The guys turned with shocked faces as I ducked my chin down. Fuck, he sounded pissed off. I hadn’t heard his tone that sharp since we’d lost three in a row.
My head tucked to my chest as I headed into his office. He waved a piece of paper around. “What is this?”
Swallowing hard. “It’s a letter from HR.”
“I see that, but for what?”
“I wanted to make sure the team understood that I was with April.”
He chuffed and plunked into his chair. “I see.”
“It’s a formality.”
“I know,” he scolded. “I thought things had ended.”
My jaw dropped. “You knew?”
“Oh please. You two snuck around like a couple of highschoolers hiding from her dad.”
Damn.
“You’ve also been playing like shit. The kind that comes from nothing but women troubles.”
There was nothing I could say to that. He was right.
“So, you two made up and now you want official status?”
I kicked at the ground. “Not exactly. I’m working on it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Working on it? For the love of Christ, this isn’t no fucking love-connection show here.”
“I know, but I want her to know I mean it. This step needs to happen to make the rest of it.”
“Keep me out of it. And if this gets your head out of your ass and back on the field, then fine. But if this goes south, one of you needs to leave the team, and I think we both know how that will go.”
My stomach dropped.
The coach sighed. “Don’t fuck it up. She’s too good to lose.”
“Don’t I know it.”
He grinned at me. “About time you realized it.”
He scribbled his signature on the bottom line and nodded for me to get out of his office. Step one, done.
Ironically, that was the easy part. The next one was what had my nerves firing.
“Ready?” Jake smirked. And I knew it wasn’t about the last game of the season.
The clubhouse was electric. Excitement charged through the air. And I was ready for all of it. The game to end, on and off the field. My plan was simple. Prove it. Prove to her and anybody else that there was nothing fake about us.
The ball sailed through the stadium and for a minute, no one moved. The crowd hushed as we watched it sail over the back wall.
“Run!” Percy, the second baseman coach’s voice finally registered as I took off, tearing over to third with Milos running behind me. We did it. We won the last fucking game of the season. The announcers were screaming as I ran over home plate. The coaches behind the players cleared the dugout and ran onto the field, but all I could see was April. Cheering and screaming with our entire team.
Although it took a minute, I managed to get through the mosh of people, running straight to April. Shock registered on her face as I scooped her up and spun her around.
“What are you doing?” she stuttered.
