The ball whizzes past my face, close enough to feel the rush of air.
Fuck.
“FOX! Get over here.”
I throw Jensen an apologetic look before jogging toward Declan, swallowing my pride.
“What’s up, Coach?” I ask, playing dumb even though we both know better.
Declan narrows his eyes. “I don’t know, Gareth, you tell me. If this is your warm up, how the hell will your performance be the rest of practice?”
I drop my gaze, shaking my head. “My head's not right today.”
“I can see that. You need to leave?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I’ll focus.”
“Alright then.” He slaps my shoulder. “Get back out there. We’re twenty minutes in. Do better.”
I jog back onto the field, rolling my shoulders loose as I head back to Jensen.
“Having a hard time playing catch?” he teases, tossing the ball into his glove.
“Shut up and throw it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“What isn’t wrong?” I mutter, shaking my head.
Not wanting to discuss the tightness in my chest, or the constant state of stress I’ve been living in, terrified Indy will tell me goodbye, I turn and walk farther into the field, widening the distance between us.
I force every thought out of my mind except for baseball, focusing on the practice and willing muscle memory to kick in.
Eventually, I get my head in the game.
An hour later, sweat drips down my spine, my hair damp from the heat radiating in my batter’s helmet, when Coach finally calls for a break.
I rip it off just as Jensen and Austin wander over to me. Austin tosses me a bottle of water.
“Glad to see you snapped out of it,” Jensen muses before tilting his bottle back, draining the entire thing in one shot.
Austin frowns. “What’d I miss this time?“
“Evidently we both did,” Jensen tells him.
They both look at me, waiting for an explanation.
I finish off my water slowly, buying time, letting the liquid cool me from the inside out.
“Long story short.” I exhale. “Dylan found out about me and Indy. He came back from his trip a couple days early and showed up at her apartment—found us in bed.” My jaw tightens as I relive the memory. “He lost his shit. Accused us of betraying him.”
“Oh damn,” Austin murmurs.
“Yeah. Then he tried to fight me. I kicked him out of Indy’s place. And later she asked me for space.”
“She probably just needed a minute to think,” Jensen says with a gentleness that surprises me.
“I know. I’m just afraid that too much space will make her change her mind about us.”
