“I know, and I shouldn’t complain because I chose to drink. It annoys me when people complain about things they can change or self-induced. If I sound whiney, smack me.”
“You aren’t whiney.” He held out his hands. “Turn around.”
“Why?”
“I’ll show you what I learned once when I had a migraine. You can use this trick for headaches, hangovers, migraines or stress. I use it for all three.” He clapped his hands. “Come on, turn around.”
“Uh, okay.” I obeyed. My heart beat fast and I was sure he heard it. But he said nothing. “What are you doing?”
“Applying pressure.” He smoothed my hair off my neck, the movement sending goosebumps down my body. I shivered. He pressed two fingers onto the two pressure points behind my ears—hard. “It’s going to hurt but relieve the pain.”
“Uh-huh.” I managed to get out two syllables, somehow. His hand gently applied pressure, rubbing out the muscles. I closed my eyes, moaning into my fist.Shit, he has good hands.
“How does it feel?”
“Uhh.” I closed my eyes. “Yes.”
He laughed softly and continued the movements. “Good. Did you know about the one in your hand? Here, give me your coffee.” I held out the coffee and he set it on the ground. “Right between your thumb and pointer finger is another pressure point.”
He kept one hand on my neck, pressing down, and had my other hand on his leg. He pinched the skin between my fingers and although it hurt, the pressure in my head disappeared. I met his gaze and nerves took over. His eyes burned into mine. His jaw was tight, pained, and I knew how he felt—I felt it, too.
We stayed like that, him touching me and me fighting every urge to climb onto him. He pressed harder and a small moan escaped my mouth. He let go and jerked back. The loss of his touch made me feel cold. “Better?”
“Yeah. Thanks.” I avoided looking at him as he avoided me. This had gotten awkward and I needed to get it under control. “Your question?”
He cleared his throat. “Right. It was about your anger at Veronica. I thought about it once I got home, but I feel there’s a story I’m missing.”
“Not sure what your question is exactly. I’d never met her before and didn’t appreciate her sick plan.”
He gave a strained laugh. “I know that. I feel like you have a history or something with people like her. Maybe I’m crazy. I’m curious, that’s all.”
“You’re sort of right.” I guessed the time had arrived to tell him about my hang-up with him.You can do it.“I told you I grew up around baseball players and I’ve seen the likes of the good, the bad and the ugly of the sport.”
“Of course. You’re also a baseball nerd, which is super-hot.” He winked, his normal flirtatious self coming back to life. I preferredthisZade. He was easy to get along with and fun. Serious Zade? A danger to my heart.
“Anyways, I’m not commenting on that one. There are two parts to the story, so bear with me. The first time I saw a cleat chaser try and ruin someone’s life I was sixteen. His name was Carter. He had all the talent in the world for a small-town kid with a dream. Long story short, she wore him down. He cheated on his longtime girlfriend and I know it takes two, but I still swear the bitch drugged him.”
He recoiled, angry as hell. “Who the fuck does that?”
“I know. It makes my blood boil.” I clenched my fists. “She took him to court for childcare payments and dragged his name through the mud. The child wasn’t his in the end, but he lost focus on the game and his stats struggled. He still plays in the minors, but the future he had at that time was bright. She dimmed it.”
“And the second part?”
“Seventeen-year-old Callie had a crush on an All-Star catcher. Shocking, right?” I laughed without any humor in it. His eyes had filled with pity. I glanced away. “You know how the story ends. Girl likes boy, boy likes girl, girl chases boy, and boy suddenly breaks up with girl because of naked women in his bed.”
“That’s not a story I like or have heard. You’re skipping on the details, Callie. Tell me what happened.” His eyes now held a tinge of anger.
“It was my first love or boyfriend or crush, whatever. We never made it official, apparently, well that’s what he said. We were together the entire summer before my senior year, or I thought so at least. But these cleat chasers were relentless. He was in college, dating a high schooler. They played every trick and won the game.”
“The asshole cheated on you?”
“Since we weren’t technically together, I guess not. But to me, it appeared he did. It was hell. He stood me up at homecoming and those cleat chasers posted tons of pictures of them online. It was…shitty.” I had no lingering feelings for Gage, none whatsoever, but the memory still burned with shame. “When I see those types of girls who don’t care about anything but their own agenda, I get pissed as hell.”
“Rightfully so.” He twisted his face but then changed to his easygoing smile. “I for one am glad you’re on our side of the field, though. I wouldn’t want to face your wrath.”
“You should be.” The intensity of the moment lessened. Zade had the unique talent of making me feel turned on, worried, comfortable and joyous all with a smile.Damn him.I took the last sip of my coffee and got some energy. “You were right.”
“Of course I was, but about what exactly?”
