My chest constricts as I look up and find Coach Tran glaring at me, with a pointed look at my hands. The MLB has strict rules about no phones in the dugout even when we’re not playing.
Pocketing my phone, I force myself to watch her brother on the mound.
He communicates with our catcher via hand signals, winds up, and releases a dirty slider. One that the batter swings at and misses completely.
The crowd goes wild, cheering loudly as we’re one more out away from being done with this inning, with one remaining until the game’s over.
Last week, we were on the road in Cincinnati, having lost the entire series. So this near win today has our fans revved up and excited. As of now, we’re looking good to make the playoffs, unless we play as awful as we did last weekend.
Ian winds up again, releasing a fast ball that this time is hit by the batter, but instead of it staying in play, it’s instantly a foul ball.
I watch as the ball flies above my head, right where Teagan is sitting. Moving as fast as I can, I pull myself on top of the dugout, ready to shield her when the man behind her catches it. He’s clearly intoxicated by the way he moves, and instead of remaining upright, he stumbles forward as he leaned to make the catch, and falls right onto Teagan.
Red blurs my vision and anger like I’ve never felt before surges throughout my body. I push forward the few steps separating us, proceeding to lift and toss the man off her, shoving him back.
Teagan then stands up to face him. “You jackass, watch what you’re doing!” she shouts angrily, stealing the words right from my mouth.
I’m tempted to pull her into me and make sure both of them are okay, but there are far too many eyes on us and I don’t want to draw more attention to us. So, instead, I ball my hands into fists at my sides and stand protectively next to her.
“Relax, it was just an accident.” The guy waves off, swaying from side to side until he makes eye contact with me. “Holy shit, Quentin Laurent just threw my big ass around. Can you sign this ball?”
He holds it out to me with hope in his glazed over eyes, and I have no problem watching that hope dim.
“Not a chance. Don’t try to catch balls if you can’t stand upright. You landed on someone who’s—”
“Just happy that she’s fine and not injured,” Teagan says, giving me a pointed look. “So watch it next time, or I will throat-punch you, got it?”
As if he didn’t hear a word either of us said, his eyes widen as he stares at Teagan. “You’re the gymnast with the nice ass, am I right?”
If I thought I was seeing red before, now it’s a fire burning rage. A total blinding rage that consumes me and makes me step forward as I yank on the collar of his shirt.
“Apologize to her and get the fuck out of here, now.” My tone is ice cold, the opposite of the burning temper I feel within me.
He stumbles with a laugh. “Whoa, what is happening right now? I’m so confused. All I was saying is she’s got—”
“Apologize, now. Before I knock your teeth out and you can’t apologize.”
The guy next to him grabs him by the shoulder. “Dude, just say sorry and let’s go. You’re being an idiot.” It seems that his friend has brain cells thankfully, and his drunk friend shockingly listens.
“Yeah, sorry. Do you, uh, want this ball?” He holds it out to her.
“The only thing I want is for you to leave,” she says bluntly, not an ounce of fear on her face. She’s all confidence and strength. Truthfully, she doesn’t need me defending her. But I couldn’t stand there and let anyone disrespect or hurther.
The two men take off instantly, and the entire crowd begins cheering. A look at the jumbotron shows me that it caught the entire thing on camera.
Which means Ian saw me and his sister…
“What the hell is going on?” he says as he comes up behind us, right on cue.
I remain silent, letting Teagan decide how she wants this to play out.
“Some drunk idiot fell on me. We exchanged words and now he’s gone,” she says casually.
“Jesus, Jen, are you okay?”
“Ian, I’m fine. Truly,” she reassures him.
Ian inhales and exhales deeply, then nods in my direction. “Why are you here?”
