Page 13 of Wild Pitch
“And not just any guy—one with such sex appeal that one little interview has gone viral and is resulting in thousands of marriage proposals from women on the internet.”
“What?”
Behind me, Audrey starts chuckling. “Oh, that’s genius.”
“I’m gonna need you to spell it out for me,” I say instead.
All that gets me is Rosalina’s cellphone in my face, showing a quick little TikTok where Cade Starr talks about his ideal woman being someone who keeps it real or whatever. That sounds like a load of bull manure to me, because he’s basically describing the half of the population who aren’t like my former friends.
And then it hits me.
I jump from my barstool. “No way. I’m not asking Cade Starr for help.”
“Think about it,” Rose continues calmly. “You’re probably going about this too tense because you have a deadline and all. Maybe what you really need is to know what to say to guys to get them to go on dates with you, and then what to say during said dates.”
“Let’s say you’re right about that,” I start, folding my arms and jutting my lower lip out. “But Starr is still the wrong guy for this. He doesn’t have to go on dating apps to find an Annie for the night.”
“Which is what makes him perfect because…” Her lips curl into an evil smile that paralyzes me. “He’s the right person to turn you into the female version of him. No more apps. Just men flocking to you. You taking your pick. Doesn’t that sound amazing?”
Audrey hums from her throat. “That does sound ideal.”
I hug myself even tighter and say nothing. I don’t have to.
We all know I agree with that. I’ve been making this monumental effort to put myself out there with randos from the internet for three months. Nine more of this would finish snuffing the spark of life from me.
But seriously, Cade Starr? The guy whose eyes I can’t even meet because I’m so embarrassed?
Why couldn’t Logan Kim be the one who went viral? He’s a pretty decent guy who wouldn’t tease the shit out of me.
Except… Starr didn’t really mock me after the incident, did he? He seemed set on taking it to the grave until I made a big deal about it. In that regard, he’s way better than most of the other guys in the team.
And it’s also true that he turns heads wherever he goes. I’ve literally seen him stroll into some bar along with a flock of other fit men from the team, and be the only one swarmed by local women. It used to make Ben Williams, our former starter pitcher, gnash his teeth with open jealousy.
I picture myself being surrounded by men interested in me and—whew, it sounds terrifying. But at least I wouldn’t be working so damn hard to find a decent one.
“Fine,” I spit out as if the prospect of accomplishing my mission didn’t make me want to barf. “Let’s see if he even agrees to this little scheme.”
CHAPTER 6
CADE
Istop in my tracks to yawn so hard that my jaw makes a popping sound. I rub my eyes, trying to clear the second wave of sleepiness that wants to crash over me thanks to my disrupted morning. Finally, I take the last step to hop on the treadmill to warm up.
Usually I catch the sunrise above the roofs of fancy ass houses while jogging around my neighborhood. My neighbor two houses down is this power suit middle-aged man, who usually walks his dog at a similar time. I say hey, he says hey back, and we ignore each other every other time we bump into the other again. Often, I also see this young mom jogging with her baby in a carrier. She always wears headphones and doesn’t even go as far as power suit dude to say hey—straight up ignores me. It’s a perfect arrangement for everyone involved.
Not today. Or yesterday.
Both days, I left my house in my training clothes, ready to do my circuit around the lake, and saw an unknown woman stretching around the corner.
That’s not a big deal until the strange woman starts following you.
At first I thought I was being weird. Pfff, a woman, stalkingme? What the hell for? I’m not a Hollywood star or even a household name in the league. I go to places in town and the vast majority of people don’t recognize me. In fact, the handful who do are usually male baseball fans of the kind who can recall verbatim what my average was last year, the year before, and even in my last year in the minors. Even I don’t know that shit, so we both get to enjoy flattering each other.
But women only ever approach me because I’m decent looking, and usually when they’re imbued by liquid courage at a bar.
So I ignored her yesterday and finished my route. Except she was there again this morning, same spot, and with another friend. And this time, they were brave enough to make sure that I knew they were watching me. I’ve seen enough weird ish happen to other players to not chance it, so I made a stellar U-turn back into my house, grabbed my duffel bag and came over to the team facilities to train indoors instead.
I set a good pace on the treadmill and sigh, already missing the fresh air and natural light. But at least there are no weird women here.
