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He tipped his head to the side, his brows pulled together. “Rory?”
I gave him a clipped nod, swallowing back a string of questions I wanted to interrogate him with.
“Oh,” he said, sliding past me so he could sit in the seat next to mine. “I twisted my neck the other day.” He rubbed at the spot between his neck and shoulder where Aurora had touched him. “I was telling her that it felt tight again. If it doesn’t loosen up, it’s going to affect my swing.”
In my periphery, Aurora was heading our way, but I kept my head down. She headed past us to the back of the plane, and I did my best to pretend I didn’t notice her presence. When she appeared next to me a moment later, though, it was impossible not to acknowledge her.
She held a heat patch up in front of her. “Can you get up so I can put this on Kyle’s neck?”
“No. My head hurts,” I said, rubbing at my temple. “Lean over me.”
Her tight lips and cocked brow called me on my bullshit, but she didn’t argue. As she leaned across me, I breathed in her floral scent and held it in my lungs. If that was as much of her as I could get, then I’d take it.
“Man, you’re being a dick today,” Kyle said as she adjusted the heat patch on his neck.
I shrugged. I liked her in my space, and being able to slide my finger along the exposed skin of her waist as her shirt rode up from stretching across me was worth the glare she gave me when she stood back up.
“Let me know how it feels when we land, Kyle,” she said to Bosco. Then, with another quick glare at me, she turned and headed back to her seat.
“What’d you do to her?” Bosco frowned, looking from Aurora to me. “I think she hates you.”
I chuckled. Maybe we had nothing to worry about after all.
“With that swing, you’d never know the kid was hurting.” Beckett clapped as Mason swung. The sound of the bat cracking echoed off the walls. Then the ball was flying into the outfield between the center and right fielders.
“See how he almost cradles the arm against his body when he’s running? That’s how you know he’s hurting worse than he’s saying.” Cortney leaned forward and frowned down at Mason, who’d stopped at second base.
We were leading the Dallas Stars, two to one. I’d been called up to the box, yet since I’d arrived two batters ago, neither of the men had acknowledged me.
I cleared my throat again, this time finally garnering Beckett’s attention.
He swung around, his face set in his usual frown. “Oh good, you’re here.” Then he turned back to the field.
Wringing my hands, I waited. Yes, I was here. But was he going to tell me why they’d called for me?
“Cortney thinks we should be talking about IR again for the shoulder. But nothing in your report says that. What’s he saying to you about it?”
“Uh.” I glanced from him to Cortney, worrying my bottom lip. Mason had admitted more than once that it was sore, but he promised it wasn’t serious. My exams weren’t showing anything either. If they were, I would have suggested it immediately. “I?—”
“She’s not going to tell us anything.” Without turning to face me, Cortney tightened the bun on the back of his head. “You are not where her loyalties lie. Trust me.”
My heart stuttered at his words. Did Cortney know? About Mason and me? The way he’d looked at us in the training room the other day made me wonder, but he’d left it alone and hadn’t brought it up again.
Nothing about my reports had been inaccurate, and I was hiding nothing for Mason. In the most recent one, I’d even acknowledged that neither he nor I felt that he was at 100 percent.
But did Cortney think I was hiding something? I swallowed and tried my best to keep my expression neutral, even though, on the inside, I was panicking.
“She works for us. We pay her. Why wouldn’t she be loyal?” Beckett frowned at his GM before turning back to me. “What do you think?”
I shrugged. “Like I mentioned in my last report, I don’t think his shoulder is 100 percent. But we play guys at 80 percent every day.”
Beckett nodded and whacked Cortney’s arm. “See? I told you.”
“Was that it?” I asked.
“Just check him after the game.” For the first time, Cortney turned and looked at me, and from his expression, the way he scrutinized me, it was clear he knew more than he was saying. “Email me a full report.”
Stomach churning, I focused on breathing normally and nodded. Yes, I’d give him a full report. Because I wanted to keep my job.
