“Hey, asshole.”
Ah, there she is again.I let out a long, dramatic sigh and faced her. “Yes?”
“You do admit you are one, then. Good. Admittance is often the first step to recovery.” She laughed at her own joke, like an idiot. “Should we go over practice plans?”
“Nope.” I crossed my arms. “I got them up here.”
“Oh, in that big thing you call a head?”
I closed my eyes before replying. “You’re annoying.”
“I’ve been called worse.” She mirrored my stance, but her tiny frame had nothing on mine. I outweighed her twice. “Are you going to fight me every step of the way?”
“Yup. I see no other option until you quit.”Please quit. Just say yes.
“Ain’t happening.” She shook her head and pursed her red lips. She did have nice lips, but they made too much noise and lost their appeal. “Should I bring anything to practice?”
“For someone desperate to succeed at this, you aren’t prepared.” I slipped on my glasses and didn’t wait for a reply. “Oh. Did I tell you I changed the location of the first practice?”
Her mouth fell.Score.She didn’t have to know I was lying. “No, you didn’t. I’ll contact the organization and double-check because they have to reserve the fields. They can’t just move the entire location based on your whim.”
“Yeah. Ain’t telling you shit, Hermione. If you’re a goddamn know-it-all, you’ll figure it out just fine.” I left her there in the parking lot, fuming mad and shooting daggers at me with her scary blue eyes. I wondered why I suddenly was in a better mood.
Chapter Five
Fiona
I stormed into practice on a mission—ruin Gideon’s life.I changed the practice location.God. I hated how I let one total bullshit comment fluster me.He didn’t have the app to text the parents.I did. He’d lied. He’d gotten under my skin and tricked me. And I’d let him.
That was why I was at the field an hour early despite the fact I had the homework from hell to do. I had at least two hours before my class at nine the next morning. Financial modeling, AKA, the death of Fiona Davis.
I hated Excel. I would die happy if I never saw it again.But my major is finance. I’m screwed.The daunting decision to work for TTL hit me again, but the perfect distraction approached. It came on long, strong legs and wearing a black wind-breaker jacket that fit him like the leather glove he held. Wind-blown hair, the aviators and the scowl topped off the look.
“I see you found the field.”
“I see you’re still an asshole.”
“Good one.” He gave me a quick smile before tossing a bag down next to mine. He snorted and pointed to the book in my hands. “Did you make a practice plan? Oh god.”
“Yes.” I yanked the plans out of view. “I figured you didn’t plan a damn thing.”
“Of course I didn’t. Baseball is my life. I don’t need to make a plan.”
“We have fifteen teenage boys. We need a plan.” Anger formed in my chest. “They can’t just run around for three hours.”
He gave me a long stare, putting the glasses onto the top of his head. “What does your precious plan have them do?”
“Going over the team norms and expectations first, then warmup. After a warmup, I figured we could divide them into infield and outfield to get a notion of who goes where. We could create a line-up to work with from defense today.” I puffed out my chest, or what people would call a chest, because I was not gifted in that department. Pride blossomed. I’d worked hard researching practice plans. But I should’ve known better. Gideon Titan raised one eyebrow and scoffed.
The throaty sound made me want to fight him. It was smug, condescending and rude. I stood taller and matched his stare. “What is the damn problem?”
“Nothing. We’ll run it your way.Coach.” He gave me a withering stare and sauntered off toward his car. A brief thought had me chuckling. His longest relationship had to be with that damn car.
Oh, good one. The longest one I’ve had was two days since Justin.
I told myself to shut the fuck up. The treats I’d splurged on were in the car and it was the perfect time to get them. The two dozen cupcakes had been pricey, but worth it. The tray wobbled in my arms when I bent to set it down on the dugout bench. “There.”
“What the hell are those?” His gruff voice came from the other end. I’d somehow missed him.
