Page 92 of Pitcher Us
Will starts with a chuckle but when I give him the side eye he shuts right up. “I’m sorry, you’re right, not funny. Want me to scare her with an accidentally close pitch at warm-ups?”
I let that image play out in my head for a moment and now it’s my turn to laugh. “As tempting as that sounds, I think that might push our ‘we won’t let our relationship affect our work’ argument. I can snap her silly little pictures if it means we can make this work.”
Will smiles down at me. “Yeah, yeah, but if my hand slips, just know it was intentional.”
“Will!” I smack his leg. “Go inside.”
“Yeah, I got to go warm up my arm.” Will starts to stretch as he walks toward the entrance. “Would hate for a pitch to go a little sideways.”
Chapter 38
Will
Man, Callie wasn’t kidding when she said Shannon was out for blood. My girl ran all over the place during warm-ups. It was a damn miracle I didn’t say anything…or throw anything.
I tried hanging back on the field for a little while longer, to catch a moment to check in on Callie, but Shannon wasn’t about to let that happen. Before I could even step in her direction, Shannon stepped in and sent her somewhere else.
Heading back to the locker room, we have time to kill before the game actually starts so I might venture back out to see if I can find her again. Reaching for my phone I text her asking for her schedule, so my completely harmless walk later just happens to be where she’s at.
“Hey, Anderson. Good luck today,” a man says in front of me.
It doesn’t take long for me to register why the voice sounds so familiar. Looking up slowly, I take a calming breath. “Nic, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Chicago right now? Oh, don’t tell me, did they send you back down? It happens, you just have to keep practicing.”
An unsettling smirk comes to his face. “Oh, you haven’t heard the good news. I got traded to the New York Crimsons.” Nictakes a step closer and shoves his hands in his pockets. “And wanna know the best part? I got an early flight, so it looks like I’m playing today.”
The fucker has such a smug look on his face that I’m dying to clean it right off with a nice left hook, but this is exactly what me and Callie talked about. I won’t risk her.
“Yeah, well, good for you,” I say plainly and try to step around him toward the locker room.
Nic matches my step. “Ya know, I was hoping I could talk to Calliope. Any chance you might know where she is?”
“Stay the fuck away from Callie.” The words come out instinctively. I should have known this prick would want to bring her into this. Cutting my eyes to him, I say, “Was her right hook not subtle enough for you? Leave her the fuck alone.”
Nic huffs a laugh. “Calliope is quite addicting, isn’t she? I don’t know if you’ve seen her in her true element, she’s insane with numbers. Although, no one in her family ever really did give her any credit—which I’m sure is the reason for her outbursts. But I suppose she’s not shown you that side of her.” He shrugs. “Or maybe she has…I thought it was so interesting the way you chased after her a couple months ago. She likes the chase, trust me.”
My blood is absolutely boiling. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grit out.
“Sure you don’t.” Nic leans forward and says quietly, “Just between us, she’s great in bed. A little mouthy, but hey, she makes up for it?—”
I don’t think at that moment. I grab Nic’s throat and slam him against the nearest wall. “Shut your fucking mouth. You useless piece?—”
Before I can even start my threat, Beck’s pulling me back. “Whoa, what the fuck is going on out here?”
Nic falls forward with a strangled breath. “You think she’s worth it, but she’s fucking not.”
I’m going to kill him. I’m absolutely going to murder him here in the stadium.
But this time when I go after him it’s not just Beck holding me back. Tripp must have come out with him and I’ve just been in too much of a blind rage to notice.
“Get out of my fucking way,” I yell when Tripp steps in front of me.
“Will, calm down.” Tripp pushes me further back and keeps his focus on me, while Beck tells Nic to fuck off.
But then in that moment everything shifts when I see fire. Callie strolls down the hallway toward us with no warning of what she’s about to walk into.
“Calliope, it seems you’ve already done a number on one of your brother’s teammates and your co-worker… I just thought if you were going to keep being a slut, you’d try to maintain some sort of respect for the workplace.” Nic spews his words so easily.
And in that moment, my blind rage immediately spreads to Beck and Tripp.
