Page 92 of True Honey
“Get her out of here.” Arlo pointed, shaking his head at Silas as I ran the cloth over his shoulders, making his skin shiny under the hot sun. Arlo continued to whine as Silas turned to face me with his arms out at his sides and an amused smile on his face.
“I didn’t think they actually rubbed you down with oil?” I said, running the cloth over his chest.
“I thought you were going to tackle the makeup girl when she told me to strip,” Silas said, his smile wide as he watched me spray more of the sweetsmelling spray on his skin. I couldn’t tell if it was baby oil, or watered-down sunscreen but it tickled my nose and made his tanned skin glow.
“I was not going to tackle her…” I mumbled. My jealousy had gotten the better of me when she decided she was going to touch him. Seeing the excitement on her face, I took over the job with a few choice words that had Silas laughing at me.
“She doesn’t get to wash it off me later.” His voice was low as he leaned down and caught my eye, tapping the underside of my chin with his finger. I froze at the tiny show of affection, knowing August was probably watching but Silas had thought about that already. “He’s busy.”
“I don’t like hiding it from him,” I whispered, my voice growing sad despite the promise of private affection later.
“Then tell him,” Silas pushed.
“That’s asking for disappointment,” I responded softly and I could see the hurt in his eyes but it was the truth. It was one thing to have my heart broken, but to break August’s was a whole other ballgame. I couldn’t do that to him, no matter how much I loved the way Silas looked at me, or how safe I felt around him…around them all.
“I’ll win you over eventually,” he said, masking the sadness quickly as the wolfish smile returned to his face. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“It’s your turn.” I tapped his chest, ignoring his statement with a knowing look on my face, “go before we lose Arlo and he doesn’t want to do it anymore.”
He stared at me for a second longer and it was obvious that he wanted to say something more but didn’t want to start an argument or ruin the day. I tossed the cloth and spray bottle to the table beside me and went to stand with Ella who was watching intently as the photo shoot unfolded.
“I can’t believe you got them to do this,” she said, crossing her arms as Silas grabbed a bat and mimicked Arlo’s pose. Both of them stood with their feet wide in low-hanging baseball pants with the bats over the back of their shoulders. The angle made Silas’s arms grow in size as his muscles tensed from the stretch, his stomach flexing as he laughed at something Arlo grumbled.
“They’re good men,” I said, “that’s how.”
“Mmm,” Ella agreed quietly. “All of Harbor thanks you for your service.”
“I have one more person to convince,” I looked over my shoulder at Cael whose face was a little grumpier than usual but still doing his best through the pain to entertain August.
“He loves getting naked, it won't be too hard,” Ella encouraged as I turned away from the delicious show that was Silas and Arlo. I walked across to the dugout, leaning over on the banister. “Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked, both of them looked over at me, “Cael.”
He handed August the book he was holding and pushed off the bench to join me.
“What’s up? Do you need me to grab something?” He asked, his eagerness to be useful even now was impressive. It wasn’t hard to see that even though he was healing and starting therapy with Silas, he was still fighting waves of pain. Intense soreness that a normal person would take medication for but he was handling without help.
“I need you to get on the field,” I said and his expression turned from eager to apprehensive.
“No it’s a team thing, they don’t need me out there.” Cael said, stepping back from the banister. Not a single dirty joke or playful remark was made. Even I knew that wasn't like him.
“Cael,” I said, pulling his gaze up from the dirt. “Get on the field.”
“Listen I know you mean well and I appreciate it, but… It’s a baseball thing,” Cael sighed, running a hand over his shaved head roughly. “I’m never going to play again, which means I’m not on the active roster and I don’t have a place in the Hornets calendar. Not anymore.”
His eyes drifted to Silas and Arlo having their photos taken and I could feel how heartbroken he was. I stared at him for a second before nodding, backing away but only to move to my bag with my notebook to show him something.
“I figured out what the front will look like, did I show you?” I asked him and he turned back to me with a soft shake of his head, reaching out for the notebook. His eyebrows scrunched together and his jaw tightened with a visible tick as he studied the messy sketch.
“The Nest,” he said, a tiny smile creeping on his face. “That’s clever.”
“You live there don’t you?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he sighed.
“What’s your excuse now?” I challenged and he looked up at me with that fire returning to his blue eyes. “You’re up with Dean next, and if you keep wasting time I’ll send Arlo over here.”
“You’re a fast learner,” Cael laughed, throwing his hand up in retreat before handing the notebook back.
Instead of the Harbor Hornets, the calendar would be called The Nest. Meaning Cael’s reasoning was thrown out the window because he may not play again, but he’d always be a part of the Nest.
