Page 20 of The Baller

I blew the steam off my coffee until it became a drinkable temperature, and took a giant gulp. Given the level of anxiety raging through me this morning, I probably shouldn’t add caffeine to the mix, buteh, them’s the breaks.

It was that, or fall asleep in class.

“You don’t know that.”

“No one takes down four secret agents, and then doesn’t call.”

“He didn’t take them down,” I replied through another gulp.

“He tried to, and it’s the thought that counts.” She slurped up a mouthful of cream and burst out laughing. “I still can’t decide what was funnier; the look on Jake’s face or seeing Ace Watson on the ground. Do you think he’s okay?”

I grinned, though I was still cringing too much for me to find it as funny as she did, even though the image of four enormous major league baseball players laying on the ground would stick with me forever, especially given how pissed they were. I couldn’t blame them; I’d be pissed too, particularly if I was Ace.

“I knew there was something familiar, but he was too hot for me to focus on what it was.”

The cringe met a quiver of hot waves crashing over my skin as the image of Lux Weston reappeared in my head, and it wasn’t just those hazel eyes, as piercing as if they’d been lasers, or his perfectly formed lips that I hadn’t stopped thinking about – it was the scent of him that seemed to be wedged in my brain.

Even last night when I’d finally made it back to the dorm and gotten into bed, I could smell him on me as I stripped off my shirt and changed into PJs.

More impossible, I could still smell it after my morning shower.

It was hot.Hewas hot. I hadn’t admitted to anyone, even Millie, that I’d spent the rest of the evening stalking him on Google, and scrolling his social media.

Because…cringe.

What had I learned? Surprisingly, very little.

Very,verylittle.

I knew for a fact there were far more social media accounts and stories dedicated to me, not that I ever looked. If I did, I’d never want to get out of bed, but I knew they were there. One time I happened to glimpse a Secret Service report Jake was carrying, dedicated solely to mentions of me on the internet, and cried for the rest of the week.

But Lux Weston, aside from a very enthusiastic fan base, and a significant number of sports journalists hailing him as one of the best center fields of this generation, seemed to be… anonymous.

And from someone who craved anonymity, I was intrigued.

I hadn’t chosen my life, yet for reasons I was still to understand, people had a vested interest in my daily comingsand goings. Lux on the other hand,wasinteresting. He was exceptionally talented, dedicated and… I couldn’t find a shred of information about him that wasn’t baseball related.

He’d managed to find himself at the pinnacle of his career, and somehow had stayed private all at the same time.

“Take them off the field and they become unrecognizable,” Millie added as she put her cup on the table, snatching a napkin from the dispenser and wiping her sticky cream covered fingers. “They look different without a ball in their hands.”

“Do you think anyone knows?” I asked, trying not to focus on the girl who’d been staring at me since she walked in and joined the line.

She nudged her friend and they both turned around. I did what I always did, and smiled. At least this time they smiled back like normal humans, instead of whipping around and pretending they hadn’t been caught.

“About last night?” She shook her head, looping her arms through her backpack. “Nope. There was no one else around to see, and there’s no way those boys are going to be broadcasting they got their asses kicked by the Secret Service.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

I waited until she looked ready to leave, and my eyes caught Ethan’s who’d been standing by the entrance of the campus coffee shop. He opened the door as we approached, allowing another girl to walk through first, her bright blonde ponytail swinging behind her.

She stopped right in front of me, her eyes flaring in surprise. “I love your sneakers,” she spluttered.

I looked down at the Air Jordans I was wearing, the exact shade of pink as my nails. “Oh, thank you.”

Millie also looked at my feet then back at the girl, callingafter her as she scurried off to join her friends at a table. “They’re mine!”

“I thought what’s yours is mine,” I grinned at her as we walked outside, catching Ethan before he could move ahead of us to ask him the one question I’d been dreading the answer to. “Hey, does my mom know about last night?”

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