“No.”
“—another calendar idea. I was thinking—”
“No!”
She pulled up short, her expression filled with hurt. “There’s no need to shout. I thought I taught you better than that.”
I shook my head. She was right—my kneewashurting. But that had nothing to do with my next move. Dialing one-handed, I called the security office. Someone answered right away.
“Hi, this is Connor Hart. I’m standing outside of Gia’s office. I need you to escort Sophia Hart to her car. Her press and family privileges are revoked. I don’t want her in the ballpark again unless I tell you otherwise.” I waited as the voice on the other end assured me that it would be handled immediately and that two guards were on their way. I thanked them and looked directly at my sister’s shocked expression. “I’m done letting you get away with this kind of bullshit. Clean up your act or there will be nothing left between us.”
“Nothing left? Are you forgetting what I’ve done for you? If it weren’t for me—”
Gia’s voice cut through the tirade. “What are you doing in my office?”
I spun around, faltering when it tweaked my knee. “Security is on the way. She was going through your desk.”
Gia rolled her eyes. “I know. That’s why I put everything important in the locked cabinet.”
It took me a moment to process that. Had Sophia really—?
“Oh my God, it’s all so clear now!” Sophia bellowed. “It’s her. She’s poisoned you against me. I never thought I’d see the day when my brother let himself be led around by a little tramp—”
My knee be damned. I grabbed my sister by the arm and dragged her out of Gia’s office.
“Not another word, Sophia. Not. Another. Damned. Word.”
She pushed her trembling lips together, her breath short and tight. And then big fat tears started rolling down her cheeks. I wanted to believe that they were fake. Hell, they probably were. But I’d seen those tears when we buried our mother and again when our father was put in the ground. I’d seen them when she was trying to study for a test and realized that the refrigerator was empty and no one had money for pizza. I’d seen those tears before when they’d been real. But I couldn’t tell now if these were fake, real, or some combination of both.
And I couldn’t stand there holding my sister against the wall when she was crying.
I eased back. Thankfully, security chose that moment to show up.
“Connor…” Sophia said, her voice breathy with pain.
“Go. Now.”
She waited a moment. I couldn’t look at her face, so I turned away. I heard security directing her to “Come this way,” then only footsteps and a loud sound as Sophia blew her nose.
God, I couldn’t feel more wretched.
I felt Gia’s arm slip around my waist. “I’ve got an hour before my next media event. Want to grab a cheeseburger?”
I nodded. I wanted a greasy cheeseburger, unhealthy sweet potato fries, and a bottomless mug of beer. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
She pressed a kiss to my lips. “I’m not.”
We went together for food. She ended up getting a call after forty-five minutes—something about setting up interviews before the next game. I waved her away and wished I could be part of the excitement, but I had to take care of my knees, first. And if the guys could just win the League Championship, I’d have a shot at the World Series.
Assuming everything went right.
So I did everything I was supposed to. I let Gia do her job. I didn’t respond to Sophia’s voicemail apologies and pleas for understanding. I also did my exercises, iced obsessively, took the cortisone shots, and let the trainers massage, stimulate, and stretch me in ways that could make a grown man cry. I didn’t, but damn, there were times my eyes definitely watered from the pain.
Gia and I got together when her schedule allowed for it. We had sweet nights and shared our lives in every way but the important ones. We didn’t talk about Sophia, and I never said, “I love you,” though I felt it in every part of my body.
The whole thing made me irrationally angry. Gia deserved better than what I was giving her. I lived in fear that she would wake up and demand something that, for some reason, I was unable to give.
But she didn’t push, and I loved her all the more for it.
