Page 57 of Honeysuckle
You need to know something…
Silas had tried.
“Good afternoon, Harbor!” His cracked voice boomed through the microphone, and the stadium cheered for him. The sound of their adoration only made me more sick to my stomach. They had no idea who he really was; it was hidden beneath walls of smiles and donations that satiated the masses. The ones who never did their research past a simple newsletter or article in the paper.
Charles Shore was a slimy asshole with darker secrets than anyone on this field outside Silas and myself knew. His bullshit speech was drowned out by the hatred that was coursing through my veins. This was the closest we had ever been.
Even after I found out who I was, I had never confronted him.
I had, on many occasions, stood outside the hospital he worked at and stared up at the shiny glass windows just wanting to fucking kill him but never finding the courage to go inside. I smashed the shit out of his car one time; spent three days hiding from the cops when they came looking for a kid with my description.
I gave up trying to make him see me after that. It wasn’t worth the heat from the cops, and he had replaced the car with something newer before I could even blink. People like him—money didn’t matter, and neither did their mistakes.
He was the reason my mother started using drugs.
He was the reason she started selling my body for money.
For all the scars and nightmares.
The reason I couldn’t breathe when someone stood too close.
And he didn’t give a shit.
I stared at the back of his head in disgust, just praying it would end soon so we could play baseball.
“Our new captain, Dean Tucker, and our new starting pitcher, Joshua Logan.”
He had no idea.
I almost vomited hearing my name roll off his lips so casually.
My eyes immediately locked onto Silas, standing on the stairs in the dugout, worry straining over his features as Dean started forward to stand with Charles Shore, but I remained frozen.
“You have to do it”—that’s what he was saying without words, waiting for me to cause a scene, but I was so rooted in the ground I couldn’t move to try.
“Josh,” Cael mumbled under his breath. "He wants you to throw the first pitch… move, man.”
I cleared my throat and stepped forward to where Dean stood next to him, my jaw clenched so tightly I could feel the muscles that ached down through my shoulders and spine. I came shoulder to shoulder with the man who’d thrown me out like trash and stared straight ahead.
Silas’ hands were wrapped tightly around the bannister, watching and waiting to intervene, but frozen just the same.
I flinched when a hand came down on my shoulder and dug into my skin. "Logan will lead us to another win, so let’s start treating him like family!”
I gagged, bile rising, and I choked on it in my throat.
“You alright, son?” Charles turned to me and squeezed my shoulder tighter.
Son.
He hadn’t meant it in the way I took it, but it churned viciously in my stomach nonetheless. I glared at him and nodded slowly and carefully. Each small movement felt like my skin was peeling and pulling.
“Let’s throw that pitch,” I gritted out, forcing a smile that didn’t reach my eyes.
TUCKER
“Nothingfancy,”Isaidto Josh as I walked to the catcher's spot with my glove.
His dark eyes were glassy, fixed somewhere far away. His whole body had looked like it might curl into a ball when Mr. Shore laid his hand on him. I braced for a snapped comment or an angry remark, but Josh stayed quieter than I’d ever seen him.
