Page 39 of Untouchable Player

“We didn’t always live in a big house. Not that big anyway.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Nate flashes me a smile in the rear-view. “I know.”

I pull up outside the batting cages and ask Nate if he still wants to hit something.

“Absolutely.”

Nate’s a little better this time. He doesn’t drop the bat, so that’s an improvement. I can see him taking his anger out on the baseball. Maybe he’s imagining the ball is his dad. Or is it only me who does that?

Jones messages me just as we’re leaving.

‘Mom’s fine, I’m back at the house, we still going to this party tonight?’

“That was J… Harrison.”

Nate laughs as he pulls his seatbelt on, “you can call him Jones, I’ll know who you’re talking about.”

“He says your mom’s fine.”

He nods. His face is stony again and I can see how fucking angry he is and I assume it’s at his dad. I’d be livid if my dad cheated on my mom, so I get it.

“Do you want me to come back to your house with you? Or get Jones?”

“No,” Nate shakes his head, “I don’t want to go home, not yet.”

“You wanna come back to the house with me?”

“Thanks but, I think I’ll just go back to the library, I have a class in an hour anyway.”

I hate the thought of him sitting in the library by himself, stewing in his anger.

The cages seemed to calm him down until I mentioned his mom again.

“Do you wanna come to a party tonight? You could bring your friend.”

“I don’t know…”

“You don’t have to, obviously, I’ll just message you the address and you can decide.”

He nods and my stomach flips at the thought of him being there.

Nate

Katie adds a flick of eyeliner in the mirror. “Are you sure you’re up to this tonight?”

No, but I don’t want to go home and see my dad.And I kind of want to see Jesse.

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“Okay.” She adds a flick to the other eye and studies her reflection.

“You’re beautiful,” I tell her, “now hurry up.”

The party is already in full swing when we arrive. I let Katie lead me through the house to the kitchen and this time, when she pours herself a beer, I grab a cup and ask her to pour me one.

“You sure?”

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