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“Well, aren’t you a stuck-up little bitch. Do you give that kind of lip service to Granger? Open that pretty little mouth for him...”
I’m one second from turning around and telling him to shut the fuck up—job be damned—when I hear a commotion, like a chair or table turning over.
“What the fuck did you just say?” Mack’s lethal voice comes from the doorway of one of the therapy rooms. When I turn around to see him, one of his knees has an ice pack taped to it. He’s not limping, but he’s definitely favoring the leg.
“What are you going to do about it, Brick?” Freeman taunts.
Everything else happens simultaneously—Mack lunges for Jason, Bo and Ross materialize out of thin air and hold him back, and Buddy steps in from the hallway.
“Is there a problem?” Buddy asks, eyes scanning the room as he immediately assesses the situation.
“No problem here,” Jason says with a smirk. “Unless Granger wants to make it one.”
“Mack,” Buddy says, somewhere between a warning and awhat the fuck is going on.
Mack points at Freeman over Ross’s shoulder. “If I ever hear you talk to her like that again,youwill definitely have a problem.”
There’s so much deadly insinuation dripping off his words that I feel the danger and it’s not even directed at me. The glare he has aimed at Jason is full of cool anger, promising he’ll follow through on his threat.
After a few seconds, Jason laughs it off and walks away, but I can see the brief hesitation. Jason might be an asshole, but he’s been on this team long enough to know Mack Granger is a man of his word.
Freeman likes to talk a lot of shit, but from what I’ve seen, he’s all bark and no bite.
“You good?” Ross asks, squeezing Mack’s shoulder once Jason is gone.
He’s not just asking about the current situation, but about everything.
Mack nods, inhaling deeply as he runs a hand through his damp hair and makes eye contact with me. I give him a tight smile, silently assuring him I’m fine.
Exhaling he nods. “Yeah.”
“You sure?” Bo asks, concern etched on his forehead. “That looked nasty.”
As the guys begin to talk, all thoughts of Jason Freeman seem to dissipate and Buddy walks off shaking his head. Today hasn’t been a great day for him either and I’m sure he carries the weight of tonight’s loss on his shoulders. The last thing he wants or needs is a brawl in his clubhouse. You can tell he cares about these guys, both on and off the field, and even though they’re grown ass men, sometimes he has to put them in their place.
If I was him, I’d send Jason Freeman packing the first chance I got, but no one has asked for my advice when it comes to the Revelers roster.
Going back to packing up my stuff, I look at Brian and give him a wide-eyed expression.
He just shakes his head. “Never a dull moment.”
“Not in baseball. On or off the field.”
We both chuckle, trying to let the moment pass.
Once the camera equipment is packed away, Brian exhales. “Guess I’m going to head out, unless you need me to wait on you, but I’m assuming you’re with Granger.”
“Yeah, he drove me to work this morning, so I’ll ride home with him.”
With a salute, he shoulders his camera bag and exits the clubhouse.
A moment later, I sense someone looking at me and I turn to find Mack’s steely gaze locked on me. “You okay?”
Huffing out a laugh, I push some loose hair behind my ear. “I think I should be asking you that question. How’s the knee?”
A subtle wince crosses his features but he quickly schools it and shakes his head. “Old knees, old injury.”
“I think we both know it’s more than that,” I tell him, shouldering my bag as I turn to lean against the wall. “You forget I’ve been following this team for more than the past couple months. I know you’ve had problems with your knee, but I’ve never seen you like you were tonight.”
