Page 104 of Stealing Home

Tucker nods. “Not the nicest way to phrase it, but it’s true. I don’t think any of you have been in the dark about the disagreements I’ve had lately with Coach Rivera. Now, I could feed you some bullshit story about how he’s been having a personal crisis–”

“Yeah, because his wife left him and has been boning Ryan,” Campbell interjects.

Coach levels him with a glare. “See now, Chase, I was going to ask you to come back into my office and do this quietly, but this is the kind of toxic shit we’re going to be throwing out with Coach Rivera. Ryan is pitching.”

Several of the other guys whoop. Tucker shoots them a look and they settle down. Then looks at me and nods. “Not long ago I was reminded that baseball is a game, and definitely not more important than how we treat others. For a long time we’ve all, myself included, overlooked some pretty toxic behavior. We all knew it was wrong that Rivera was hooking up with one of our trainers. We all rationalized that because she is an adult, it wasn’t any of our business. Each of us, except for Ryan, ignored a man cheating on his wife so that we had a chance to win a game.”

He shakes his head, clearly disgusted with himself. “What’s worse is that every one of us present at Ryan’s birthday, witnessed him backhand his wife. Let that sink in. We’ve allowed ourselves to become the kind of men who would stand by while a woman is abused, then continue to work with him. To. Win. A. Fucking. Game.”

He yanks his hat off his head, and slaps it against his palm. “I’m the worst offender here, so don’t take this as a one-sided lecture. Alicia is a grad student. Yes, Rivera was directly in charge, but I had a responsibility to look out for her once I realized the nature of their relationship, because that was a horrible abuse of his position. He’s got too much power in this situation. I don’t know about the rest of you, but supporting violence against women and sexual harassment isn’t something I’m proud of. Then there’s the way he’s been treating all of you, running you into the ground, causing a few of you to miss classes, making some of you play injured.” His head turns toward Max.

“I assume there’s a point to all of this?” Campbell snaps.

Tucker narrows his eyes at him. “Careful, this whistle around my neck isn’t a fashion statement.” To everyone else he says, “The Board of Trustees overruled the President of the University. Rivera is suspended pending an investigation. I also got a slap on the wrist and reminded that having sex with students is cause for termination, as well as failing to report faculty harassing students.”

“Who snitched?” Campbell seethes, ignoring Tucker’s increasing anger.

“You’re willfully missing the point, Chase. We all need to be bigger than a game. If you don’t leave this program with more integrity than when you entered it, then I have failed as an educator.”

“Most of you are never going to go on to play professional sports.” He tosses up his hands. “I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true. That doesn’t mean this is a waste of time. Baseball has provided some of you with a chance to get a college education you would have only gotten if you had taken on tens of thousands of dollars in debt. For a few years you get to live in the spotlight, and more importantly I hope, you learn how to work as part of a team.”

He slaps his hat back on his head. “That’s everything. Please follow your training regimen and I’ll see you on the field this afternoon to run some drills. It’s time we find our way back to being a team.”

Before Tucker leaves the room, he points at Campbell and Jack, the sophomore who replaced him in left field, “I need to see both of you in my office.”

Campbell glares at me before he follows after Tucker. I let the grin I’ve been suppressing spread across my face and wink at him. He takes a step to come after me, but Quinn steps in between us and pushes him to follow the coach.

Taylor sneaks up behind me and claps me on the shoulder. “We’ve got our work cut out for us if we plan to win another game this season. If we don’t, the only thing we’re likely to hit is each other.”

* * *

My phone ringson my way back to the apartment, and I answer it without looking.

“Hey son,” my dad’s voice greets me.

“Dad. I wasn’t expecting you to call,” I clip. My tone is short, but I’m not ready to deal with him yet.

“That’s the problem. We went from talking a few times a week to not at all. How long are you planning on shutting me out?”

“I’d say that depends on you,” I hedge. “I told you before we went out there that Harlow is important to me, and you still treated her badly.”

He sighs. “I’m your father, Scott. Do you expect me to sit back and be quiet when I think you’re making a huge mistake? You’re dating a married woman.”

“She’s divorced, actually. It was finalized yesterday. I told you it was in progress. She’d filed before anything ever started with us. Yet, you treated her like she was some kind of predator just wanting to date a rich younger guy. Didn’t matter how many times I told you that I pursued her. Like, wouldn’t take no for an answer, went after her.”

My dad grunts. “She’s the adult. She could have resisted.”

I close my eyes and count to ten. At this rate I’m going to have premature high blood pressure. “I know you’re determined to see me as a child, but whether you want to see it or not, I’m an adult. I’m twenty-one years old.”

My breathing is heavy. “I think I need to stand totally on my own, without taking anything from you, so you recognize that I’ve grown up. Did you hear from the bank today?”

“That’s the other reason I’m calling. What are you doing, Scott??”

I shrug, even though he can’t see me. “I had them take my name off the account for my trust fund. That money came with strings I can’t live with. You seem to think it gives you the right to choose who I love. I get it, you’re not happy with the fact I’m with Harlow, but you need to get used to it, or let me go. I can’t live without her. I won’t live without her.”

“Does she know you gave back the money?”

“She supports my decision,” I respond.

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