Page 148 of Imperfect Player

“He was thrilled you asked.”

“You ready, man?” I ask, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

“Ready for what?”

“Our celebration. Can’t win the World Series without a huge celebration.”

“I can go?” He turns to look at his dad, our dad, to see if it’s okay. He nods, giving Ben the answer he was looking for.

“You can go,” he tells him.

Ben runs into my arms. “Let’s celebrate.”

I look at my dad. “I’ll bring him home tomorrow. Around noon?”

“See you then. Oh, and Ethan?”

“Yeah?”

“For what it’s worth? I’m proud of you,” he tells me.

His words may not hold a lot of value with me, but there’s definitely a small piece of me that likes hearing it. Knowing that the man who thought I wasn’t worth anything sees just how damn good I am. How good I turned out in spite of them.

Ben, Everly, and I head back to my place.

I planned an awesome night—at least, I think it’s an awesome night. Hopefully, Ben does too.

Everly was in on it; her job was very important.

If we win, she calls Thurston and everything gets put into place. If we lose? She needed to order pizza and ice cream with lots of cookie dough and peanut butter cups in it. Then win or lose, she better have something Railcat red on beneath that jersey.

Seeing my name emblazoned on the back of it still makes me smile like a fool after all this time.

Some of the guys are joining us. Fox and his family. Slade—if he doesn’t find a woman on the way to my place, at least. And Maddox.

Who the fuck knew, out of all these guys, that Maddox would end up being my best friend? I think in part it’s because of Everly, so he can make sure that I don’t hurt her. I’m grateful for that. But he doesn’t have to worry. I’ll never hurt her again. Not for anything in the world.

“You okay?” Everly asks, covering my hand with hers as we drive back to our house.

That’s right. Our house.

The condo held too many memories—bad ones, deplorable ones.

After rehab, after making things right with Everly, I decided we needed a fresh start. That we should put some roots down.

So I did.

We did.

We found a house just outside the city. It’s tucked away in a wooded area, secluded. Great for skinny dipping in the inground pool we had installed.

It’s still close enough for practice and games and Everly’s job, but it’s far enough out that we don’t feel like we’re stuck in the city. Instead, we feel like we’re home.

“I’m Ethan Ambrose, I’m perfect,” I tell her, a shit-eating grin on my face.

“How could I forget?”

She laughs, and my heart swells at the sound of it. Call me a pussy, call me whatever you want, but fuck if that isn’t the best sound in the world. Okay, second best. The best is when she moans out my name during sex.

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