AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Dude,” he says. “You’ve swiped left at least ten times now.”
A couple feet away, stretched out in the dugout like it’s a comfortable old couch, Hunter raises an eyebrow. He takes off his McKee baseball cap, wiping the sweat from his brow. Even though it’s early May, New York’s summer humidity has set in. Practice wound down a few minutes ago, but we’ve lingered to chat about tomorrow’s series opener against Bryant University and make plans for later. It’s a home game, set for the evening, so we’ll be able to go out tonight, have a few beers at Red’s while watching the Mets game, and still handle our pregame routines with ease.
Hunter’s game day preparations are meticulous, doused in superstition. I’ve never cared for that sort of thing—I’d just as likely hit a home run wearing black underwear as I would wearing blue—but I’ll never tell him so. Anything to get us hitting again, an issue that’s been plaguing us all season. Unless we win a hell of a lot more in the next few weeks, we’ll miss out on the playoffs. Our record won’t affect my draft capital much, but I need to find a way to bring up my batting average before the official stats go in.
I glance at the next profile. She’s blonde. Nice tits. A smile that tilts to one side, a little impish. I swipe right. No surprise, we match.
“Now we’re talking,” Raf says. He knocks his shoulder against mine. “I’m betting she messages you in three, two…”
The notification pops up. He grins. “So predictable.”
I ignore him as I reply to her. Her name is Regina. She’s vaguely familiar, but I don’t have to wonder about it for long, because she’s all too eager to tell me that we sat at the same table in ethics this past semester. She’s free in an hour. Staying in one of the dorms for the summer semester.
Too easy.
“Only you would turn avoidance into a way to pick up even more girls than usual,” Hunter says. There’s a careful note in his voice—a joke before he hits me with something real—and worry on his smooth, light brown face.
I stand. I’m not in the mood. Not to hear about how I’ve been letting Mia di Angelo stay in my head, rent-free, going on a month and a half now. I’ve gotten enough of it from Cooper. Hunter has a girlfriend, after all; he’s been doing long-distance with his high school sweetheart for as long as I’ve known him. Rafael’s solemn advice was more palatable. He sat me down, wrangled the story from me, and said, with surprising seriousness, “You just need to fuck your way through it.”
I wonder who gave Mia that same advice. Certainly not Penny.
Enjoy watching me leave, Callahan.
The only way to make her voice fade, at least for a little while, is to find someone else to distract myself with. It’s that or mope. Ireallydon’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to Mia’s own hookups, because I’ve been trying to find company of my own with all my free time… as long as she’s not a brunette.
“He’s on a journey,” Raf says.
“To fuck every bleach-blonde on McKee’s campus?” Hunter counters.
“Well, no,” Raf admits. “He should be fucking brunettes too.”
I sling my gear bag over my shoulder. “Noted.”
“There are other Italian chicks in the world. Less crazy ones, too.”
I stop with my foot on the dugout step. “She’s not crazy.”
“She’s something,” Hunter mutters.
“Don’t,” I snap. “Don’t call her crazy just because she broke up with me. Don’t call anyone crazy, it’s fucking rude.”
Rafael and Hunter exchange a look. Raf’s thick eyebrows get lost in his equally thick hair. “Can you break up with someone if you’re not dating? If you, in fact, refuse to label it, then finally say yes to a date when you’re asked for the second time, andthenflee and fucking ghost him?”
Heat colors my cheeks. Put that way, my pursuit of her sounds pathetic. “Stop it.”
“I’m just asking the question.”
“Stop,” I say again, a sharper edge to my voice. My heart pounds with the need to defend her, even with the way things went down. I didn’t tell my brother everything, but I had to tellsomeone, and I chose my two best friends outside my family. I regretted it the moment the words left my mouth, especially because I could tell Raf was working on overtime not to say something massively fucking unkind about Mia. Like now. Tact is a foreign concept to him. I never should have mentioned the two hours I waited at Vesuvio’s just in case she’d show. “Don’t talk about her.”
He looks almost sad. “She did a number on you, man. You need to deal with it.”
“She’s here for the summer, right?” Hunter says. His voice is careful again, as if he’s worried I’m about to blow my lid. “You’re going to run into her. You need to find a way to move on.”
“I’m fine. I am.” I take my baseball cap off my head and shove it into my bag, running my hand through my sweaty hair. All I need is a shower, a change of clothes, and a mid-afternoon fuck with Regina from ethics class, and I’ll be good to go. Mia is here for the summer, working on her mentor’s research project, but I’m sure she’ll ignore me if we run into each other at Starbucks or Stop & Shop. I’ll catch sight of that gorgeous dark hair and tiny shards of memories will bombard me. The late-night texting. The one time I managed to cook for her—just breakfast but something—and she teased that it was better than an orgasm. The glances we shared when no one was looking, not Cooper or Penny or any of our other friends.
Maybe Rafael is right. I need to fuck a brunette. “I’ll see you guys at Red’s later.”
“I’ll get us a booth,” Hunter says. “Julio, Levine, and Big Miggy are coming too. Maybe Hops and Ozzy.”
