Listen, Pitch (There's No Crying in Baseball 3)

I felt awful for him.

Tyler had been in the Marines for years before he’d gotten out. He’d immediately gone the police route and had found a job in Longview before being offered a different job in Hostel. And since that shit had gone down with Tara and Rome, he’d been in a hurry to leave the city.

Now he was doing a job that he hated, away from his family, and not getting any respect while he did it.

“Tyler…”

“I’ll be fine, Hennie. Trust me.” He ruffled my hair. “But…if you need anything, give me a call.” He looked pointedly in Rhys’ direction. “I’m only a phone call away, and things have settled down for me.”

With that, he left without another word, leaving Rhys and me staring at the closed door where he’d just departed from.

“Your brother, he’s a real nice individual,” Rhys drawled.

I snickered as I turned back to give Rhys my eyes.

“He’s…something,” I snickered, then remembered he’d had a game today. “How was your game?”

He grimaced. “Let’s just say, I could’ve done better had I gotten my head out of my ass and stopped living in my head.”

I knew exactly what he meant. “Next time an important phone call like that comes in, I’ll be sure to wait until after the game to tell you that we’re having four children.”

His eyes filled with laughter. “That’d be appreciated.”

I shuddered. “I think four kids is going to be our beginning and ending point,” I told him. “I’d like to have one of my own…but yeah. I don’t want five kids.”

He watched me carefully for a few moments. “I want a baby with you. I want to see you swell with my child. I want to see you breastfeeding our baby.”

I swallowed. “I can breastfeed our children without actually giving birth to them. A lot of adoptive parents do that.”

He didn’t agree or disagree. “And I have a fetish for pregnant women. Pregnant women named Henley that make my dick hard.”

I shivered then. “Rhys…”

“One and we’ll stop.”

I bit my lip. “Five kids is quite a lot…”

“We don’t have to have the baby any time soon,” he said. “In a couple years, once we’ve gotten these potty trained. Then we’ll have one.”

I thought about that, then nodded. “I think that would be okay.”

“Birth control,” he said.

I smiled. “Yeah, that’s probably a must at this point. It’s a good thing that I’m too weak to do anything but lay there.”

His eyes went wide. “I could make you enjoy it.”

I had no doubt that he could. “I’d also give you strep throat, and then you wouldn’t be able to play in the next playoff game.”

He frowned. “I thought they said you had to be on the antibiotics for twenty-four hours. It’s been eighteen. I can wait until tomorrow.”

I laughed, which then turned into a coughing fit.

When I finally got a hold of myself, I found Rhys placing a glass of water in front of my face.

“I’ll call your doctor tomorrow and have her send some birth control pills over,” he said.

I shivered. “That sounds like a good idea.”

Rhys winked at me, then turned to survey the kitchen. “Now, we can have pizza, or I can make you soup out of a can…then order pizza for myself.”

I snorted.

“Pizza. But make sure you get me those BBQ wings that they have, they sound really good.” I smiled down at the counter.

But, before I could study the detail in the marble countertops too long, I felt Rhys’ hand on my chin, lifting it up to look at me.

“Tell me about your brother. Why hasn’t he come home?” he asked. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

My smile died. “It’s not my story to tell,” she hesitated. “But, I guess since he was the one to bring the two of them up, he expected me to tell you.” She moaned and moved her hips in the chair. “Tyler used to date a woman. That woman was dating Tyler and Tyler’s best friend, Rome—real name Romero, at the same time. The woman, Tara, chose Romero and not Tyler. He’s not been back since they broke up.”

Rhys sighed. “That sucks big balls.”

I snorted. “So eloquent you are.”

He shrugged. “I’m not apologizing for telling the truth…but next time I might be a little nicer to him. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you…but I know damn well that I’d avoid my sister, because seeing her happy would be just one more dagger to the heart that I wasn’t willing to endure unless I absolutely had to.”

I felt my heart shudder in my chest, and despite being sick as a dog, other things started to flutter, too.

“That was sweet, Rhys.”

He winked at me. “Now, are you sure on the pizza?”

The moment might be gone, but the words weren’t able to be unsaid.