“Seriously? Why would he care so much?”
He shrugs. “Who knows? We’ve had much worse scandals—if you can even call your photo a scandal. Welcome to the big leagues, bro. If you thought you had some kind of privacy before, that shit flew out the window faster than that fly ball you dive to catch.”
He raises his eyebrows at me as he walks away to take his turn to hit.
I watch as Coach Declan raises his hands to Eddie in a final way and turns to head straight to me. I stand up a little taller, making sure he knows I’m not scared because I didn’t do anything wrong, no matter how bad it looks.
“So …” Coach Declan says with a sigh. “Eddie wants me to bench you for what happened last night.”
My eyes open wide. “Are you serious? I?—”
I try to plead my case, but he holds up his hands to stop me.
“I told him he has no say in how I run my team. Your little photo was not against any of our player guidelines.” He stares me right in my eyes. “I went to bat for you. Don’t ever make me do it again, and you’d better play your ass off today so I can prove to him even more why you deserve to be in the lineup. You got me?”
“Yes, Coach,” I say without a millisecond of hesitation.
He nods and walks past me to stand behind the cage to watch people hit.
I make the mistake of looking at Eddie and am shocked by the expression he gives me.
I head toward him to try to talk to him, but I hear my coach yell behind me, “Don’t you dare go talk to him. Let it go. It’s time to hit.”
I exhale a deep breath, toss my bat in the air, catch it with a little more force than I planned, and walk up to the plate.
“Let’s go. Focus that energy toward the ball,” Coach Declan says, so I do just that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Christy
I stare at the picture for most of the morning. It lights my insides on fire. I remember exactly how much I wanted him in that moment. Knowing the entire world has seen it too makes me sick. It was a private moment that we shared, but I guess when you date a professional athlete, you have to share a part of him with the world.
It’s Sunday, and they have a day game, so the plan was to take Nolan to the game, but now I’m terrified to show my face to anyone on the team.
When I arrive at my sister’s, my mood is still shitty, but I know I have to put on a happy face for Nolan since he’s been waiting to go to the game now for a while.
Before I get to the door, she opens it and stares at me with a sag to her shoulders. “Which version of me do you want?” she asks with a sigh.
“The one who just hugs me and says it’s no big deal,” I bite out through tears.
She wraps me in her arms. “It really isn’t a big deal.”
“But I’m taking Nolan to the game today, and we’re sitting with other players’ families. They’ll all be looking at me and judging me.”
She pushes me back and lowers her head to be level with me, but I can’t look at her. “You do realize you’re an adult, right? You weren’t doing anything illegal or immoral. It’s not like he’s married.”
My eyes jump to hers, and she instantly holds her hands up in surrender.
“I didn’t mean to go there.”
She knows that after everything exploded with Nolan’s father, I’m very sensitive about the married subject.
She pulls me in for a hug again. “Stop overthinking it. Just be more careful next time.”
“There’s the mom version you couldn’t wait to get out.”
She laughs as she loosens her grip on me. “I can’t help it. I am indeed a mom.”
