Page 66 of Nailed at Home Plate

Cady.

As much as I wanted to hurry to the promised land of her luscious ass, and the quiet that was just her and I, I was enjoying myself. Being able to blow offsome steam like this was rare in the majors. During the season, your free time was either traveling, sleeping to recover from jet lag, or practicing. Letting loose like this didn’t happen until the off-season. And by that time, you’re so exhausted that you need a good month just to get back to what other people consider “normal”.

With the crowd now settled, Truitt hurried over to the bar to order a round of drinks for the guys as we commandeered a corner booth and a few tables to the far side of the bar. I promised myself to stay for one drink and enjoy shooting the shit with the Sillys. Since I was seemingly here for the long run, and the guys didn’t hate my clumsy ass, it was high time we did some team building outside the stadium that didn’t revolve around dancing.

The clinking of beer bottles being juggled by the armful pulled me from my wandering thoughts. Truitt, Benson, and Camden made their way over to one table to unload the bottles on the tables while the guys’ cheered. I stood to make my way to the table to grab the free beer I was promised, but a vibration in my back pocket stopped me.

Reaching down, I slid the device from my jeans and glanced at the screen before hurrying to answer it. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

“Yo, Jamie, don’t you want your beer?” Truitt looked over at me as I briskly headed for the door. I needed someplace quiet. Pointing to my phone, I slipped outside to escape any further protests.

“Coach,” I was breathless as I found a quiet spot by the dumpster. “What can I do for you?”

Topper’s voice was even more gruff coming through the phone than reverberating off the walls ofthe Sillys locker room. And like always, he got right to the point. “Rheems. I just got the call.”

The call? I blinked for a moment as my eyes adjusted to the summer sunset out in the bar’s parking lot.

Fuck.

Thecall.

“Your backup is out with a hamstring strain and your backup’s backup just got ruled out with a concussion during tonight’s game. They need you for the game tomorrow.” My mouth dropped open. While I didn’t want any of my replacements to get injured for me to get called back up, it was usually the reason why they had an empty roster seat. There was a hint of sadness in Topper’s tone as he continued. “And well, the foreseeable future.”

In true Topper fashion, he hung up the phone without any further pleasantries. Slowly, I lowered my phone from my ear and just stared at it. This was it. I got my wish. My sentence with the Sillys was over.

So why wasn’t I happy?

Despite the urgent phone call, I had to go back in and tell the guys I needed to leave. The majors waited for no man, especially when a team was in dire straits. Besides, knowing them, they probably would think up some hair-brained, elaborate scheme that I’d been kidnapped if I left without telling them.

“Hey guys, I gotta head out,” I said quickly, tossing my thumb over my shoulder for emphasis.

“Dude, what the fuck? We just got here.” There was concern in Arlow’s tone.

“Jamie, man. You look like shit. You okay?” Benson stepped up to me, followed by half the Sillysroster. I didn’t want to be confronted by all of them. How were they going to take it?

I swallowed. “I uh…”

Benson eyes widened. “Holy shit,you got the call.” There was a clusterfuck of murmurs all at once as the guys talked among themselves.

“Fuck, Jamie. You gotta go, man.” I looked up at Kellan who gave me an encouraging nod. Taken aback, I looked at the guys one by one. While they looked bummed, I could tell that they knew. If you got a call up from the majors, hell to even level up in the minors, there’s no fucking way you turn it down.

There was a resounding chorus of enthusiastic support from the guys. “But, I–”

“No buts man.” Camden chirped.

“We will miss you like hell, but Schmidt’s been dying to get his full-time star status back,” Truitt added as Schmidt shot him a look. I did feel bad taking away the job of an already outstanding catcher. He deserved his spotlight once again.

“But no one can fill the stands like Jamie can.” Schmidt reminded everyone. They all grumbled in agreement.

“I’m gonna miss you guys too. It's been fun as hell.” My smile drooped a bit. Fuck, Cady. Dammit, how was I going to explain this to her?

“Does Cadence know yet?” Benson asked cautiously, almost as if he could read my thoughts.

“No. I literally just hung up the phone with Topper before I came back inside. I–” The air in the room had gone dry as I tried to swallow back my worry. “I don’t know how to tell her. Especially after such a great performance today.”

The Sillys clinked their beer bottles together with a murmur.

“You’d better tell her you love her,” Martin added nonchalantly, completely out of the blue. The entire Sillys roster turned to look at him.

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