He nods. “They’re vultures—the worst part of the career. You’ll learn how to handle them. Talk to Drew. The team has a coach you can work with who will help you with how to respond to the bloodsuckers.”
“Yeah. I’ve taken a couple of their online courses. It’s been crazy with the season, so he told me to just hold my tongue and that I could do the one-on-one with the coach in the off-season.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to work it in. Especially when you’re on the road all the time.”
The ladies burst out laughing, and the sound pulls our attention to them. My eyes are on Paisley as her head falls back. Her smile is wide, and her breasts shake with her laughter. “I can’t believe she’s mine.” Easton reaches over and pats me on the shoulder, and I turn to look at him, and he’s grinning. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” I ask him.
“You did. You’re good for her.”
“She’s good for me.”
He nods, and that ends that conversation. We end up staying way past closing and not even realizing it. Easton, Henderson, and I all leave a healthy tip, because hey, I can do that kind of thing now.
“Hey, Easton,” I say as we make our way out of the restaurant. “Do you happen to have a financial advisor who you trust?”
“Yeah. Great guy. I’ve used him for years.”
“Can you send me his number or maybe give him mine or Paisley’s? I want to be smart about this. I know there’s no guarantee in this kind of career, so I want to plan accordingly.” Something that looks a lot like pride shines in his eyes.
“I’ll text my princess the number.”
“Thank you.”
“Ready?” Paisley asks, sliding her arms around my waist and smiling up at me.
“Yes.”
“We have to take Willow and Henderson back to the stadium.”
I pull my keys out of my pocket. “I’m ready when you are.”
Today is another day I will always remember. The day my team made it to the World Series and the celebration with friends and family. All the puzzle pieces of life seem to be falling into place, and I’m excited for even more to find their place and see what that big picture looks like.
Chapter 24
Cameron
I open the bathroom door of our hotel room to see Paisley sitting on the edge of the bed with her phone in her hand. She’s frowning at the screen.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, stepping closer to her, a towel still tied around my waist.
“Have you seen this?” She holds up her phone to show me one of those online gossip sites with the headline, “Taylor rumors of a trade.”
“Babe, you can’t read that shit. They print whatever they have to in order to get sales and traffic to their sites.” I don’t tell her that I have indeed seen it. The vultures in the media went from showing clips of our kiss and the progression of our relationship to tearing it apart. Fuckers.
She tosses her phone on the nightstand. “So you haven’t heard anything about being traded?”
“No. I just signed a new four-year contract. I doubt they’re looking to trade me. Besides, I think out of respect for you, Drew would tell us as soon as something like that was on the table.” At least, I hope he would. My agent too. I texted him earlier, and he told me not to believe everything I read. I’m hoping that means this is false.
“You’re probably right.”
“Hey.” Placing my index finger under her chin, I lift her eyes to mine. “It’s just a gossip rag. Nothing to be worried about.”
“It could happen, though. It’s always a possibility.” There’s a storm in her eyes, and I know what she’s thinking. The same thing I did when I read that article. If I get traded, I’ll never see her.
I crouch down in front of her, where she still sits on the side of the bed. “It’s a possibility, but if that happens, we’ll figure it out.”
“How? I work here for the Blaze, and if you get traded…” Her voice trails off.