Page 93 of Honeysuckle
“What has he told you?” I snapped, my tone sharper than intended.
“Who?” She asked, it was her turn to narrow her eyes on me.
“Silas,” I said, retracting my hand. She hadn’t shaken it for a reason, and I wanted to know what Silas had said to her, and I wanted to know now.
“The last time I spoke to Silas about you was to make that bet,” she chuckled softly. "Your hand was shaking, and I’ve noticed from press conferences, player lineups… You rarely offer your hand to anyone. You don’t even high-five after a home run.”
She was good, I’d give her that.
“You went back and watched old press tapes?” I asked, incredulous.
“I like to know the players,” she said. "You can learn a lot from a person from how they act under public scrutiny.”
“That must be hundreds of players,” I scoffed. "There’s no way.”
“Two hundred and sixteen athletes come in and out of this office, to be exact. I’m the therapist for all the teams at Harbor, it was very important to Seymour Shore that players were of healthy body and mind,” she explained.
“Feels phony,” I said, just being honest with her.
“You can say what you want about Seymour, but phony, he’s not.” She defended him.
“I get it, you’re under the Shores payroll so you pump their egos, get a little extra on the side…” I said. "Makes sense, it’s why Coach Cody has a job. What did you have to do for yours?”
Riona laughed at me as she wandered around her desk and leaned against it beside me. She kept a fair distance, but she constantly kept her eyes trained on mine.
“Six years of school while raising a daughter on my own, living out of a car, and fighting through about nineteen other very highly qualified candidates.” She answered the question without skipping a beat. “I don’t pump egos, Mr. Logan.” She smiled, keeping her voice professional. “I deflate them because typically overconfident, brash egos attached to men who are usually described as bullies can only mean one thing.”
“What’s that?” I asked her, knowing I probably wouldn’t like whatever shrink answer she decided to throw at me next.
“Trauma,” she simply said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m not traumatized,” I argued and rolled my eyes.
“But you are an overconfident, brash bully with an inflated ego?” She asked, a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth that mimicked the same one Cael had.
“That’s your assumption,” I said.
“Alright, so why did you come up here then, Logan, if not for open communication and a good bickering session? I’m sure if you ask him nicely, Arlo or… Mitchell, maybe, would verbally spar with you. Mitchell pretends to be a softy, but he’s…” she widened her eyes and scoffed as she rounded her desk again, going back to her chair.
“I was going to set up a meeting, but this clearly isn’t going to work,” I muttered, stepping back.
“On the contrary, Josh, I’ve never seen you so uncomfortable,” she said, picking up her pen and flipping the page in her book. “Tuesday, after practice.”
I shook my head, my tongue pressed to my teeth. She was going to be my worst nightmare, but I liked how easily she ignored my gruff nature, and it was almost fun to argue with her, if that was what we were doing…
“Tuesday,” I repeated with a nod, then turned and left her office.
TUCKER
Fridaynightgameswere,without question, my least favorite thing on the planet. The boys were restless after a long week, wanting to spend the night getting wasted at Delta and forgetting all the crap we learned in school. No one wanted to be dressing for a game beneath a concrete pad that held thousands of cheering fans.
But tonight was even worse, it would be the first time we were facing Lorette since Josh had transferred to Harbor. Transfers weren’t usually a big deal—they happened all the time—but Josh hadn’t exactly left Lorette on good terms.
After our conversation about what happened with Ian, I reached out to a few of the guys over at Lorette. I was nosy and wanted to know if Josh had told me the entire truth. I realized quickly that he had been ostracized there long before Ian had snapped. It was like I’d slapped them—the mood shifted instantly the second I brought him up.
Nothing about Josh’s sexual orientation was mentioned, but I could feel them holding back almost as if they weren’t sure how truthful they could be with me. Ian was a sore topic; turns out whatever Josh had done had serious consequences. He’d spend the majority of the season in the dugout.
Tonight would be a bloodbath.
