Page 60 of Mine Forever
Her lips curve in a half smile. “Hard not to when it’s splashed all over the Internet and TV.”
I lift a brow. “I thought you didn’t watch entertainment news.”
“You made the nightly news, Chase.”
I wince and my frown deepens.
“Heather had been seeing Ty Richardson behind my back the whole time. And it was his baby.”
Her eyes widen. “That’s who she was cheating with?”
“Yep.”
“Why would he do that?”
“The guy has had it out for me ever since I set foot in the clubhouse. He thought I had taken his spot on the roster, and he was on his way out.”
“Yeah, well, he was. He’d lost his mojo. He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. I never could figure out why they kept him.”
“He was a decent backup. But he didn’t want to be backup. It was a cut in pay and a blow to his ego.” I shrug. “I guess he figured since he couldn’t one-up me on the field, he’d do it off the field.”
“That’s why you guys were fighting on TV.”
“He’d run his mouth to me and about me one too many times, and I lost my shit. It was the last straw. I was still a starter, but my pitching was for shit and we all knew it. Thatonly served to piss him off, and he needled me about the fact that I couldn’t throw a strike anymore.”
I breathe deep, trying to relieve some of the pressure in my chest. “In the end, he got what he wanted. I threw the first punch and with the way it was filmed, it looks like I hit him unprovoked. I ended up reinjuring my arm, and I was deemed nothing more than a liability to the team. Both physically and for team morale. I was benched for my next game, and a week later, I went in and asked to be let out of my contract.”
She shakes her head, her forehead crinkled in confusion. “Why would you do that? Baseball was your life. Didn’t you only have another half season or so left on your contract?”
“For someone who wouldn’t return my calls, you sure know a lot about me.”
A pink blush stains her cheeks, and she rolls her lips inward. “I watch the news.”
“Right,” I say with a smirk. “You watch sports?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Bullshit, Mitchell.”
“Okay, fine. I don’t watch sports, but I did watch sports news when you were involved, okay? Happy now?” She huffs, the motion lifting and lowering her chest in such a way I’m momentarily distracted.
I don’t known a damn thing about her in the years we’ve been apart, but she knows all about my demise. And now she has the real sordid details.
“To answer your question though—yes, I only had six months. Which made it easier to get out of my contract. It was a mutual decision. I couldn’t win a game if my life depended on it. The media spun the video and the story so that I ended up looking like the bad guy. Even if I’d wanted to play for another team, no one would touch me. My reputation as the Hollywood Golden Boy was shot to hell.”
I turn my head toward the window. “I shouldn’t have gone back after the accident. I had all sorts of setbacks with the rehab and then with all the shit that went down with Ty…I was fucked in the brain and that was a bigger problem than the team doctor could crack. After everything that happened, it was easier for me just to get out and move on. Get out from under all the media scrutiny and the lies and just be able to breathe.”
“These last few years have been shitty for you. I’m so sorry, Chase.”
“For which part of it?”
“All of it. For losing your wife, for being betrayed by not only the woman who was supposed to love you but also by your teammate. For losing the one thing in this world that meant the most to you.”
There’s a pang in my chest as I look down into her eyes, eyes that hold unshed tears, making them gleam like turquoise gems in the dimly lit room.
Shifting closer to her, our bodies brush together. “You’re right. I did lose the most important thing in the world to me. But I didn’t lose it on that night.”
Her eyes meet mine and there’s a swirl of emotions in them.
