Page 24 of Playing Hard to Hate
“I’ll be with my team. Figured you might need some pointers.” He grinned, and we headed over to the dugout. I could hear the crowd screaming already as the announcer started talking us up, listing our stats and silly little things about us that the fans loved.
“Oh, what’s that? Jaxon Dexter isn’t playing today? He sustained an injury in training yesterday.” Collectively, the crowd gasped in shock, and then a buzz of fear swept through the stadium.
“Rookie player Griffin Silver will be filling in for his teammate. His first time on the mound, ladies and gentlemen.” There was silence at first until my picture showed up on the big screen. Then there were screams, and I quickly became the talk of ESPN.
“All right, zone them out right the fuck now. You can’t let their emotions influence you,” Jaxon said, standing in front of me as I gazed out into the crowd. I nodded at him, and then Coach and Jaxon got us into the circle. They gave their usual peptalk. Coach glared between Jaxon and me a few times like he, too, knew that Jaxon was fine.
The other players stepped out first, but Coach grabbed the back of my jersey.
“Don’t fuck this up, Silver. Your spot on this team depends on you getting this team to the championships.” He let me go before I could answer, and then the bright lights were on me. My name was chanted from every direction.
This was new.
I stepped up to the mound.This was my dream.I had to prove myself. I had to show my dad I was good enough. I wasn’t going to fail at being a professional athlete. I had to show Jaxon he was right for believing in me.
But most of all, I had to do this for myself and for that little girl who sat at every single one of my games as a kid. The little girl who cheered for me before I was anybody.
The one I wished was here to see me finally make it.
CHAPTER 13
TATUM
PRESENT
He’d done it.He’d fucking done it. Griffin Silver, the boy from next door, the one who never thought he was good enough, pitched a record-breaking ballgame. Not only had he done that, but he’d also helped his team make it to the championships.As a fucking rookie.
I was so proud. So proud I wanted to call him and congratulate him, to sing from the rooftops about how he’d come from being the worst player on the team to the best, but we weren’t friends anymore.
We weren’t anything.
So I watched the game broadcast on my television with Millie. We screamed for him, accidentally spilled the popcorn bowl at least three times, and irritated the neighbors a few too many times, but we kept cheering as if our lives depended on it nonetheless.
Then, when the television crew zeroed on him at the end of the game, going in for that interview, and there was a dark-haired girl running up to him with a baby on her hip, I turned it off.He wasa father?
“Since when did he have a baby?” Millie asked in confusion, and I shook my head.
“From the looks of it, a few months ago.” For some reason, the thought of him having a baby with someone made my blood boil and my heart shatter to pieces I didn’t know still existed, mostly because I’d imagined us to be that couple, the happy wife running to congratulate her star athlete husband.
“Right. Well, good news then, because I set you up on a blind date tomorrow night,” she said, grinning ear to fucking ear.
“You must be joking, Millie,” I gritted out, standing up and picking up the pieces of popcorn we had dropped.
“Uh no. He’s a good friend. His sister comes to the studio, and I thought you two would hit it off.”
“You know I hate blind dates.”
“He’s hot, I promise.”
“That’s what you said last time.” I rolled my eyes, and she grinned sheepishly. “If he’s so hot, you date him.”
“No, thanks. I’ve got my eye on this new guy at my studio. He’s totally husband material, and we’d have the cutest babies.” She paused, blushing. “Except he doesn’t know it yet.”
I laughed at the way she just shrugged, like it was no big deal.
“And how is that going to work?”
“Oh, you know. He’ll figure it out. I’ve been giving enough hints that I’m single and totally into him.” She stands and helps me clean the coffee table of all our sugary snacks.
