Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gideon
“Three more to the left. Don’t puss out. Come on, man!”
“Fiona. I’m notpussingout,” I fired back—Fiona had had a stick up her ass since she arrived and seemed hell-bent on taking it out on me.
“Then take more grounders. Backhand.”
She didn’t wait before rocking a one-hop grounder to me. I bounced, scooping it up without issue. Something was different about her today. Sure, it was our last game, but we’d grown into a routine that worked.
Almost every night, she went to bed with me. Sometimes we got naked, sometimes we talked about the future. Sometimes we passed out after playing video games until the morning hours. We were in a relationship. She just didn’t know it. “CFD, are you trying to hurt me?”
“Nope.”
She hit another grounder, harder than the last one, and I barely stopped it. After three more attempts at killing me, she dropped the bat and marched into the dugout.Okay then.I wiped sweat from my forehead and stretched before going to find her. We got here earlier than the kids most games and she had no need to be in the underground dugout. “Fiona. What’s wrong? Pissed I beat you at Mario Kart still?”
“No.” Her voice was too tight and high-pitched. That didn’t sit well with me and I put a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened at my touch. That was new. My stomach clenched but I shook it off. “I’m fine, Gideon.”
“I know I’m a guy, but I’m not an idiot. You’re not fine. What gives?” I tried touching her again, but she shrugged my hand off her and turned to stare at me. Her crystal-blue eyes weren’t warm or tender. She narrowed her gaze at me and tapped her foot. Her gaze slid to her backpack for a second—not enough to stop conversation, but I caught it. The journal I’d gotten her peeked out of the corner and I ran my hand over my mouth.She uses the journal.It made me inexplicably happy. “Well?”
“Just tense, I guess. Didn’t have a great day. Cleaning. The upcoming charity event. That sort of thing.”
“Fair enough. Are the plans all coming through? I’ve worked on my opening speech. Thought about talking about setbacks. We all have them, but we can’t let them define our future.” I kicked the dirt, hoping like hell she’d appreciate what I had in mind. Her face remained emotionless. For someone who always had a comment, she stayed silent. “I didn’t want to approach the topic of texting while driving specifically, but the desire and the guilt. I can relate to that…and, well, I’m nervous.”
“That’s great, Gideon. Your story will resonate with a lot of teenagers. I have no doubt your speech will be amazing,” she said without changing her bleak expression. “You turned in your rough draft to the email I gave you, right?”
“You mean your email?” I wiggled my eyebrows at her, hoping it would ease some of the stifling tension. Superstitions were a waste of time, but my gut told me something was wrong. “I wanted to attach a picture to it for you to enjoy. But since it’s housed at the charity, I made the more mature decision. Be proud of me.”
“Anyone can access that email account. It’s not mine.” She straightened her posture and twisted her neck, causing two loud cracks. She rubbed the back of her head and sighed, directing my attention to her obvious discomfort. “Don’t put my job in jeopardy by sending pictures.”
“You’re joking.” I laughed, hoping it sounded sincere instead of angry. Her words irritated me. “I would never do anything to put your job in jeopardy. I would think you knew that.”
“Yeah, I guess.” She bit down on her lip and avoided my gaze like we were meeting for the first time and I’d run over her foot.
“Did I do something to piss you off?”
“No, stop asking. You’re fine,” she replied in a nasty tone and rubbed her temples. “I’m sorry. I’m stressed out about the event. It’s ten days away. Ten. I’ve worked with the freelance designers and the program isn’t done. It had to get to the printer yesterday and on top of that, the picture we wanted to use of Justin isn’t the right size for the poster and I tried resizing it, but it looked pixelated. Jade hired two marketing interns and a fucking event planner without my vote and we agreed we would always vote as a council—she didn’t keep her word. She said I was too busy and she didn’t want to overrun me, but it’s going to be my job. I should have a say on who will be working with me in the shitty office.” She spoke the words so fast, they blurred together and I almost didn’t catch the blip in her voice. “I’m disappointed. I counted on her and…well, she didn’t follow through.”
She deflated. Her shoulder slumped and all the feisty energy I loved left. Fuck the need to suffer alone. I put my arm around her and dragged her to my chest. “I’m sorry. That’s shit. From what you’ve told me, you’re on the council of four and you all vote, right? How did it go through?”
“She had everyone else there for the interviews. Three voted yes. My opinion wasn’t needed.” She spoke with her face pressed against my shirt, and the muffled sound almost made me grin. It was cute. “Thanks for the support, Gid.”
“Anytime.” I rubbed her back, giving her neck a little squeeze. “I know just the thing we can do after the game that’ll help you relax. One hint—bubbles.”
“Right.” Her tone changed back to the hardened, almost unrecognizable one. Then she pushed off me and slammed her lips together. “I’m going to get started on the line-up. I researched that this team isn’t very talented and we can start the same guys for the first two innings, but I vote we rotate them all in. It is their last game.”
“I’m on board with that. I’ll get the field ready, I guess.” I paused at the gate and gave her one more look. “Are we okay?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?”
Great question. I scratched my head and found the device used to chalk the diamond. Her mood swings were erratic. I knew the littlest thing could have her go on a rant about anything, but I didn’t understand the hostility in her gaze toward me. I wasn’t someone who’d let her down. Nope. She’d spent all last night with me, waking me with her mouth around my cock. It had been a hell of a morning and she hadn’t walked away without three orgasms. We were fine, but she made me feel as if it was my fault. I gave her another long look and did my best to forget about it. It wasn’t easy, but when the first kid arrived—Big Al—I gave them all my attention. It was our last game and I wanted to enjoy every second.
* * * *
We won the game. Our last game of the season. Pride filled my chest when I studied each of the fifteen teenagers I’d spent four months with. I high-fived every one of them, an unknown emotion crawling up my throat. I would miss them. I would miss the team and I wasn’t sure I was ready to stop coaching.
I damn well knew I wasn’t ready to be done coaching with Fiona. My gaze slid to hers and my breath caught in my throat. She was gorgeous. She was a mess, but each one of her flaws made me love her a little more. Yeah. I loved her and didn’t have a fucking clue what to do about it. Every single time I brought up anything beyond the timeframe of the season, she changed the subject or distracted me. If I even said the word relationship, she laughed or made a joke. She had relationship issues. I understood that. But we had a friendship and she owed me a goddamn conversation about it.
