Page 119 of Challenge Me

I sat up. “Thank God.”

“Someone’s excited,” Jeffrey said.

“This guy’s been cocky every time he’s on the mound. You see that smirk he does when he gets the ball past us?”

“Yeah, welcome to ninety percent of the pitchers in the league.”

“Doesn’t McKinney wink at you every time he strikes you out?” Kev asked.

With a snort, I tugged my batting glove onto my left hand. “There’s not a single malicious cell in Trav’s body.”

“Tell that to Tony.”

“Tony’s a piece of shit,” Jeffrey pointed out before I could. “Whatever happened, he deserved it.”

I nodded. “Glad it’s his final season.”

“No room for bigots in the big leagues.” He held his fist out to me for some reason, so I bumped it.

“Out with the old, in with the new.”

“In with you. You’re the one people have their eyes on this season.”

“Because of all the drama.”

“Nah, it’s the way you swing that bat.” He hit an imaginary ball and made a sound with his tongue.

Kev nudged me with his elbow. “Free agent after this season. Keep it up and you’ll be the shiny new toy every team wants.”

“Yeah, maybe, but I’m also a PR nightmare.”

“Bah, it means less than you make it seem. They’ll deal with your string of bad boys if you perform for them.”

“We’re just a barrel of monkeys in tight pants,” Jeffrey added. “They don’t tell you this, but even bad media attention is good for them. What’d Remi do to get the restraining order anyway?”

“The wicked witch said it wasn’t against him, remember?” Kev said.

“No? Man, I thought he was edgy.”

“It was with some dude named Colton.”

“What a douchebag name. Is he a douchebag?”

I frowned, staring out at the field instead of at them. “Let’s not talk about it.”

“I’m sure we’ll get an update soon,” Jeffrey whispered to Kev.

I got to my feet and moved closer to the guardrail. With my arms folded on the edge, I crossed my ankles as our pitcher wound up for his throw.

I hated that people followed those stories so closely, even my freaking teammates. The entire six years I’d been in the major leagues, I’d been careful about keeping my life as private as I could manage. Now, it was impossible to hide. Clara couldn’t uncover anything all that juicy about me, so she was targeting Remi, and I hated that. I didn’t care that he claimed it didn’t bother him. It was wrong.

Even though he resented my attempts to protect him, that was all I wanted to do. I had no clue how much more there was to find, and it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t like he had some crime-ridden past. I’d done a background check and found nothing concerning. But if there was anything at all she could use to sully his reputation, and therefore mine, she would no doubt find it.

“Darya,” Shawn said.

Readjusting my glove, I grabbed my bat and jogged up the steps onto the field. This guy was going to drop that damn smirk.

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