She hummed and we said goodbye to her parents—her dad smiling at me while her mom glared—and Sarah made promises to hang out with Megan and Ethan the next day. She wanted to go home and stuff her face, drink champagne and pass out. I couldn’t blame her. The event had been successful because of her and she should celebrate it. Gideon and Bummy joined us with huge grins and the logo shirt, and Sarah blushed.
“Thank you both so much. Look at all the free press I got!”
“Yeah, with bodies like that, everyone noticed,” Megan said, not hiding her clear ogling of them. “Seriously. Best press ever.”
Sarah giggled and held out her hand to my teammates. They snorted and gave me a weird look before shaking it. “I want to thank you both for being here on a day off. Seems like you don’t get a lot of them, so this is wonderful. And the donations…” She cleared her throat of emotions and looked all of us in the eye. “There aren’t enough words to thank you for it, so I figured we could hang your jerseys in the shop or something. Name a dog after you. I don’t know yet.”
“Please name a dog after me. That is a dream,” Bummy said, grinning real wide. “Let me know if you do. Michelle will be jealous.”
“Yeah, Fiona has been wanting a dog, too.” Gideon narrowed his eyes at her. “Let me know, or Brigs, when you have dogs available. I’ll be the first one to adopt.”
“Oh!” Sarah said before throwing her arms around Gideon in a huge hug. He looked stiff before awkwardly patting her on the back. “Sorry. This is just… You sports guys are nicer than I assumed. It’s wonderful.”
“Happy to help.” Gideon cleared his throat, jutted his chin to his car and waved. “I gotta go.”
“Sorry for the hug. It exploded out of me.”
“No worries. Take care, all.” He left, Bummy following him with a quick goodbye, and that meant the four of us remained.
“Get drunk and be stupid. I’m going to shower for an hour and sleep for a week,” Megan said, before pulling Sarah into a hug for a full minute. “I love you. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Megs.”
They broke apart and the siblings left, leaving me and Sarah the last ones there, and she put her arms in the air and twirled for a second. “I’m so happy I could just pass out.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” I said, amused at her giddiness. “At least get back to the apartment before you do.”
“True.” She laughed and smacked her forehead. “Uh, did I tell you that Fernie stopped by?”
“Wait, what?”
“Yeah! He donated some money and told me I wasn’t a total menace. I almost hugged him, too.” She practically skipped on the walk to my car as I digested her words, solidifying what I already knew. She was special. So kind and selfless that she got the damn curmudgeon to attend the event on his day off. I could only stare at her curved lips and reddened cheeks, the way her eyes were a lighter blue than normal and how her logo stretched across her chest. “Why are you looking at me like that, bud?”
“Bud?” I said, getting into the driver’s seat to start the drive back to the condo. “I am not a bud.”
“Not in the way I’m thinking about you right now.”
“Oh, do tell,” I said, hating myself more than I ever had. I shouldn’t lead her on. It would be easier to end it. Cut her out of my life so she could move on—I would be forced to if I went to jail.
God, I was an asshole. But she licked her lips and reached over to run a hand on my chest, teasing and tickling me to the point I started to get hard. “Blue Bell, I’m driving. Safety first.”
“You’re no fun.”
“I am tons of fun. The funnest.”
She made a raspberry with her lips and hit my arm, leaning against the window and humming some old rock song. She was all smiles and sunburn, happiness and home. I shook my head and swallowed, telling myself to enjoy the night. I couldn’t take today away from her. But tomorrow…the next day… I had to end it.
“You are never quiet this long, baseball boy—should I be worried?” she asked, lines that weren’t there before appearing around her forehead. God, I was making her worry—the last thing I wanted to do.
“Of course not,” I lied, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. “Just thinking about you.”
“All good things or weird things, obviously.”
“Obviously.” I sighed and the pressure on my chest grew the entire drive. It remained when we parked and walked into our building, went up the elevator, and when she pulled me into the condo. She poked me in the side, causing me to yelp. “Hey!”
“You’re grumpy right now. Why? Was it the phone call?” She frowned and pulled out a bottle of champagne and two glasses. She narrowed her eyes at me and grabbed a sports drink from the fridge. “I got you red flavor.”
“Red isn’t a flavor, but I appreciate the gesture.” I leaned my hip against the counter and watched her pour the drinks, my heart in my throat, finalizing my plans. Today was about her. Whatever she wanted. Tomorrow, I’d have to figure out what to do. Knowing that was the plan, I relaxed and held up my red fluid to her champagne. “To Blue Bells Boarding, to you, and to all the dogs you’ll get to rescue.”
