Page 94 of His Team

I pause for a moment in thought. She’s trusting me with her life. I can trust her with my secret.

“Caleb has autism. We’ve been hiding it so he can get drafted to the majors. My mama has wanted to hide it from the world all his life, but my daddy and I agreed to hide it during college to give him a shot at normal.”

I scoff to myself. All we have ever wanted is normal. Not just Cal, but I’ve been longing for some sense of normalcy. Now, the concept doesn’t make sense to me.

What’s normal? Right now, my brother’s life is more normal than mine will ever be. Yet I know if it means Amina is in my life, I wouldn’t change a thing.

“Wow, Cam. I had no idea. I mean, now that you mention it … you’re an amazing brother.”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. All his dreams are coming true. He doesn’t need me anymore. You do.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

I sit, trying to find the words to tell her all I’m feeling. I wish there was more I could do. I wish I was there with her.

I want to be on one knee proposing to her for our family to be together. I want to rewind time and pull her into my arms after she spoke those words to me to let me know I’m going to be a father to our child.

Suddenly, I know just how to let her know how I feel. I connect my phone to the Bluetooth as I hold Bernie’s. Then, I scroll for what I’m looking for.

The song begins to play. I close my eyes. When I hang up and go home, I’m going to be destroyed.

“Do you remember what I said about when I play one of these songs for someone?”

“If you play one of their songs, you mean the words from your heart,” she breathes.

“Yeah, Mina. I mean this. I mean every word. I want to do this. I love you.”

Tears stream down my face as we both remain silent as the song plays. I feel like someone is cutting my insides up. I double over, leaning against the steering wheel as I cry like a little boy lost.

This is tearing me apart.

CHAPTER 38

Cry for You

Maribel

I have the phone on speaker as I sit curled into myself on this hotel bed. I’m sobbing so hard my ribs hurt. I knew I shouldn’t have answered the call.

I was nervous and my emotions were all over the place as my phone started to ring. I had just finished dying my hair and was in tears because I hated it. I’m not a redhead.

Ximena thought it was a good idea to change the color of my hair. I didn’t go with blonde because I thought it would be too attention-grabbing with my deep-brown skin. The cinnamon or auburn color, if you will, doesn’t look bad. It’s just a reminder of why I had to dye it in the first place.

I didn’t expect Cameron to plead with me to stay with him. Hearing this big, strong man sound so broken as he pleaded for his family nearly broke me.

However, I know what’s right for all of us. I can’t go back, and he can’t rush here to me. I won’t even be here long. I’ll be gone before morning.

Finding those cameras scared the shit out of me and Ximena. She immediately understood how important it was for me to disappear. She snapped right into action.

It was a good thing we had started texting our plans. We don’t know if there was audio to go along with the visuals on the other end of those videos. I still can’t believe he was recording my life.

Ximena suggested we place the cameras back where we found them. I only packed the essentials, making sure to do so out of sight of the cameras. Placing my things in garbage bags, we then took out the trash and I left out of the apartment as if it was any other night where I was going to meet up with friends.

The song ends and I swipe at my tears. “Cam, I should go. I’m going to have to dump this phone. You won’t be able to reach me on it again. I’ll call you from a burner once I’m settled.”

“What about the security guys?” he chokes out and I can tell he’s been crying on the other end.

“You can hold off on that for now. I don’t want to draw any attention to myself. I should be fine where I’m going.”

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