Page 4 of Restricted List

“Rory Fisher was running late?” Harlow says questioningly. “You’re early for literally everything.”

“I just… lost track of time.”

“No, you didn’t,” Lucia fires back, squinting her eyes at me. “You never lose track of time.”

Ella throws her arms around my shoulders. “Let’s not give Rory a hard time, girls. We’re here to support our men.”

“Lucia and I don’t have men,” I chide. “We’re both single.”

From the corner of my eye, I catch a smirk on Lucia’s face as my own flushes. I haven’t explicitly told my friends about my crush on Cole, but it would be Lucia if any of them had it figured out. And that smirk all but confirms that she somehow knows.

That means I’m fucked.

Since Ella didn’t know that Harlow and Knox’s relationship was fake at the start, it means that Lucia and I were the only ones within our little group here who knew. That led to both of us doing everything we could to get them together. They both wanted it—we just helped them see it.

But that means Lucia doesn’t have anywhere to focus her efforts now but on me. And I hate that because Cole and I can’t be together. As the Field Manager’s daughter, I’m strictly off-limits. I love my dad, but he has a petty side, and I’ve no doubt Cole would end up benched if anything ever happened between us.

There’s that and the fact there’s no way inhellI’d be his type. As an athlete, Cole has to keep in shape. He’s unbelievably fit. With all the muscles, shoulder-length sandy blond hair, and blue-gray eyes, he could be with somebody better than me.

When Lucia inevitably asks me about it, I’ll just have to deny, deny, deny. If my feelings wouldn’t be reciprocated, why would I share them with anyone?

That would only serve to hurt me.

“Oh!” Harlow exclaims. “It’s starting.”

I readjust Sage on my hip as we turn to see the start of the procession.

And my heart skips a beat when I catch a glimpse of blond hair right at the front.

two

Cole

The last fucking thingI want today is to be sat in the first car for this goddamn parade.

I should be more excited about it, honestly. I’m the damn MVP. But it’s hard to keep a fake smile plastered on my face when all I want to do is lay in bed and rummage through my thoughts.

At least I’m not alone up here, though. Since Knox got the win in game seven of the World Series, helping us secure the pennant, we’re both the stars of New York right now. I also know we both hate that.

Neither of us likes the spotlight, preferring to keep to ourselves. We also don’t have that luxury anymore. As soon as word got out about Knox and my sister, Harlow, we both just had to accept the extra eyes on us.

And with a story like theirs, it’s easy to see why everyone loved it. Grumpy pitcher falls for his teammate’s younger sister? The media ate that shit up. They both benefited from that, though. Knox landed a major endorsement deal with Axis Athletic Co., and Harlow’s blogStarred and Fasthas taken off.

And I have eyes on me just because of my association with them.

I don’t hate it, though. They’re both happy together, and as a brother, I only want my sister to be happy.

I just wish I could find some of that happiness for myself.

But when the one woman I want is the one woman I can’t have, I don’t have that option.

Even if something didkind ofhappen between us the other day.

I shouldn’t have let it go that far, but when Rory pulled me away from everyone in the clubhouse, I lost a bit of my control. Who could blame me? She’s a fucking stunner, and I don’t think she even realizes it.

It’s been three days since that happened, and we seem to be trying to completely avoid each other. I fucking hate that. I can’t be with her, but that doesn’t mean I want to lose her as a friend, too.

“Dude, you okay?” Knox asks, lightly elbowing me.

---