Page 6 of Rounding Third

“I care when you’re going through something rough. You know you can always come talk to me. You can vent or ask for advice. I'm happy to listen and help anyway I can, but I can't help if I don’t know what’s going on. For today, I want you all to take the rest of the day off. Relax and get your heads on straight, then be back here in the morning for training.”

“Who will be our coach for the next week? We only have a few weeks until the season starts,” Leo speaks up.

“I’ll be calling a friend to come in. I think you’ll all like him.” Owen grins to himself. If he’s excited, it might be good if Danny leaves. I trust Owen and whatever decisions he makes. “Now, get out of my locker room.”

The rookies all make a mad dash for the door. They’re excited to get a little extra time off. I couldn’t care less about it. Liliana already told me she wasn’t free tonight, but I'm going to make that change somehow.

“Smithy, wait up.” Wyatt hobbles towards me as I reach the locker room door.

Cord is already talking to Leo, which means Wyatt’s sights are solely set on me. I swear him and Cord always have their fingers on the pulse of this team. They know exactly what’s going on at all times and how to fix it.

“What’s up, man?” I slow down and walk down the long hallway towards the parking lot at his pace.

“I'm guessing it’s Liliana screwing with your head?”

“Damn, Everson. We’re going straight in for the kill, huh?” I arch a brow and glance over at him.

“Listen, my knee hurts and I don’t have much energy left. We need to cut to the chase before Charlie comes out here and starts yelling at me for being on my knee too much.” He rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t mind being yelled at by her. He loves having her back in his life and bossing him around.

“Yeah, she’s… I don’t know. She’s just so guarded. Every time I think it’s safe to flirt with her, I can see her putting up a wall between us. How am I supposed to deal with that?”

“It’s rough. Some days you’ll want to give up, but you have to decide if having her in your life is more important than having her in your arms. I did both with Charlie. I knew having her in my life but not in my arms would be torture. I couldn’t watch her date someone else. She had to be mine, so I took the risk. It’s all about calculating your risks.”

“Yeah, well, I'm bad at math so when I take a calculated risk, sometimes my math is wrong.” I sigh and stop at the end of the hallway.

“Go see her. It will help you get your head back in the game. Tell her the captain said you had to.” He grins.

“I will. Then when she doesn’t meet her deadline, she can come after you instead of me.” I grin as I push open the door to the parking lot.

“Remind her I'm a wounded man!” He calls, making me chuckle.

“She won't care!”

Chapter 3

Liliana

I erase the first line of my article for the fifth time and let out a loud groan. This is ridiculous. It shouldn’t be this hard to focus.

I massage my temples and skim through my notes again. I need to do a good job on this article. It’s going to be hard enough to get Bill to print it. He believes Stubbs is innocent in all of this and Owen is just trying to make himself look good.

I don’t personally know Owen, but I’ve heard enough about him and how he runs his franchise to know he’s a decent guy. I don’t believe he’s lying. I think Stubbs dug his own grave and now he’s paying for it.

I'm about to turn back to my article when there’s a knock on my apartment door. I glance at my phone and see it’s not even three o’clock. Who could possibly be at my door?

Taking slow and quiet steps towards the door, I peek through the peephole and roll my eyes. What is Smithy doing here?

I nibble on my bottom lip and debate on ignoring him. If I open the door, he’s going to come in and he’s not going to leave.I don’t need that right now. But he knew I had to write. If he’s here, it could mean something’s wrong.

“Open the door, Sweets,” he murmurs softly as he drops his forehead against the wood.

I sigh as I twist the lock and pull the door open. I can't turn him away right now. He’s upset and I know it.

Smithy lifts his head enough to glance up at me through his lashes. He looks so tired and defeated. I don’t know what’s going on, but I grab his arm and tug him inside. Leading him over to the couch, I shove him down and go search for a couple bottles of water.

“What’s going on?” I glance at him as I tug the fridge open and squat down so I can check the bottom shelf. All the way in the back there are three bottles left. I grab two and head back to the couch, handing him one of them.

“Why does something need to be going on? Aren't I allowed to stop by because you’re my best friend and I miss you?” He arches a brow, but he can't fool me.

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