Page 65 of Off Pitch

“Cheers!” Harlow says, clinking her beer against Lucia’s, Rory’s, and Ella’s, and the glasses of water Cole, Josh, and I have. I only gave up one run tonight, and Cole hit a three-run homer, so the girls talked us into going out tonight. None of us guys are drinking because we have a game tomorrow, and Lane didn’t join us since he needed to get Sage home. I’m only slightly jealous of him at the moment.

“How are you guys feeling right now?” Rory asks, looking at Cole and me. But I don’t need to respond when Cole quickly jumps in.

“Pretty good. Tonight was a great game,” he replies.

“I bet you do think so,” Rory says. “You batted in three runs yourself, Cole.”

“You keeping track, Fisher?” Cole asks, raising a brow.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she says, waving him off. “The scoreboard kept track for me.” Cole laughs that off, but it almost seems… forced?

“Knox had a damn good game, too,” Harlow pipes in. “Only gave up one run.”

“All that flirting before the game was good for him, it seems,” Lucia says with a smirk.

That grabbed Cole’s attention. “You were flirting with my sister?”

“Dude, he’s dating your sister,” Josh remarks. “Of course, he flirts with her.”

“I always see them flirting,” Ella adds.

“Sold out by our own friends,” I say, looking right at Harlow.

“Can’t hide anything,” she smiles.

This whole arrangement is fake, but our flirting is very real.

“I don’t want to hear about them flirting,” Cole grumbles as our friends turn their attention to him now, leaving Harlow and me to ourselves.

“You know,” she says, a sly look on her face. A look that I’ve learned means she’s about to give me shit about something. “You did have a great game, but that slider in the fifth. What were you thinking?”

“You criticizing my performance, Freckles?”

“I run a blog, Slick,” she replies with a smirk. “Writing about the games is a large part of my job. Interviews, too, but I still haven’t been able to sell you or Cole on the idea yet.”

“I don’t think my performance was all that bad,” I say, smirking back.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she fires back, tension filling the air.

I don’t think we’re talking about the game anymore.

“Fucking hell,” Cole says in exasperation. “Stop making eyes at each other, will you?”

That seems to snap Harlow out of… whatever this was. “I, uh… I’m going to run to the restroom really quick. I’ll be right back.” She scurries away from the table, moving faster than I realized she could.

Lucia and Rory are both giving me knowing looks. I need to escape this, too. “I’m gonna… go grab another water,” I say as I stand up from the table, heading off in the opposite direction of the bar.

“Your water is practically full,” Josh shouts, and I just ignore it. Because I need to talk to Harlow.

Should I be waiting for her in the hallway outside of the bathroom door? No, I’m sure I shouldn’t, but here I am anyway.

After a couple of minutes, she walks into the hall, stopping when she sees me leaning against the wall. “Oh… hey, Knox,” she says, voice wavering.

“You really think my performance was bad?” I ask, inviting her to come closer.

She closes the gap. “I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t think I know much about your performance.”

I flip her around, pinning her against the wall with hands planted on either side of her head. “You’ve been watching me pitch for years, Lo.” I smirk and press my forehead against hers. “You should know all about my performance, shouldn’t you?”

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