my hand out. “It’s not yours.”

“Enormous, extraordinary, elaborate…the universe is,” he read.

I grabbed it out of his hand.

“I didn’t know you wrote poetry,” he said.

I held the book against my chest. “It’s rude to read other people’s thoughts without their permission.”

“I didn’t realize it was private,” he said.

“It was buried in the bottom of my closet,” I argued.

“Well, maybe it shouldn’t be.”

I rolled my eyes and walked out.

* * *

I’d thrown on some jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a blue camo baseball cap. I met Gina at five and slipped into her car.

“You look ready for a ball game,” she said.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

We took the short drive through town until we reached the parking lot for the ball park. For a week night, it was pretty full.

“I brought us chairs,” she said, knowing there was a designated area on a grassy hill on the first base line where all the host families sat.

Her family hosted baseball players until Gina turned fifteen. After that, having good-looking college baseball players under the same roof became problematic for her parents. They knew baseball players could turn even the most innocent girl bad.

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