Page 93 of Pitcher Us
“The fuck did you just say?” Beck spits out.
Tripp takes a step away from me, toward Nic. “I must be hearing things because I know you didn’t call Callie a slut in front of her team. Who the fuck are you, anyway?”
“He’s fucking dead,” is all I get to add before Callie steps in the middle.
“Okay, everyone shut up right fucking now.” Callie holds her hands out and all I want to do is pull her toward me, but she’s pissed. “Nic, I don’t know what you’re doing here and before you even start to tell me—I don’t care. That shiner I gave you was the final reaction you’ll get out of me, so move on. I truly care more about the gum on the bottom of my shoe than you.”
Nic straightens his spine at the look on her face. “You made a mistake when you left, Calliope.”
Callie huffs a laugh. “Oh, yeah? Do me a favor and hold your breath while you wait for me to realize that.”
Nic rolls his shoulders back with an arrogant laugh. “Whatever you say,Calliope.”
I absolutely hate the way he says her name. As if it’s a way to put her down.
Callie watches until he walks out of sight, but I don’t want that fucker getting another millisecond of her attention.
“Callie,” I say softly, and reach for her hand. The moment my skin touches hers she jumps back.
“Will, what was that? We just talked about this! We talked about how to make this work and now you’re making death threats in the hall. What if Shannon saw you? She’s been all over my ass today and you knew that.”
“Baby—” I try to stop her, but she’s not done.
“And you.” She turns to Beck. “This whole ‘keep it professional’ thing was your idea. What the hell were you doing?”
“Oh, because I was just going to let him say that to you?” Beck holds up his hands but he’s not going to be able to stop Callie either.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Callie snaps. “He’s not worth it. I don’t care what he calls me, what he says, or the air he breathes. Now I have to go deal with Shannon’s insistent, pointless photos in addition to my list of pictures needed today. So, I need you guys to let this go. I will not let that asshole impact my life any more than he already has.”
Before any of us can respond to her Shannon yells from down the hall, “Callie! Any day now.”
Callie takes a deep breath then looks at me one more time. Her green eyes are eerily bright and glossy, and I knowshe’s fighting the urge to cry, but not because she’s hurt—she’s stressed.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I say quietly. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
Beck shakes her shoulder slightly. “We got you, Callie.”
Callie nods with an exasperated breath. “Okay. I’ve got to go,” she whispers then heads down the hall.
When she gets far enough away, Tripp clears his throat. “So, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that Will and Callie are together.”
“Yup,” Beck and I reply at the same time.
Tripp tosses his hands up. “Oh, so the new guy gets to break the rules but when I flirted with her in the beginning I was told to back off. When did this even happen? She went on a date not too long ago, was that the guy?”
For fuck’s sake.
“No, that’s her asshole of an ex.” I sigh. I hate that I let Nic get the better of me, but he got off way too easy to begin with. I would never tell Callie’s story to anyone, but I’m also not the only one who knows it.
“Listen, Adam can’t know about me and Callie. Not yet, at least. But we do need to tell him about Nic. The prick did some pretty serious stuff and I don’t imagine he’ll have a better response than I did.”
“Alright.” Tripp nods. “I think we should talk to the team anyway about this guy. I’m sure you’re not surprised by this, but even if none of us are actually gunning for your girl, she’s one of us now. If he starts spouting off like that, the whole team will riot.”
Fuck, he’s right.
Beck places his hand on my shoulder. “We’ve got to tell the guys something. We can leave the relationship out of it easy enough, but I don’t want that prick touching a base tonight.Either you strike him out or we make sure he never makes it to first.”
Tripp laughs. “Hope that arm of yours is warmed up because if you strike him out the entire game, you, my friend, will be my new hero.”
