Page 40 of Honey Pot

“To play, I didn’t say anything about batting cages,” she added.

“What she says, goes. You chose her, which means that you’re stuck with her authority.” Silas offered me his hand. “Come on, we have interviews to do.”

“Have fun, boys,” Ella called out to us and went back to flipping through her papers.

MATTHEWS

It was cold in the Nest. I tucked down into my sweater as Silas got comfortable on the couch across from me. He was wearing a Hornet’s ballcap with a matching polo shirt and a pair of jeans. It wasn’t every day I got to interview a team doctor. I had been through six other players between Arlo and Van. They were all normal, some of them second string. I just wanted to get a good feel for the team dynamics, good or bad.

Sometimes, it was the ones forgotten that gave the most information.

Silas Shore was a watcher.

Even when they thought he wasn’t around, he seemed to be. He had their backs. He kept their secrets, fostered their growth, and kept them healthy. Some might say he was the reason most of them were alive.

“From the dugout, as the chief medical staff for the Harbor Hornets, how do you think the season went?” I asked him after a few warm-up questions.

His gray eyes flickered up to meet mine. “That feels like a trick question.”

“A coach cares about wins, the players care about the series final. What is it that the team doctor cares about?”

Silas paused and ran his hand over his scruffy jaw before answering, “I care about the health of the team.”

“Diplomatic.” I shifted and tapped my pen against my notepad. “You’ve had a lot of injuries this season, some related to the game,some not.”

“Ask the question, Ms. Matthews.” Silas’s brow raised at me.

“The accident, that's all anyone has been talking about. What happened?” I had known that asking Arlo about that day would have been met with a meltdown. He wasn’t going to answer my questions, but Silas looked like someonewho was willing to shut down rumors, even if it meant getting in trouble later on.

“You didn’t ask him?” Silas leaned back against the couch.

“Arlo? No.” I shrugged.

“Smart,” he scoffed. “It's exactly as the news relayed it. Cael got high at an after-party and crashed his car into a ditch.”

“You make it sound like car accidents are something that happen often at Harbor.” I scrunched up my face in concern.

“They’re not,” he confirmed. “What happened was, in fact, just that, an accident.”

Not only a watcher but Silas Shore was the only Hornet with media training.Annoying.

“So there’s no underlying issues with the team that brought the star pitcher and his shortstop best friend there?” I asked.

“A lot happened that night, I’m sure you’ve seen the videos.”

I shake my head at him.

I didn’t make a habit of searching out Cael; it always had the ability to make me sad.

“I wasn’t in the car,” Silas said, pressing his lips together in a thin line, “but if you want to dig that deep, you’re going to have to ask him yourself.”

Ask Cael.

I stuck my pen in my mouth, chewing on the cap, thinking about him. His hands down my pants, the smell of booze, bathroom cleaner, and sex wafting over me and glazing my thoughts with lust. It was hard to focus on Silas in front of me when I knew I’d be seeing Cael later. I had every reason to stay away from him, yet here I was, impatient to ignore every single one.

But first, I needed to finish with Silas, who was clearly growing annoyed with my prying. His gray eyes narrowed in my direction, and his hands rubbed over his jeans. He was uncomfortable but hiding it well.

“Were Mr. King’s issues with his hands because of the accident?” I asked him.

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