Page 17 of Players and Pages
He snagged three flyers from his desk and passed them over. “There’s a summer camp that runs in the nearby town of Willow Lake. Kids come from all over for the typical activities for summer camp, kayaking, swimming, that sort of thing. But the local teams and businesses chip in. We are offering baseball coaching for kids this year. A training program to teach them the basics and set them up for the school year season.”
I glanced down at the colorful flyer, taking in all the details and committing them to memory.
“Four weeks, weekends off outside of the two afternoon games against a summer camp a few towns over. Practice and team building from noon to four every day,” I said, glancing at the others.
“They coordinated our games with theirs, nothing should interfere outside of missing the first half of our team practices for those days,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at Coach. He was never this… agreeable.
He chuckled, a sound that had all of our eyes widening. “Look, my omega and beta run this thing. Make me proud.”
“We will, Coach,” I said, agreeing easily after a quick glance to see the others were on board.
“Perfect. I rented you a cabin out by the lake so you don’t have to travel as much. Here’s the keys, you start in four days. Pack up, boys. Time for summer camp. I’ll email you the details in a few if you have to head over tonight.”
"Thank you, Coach," I said as the three of us stood and headed out of the stadium. It was nice to know that Coach saw through Henry, but it still sent us out of practice and straight to the middle of nowhere.
Henry probably thought this was his opportunity to overshadow us and shine. Too bad he had nothing on Cy. It was nothing more than a weird, one-sided rivalry.
“I’m looking into this town a bit more since we’re about to make it a temporary home,” Griff muttered the moment we reached the hallway, pulling out his phone and typing away. “We better be able to get a decent burger at the very least.”
“Whatever makes you feel better,” Cy teased. “We have to go either way.”
"Hey, Jackson, remember that bookstore I mentioned? We’ll have to stop in. This says that it went viral last year and helped bring some new life into the town along with a few other new shops," he explained. “They probably have some of those comicsyou like. Oh, and a new cookie shop, too. Coach would flip but we might need to stop by.”
“And a local hole in the wall pub,” Cy grinned. “We can’t come back and forth the whole time, so we’ll have a few nights free. Even if it’s a shorter week of games. I bet they’d have the burger you’re looking for.”
He knew that I would brighten up at books and comics. And, of course, they were ready for the pub and carbs. Then again, I wouldn’t say no to either. I just wasn’t going to be flirting with omegas and dancing until I was pouring sweat. I did enough of that on the field.
"Just think, maybe this could be the location for the sports bar if we like it," Cy said, elbowing me before he held open the door for Griff and I. “Close to the city but with a bit more privacy for our undercover introvert.”
Undercover introvert. A name for the man who prefers to be invisible anytime he wasn’t on the field. I loved the crowd, the dancing, and above all, the game. That didn’t mean I was a people person.
Cy stretched as we stepped out into the afternoon sunshine. "So, do we go home and pack?" he asked just as a small group of fans ran up to us. They were a cloud of scents, another thing that had me looking forward to small town life for a few weeks.
"Can we get a selfie and autograph?" a shy omega asked me as she tried to bite back a smile. From the way her hands shook, it wasn’t an act.
"With me?" I questioned. Yes, I was the pitcher, but I was with the catcher and first baseman. Most of the time, no one even looked twice at me. Cy was the common target with his playful smiles and flirty personality.
"Of course, silly," one of the betas smiled at me. "You're our favorite players."
“My favorite player on the team,” the omega clarified. She was cute, but her scent was so subtle I knew it wasn’t right.
At this point in my life, I was ready for something more real.
We have a mate,I had to remind myself.
If we could just find her.
"Oh, thank you," I said awkwardly and smiled when she was positioned for the picture.
"Thank you so much, Jackson," the omega said with one last hopeful smile before her friend butted in.
"Can you sign this for me?"
"I'd be happy to," I answered, coming a little out of the funk I'd been in. Maybe I did like this part of it a bit. The issue was the ones who ignored me had those childhood feelings creeping back in.
The girls gushed over our dancing, saying we had the most chemistry on the team. Then they were on their way.
