He says it so quickly, so abruptly, my brain short-circuits.
“Well.”I pause, trying to think.“I don’t have plans on Saturday.Sure, I’ll go to the game with you.”
“And it might turn out Damiano can go after all.”
“Of course,” I say.“Either way.Seth, I’m not opposed to hanging out with you.It seems the other way around—that you don’t want to be around me.”
“It isn’t like that.”
I stare hard at him.“I didn’t think you were a liar, Seth.”
He leans forward, tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.My stomach does a giant swoop, half-glee, half-lust.
His voice is a raspy whisper in my ear.“I’m not lying.The problem isn’t that I don’t want to be around you, Madison.It’s that I want to be around you too fucking much.”
* * *
SETH
I’m ready to bribe Damiano’s doctor to clear him for today’s game with the Surf Rats.And fucking Damiano, home from the hospital, seems to guess my feelings, because he starts acting evenmoretired and groggy.Like he can’t possibly leave his penthouse.He falls back against his pillow on the couch.“You’ll have to go without me.”
Asshole.
“Maybe I should send Alessia up to help you,” I say, “since you’re feeling so ill.”
He sits up quickly.“Oh, no, I’m—I’m fine.Not fine enough to leave, though.I don’t want to disobey the doctor’s orders.But you have fun with Madison, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”Like having a semi-hard cock for four hours is going to be “fun.”
“No, Seth.I mean it.”He leans forward.“Have fun.”
“Don’t plant that idea in my head, you dick.I’m not doing that with her.”
He shrugs, all innocence.“I’m not sure what you are talking about, my friend.”
I flip him off and leave to pick up Madison at her place.I can’t believe this guy sometimes.Just because I’m back in San Esteban and I’m not biting Madison’s head off, he seems to think I’m ready to fuck her.
She’s a friend.She’s my former sister-in-law.That’s all.
But then she steps out of her house wearing a knee-length skirt and a graphic tee with zombies on it, along with a pink Surf Rats baseball cap.She looks so fucking cute and sexy, my heart stops in my chest.
I’m in for a long day.
7
SETH
The Surf Rats are up against their bitterest rivals, the Rattlesnakes.And the fans are rabid for blood.
The private box where Madison and I sit has comfortable chairs, a loveseat, and a table with barstools set up at one side of the room.It would easily hold ten people, but today it’s just the two of us.
“This is amazing.”Madison keeps looking around at the room, ignoring the players as they warm-up.
I’m half-watching her, half-watching the Surf Rats shortstop, Greg Faraday.He’s been involved in some drama, and Redactible gossip says the drama has gotten to his head, making him a shittier player.
Even in the warm-ups, I can tell that the Redactible gossips are correct.He’s playing worse.I can see it in the way he hunches his shoulders, the way he hesitates before throwing the ball.It’s like his confidence has evaporated.
“So, we can take any of these snacks and drinks?”Madison holds up a wine cooler that had been chilling in a bucket of ice.
