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At the same time, Isaiah, our equipment manager, pops into my peripheral holding another jersey out to me from the dugout.

I take it without my eyes leaving Lenny's, and smile as I shrug it on.

It's a mirror image of hers.

A perfect match.

With my fingers on the bottom button, I wink, then sidestep back toward the bench. "I'll see ya, Lenny girl."

Dylan presses her lips together, her eyes wide.

Lenny just watches me walk away—looking like she already knows where this is headed later.

Looking like mine.

I duck into the dugout, dodging swats from the boys and an ass slap from JJ, and immediately dig my phone from my bag tucked underneath the bench.

What's your apartment number?

Not even five seconds later, she replies.

Lenny

402.

I watch as the Pirates' pitcher winds up.

Focused. Ready. Eyes set on the prize.

Then, I respond the same.

I'll meet you there after the game.

24

Lenny

Aknock sounds at my door, catching me off guard despite the fact that I've spent the last twenty minutes pacing my apartment.

I'm not sure if I expected Jace to text first or if I'd eventually make my way downstairs to meet him outside my building. But him just showing up on my doorstep wasn't on the list of things I was even remotely mentally prepared for.

I've changed four times since I walked in the door—leggings, pajama shorts, a t-shirt, a tank top—every option besides the sweatshirt I was wearing with the Band-Aid pasties and a literal needle dick underneath.

But with the way he looked at me for the rest of the game—and the way his scent lingered on the jersey he literally gave me off his back—I knew I wanted to be ready in case he decided to do something about the tension between us.

The knock comes again, louder this time, and my heart rate quickens as my thighs clench in the leggings that I eventually landed on earlier.

He's here.

I walk toward the door, the same anticipation running through me that I had the first time I saw Jace on the field tonight.

It's strange—living through a moment that feels surreal when, once upon a time, it was just supposed to be my normal. Watching Jace play under those lights was unbelievable. But at one point, standing in the stands cheering him on was just the plan for my life with him.

And although part of me was sad to be a stranger in his world, I'm also really grateful.

That I got to be there with him.

And that he just got here to be with me.