Page 141 of Catch Me
“Why? You want to take some of the spots?”
“If they’re there.”
I leaned closer to Mikey and Vince. “Just for you guys. Tell me how many and I’ll set it up.”
“You’re the best, man.”
“This is our year. If I only get one World Series game in my career, I’ll fucking take it.”
Mikey punched me lightly in the stomach. “You’re gonna blow up. Everyone will be talking about your arm.”
“That just means I’ll have to talk to more people. More commercials.” I groaned. “I hate those.”
“That’s part of the game, man.”
I said a few more things to them before I headed off on my own. This shit took a toll, no matter how much I loved it. I wasn’t mentally tired, though, so I wasn’t sure if I could sleep. If my brain wouldn’t shut off, I’d stare at the ceiling for hours.
As I made my way down the block toward my hotel, I pulled out my phone. The text from Sen made me stop.
Sen:Don’t think Roman’s gonna come. He’s going through some things
I already told him that he didn’t need to let me know. It didn’t matter who he brought. Roman and I slept together one time ten months ago, and we clearly hadn’t known enough about each other. If I’d wanted to give it another shot, I would’ve texted him back, but by that point, whatever explanations he had didn’t matter to me. I offered him safety, and in return, I got silence for the holidays.
Shit happened, life went on, and if he wanted to watch the game, he could watch the game.
After I got into my hotel room, I looked around. Without Tessa, it was so quiet. I navigated to Instagram and considered going LIVE, but I wasn’t in the mood. They always asked where I’d been and what was going on in my life. The worst questions were about me being mostly absent, but I couldn’t tell them that the Braves silenced me, so I had no answers for them.
It was dumb, but I pulled up my blocked messages. Androids were a bitch for letting you see them, and it kind of defeated the purpose. I’d refrained from reading them, but there’d been a few timeswhen I looked at them without opening the conversation. Now, the whole thing was in my head, and as always, I was curious.
When I opened it, I rolled my lips. The last one was on March first, so at least he’d stopped trying. That was a good thing.
It meant he’d moved on. That was also good. Since he wasn’t sending me anything else, I unblocked him. It felt like freeing myself in a way, taking away some forbidden urge to navigate back to them.
It didn’t really matter since he wasn’t coming. I told Sen that I didn’t care either way, but now, I felt like I could breathe easier. If he had come, I’d be fine, but I didn’t want any awkwardness or negativity to bring things down.
Me, my team, my dad, and my friends. It was going to be amazing.
Chapter 45
Roman
“Go away,” I growled.
Til came up beside me and put his hands on his hips. “Tell me why you’re not going.”
“I’m busy. There are so many things I’m working on, and the characters for this game have to get done.”
“You work from home. Bring your tablet and you can do all of this there.”
“This is more than that. I need my paper and . . . pencils.”
He gave me a pointed look, then studied the pad in front of me. “That’s dope. What is it?”
“Some creature they invented for the game, and it’s a pain in the ass to do based off of their shitty descriptions. So, no, I can’t fly halfway across the country to watch a game.”
“You’re scared to face him.”
Shaking my head, I laughed. “If I was scared to face him, I wouldn’t have spent two months begging to face him. That’s the same amount of time we knew each other, so let’s not act like it was some defining point in my life.”
