The Other Game (The Perfect Game 4)

Frustrated, I pulled her apartment door closed behind me. That hadn’t gone how I expected. Then again, I wasn’t sure what I thought would happen.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, I noticed Jack and Cassie pulling in at the same time. Jack didn’t see me from the driver’s seat of his lifted vintage Bronco, and I headed home, hoping he wouldn’t be much longer. I wanted to hear all about his date with Cassie.

• • •

When I got home, I hung the keys to the Honda on the key organizer beside the front door and tiptoed to the bathroom. Gran and Gramps had already gone to bed, and I didn’t want to wake them.

The front door opened and shut when I’d almost fallen asleep. A little drowsy, I rolled out of bed and shuffled down the hallway to meet Jack outside his room.

“You’re still up?” he asked.

“I was waiting.”

He snorted. “You’re such a girl.”

“I feel like one right now. I want to hear everything,” I said, not caring what he thought about me.

“Let me grab some water, and then I’ll come in your room.”

I yawned and headed back to my bedroom, where I sat on my bed to wait for Jack. He came in carrying two glasses of water, and handed me one.

“Thanks.” I placed the water on my nightstand. “So? How was it?”

“Epic.” He plopped down onto the bed next to me.

“Epic? How? Why?”

“Shit. First of all, listen to this.” He shook his head. “I got into a damn fight at the restaurant. That dickhead Jared came up and tried to start something. I was going to let it go, but then he started saying stuff to Cassie, and I lost it. I just wanted him to shut his fucking mouth.”

“Jesus, Jack.” I rubbed my hand across my forehead. “You sleep with a guy’s girlfriend, and then you hit him?”

“Yeah, and I couldn’t stop hitting him, but only because of what he said to Cassie. But before that, everything was great. And after that it was great too.”

“Cassie wasn’t pissed? She seems like the kind of girl to get pissed over something like that.”

Jack nodded. “I think under normal circumstances she might have been. But this wasn’t normal. He was a dick. She didn’t say so, but I think she was happy I hit him.”

“How’s your hand?” I glanced at his left arm. His throwing arm.

“Hurts like hell. But I hit him with the right, so it’s all good.”

“I saw you guys come home,” I said with a smile of my own, and he cocked his head to the side.

“What?” He gasped. “Were you with Melissa while I was out with Cassie?”

“Yeah, but nothing happened. I can’t tell if she’s into me or not,” I said, hoping he’d have some insight.

“I can ask Cassie, but Melissa seems stubborn. Like she might be a tough nut to crack, little brother.”

“You might be right. Good thing I’m a patient guy. Cassie’s cool, though?”

Jack breathed out a long breath, and then smiled. “She’s beyond cool. She’s so normal. She doesn’t care about the baseball aspect at all. I mean, she cares, but only because I do. She doesn’t see me the way other girls do, you know? She’s smart and opinionated and gorgeous. She has all these rules that she lives by, and I’m going to prove to her that I can live by them too.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” I put my hand up to stop his Cassie-filled love rant. “Rules? What kind of rules?”

“Oh, just these four like, I don’t know, rules. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t say things you don’t mean, and don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he said, rattling them off as if he’d memorized them for a test.

I was lost. “And you’re supposed to prove them all to her?”