Page 120 of Double Play

Delta’s eyes widen in fear while the rest of us look at each other in shock. We’ve never seen this side of Quincy. Yes, he threw shade at me for a while, but not like this.

He motions for the attention of the owner and gives a mock slice across the neck while pointing to Delta. Within seconds, the owner walks over and escorts her out with Quincy crossing his arms, glaring at her the entire way.

Ezra pulls Quincy’s shirt. “Have a seat, Q. Relax, big bear.”

He ignores Ezra and sits next to Ripley. “Are you okay?”

She gives a small smile. “I’m fine. It doesn’tbother me. I’ve had comments like that my whole life. I’m used to it.”

He rubs her face. “It’s not fine. No one should talk to you like that. You’re beautiful. You’re perfect.”

She mumbles something we can’t hear which only serves to enrage him further. He stands and pulls her arm. “I need to talk to you. Now!”

They walk away and disappear behind the corner.

I shake my head in disbelief. “What just happened? Is something going on with them?”

Kam leans back in her seat with a self-satisfied smile. “I’ve been saying for months that I think they’re fucking in secret. At a minimum, she has a crush on him and hasn’t done anything about it because of Arizona. But tonight, I’m realizing it’s definitely not a one-sided thing.”

I nod. “I think you’re right. I’ve never seen him territorial about a woman like that. I’ve never even seen him give a shit about a woman, besides Arizona, before tonight.”

They all start speculating about Quincy and Ripley while I pull out my phone and scroll through the newly leaked beach photos. They’re not nearly as sexy as our photos, but she looks happy. I don’t want her to be sad, but I want to be the one making her smile. I should stop looking at these photos. It’s not healthy, but I can’t seem to help myself. Every morning I wake up to a new wave of them.

Cheetah throws his arm around Kam. “I think you need to give me a second chance.” He rubs her arm. “You have to admit, before the Hoover Dam broke, it was going well. Our bodies worked together like a well-oiled machine.”

She removes his arm. “Sorry, kitten. Like a porn star, you blew it.”

He groans. “That’s such bullshit. It’s not my fault the waterbed popped. Can we at least make another bet? One that gives me a fighting chance.” He looks around. “Pick any girl.”

Kam sighs in frustration before her face turns uncharacteristically serious. “I’ve got one for you, big mouth. Tell me two authentic things about me that have nothing to do with sex, my body, or my current softball team. If you actually know anything substantive about me, I’m yours for the night to do with as you please.” She crosses her arms and tilts her head to the side, assuming she’s busted him.

Cheetah smiles, intertwines his fingers, and stretches them out while cracking his knuckles. He literally hands Ezra his beer and says, “Hold my beer.”

Turning back to Kam, he leans toward her, almost in challenge. “Kamryn Sarah Hart, age twenty-eight, is the younger of identical twins by nine minutes. Incidentally, that’s also your number, but we’re not talking about the Anacondas. Your parents are Beverly and Chris. They still live in the same Southern Florida house that you grew up in. You have no other siblings. You were the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Florida during your senior year of high school. You had your choice of full athletic scholarships to any college in the country. You chose UCLA because they were willing to take Bailey, who, at the time, wasn’t considered as strong of a player as you. You like dark chocolate, not milk chocolate. It’s your comfort food. Milk chocolate makes you gassy. You love dogs but realize you can’t have one right now because of your life on the road. When you retire, which you planto do after the twenty-eight Olympics, your first order of business will be to adopt a dog. You smell like peaches, and I know firsthand that you taste like them too, but I’m not allowed to talk about your body. You don’t like Doublemint Gum. You and Bailey were in a commercial for it when you were little kids, and they made you chew it for days until it started to physically make you sick. You refused to ever chew it again. You chew grape bubblegum on the field and blow giant bubbles that make my dick hard because I’ve never been more jealous of a piece of gum in my life. You hate it when…”

Before he finishes, Kam’s lips smash with his. He immediately pulls her onto his lap. As though no one else is around, they grind and go at it for a solid five minutes until he slides out of the booth, with her still attached to him, and walks out the front door.

Ezra’s eyes look like they’re about to bug out of his head. “What the hell was that? How did he know all those things?”

I shake my head. “I have no idea.”

ARIZONA

We finished our first full week of shooting. Honestly, I thought it would be easy to pose for a few pictures. I didn’t realize how exhausting it is. It’s not only the long days of shooting, but it’s also doing it without the man whose hands I want on my body. Feeling like I’m on guard at all times makes it more stressful and tiring.

I want to crawl into bed and call Layton, but I’m having dinner with Butch tonight. It’s one of the pre-arranged reservations made by Michael Longley, who checks in daily to remind me of my obligation to make it look like Butch and I are dating. He also told me that he doesn’t care for me wearing sweatpants and oversized T-shirts when Butch and I go to nice restaurants. He sent a dress for me to wear tonight. A tight, revealing dress.

Butch knocks on my door at the allotted time. His eyes widen when I open it. “Wow. You look beautiful.”

“Thank you. You clean up nicely too.”

He offers me his arm as we make the short walk into the village.

The restaurant is actually on a beautiful beach setting with music playing. The moon is illuminating the water. The ocean looks majestic. I take a quick picture of it and text it to Layton.

Me: Promise me we’ll come back here one day so you can make love to me on this beach at night.

I get no response until I see that the text bounced back as unsent. The reception here sucks. We only get it in our villa and on the beach because the production company paid for Wi-Fi at the shoot. Otherwise it would just be the villa.

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