“Come on. The guys are going to teach the kids some skills.”
“What?”
“Just come on.”
She dragged me down to the field with everyone else. None of the Bobcats were dressed for baseball, but we could all toss a ball around with eager children. And hell, the dads wanted in on the fun, too. I was about to show a couple of girls the proper way to field a ball when Bailey’s voice cut through the crowd.
“Hey, Connor! How’s that batting practice going? Care to show us what you’ve learned? Maybe we can give you a few pointers.”
She was taunting me, and since I knew I deserved her scorn, I didn’t tell her where to stuff her pointers. So I smiled back at her and gestured to the warm-up strip. It was a long section the same distance between the mound and home plate, surrounded by netting. Someone could pitch, someone else could bat, and the ball was well contained. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done?”
“It’s not my game, but maybe my brothers can.” Then she handed a bat to one of her brothers. I’d never met the man before, but from the angry glint in his eye, he’d heard plenty about me. Then Gia came onto the field while carrying a toddler who was watching everything with big brown eyes.
I could have stayed watching Gia all day. Hell, she drew my eyes even when I was playing a major league baseball game. But her brother grabbed my attention with four words.
“I protect my sister.”
My attention jerked back to him as he took a few practice swings. There wasn’t anything overtly threatening in his motions, but I’d said those words to other people. I’d used that same tone of voice when warning them away from Cassie. And when I looked into his eyes, I saw that same banked fury that I’d had, a clear threat to anyone who even thought about messing with someone he loved.
I might have bristled, but I couldn’t. Bailey’s words still haunted me.You made her cry.Gia had been crying because of me, and guilt ate at my gut. And then her brother turned to where his brother was pitching and readied himself to swing.
Whack.
It was a good solid hit. There’d been power in the pitch, precision in the swing. Not major league skill, but that hadn’t been the point. Both men were letting me know what they were made of.
Pitch.
Whack.
Power. Precision. And fury. All aimed at me.
And I couldn’t even claim that I’d never hurt Gia. That I’d rather die than upset her in any way. Because, of course, I had. And her family was defending her in a way I could respect, a way that I’d used myself a time or two.
Which meant what exactly?
I turned away, looking for an escape. I wasn’t going to get into it with Gia’s siblings. So the best thing for me to do was slip away and let the party go on as planned. Except as I turned, there she was.
Gia.
She stood with arms folded and her eyes narrowed in anger. Oddly though, she wasn’t looking at me, but at her brothers.
The closest one casually hit the bat against his sneaker. “Hey, Gia—”
“Stuff it. I know what you’re doing.”
The one who’d been pitching jogged forward. “But Gia—”
She held up her hand to stop him, then turned around to glare at her sister. “We’ll talk about this later.”
I touched her arm. “They were just showing me their swing.” She shook her head, but I kept blundering on. “Don’t be angry. I respect their message.”
Her gaze turned blistering, but she didn’t speak. No, that was left to her sister who drawled, “Oh, so yourespectus now. Because they can swing a bat?”
That wasn’t what I meant, and I shot the girl a hard glare. But that was nothing compared to what Gia did. She stepped around me to go nose to nose with her sister.
“I told you about him in confidence,” she growled.
“And—”
