Page 74 of Wild Pitch
“Anyway.” Otto clears his throat in a phlegmy way. “You two behave while I’m gone, I’d hate to write you up.”
As if he had the power to do that.
I turn a fulminating glare on him. “Screw the hell off.”
“Just saying. You should be more careful than anyone else, Hope. You’re a single woman among men.” He shrugs in a petulant way and walks off to the dugout.
I huff. “Hijo de su madre.”
To my surprise Starr glares after him and says, “Wow, I didn’t know he was such a little shit. Does he treat you like that often?”
I switch my attention on his arm, starting by his rock solid bicep that makes me work extra harder. “You heard him, it’s what I get for being the only woman in the player support staff. Go me, breaking the glass ceiling by face planting on it, I guess.”
He mutters a big curse and looks up at me. “I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself, though. And I just want you to know we’ll have your back. Me and everyone in the team, especially Kim.”
I pause. “Why Logan especially?”
He mouths the catcher’s first name without producing a sound, and shakes his head hard. “Well, because you’re dating now.”
“What?”
“What?” he repeats, frowning.
“Who’s dating who?”
“You and ‘Logan.’” He uses his free hand to air quote, the frozen shoulder pack strewn over his lap.
“Uh… where did you get that from?”
If anything, he looks even more confused. “Didn’t you kiss last night? Because that’s a pretty solid indication that the fit is right and all that. At least enough to get a second date.”
I lean back. Unable to hold his gaze, I do my best to focus on his arm. Slowly, I say, “Logan and I didn’t kiss last night.”
“But I saw you—I mean, Lucky and I. You were in the parking lot. He grabbed your head like this.” He mimics it with his hand in the air. I don’t know why it makes my pulse spike like I’m watching him strike out an Eagle with a cutter.
“Oh. He was just getting an eyelash out of my eye,” I whisper. Starr whips his face back to me. “But anyway, no. We’re not dating. There’s no second date happening.”
“Why not?” He almost whines.
“I appreciate the effort, Coach.” Finally done with the massage, I gently lower his arm to the armrest and reach for the ice pack. As I work, I say, “But there’s no way I can date someone in the team. Not without getting written up or worse, fired. You heard Otto just now, didn’t you?”
Starr draws air sharply and when I meet his eyes he whispers, “Shit.”
We don’t speak the rest of the time it takes me to wrap the ice pack around his shoulder and elbow, but all throughout he glares at a random spot on the floor. I almost apologize for ruining his plan of setting me up with Logan—not that it would’ve worked anyway. The catcher isn’t the one catching my eye these days.
Starr throws his head back on the chair, right arm over his face to cover him from the light. I leave him there, returning to the dugout where no one else makes my heart race.
CHAPTER 24
CADE
Ajerk snaps me awake and I immediately know something’s up when I can barely open my eyes. It takes several attempts until I’m able to crack one open and I lay there disoriented for a long moment. There’s light streaming from the bedroom window, which is weird. This time of year I usually get up before dawn. It’s during the regular season, where games are at night, that my alarm goes off mid morning. Did the alarm not go off?
Wait, that’s what the annoying blaring sound is.
Groaning as if I was trying to lift four hundred pounds, I manage to roll my two hundred pounds over to the edge of the bed. I swing my arm over, pawing around the night table until I feel the rectangle under my hand. I tap around the center of the screen, but the sound doesn’t stop.
“What now?” I mumble with the same delivery of a drunk man who has screamed all night long.
