Page 3 of Double Play

“This isn’t a home,” she replies, her jaw practically on the floor. “It’s a fucking castle.” I chuckle as she steps further into the room, taking in the luxurious custom carpet and plush white furniture as she passes. Tinsville is full of modest, middle-class homes like the ones we were raised in. Neither of us could’ve even dreamt something like this up when we were kids. It’s still surreal to me that I own it, and I’m here every day. It almost felt like overkill when the realtor gave us the tour. Did we reallyneedfive bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a media room with a wall-to-wall bed? No. Not even a little bit. But we bought it anyway.

Arden is the first family member to set foot in here since my mom and her dad haven’t made it out yet. And Hawk’s family may as well be non-existent. If any of them ever showed up here, they’d play hell getting to him when they’d have to make it through me first.

“Oh my God,” Arden says, stepping up to the wall of windows that gives a panoramic view of the Daytona skyline. The other side of the building, where my teammate Riggs Valentine lives with his girlfriend Monroe, looks over a topless beach. As tempting as it was to purchase a unit over there, you can’t beat the twinkling city lights at night. Turning back toward me, a smile blooms across her face. “Are you kidding me, Jacks? This is insane.”

I shrug, gripping the back of my neck because I don’t know what to say. Between my best friend and me, we could’ve bought ten of these condos, but I know she’s struggled to make ends meet since college. She took a chance to play the sport she loves in Argentina, but all it did was put her further into debt. It’s unfair how volleyball players don’t get the respect they deserve. While Arden makes it look effortless, the amount of strength, coordination, and knowledge it takes to play are skills not many people can master. That’s why I’m hoping this new league can turn things around.

“Oh, are you modest now?” she mocks. “How many women have you brought here as a flex to get them to sleep with you?” She’s goading me, as usual—trying to get a reaction. I’ve always been weak to it. Joking around and bantering with one another is what we do, and it’s how our friendship lasted as long as it did. At least before my mind got all muddied. Add in our parents getting married and us being thrust into a house together—things were bound to change at least a little bit.

I scoff playfully. “I don’t bring women to my house. What do you think I am? An amateur? I’d like to live peacefully, sans stalkers, thank you very much.”

She raises a dubious brow. “Better not. I’d rather live in a crowded alley than deal with the cleat chasers you spend your time with.”

“First of all,” I reply, grinning, “they’re lovely girls. Secondly, how do you know who I’m spending my time with? I haven’t seen you since last Christmas.” She’s not wrong. I do enjoy the company of some of the women I meet while I’m on the road. I do less of it here in Daytona because, believe it or not, I’m a homebody. When I have the chance to relax in my own space, I take it. I’ll go out on occasion during the offseason, but even that’s a rare occurrence.

She walks toward me, smoothing her hand over the luxe upholstery of the gray sectional in the middle of the room as she passes. “You realize you’re all over the tabloids, right? A new girl on your arm every night of the week? Never the same one twice?”

My eyes go wide with faux shock. “Princess, are youslut shaming me? Because that’s what it sounds like.”

“No,” she says, popping her hip in a spectacular show of attitude. “Just wanted to know what I signed myself up for. Get your dick wet, Jacks. I’d just rather not run into your flavors of the week on my way to the kitchen in the middle of the night, so I’ll make sure to stay in my room if you have someone here.”

Said dick twitches behind my zipper as if he’s being summoned, and I have to warn him to stand down. It’s Arden, and we can’t react to her that way. No matter how old we were when it happened, she’s my stepsister, and I have to treat her as such. I’d give anything to go back and slap the fuck out of my seventeen-year-old self for even entertaining the idea that he should like her as more than a friend, because even though most of the time I can keep my thoughts under control, one slips through every now and then.

I swallow thickly at the reminder, a mask of seriousness falling over my expression. Thankfully, she doesn’t notice the change in my demeanor as her jaw goes slack in a deep yawn. “Let me show you your room,” I say, jutting my chin at the staircase behind her. She nods, following me as I walk up the stairs, turning to the right and leading her into the biggest guest room we have. My room is across from it, and Hawk’s is practically on the other side of the house, which worked well when it was just the two of us. I figured keeping her and me on the same part of the floor would be less of an inconvenience for him, since he keeps to himself. He said he was fine with having her here, but I don’t want him to be uncomfortable. He knows Arden, but the few times they’ve been around each other, he seemed to clam up even more than usual, which is crazy since he’s already pretty reserved around anyone but me. We became fast friends seven years ago when we were drafted, both ending up on the Fury’s Triple-A team in Sarasota. Our contracts were being negotiated, and we weren’t sure what our futures held, so we decided to live together to save money. We both signed multi-million dollar deals with the Fury, but when it came time to upgrade our tiny apartment, the idea of going our separate ways never even came up. And here we are.

