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Sway sighed.
“Shut up,” Sway grumbled, her face going beet red as she did.
I grinned at their back and forth.
“What time do you have to leave?” Gentry changed the subject, turning to me. “It’s already four. When are you meeting Corvallis?”
“Corvallis?” Sway asked in surprise. “Your godfather?”
I shot Gentry a glare.
“He’s going to hopefully give me some information about Hannibal,” I told her evasively.
Sway stared at me.
“You’re meeting him before we go out to dinner.” she stated.
I nodded my head.
“Yeah,” I looked at the watch on my wrist. “He’s supposed to come here, though.”
“Hmmm,” she murmured. “Do you mind if I sit in on this meeting? I’d like to meet him.”
I tossed another glare in Gentry’s direction.
“Catch,” I told her, tossing the ball high and slow.
She, of course, moved out of the way and then caught it, firing off the ball right back at me like a fuckin’ pro.
At least she could throw. She still needed a lot of work on catching.
“Nice,” I caught it and tossed it in Gentry’s direction.
We were in a triangle, and Gentry and Sway were close, while I was fairly far away.
Once I caught the ball that Gentry threw back at me, with less heat than I was used to from him, I threw it high and slow to Sway.
We did this for about ten more minutes in silence before someone interrupted us.
“This her?”
I turned to find Corvallis, or better known as Leslie, my godfather, staring at Sway with accusation.
Sway wasn’t one to back down, though, and she caught the ball Gentry let slip through his fingers.
“Are you Leslie right now, or Corvallis?” I asked him.
There was a difference between the two men.
Corvallis was the ex-military badass that obeyed orders. He had the United States of America’s best interest at heart.
Leslie was my godfather. He gave me what I wanted, when I wanted it. He had my best interests at heart. Hannibal’s best interests at heart.
Leslie sighed and turned to me, dismissing Sway.
“You know exactly who I am, boy,” Leslie countered. “I just wanted you to introduce your woman to me.”
He said ‘your woman’ like it was something dirty.
Sway froze where she was walking toward us and frowned hard at Leslie.
Gentry caught up to her and placed a hand on her arm briefly, and jealousy surged in my gut at the thought of my best friend touching her. I knew in my heart that he would never do anything inappropriate with her, but my head and my heart weren’t always in sync, and sometimes illogical thoughts made their way into my mind.
“How about we go talk for a minute. Sway, why don’t you go inside and give me a few minutes with my godfather,” I ordered, gesturing to the side entrance to the building that we’d exited from half an hour before.
Sway pursed her lips, but she chose not to argue.
Instead, she followed closely behind Gentry as she walked inside, giving Leslie a wide berth.
The moment the doors closed on them, I turned my glare on him.
“What the fuck, Leslie?” I barked.
Leslie winced.
“I’ve had a bad day,” he tried to excuse his actions.
I waved my hand in the air.
“Sway isn’t one of your men. She isn’t me, and she isn’t Hannibal. She also isn’t dad. She’s a woman. You have to treat her as such. She’s delicate and doesn’t know that you’re a dickhead at heart,” I snapped.
Leslie’s mouth twitched.
“She’s cute,” he observed.
She was cute.
Exceptionally so.
I also knew she’d be sexy as hell in a gown at the end-of-the- season awards banquet that I planned to take her to in a few months.
I also couldn’t wait to peel that dress off her supple body and devour her afterwards.
“I realize that sometimes you can’t help it, but how about you start off on the right foot here. She’s it,” I informed him bluntly.
“She’s it?” he looked startled.
I nodded.
“She is,” I confirmed.
“You’ve known her what…twelve days?” he asked sarcastically.
“A few months, actually,” I admitted. “Which you know, because I told you about her the moment I met her that first day.”
Leslie’s mouth tightened, and then released as he allowed himself to smile.
“I’ve been going back and forth all day with people that’ll have my ass if I talk to you, and I’m not in the best headspace. But I’m willing to check my suspicions and make nice if you’d like to introduce us this time,” Leslie uncrossed his arms.
“You’ll tell me what’s going on?” I hoped.
He sighed.
“Yeah.”
Relief washed through me.
“Thank you.”Chapter 17Nothing inspires the words ‘fuck off’ like someone telling me I need to watch my language.
-things you probably shouldn’t say to an umpire
Sway
I pulled out my secret stash of Oreos and dipped them into my Dr. Pepper.
When I was nervous, I ate.
It was a bad habit that I was never able to kick, and I was making it even worse by adding Dr. Pepper to the mix and dunking my cookies in it.
