Thankfully, no one is at the office to see me drop Jessa off to her car. I called Kenny at the warehouse, and he’s bringing all the bats over here so we can finish. Some of the warehouse crew is even coming to help. We should be able to knock the rest of these out quickly.
“You’re sure you don’t need my help?” she asks, while opening her car door.
“I’m sure. Just be ready for the baseball game.” She smiles and leaves, and it’s wrong but all I want to do is make her smile more when she comes to the game with me today. She’s easy to be around, easy to make happy. But she seems so innocent, not only that, but she needs to be off limits. We can’t start something for a multitude of reasons, no matter how beautiful and adorable I think she is.
Jesus Christ, I feel like a school boy, not a nearly forty-year-old man.
Penny comes in first, and while my cousin can get on my nerves, I can’t deny that she has a heart of gold. She might have been adopted by my aunt, but the girl fits into our chaotic family so well. She’s immediately removing labels at her desk.
“Seriously, Aiden, it looks like a huge, fat cock, how didn’t you notice?” I glare at her and she laughs. “Sorry, it’s just really bad. You were gonna hand out these cock stickers to children.”
I ignore her teasing and I just know my brothers are going to make fun of me as soon as she tells them this story. “Just make sure everyone gets a box when they come in. All hands on deck.”
“Of course, good thing we have Jessa, huh?” she says with a smirk on her face. I wave her off and head to my office where I continue ripping off these fucking stickers and putting the new ones on. I ignore all the grumbling from employees outside my office, but they all put in the work. That is, everyone except Zach, who is dressed for the game. I’m sure he’s assuming he’s going to be sitting next to me, when in fact, he will be with the rest of the employees in the higher section.
“Hey, Aiden,” he says, leaning against the doorframe. “Serious fuck up with the stickers, huh?”
“Yeah,” I say dryly and go back to taking the stickers off. “Luckily, Jessa caught it.” He makes a frustrated noise, and I try not to snap at him.
“What time do you want to leave for the game?”
“I’m taking Jessa.”
“You’re what?” he asks incredulously.
“She saved us big time. She’s going to do the drop off with me, and she’s sitting with me in my seats.”
“You mean my dad’s seats?” Give me strength to deal with this little fucker.
“The seats he gave to me, because he wanted them to go to someone who would appreciate them.”
“This is seriously such fucking bullshit. She shouldn’t even be here.”
“Get the fuck out of my office,” I say. His eyes are wide as he looks at me. I’m so over his shit. I put up with his antics when Collin was alive out of respect, but honestly, he needs to be put in his place. He isn’t even that much younger than me, so his immaturity is seriously unfounded.
“Seriously, you’ve known her for two weeks? You’re giving me an attitude about that gold-digging bitch?”
“Zach, I suggest you get the fuck away from me before this becomes a bigger issue.” I glare at him and clench my fist. My hand hurting from all these fucking stickers. I’d risk hurting it again to punch him in the face right now.
“Fucking ridiculous,” Zach complains as he stomps away like a petulant child. But as he’s storming away, I see Jessa’s wide eyes. She was there the whole altercation, and I feel mortified. She quickly turns away and starts with her bats that she shouldn’t even be working on with how much she’s done.
With the whole staff—sans Zach—it only takes us about three hours to finish all the bats. Kenny packs them up in the truck, and I tell the office to enjoy themselves at the game, and I’ll see them tomorrow. Jessa seems shy when I tell her to meet me at my car.
“I could drive and meet you there.”
“No, hop in,” I tell her. She huffs, but opens the passenger door. She’s wearing cut-off jean shorts that show too much thigh. Thighs I should not be staring at let alone for the second time today. She doesn’t have a Rays shirt on; we’ll have to change that. Her hair is in a long ponytail and green sunglasses cover a portion of her face.
“I’ve never been to a baseball game,” she says when we park at the stadium.
“Well, you’re in for a treat.” She smiles and takes in the stadium as we park and meet Kenny at the receiving gate.
Their marketing manager, Lewis, is there and thanks us for the donation as they take them to the exits to give to the kids after the game. Giving kids wooden bats during the game isn’t a great idea, I can only imagine the injuries or the amount of wooden bats flying in the stands.
I take Jessa to the fan shop first, and she looks around. “Do you need a hat or something?” she asks and I shake my head.
“No, you can’t come to a Rays game and not wear a shirt.”
“Oh, Aiden, that isn’t necessary.”
