Page 29 of West Bound

I shrug and answer, “not sure since this is the first time I’m hearing about it.”

He saunters over to where I sit and leans his forearms over the rail that separates us. “Well now that you know…what d’you say? A few of us are going over to Sipz. We’ve got a VIP reserved and just enough room for a pretty lady or two.” He smiles and those damn dimples pop.

I suppress a shiver that threatens to roll across my body. “I guess I could ask CeCe if she’s free. I certainly don’t want to be the lone female there.”

“I’m sure you won’t be the only female,” he says.

“Yeah, but I mean the only female who didn’t bribe her way into VIP by flashing tits and ass. I don’t chase jerseys, honey. They chase me.”

He scans my face, focusing on my mouth, then bites his lip. “I bet they do.”

Looks like my plans for tonight just got a whole lot more interesting.

“I’ll text CeCe. If she’s not busy, we’ll see you over there later. ‘K?”

He reaches out and takes my chin between his thumb and index finger. “I’mma hold you to that.”

He bites his lip once more and winks before walking back to the bench. I track his steps, admiring how his pants snugly hug his tight ass.

Taking out my phone I send CeCe a quick text to find out if she’s free. She responds quickly with, “God yes! I need a drink. Limoncello is driving me nuts.”

Limoncello is the nickname for her boss, Luca Amato. We needed a way to talk about him incognito in case he ever saw her texts.

The Wranglers pitcher makes quick work of closing out the last couple of innings and before you know it, my post game interviews are wrapped and I’m heading up to CeCe’s office where I know she’ll be waiting for me.

I knock lightly on her door that is slightly ajar, and peek my head in. She’s holding her phone to her ear but waves me to come in and sit down. I carefully shut her door and take a seat in her cushy chair that I’m pretty certain she brought in just for me.

“Yes sir, Mr. Amato,” she says and rolls her eyes. “I was just….I understand, but you see I….is this not something we can discuss tomorrow?....Where? Um, well, my friends and I are headed out for cocktails so….Sipz, sir….sure….okay. See you there.”

She stabs the end call button on her phone and squeezes it in her fist.

“Aaaaaaaah,” she screeches at the same time she stomps her feet, jumps a little, shakes her hands, and tosses her head side to side.

Basically she’s having a bitch fit.

“Uh oh. I take it Limoncello isn’t quite done with you being done with work?” I ask her.

She stops pitching her fit and takes a few calming breaths. She straightens her blouse and skirt, then smooths the wayward strands of hair. Luckily she’s not wearing her glasses because those definitely would’ve been a casualty.

“That…prick, has decided that I need to start accompanying him on away games. So he wants to go over the travel schedule for the next few weeks…tonight. Because apparently, waiting until the sun comes up is not soon enough.” Her voice starts to ratchet up so she closes her eyes, and breathes in and out deeply. “Which means, limoncello has decided to meet us at Sipz to discuss travel arrangements. So while I’ll be accompanying you to the bar, I don’t know how long it will actually be before I can sit with you.”

“Awe. I’m sorry, babes. But that’s okay. Get it over and done with and then we can drink like fishies out of water and not have to worry about waking up early to talk with him.”

CeCe pulls open a drawer in her desk and takes out her purse. “It’s been four days, Viv. Four days! And I’m this close to quitting.” She holds her thumb and index fingers mere millimeters apart.

“No you won’t. You love your job. But why, all of a sudden, is he requiring you to travel with the team? You’ve only had to do so if there was some promo work with the home team.”

She walks around her desk and towards the door and I follow her. I step out when she holds the door open, then she switches off her lights and closes and locks up before we walk down the hallway.

“I dunno. Guess he needs someone to wipe his ass for him after he takes a shit. Lord knows he wouldn’t dare want to dirty his own hands by doing it himself.” She slides her badge through the scanner for us to take the employee's elevator, and we wait for it to reach us.

“I…I don’t know what to say to that other than I’m sure that he has a spectacular derriere, so there’s that.” I flash her a smile that only serves to piss her off and we step inside the elevator.

“I’m going to tell him that I’ll accompany him for two weeks. And during those two weeks, I will help him find a proper PA as I have a job to do here at home.”

“Well sister, you let me know how that conversation goes. While you’re doing that, I’ll be finding out if Ramirez can play a double header.” I nudge her with my elbow and wink and in return, she rolls hers and crosses her arms over her chest.

We walk out into the employee parking lot and to our individual vehicles. “I’ll follow you to your place?” she asks me.

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