“Oh,shit,” I hiss, my jaw dropping.Weston Dunphy. The guy I convinced to hit on Evan so I could get blackmail material on him. Seriously, of all the fuckin’ people to run into out here today, ithadto be Weston? I’ve done my absolute best, over the years, to actively avoid any of my former classmates, because the last thing I need are reminders of the vile shit I pulled back then.
“Well, well,” Weston hums. “Never thought I’d run intoyouagain. Got the other Waters behind the plate now too, I see. Need me to try to kissthatone for you as well? Hold up, hold up. Let me get my camera out,” he adds, digging into his back pocket.
“What the hell isthatsupposed to mean, kissingthe other Waters?” Gannett snarls, standing and stomping over to us. He tosses the glove away and sidesteps me, getting right in Weston’s face. “Shit, aren’t you that guy that played first base on my brother’s team back in high school? What the fuck do you mean, ‘let me get my camera out’?”
Fuuuuck, no.Thiscan’tbe happening right now. Anxiety ripples within me, seizing my lungs. I back away, nearly tripping over my own feet, blackness tunnelling my vision.
Weston snorts. “Gordy paid me to hit on your brother. Wanted me to play kiss-cam with him for blackmail material so he’d stop playing ball,” he tells Gannett. “Can’t believe he’s all chummy here with you.” Weston faces me. “I thought you didn’t friggin’ like Evan ‘cuz he wasa fa—”
“Don’t you fuckin’ say it,” Gannett growls. “Finish that word, call my brother that, and I’ll deck you right here in front of your son.”
Weston raises his hands defensively. “Whoa, hey, guess someone is a little protective…”
“Well, fuck yeah, I’m protective! Evan’s my brother! He’s gay; I’m bi; other members of my family are on the rainbow. I don’t take kindly to you throwing that word out there like that. It’s fuckin’ offensive, man. Set a better example for your kid!”
Gannett’s head whips around to look for Easton, but lands on me instead. “Gordy!” he gasps, reaching for me just before my ass hits the ground. I can’t breathe. I can’t—fuck, I just… can’tanything. I’m locked, frozen as pure panic—like ice cold water—laps its way up my body. He kneels before me, cupping my cheeks. “Look at me. Look at me! Breathe, babe…”
“Babe?!” Weston yelps, his voice cutting through the din of my pulse hammering my ear drums. “What the actualfuck, Gordy?! You—you… but all that shit you said about Evan!”
Gannett spins on his heels, levelling Weston with a glare. “He had his fuckin’reasons, Weston! He feels guilty enough about it, and you’re not helping, goddamn it!”
Gannett’s fury is catching everyone’s attention now, adding to the mix of anxiety flooding me—suffocating me—and making me feel as if I’m drowning on dry land. I can’t catch my breath. I can’t stay afloat.
“I can’t believe this shit. What a fuckin’ hypocrite. Come on, Easton,” Weston spits, before coaxing his son out of the cage. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
“But Dad,” Easton huffs. “I want his autograph or something…”
“Why?” Weston practically whines.
“Because he’s a goddamn legend,” Gannett snaps back. “Because you haveno ideathe shit he’s been up against.”
“You’redefendinghim, after what he did to your brother?!” Weston balks. “Let me make what happened back thenabundantlyclear to you, since you’re too stupid to get it—”
Gannett cuts him off. “I’m not fucking stupid; I get what happened! Do I believe what he did to Evan wasright? No! I don’t! But knowing the circumstances now, I understand why it had to happen. Evan even knows why it had to happen. That is betweenthem! I’m fully capable of separatingtheirissues from my relationship with Gordy!”
Weston’s eyes just about bug out of his head. “Relationship,” he huffs, the word leaving his mouth as if he’d just spat out lemon juice.
“Yes,relationship,” Gannett echoes, then addresses Easton. “Now probably isn’t the time to get Gordy’s autograph, but I’m sure once he calms down—”
“Yeah,” Easton cuts him off, nodding. “I mean, yeah. I appreciate the private lesson today. I, um, I get it. It doesn’t have to be right now, but, like, sometime. You live around here, right?”
“Easton!” Weston hisses.
“What, Dad?! You raised me watching all Gordy’s games!”
“Yeah, but… now we know he’s—”
“Queer?” Easton’s brows pinch. “What’s the big deal? Seems like the only one here who has a problem with that isyou. And for the record,Dad, I would have decked you myself if you said the f-word.”
Gannett smirks, rubbing my back in that soothing manner of his, even though I’ve all but ruined our date. My past actions, once again, have come back to haunt me at the worst possible time. And while he has every reason to want to bolt, to rub it in my face what an asshole I was to his own brother, he’s here—reminding me to breathe. Offering me a lifeline in the storm, as usual. Being my lighthouse.
It’s working, I can feel the pins-and-needles feeling starting to dissipate. My heart rate starts to descend out of the clouds. Theconstricting feeling around my ribs starts to loosen as the flood waters of anxiety start to drain out of me.
Weston storms off in a huff. Easton puffs out an exasperated breath. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Masterson,” he mutters apologetically, offering a hand out to me. Despite his size, he yanks me upright effortlessly. “I don’t really know what happened between you and my dad, but… well, I still want you to know that I wouldn’t mind getting, like, a selfie with you or whatever. If that’s okay with you, I mean. Something to remind me of a fellow former Ternbay Tiger I looked up to before I went pro, you know?” A nervous smirk twitches to life on his lips. “Maybe, when I do, I can sign it and send it back to you, and it’ll be worth millions someday…”
Finally able to breathe again, I huff out a little chuckle. “I didn’t, uh, ruin the illusion with my little freak out there?”
Easton waves me off. “You’re human. Pretty sure you’re allowed to freak out every once in a while.” He strips off his batting gloves, fishes his phone out of his duffel bag, and holds it up at an arms length. I pose for a couple of pictures with the beaming kid who looks like I just looted a candy store for him.
