Page 60 of Stealing Home

“Haha. Just trying to make you sweat a little. I’m free.” She lets me know.

“How about dinner at my place and then maybe a movie?”

“That sounds perfect. Just let me know what time to be there.” She tells me.

“I’ll be at your door to walk you over to my place at 6:30. If that works for you.” I say to her.

Like I would let her walk over by herself on our first date.

“That works for me.” she confirms.

“Good. I’ll see you then, beautiful.”

“Night Cole.” she says sweetly.

“Night A. Sweet dreams.” I tell with a wink before ending the call.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Cole

Ty parks his truck in the player’s lot and we both get out. We head towards the entrance and see a shit ton of photographers at the door. I was already eager to get this practice over so I can get ready for my date with Adriana but now with this? There are more photographers than normal. I want to turn around and get back into Ty’s truck because this means something is happening and I don’t know if it’s good or bad.

“What the fuck?” Ty says.

“That’s my thought.” I agree.

They don’t bother us as we walk past them and into the stadium. We go straight to the clubhouse so we can find out what is happening. We both go straight to our own lockers and put our bags in them. It seems like everyone is here, but coach is in his office with the door closed, which is odd since it’s normally open. I sit down so I can switch into my cleats, since I’m already in my gym clothes.

Coach’s door opens, and he walks out first with someone else behind him.

“Gentleman, let’s gather ‘round.” He says as he comes to the middle of the locker room.

“So, as we all know, Dean is out for at least three months. We made the tough choice to bring in a new player to help in his absence. Welcome Dylan Crawford to the team. Dylan want to say a few words?”

“Thanks Coach. I’m excited to be here and to get to know everyone. My goal is to help the team get to the championship games this year.” Dylan tells us.

I know that having his skills in our repertoire makes the team better, but man, I’m not excited about him as a person from all the talk in the media and from other players in the league. The media coverage outside of the stadium must be for him.

“Media coverage for the trade will die down. There won’t always be photographers outside.” Coach says, as if he read my mind.

“Welcome to The Grizzlies.” Sean is the first to say.

Everyone follows with the welcomes including Ty and myself. I hope that his presence won’t affect the team dynamic and derail what we already have going for this season. While I might not hang out with everyone regularly, we all have mutual respect for one another and that’s not something you just get. It’s earned, with the sweat, tears, wins, loses and maybe some bloody bench clearing brawls.

Dylan and his antics could be what breaks the team. Ty and I look at each other and nod, understanding that we have to help make sure he does nothing to jeopardize the team and the image of the organization. We have worked for years to get where we are and we won’t let anyone lead us astray.

“Alright, let’s get to the field. These games won’t win themselves.” Coach tells us.

With that, we all chuckle and head out to the field. We all start with stretching in the outfield since that’s where the most grass is.

“What’s up?” King comes over nearby and sits his tall ass down.

“Nada. Are you going to come by early on Thursday to hangout before everyone gets there?” I ask him.

Before King has time to answer, there is a shadow next to me, so I look up and see it’s Dylan.

“What’s happening Thursday? Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I was just coming over to chat.” He tells King and I.

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