Page 137 of The Baller

“Pablo?” interrupted Ace.

“Yeah, Pablo,” Parker repeated, his eyes flicking up to Tanner, “and we need to give him the money from the pool.”

“There’s ten grand in there.”

Parker shrugged. “He won it. He joined the bet and chose March 22, and according to his newly sourced information, that’s when the break-up occurred.”

Tanner’s loud scoff said exactly what he thought of this new information, which was likely what everyone else was thinking too.

“I can’t believe you let Pablo in on that bet,” snorted Ace.

“What? Why?”

“Because Pabs knows everything that’s going on here. He knows you’ve been in love with Scout, and he knows about the bet, and it’s very convenient he’s now ten grand richer.”

The smile dropped off Parker’s face, and he slowly turned a shade of pinkish-grey I’d never seen before. “What are you saying?” His worried gaze flitted around our group. “They’ve broken up, right?”

Ace shook his head. “I’m saying that I bet he’s been saving the info.”

“Why would he do that?” Parker snapped, even though the answer was clear to the rest of us.

“To win ten grand.”

Parker’s thick brows knitted together and he turned to Jupiter. “Reeves, what do you think?”

“The only thing I’m thinking is why am I part of this conversation? We have perfectly good couches you can go and sit on,” Jupiter grumbled with a head shake as he pulled his shirt on. “I need to get my locker moved.”

I could see the annoyance building on Parker’s face, along with a lot of panic and confusion, none of which were helpful before Opening Day. We tanked a year ago for the exact same reason. A girl was not going to stop us winning today. There was no way.

Today we would not only be winning against The Braves, we’d be annihilating them.

“Park, what did Pablo say?” I asked, trying to steer us back onto the topic.

Parker scowled at Ace and took a deep breath. “He said that she came in crying last week, and he asked her what was wrong. Her and R.D. had broken up.”

“Why?”

“According to Pabs, he was away with friends at New Year, hooked up with another girl, and Scout found out.” Parker may as well have spat on the floor for how red his face went. “How the fuck do you get girl like Scout and cheat on her?”

Tanner’s sweat towel was tossed into the nearest laundry hamper. “He’s not Ranger’s Douche for nothing.”

“What’s the plan then?”

Parker shrugged. “Gonna tell her how I feel, obviously.”

Ace was about to say something until Jupiter tutted loudly, and we all looked up to catch the end of a heavy eye roll.

“Something you want to add, Reeves?”

Jupiter turned back to his locker, only to spin around a second later when he changed his mind. “You can’t go in all guns blazing and tell her you love her when she’s only just broken up with a dude.”

“How do you know I love her?” mumbled Parker.

“The whole club knows.”

Parker’s gaze darted around the locker room like this was news to him, and considering everyone had lost interest in the reason he’d burst into the locker room fifteen minutes ago, found very little evidence to suggest Jupiter was correct.

He wasdefinitelycorrect. Everyone knew Parker had a major crush on Scout. It was possible even Scout knew, mostly because this club loved to gossip almost as much as it loved to win games.

---