Page 77 of Players and Pages
It took about two seconds for Henry to lose it and I nearly dumped my popcorn when I saw Cy jump between him and the ump.
I don’t think I breathed again until he grinned at the camera and waved.
The rest of the game I was wound tight, my body flushing with the heat of anxiety until I felt downright dizzy. My hands were clammy and I barely spoke, but my friends didn’t call me on it. They simply stuck close to me, offering silent reassurance.
The Rockets’ coach tore into Henry for a moment after the first round and he seemed to be behaving for the rest of the game, though tension was palpable throughout the stadium each time they got close.
I could already hear the gossip videos going viral, speculating about the reasons behind the fighting and glares.
“Um, Dani, are you okay?” Taryn hedged. I looked over, startled.
“Yeah. Why?” I tried to play it off but my voice shook anyway. Who was I kidding? I was a mess. “No.”
“It’s going to be alright,” she promised. “He’ll move onto something else, assholes like him always do.”
I didn’t believe her. She didn’t see the way he looked at me, like I was a prize to be won. He hated Cy enough that he’d set his sights on me.
“Okay, I get the nerves, but what’s with your scent?” Bea asked, nearly choking. My cheeks flared and I glanced around, noticing the way the guys were shifting back out of range as subtly as possible.
My horrified glance finally landed on Taryn. “Sorry, girl, I think this sent you into a heat spike.”
“No,” I gasped, glancing out at the huge crowd. There wasn’t a worse place for an omega to suddenly go into heat.
“It’s not your fault. It’s early and this stress just kicked it into gear,” she tried to talk me down but I was already too far gone.
“Everyone out!” Holt barked. The few staff who had remained hurried out, leaving us alone. He was scary when he tried. “We’ll wait outside until the end. Only one inning left then they’ll get you home.”
“Okay,” I whispered, tears breaking free. This was embarrassing enough but the guys having to leave and knowing my pack had games coming up, was only piling onto how bad I felt at the moment.
“Stop the pity party,” Bea said as blunt as ever. It wasn’t mean, just firm. “You know this isn’t on you. None of it is. So, just handle it like the badass omega you are. Let them kick Henry’s ass, then we can get you into your nest.”
“My nest isn’t even ready and it’s so far away,” I groaned.
“They made you one here, right?” Taryn asked carefully.
“Yeah, they got some clothes and necessities in, but it’s not everything I would need if this is a full heat.”
“Shopping time,” Taryn said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and got to work. “Give me something to work with. Colors? Fuzzy, satin…?
“I like bright colors,” I admitted. They helped ground me when I was starting to lose my mind to the heat fog.
But this time it would be different. I’d have my pack.
“Leave it to us,” they promised, picking out things and whispering until the end of the game. I was too antsy to intervene, eyes darting to the door the moment they were celebrating and hurrying off field.
I had never been more on edge than I was right now. Where were my mates? I needed to nest and I needed them. Taryn and Bea taking lead on ordering stuff helped but now I was antsy. The compulsion to get it all just right was starting to take overand I was beginning to fail at keeping it at bay. My foot started to tap just as the doors flew open.
There were my guys rushing towards me before they surrounded me and pulled me to them.
"Sorry, we weren't here," Jackson said on my left.
"What do you need?" Cy asked.
"You," I told them breathlessly.
"We started a nest at our place, in case this happened. What else do you need for it?" Griff asked.
"Taryn and Bea have it covered, unless you want to get snacks and water," I answered.
