Beyond the Game

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that on your own. Next time, I’ll be there.”

“Next time? You plan on kissing me again, and it going viral on all the sports networks?”

“Kissing you again, most definitely. If they happen to capture it, then yeah.”

“You’re something else, Cameron Taylor,” she says over a yawn.

“It’s late. You should get some rest.”

“Yeah, you have to be rested for your Blaze debut tomorrow.”

“Have breakfast with me?”

“You’re scheduled to have breakfast with the team.”

“You’re a part of the team.”

“If I happen to see you, then I see you.”

“Oh, baby, I’ll make sure of it. Night, beautiful.”

“Night, Cam.” The call goes silent on the other end, and I know that she’s hung up. Dragging my tired ass off my bed, I plug in my phone, then slip off the towel and pull on some boxer briefs before sliding under the covers. I wish she were here next to me, but having her voice be the last thing I hear before falling asleep is a good second. We’ll get to her falling asleep and waking up in my arms. I’m a man who never backs down from something he wants, and I want Paisley Monroe.

Chapter 7

Paisley

It’s late, well after midnight, but we play again tomorrow at home. The bus is buzzing with excitement as the players board still high off their win. The life of a professional athlete has a lot of extravagances, but there is a lot of hard work, dedication, and time on the road away from loved ones too. That’s what the fans don’t see. They don’t see the hours of practice and travel. They don’t see the injuries and the pain that the players push through. They also don’t get to see the smiling faces as all of that hard work pays off and the team celebrates together.

I choose a seat near the front of the bus and curl up next to the window with my blanket. Closing my eyes, I listen to the sounds of the players and staff as they make their way on board. We have two buses, and I try not to think about whether or not Cameron will end up on mine. He texted me, asking me to wait for him so we could sit together, but instead of replying like an adult, I snuck onto the bus and chose a seat, and now I’m pretending to sleep.

“Yo, rookie, your girl is on the second bus.” I hear one of the guys say. “Yeah, she’s sitting alone.” I hear him speak, but no reply. He must be on the phone. “You better hurry. I may just take your seat.” I don’t hear what the person, who I assume is Cameron, says on the other line, but the raucous laughter coming from the tattletale tells me that line didn’t sit so well with him.

Footsteps carry on past me, and I snuggle further into my Blaze blanket, trying to block it all out. It’s not that I don’t want to sit with Cameron. It’s the opposite. If I could spend all of my time with him, I would, but that’ll only complicate both of our lives. So instead of waiting for him, I’m here taking the coward’s way out, but I have a feeling with that phone call, the jig is up.

Someone drops into the seat next to mine. I lie as still as possible, still pretending to be asleep. Thankfully, I pulled the blanket up over my face to help with the act.

“Found her, huh?” a deep voice asks.

“Yeah, Miller gave me the heads-up,” Cameron’s deep voice replies.

Miller, that has to be Corey Miller, the outfielder. We don’t have any other Millers on the team.

My mind is racing with how his teammates knew to look for me. Do they just assume since the kiss cam incident that we’re dating? Is it their assumption that we’re an item since we’ve sat together a few times? Did he tell them to let him know which bus I was on? A million questions filter through my mind right now, yet I can’t voice any of them since I’m pretending to be asleep.

It feels as though hours have passed by the time the bus begins to move. In reality, it was maybe another five minutes, but my racing heart begs to differ. When his hand slides under the cover and laces with mine, I turn to face him.

“Hey, beautiful,” he whispers, using his hand that’s not holding mine to brush my hair out of my eyes. “You didn’t reply.”

“Yet you found me.”

“Yeah, I found you.”

“How?”

“I told a few of the guys to let me know which bus you were on.”

“Why?”