Page 11 of Bad Run

Nico groans beside me. “What are you doing here?”

Reed grins. “I heard there’s a new instructor today, and I wanted to come check her out.”

“More like take her out,” Blake Jensen, our third baseman, interjects, tossing a mat on the ground. He’s the youngest in our group by a few years, and our resident funny guy. Reed took Blake under his wing when he was a rookie, and now he tags along with us everywhere.

“You can’t date employees, you idiot. So, keep it in your pants,” Heath Erikson warns Reed as he takes the spot beside Nico. Heath plays second base and was the only one of us who was married until recently. He’s kind of like the dad of our group.

“That is not an actual rule.” Reed scoffs. Reed is a self-proclaimed bachelor for life,. I used to have his same outlook on life, but things have changed.

My thoughts lead to the blonde in the cab.

Shaking the vision of her away, I focus on Reed bickering with Heath.

“Whatever. The new instructor might be the one.”

I roll my eyes at Reed’s obvious lie.

“The one … night,” Blake quips.

We crack up as Reed smacks Blake in the back of the head like you would a kid brother. “Whose side are you on? Besides, I’ll treat her like the one, and that’s all that matters.”

“What matters?” Cam asks as he joins us with a mat under his arm. “Wait, what the fuck are you two doing here?”

Nico points at Reed and Blake. “Dumb and dumber came to hit on our new yoga instructor.”

Cam barks a laugh and rolls out his mat behind Nico. “Good luck with that.”

“Why, hello, gentlemen,” a voice sings from behind us.

Everyone’s heads turn toward our new yoga instructor, who stands behind us with her hands on her hips, taking us all in.

I fight the urge to laugh as Reed groans, “Great,” under his breath.

Our new yoga instructor is in her early seventies, and probably not the one for Reed.

“Yogini.”

Nico presses his palms together and nods at our yoga instructor, who grins. “I like you.”

“Brownnoser,” Reed grumbles at Nico.

Nico narrows his eyes at Reed with a menacing glare. “Watch it.”

“Don’t piss him off,” Cam scolds Reed.

“I do not like this new dynamic,” Reed complains to his best friend, Cam.

When I moved up from the minors a few years back, Reed and Cam were the first guys to make me feel a part of the team. They are some of the best guys I know. But with Cam and Nico becoming family, the dynamic has changed. In a good way.

“I kind of like it. It’s better than Nico sending Cam the death glares.” Blake shivers.

“I remember those looks. I’d bet Romero was thinking about exploding Cam’s head from across the room,” Heath jokes.

“He definitely was,” Cam confirms as Nico chuckles.

“It’s true,” Nico agrees.

“Whatever. I’m outta here.” Reed barely moves to stand when the elderly yoga instructor intervenes.