Page 55 of Carmine

“Molly?” Carmine urged, looking worried.

I managed to mutter a strangled “Yes!”

Carmine leapt up and snatched me up in a kiss again.

The crowd cheered around us, but we didn’t hear. Too lost in our own little world.

???

“Show me that ring!” Phoe demanded as I was returned to them. Carmine had wanted me to stay, but he knew there’d be interviews regarding the incident and the game, so I returned to the others.

I held out my hand as Phoe gasped. “Oh, he knows how to pick them!” Phoe exclaimed and threw her arms around me.

“Welcome to the family,” Drake shouted happily as he wrapped his burly arms around us both.

“Damn, my boy’s getting married!” Phoe said as tears appeared in her eyes.

“Is that a bad thing?” I asked quickly, not wanting to upset her.

“No!” Phoe wailed and collapsed into Drake’s grasp.

Drake rolled his eyes at me.

“What Phoe means to say is she is so thrilled she’s overwhelmed, and she can’t believe her baby boy is getting married. Plus, Carmine is the first to claim someone, and she’s fuckin’ proud of him and happy for him,” Drake explained.

“That!” Phoe wailed as Drake rubbed her back.

“See,” Drake said as Serenity took her chance to grab my hand and study the ring. Jodie joined her, and then the rest of the Michaelsons had their turn to hug and congratulate me.

Rage MC and their old ladies were a little calmer, knowing that I would be overwhelmed, but their congratulations were genuine.

“Any idea why they ejected that player?” I asked finally.

“Yeah. The umpire’s putting in a report. Rankin was throwing shit at Carmine about being a child prostitute, and did Carmine want Rankin to fuck him up the ass. He was saying a lot of racial slurs and paedophilic insults, and the umpire threw him out for it. That’s why Rankin’s own teammate laid him out flat,” Apache said.

“Carmine was worried it might happen,” I murmured.

“Well, the umpire has shown that it won’t be accepted in the game. Rankin’s looking at a ban for the rest of the season. Nasty little bastard,” Fanatic added. He and several of the prospects swapped looks and nodded.

I didn’t know what that meant but wasn’t interested in finding out. I had a man to locate and then find somewhere to have sex. That was my sole focus!

Chapter Thirteen.

Molly

My plan to get Carmine alone didn’t happen until much later that night. Everybody tried to speak to Carmine, and I watched from another room as he gave several interviews.

Everyone was congratulating Carmine on his home run, and they all wanted to talk about his perfect game. He’d struck out every player without a single foul ball being thrown. That was amazing and elevated Carmine to baseball’s elite.

I’d seen the umpire giving an interview in which he merely stated that racism and paedophilia had no place in baseball. The umpire refused to comment on what Rankin had said, but he was recommending Rankin be suspended for the rest of the season pending an investigation.

I’d offered my thanks as he passed by, and the dignified man had inclined his head and continued on his way. The home team coach had given an interview and hadn’t admitted or denied what Rankin had done but had stated they would be conducting their own investigation.

They also said that the alleged comments did not represent their mentality and had no part in their team. But several reporters wondered if that was the case, why had Rankin felt so at ease saying it?

Most of Rage had returned to the hotel they’d literally hired for the weekend. But I waited with Harley and Cody for Carmine to come out. His team was staying overnight and travelling the next morning. I had intended to go with him, so not much had changed my plans.

When Carmine emerged, he was laughing and joking with a few of his teammates.

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