“This is perfect,” she says on a relieved exhale, walking over and faceplanting onto the queen-sized mattress. I laugh, pulling open the door to the large walk-in closet and carefully setting her bags down one by one so she can unpack them when she’s ready.

“You have your own bathroom and—” I cut myself off when I step out, finding her curled up in a ball against the mattress. Tiny snores come from her body as she peacefully sleeps, a rogue piece of chocolate-brown hair hanging over one eye. I huff a quiet laugh, not surprised that she barely made it onto the pillow before she knocked out. Quietly padding her way, I take the thick throw blanket that’s draped across the end of the bed, pull it open, and cover her as carefully as I can. It’s not as heavy as the weighted blanket she used to use after a particularly stressful day, but it’ll have to suffice. Because judging by the lightness of the bags I brought in here, that will be coming with the rest of her belongings from the moving company tomorrow.

I back away, looking down at the girl who used to be a constant in my life, but may as well be a stranger now with the distance that’s separated us over the last handful of years. Even though it’s normal for that to happen after high school, it doesn’t mean I don’t wish it was different.

It’s going to take some effort to keep things from getting awkward on my part now that she’s living here. I need to focus on all of our years of friendship rather than the sliver of time when I thought I wanted more. That ship sailed the moment I knocked on her door that day.

I smoothed the non-existent wrinkles from my Tinsville High Baseball hoodie, gripping the steering wheel of my car and exhaling a slow breath. When I overheard Cooper in the locker room talking about how he wasn’t sure which of the three girls he was dating he’d ask to prom, I knew I had to act fast. Because I didn’t think I could live with myself if he chose Arden, and I hadn’t at least tried. I knew she was a virgin, and I also knew what the guys were expecting to happen at the hotel afterward. She was old enough to make her own choices and understand the consequences if that’s what she ultimately decided, but the thought of him using and hurting her made me see red. Cooper had no intention of being her boyfriend, and that was clear from the way he seemed to be playing the field. Why Arden still thought she could change that was a mystery to me.

“Just go up there, knock on the door, and ask,” I mumbled to myself. I had been friends with her for seven years and couldn’t remember a time I had ever been nervous to talk to her. But now that I was seeing her in a different light—as somethingmore—I was terrified. What if she rejected me? I worried about what that could’ve meant for us, and if it would ruin the strong friendship we had built. But I wasn’t willing to risk her ending up with Cooper and not knowing how I felt.

I grabbed the flowers from my passenger seat and stepped out into the cool Pennsylvania air. It nipped at the heated skin of my cheeks as I made my way from the car-lined street down the walkway toward Arden’s house. Inhaling one last big breath before I reached the door, I found the courage to reach out and ring the bell. I waited, hoping like hell that she was home, because I didn’t know if I had the balls to come back and try again if she wasn’t.

Moments later, a very familiar laugh seeped through the thick wood, making my brows knit tightly together. It was feminine and soft, one I had heard a million times before—but it didn’t belong to the girl I came here for.

The door swung open, and my shock turned to horror when my speculations were confirmed.

“Mom?” I croaked, taking in the way she was tightening the long, white robe around her body. It was the middle of the day. And thiswasn’tour house.

“Oh my God, Jackson,” she said, her stunned expression mirroring my own. “Honey, what are you doing here? I thought you had practice.”

“I-I—” I stuttered, still completely aghast. “Coach had to cancel. I…what’s going on?”

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a male voice rang out behind her. “Who is it, baby?” Slade asked, coming into view over her shoulder. I’d just seen him that morning when I picked Arden up for school. He was dressed then…a stark contrast from the way he looked as I stared at him now, my jaw practically on the floor as he adjusted the towel around his waist.

“What the fuck?” I said quietly, wishing I could erase the sight from my brain. “Were you two…?” I couldn’t even finish the question, for fear that every bit of my shitty school lunch would end up all over the porch in front of me.

I knew my mom had started dating. And I was happy for her. When my dad decided to leave, it took her a long time to put herself back out there. There were times when she was so sad and lonely, I practically begged her to sign up for a dating app so she could see that her best years were still ahead of her. ButSlade Levine, Arden’s fucking dad, was not who I had in mind.

My mom blew out a long breath, opening the door further and stepping out of the way so I could come inside. I hesitated, unsure if I even wanted to. My entire system was still in shock, and I was afraid of what would happen if I let them tell me what was going on. My purpose for coming here felt like a distant memory, even though I was still clutching the dozen pink roses in my hand.

“Come in, Jacks,” she coaxed, and my feet carried me through the opening, where Slade returned at her side, now covered by a t-shirt and sweatpants. I was so busy staring blankly at my mother that I hadn’t even noticed he slipped away to get dressed.

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