Page 59 of Pitcher Us
“Wait, that’s why you look familiar,” Adam says, breaking the silence. “Your parents are friends with ours.”
“Yeah,” Nic responds but his eyes don’t leave Callie. “Calliope and I might have taken the friends things a little further, though.” He tilts his head, addressing Callie now. “You were in your last semester getting your master’s in finance when we started dating, but—you always did love photography, didn't you? I just assumed you liked beingin frontof the camera.”
What the fuck does that mean?
In a millisecond I see Callie go from shocked to outright pissed. She takes two steps, shoves her camera at Adam and punches Nic right in the face. “Fuck you.”
It takes all of us a couple seconds to recover, and before I can even process what just happened Callie’s halfway to Jett’s car.
“I see you leaving didn’t make you any less of a stuck-up bitch,” Nic hollers after her.
I’m pretty sure Adam and I both see red at those words. But where Adam’s red comes from Nic, my red is blazing away and I need to check on her. Adam grabbing Nic’s collar is the last thing I see as I chase after Callie.
“Callie, hold on!” I shout after her, but she doesn’t stop. “Callie!”
When she reaches Jett’s car she yanks on the door handle trying to rip it open but it’s locked. Tears stream down her face. Fuck if someone sees. I turn her to me and cradle her face.
“Callie, it’s just me, baby. It’s okay.” I wipe away her tears, and she sighs.
“I’m sorry, I thought when I saw him at a game or something I would be more prepared. Practice being professional, but I didn’t expect?—”
“Shh.” I pull her in, holding her tight with my hand on the back of her head. “Don’t apologize. What did I tell you about apologizing on behalf of men?”
“I was apologizing for hitting him, Will. My action, not his. “She sniffles.
“His actions caused it.” I kiss her head.
She snorts a sad laugh. “You don’t even know what he did.”
“It doesn’t matter. He deserved it, end of story.”
Her arms squeeze around my waist a little tighter and it seems that her tears have stopped. I should probably let go, but I don’t want to.
“Callie,” Adam calls.
We get a small arms distance away from each other before he comes barreling around the other cars.
“What the fuck just happened?” he barks.
“Adam. Chill out, man,” I throw back at him.
It takes Adam a minute to register my words and for a moment I think he might lash out at me next but then he takes a deep breath. “You’re right. Callie, are you okay?”
Callie wipes the tears off her cheeks. “Yeah, I’m fine. But I’m not staying here if he’s going to be here. I was going to manage when you played against Chicago and hoped I would be too busy to interact, but not here. I’m also not taking any pictures of him, so don’t even ask.”
“I wasn’t,” Adam replies. “Jett’s called him a car to take him back to their hotel. Damon is going to stay, if that’s okay?”
She nods. “That’s fine.”
I probably shouldn’t be the one to ask this—to Adam it might come off weird, but fuck it. “Callie, what happened?”
She exasperates a breath. “Can we do this later?”
Adam sighs next to me. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to need some sort of answer. I rarely play the brother card, but I am now.”
Rolling her eyes, she huffs. “Fine, but can we go somewhere else for a minute?”
Chapter 28
