“Well, it’s time everyone at the fucking school knows she’s mine, then, don’t you think?”
“Shit.” He followed me out of our apartment and down the hall. “You can’t hit him. We have media day for this upcoming pre-season,” he reminded me. “Coach would lose his shit if our pitcher had a black eye and needed makeup to cover it up.” I shot him a look to let him know I didn’t give a shit if I pissed off Coach. “Bro, don’t you remember what happened with Aaron last year?”
“Aaron was a dumb fuck who deserved getting hit by that Kappa Sweet after the way he talked to her,” I reminded him.
“Agreed, and Coach agreed, too, but he wasn’t happy about all that damn makeup on him for the team photo.” He wasn’t wrong about that. Coach was pissed every time he looked at that damn picture and made us do extra bleachers or run extra laps whenever he was reminded of it. Which you wouldn’t think was a lot, but the school had printed a huge banner and had hung it by not only the playing field but our practice one, too.
“Fine,” I grunted, crossing my arms over my chest as we stepped into the elevator after pressing the button that took us down to the lobby. “But that just means I can’t hit Ferg’s pretty boy face,” I mumbled, and Jeremy snickered.
“Fair enough.” His chuckles died off and I heard him clear his throat. “So, you’re really gone for her?”
“You have no idea.” I glanced at him.
Jeremy was a big motherfucker.
A lot bigger than your typical catcher, and maybe that was one of the many reasons scouts were checking him out as much as they looked at me and a couple of the other guys on the team.
“I do have an idea.” He made a face of understanding he wished he didn’t have.
“Teresa?” He simply looked at me with an expression I knew all too well. “You follow her around?” A slow, almost scary smile dawned on his face.
“Worse,” he confessed. My brow rose with curiosity, but ignorance was bliss in these kinds of cases, so I didn’t ask.
The moment the elevator doors opened, everything disappeared from my head. I had tunnel vision as I got out and hurried towards the dining hall. I could faintly make out Jeremy calling after me, telling me to calm down, but I ignored him. All I could think about was getting to Sadie as quickly as possible. She was working in the dining hall, thanks to her work study program. It was one of three jobs she had on campus, not to mention the side gig she had of tutoring.
She was probably working at the smoothie station, a popular spot of the athletics dining hall. I picked up speed, half-power-walk, half-jog that ended abruptly when I passed the main entrance of the hall and saw her.
She was standing by one of the tables, a spray bottle in one hand and a white cleaning rag in the other. Ferguson, the star pitcher of our team, leaned against a table with one ankle crossed over the other, clearly in no hurry of hitting the weight room, where we should be. Nope. Instead, he was chatting her up. Talking animatedly about who the fuck knew what as she stood there.
Listening.
Laughing.
Smiling.
And it fucking made me see red. The green-eyed monster took hold of me. She was mine, not his.She can’t do that,the thing inside me growled. Before I took a step forward to barge in on their conversation, a familiar heavy hand covered my shoulder.
“You go in there like some jealous asshole, you can kiss whatever future you want with her goodbye,” Jeremy quietly warned. My back teeth ground together, my jaw clenched, but I stood still, knowing that Jeremy was right. “Be smart,” he advised. I pulled my shoulder back from his hold and heard him mumble something about how we never learn as I made my way towards them. I took a long cleansing breath with every step I took until I reached them.
And when her eyes caught mine? I felt like an ass for thinking someone could ever come between us. Her dark stare was warm and bright and so genuinely fucking happy to see me it nearly gutted me.
“Hey, handsome.” She smiled. With things still in her hand, she stepped closer, and something in me softened.
I loved how she came to me without hesitation or pause despite how new we were.
My eyes glanced over at a confused Ferguson staring at our interaction. Without thinking, I pulled her into my arms and hugged her the moment she was within reach. Fucking grateful she let me.
“I thought you had practice,” she murmured against my chest.
“I missed you.” It wasn’t a lie. “I still gotta go but wanted to see you before I left”.
“And we ran out of protein in our place,” Jeremy cut in. “Ferg, you want a protein shake?”
“Sounds good. See you later, Sadie,” Ferguson said. She half-waved, but it didn’t matter, not when her attention was set fully on me.
“What happens if you play hooky from work?”
“I don’t get paid.” Her lips twitched. “What happens to you if you play hooky from your work?”
