Since phones were banned in the dugout, the guys took turns disappearing into the clubhouse to look at the pictures and headlines about my giant fucking cock, because there was nothing homoerotic about that.

They thought they were being slick, but even if Ty didn’t tell me, I’d have noticed. And since I did, I chose not to tune everyone out like I usually did during the game. As much as I knew I’d regret it, I listened to every fucking word the guys muttered under the breaths about Evie. I thought I’d find their stupid comments at least vaguely amusing. That was generally what I felt when they ranked and rated all my conquests like a bunch of middle school girls.

But as they talked about Evie, all I felt was my blood boiling in my veins.

“I say the tits are real. And she’s gotta have a magic pussy to have Maddox carrying shopping bags.”

“Magic mouth too. You saw those lips?”

“Yeah. Imagine what they look like after sucking dick for a good ten, fifteen – ”

“Watch it,” I barked, on my feet before I knew it. Diaz was in front of me in no time, wordlessly walking me back to my seat as I glared over his shoulder at Watt and Brewer. Watt held his hands up in surrender.

“Fuck. D, I didn’t mean any disrespect. I’m sorry.”

“Same. I didn’t know you could hear.”

“I can hear everything and if I hear my girl’s name out of your dirty fucking mouth again I’m going to put you both on the DL.”

Every head in the dugout was turned at this point, and annoyingly, I saw Diaz signal to our manager that everything was fine. Like he was my keeper or something.

It was a briefly heated moment, but dugout or clubhouse, they happened. Tempers flared but eventually, things got squashed and it was no different this time around. Watt and Brewer came by to apologize separately, normalcy was restored and I told myself I had just been putting on a damned good show just now.

And that was it.

Because once my blood simmered, the idea of getting that fired up over some girl I barely knew was disturbing, and I didn’t want to believe that it happened. I needed to know that I could keep the focus I had every day at the stadium, especially during a game. Even when I wasn’t starting, I was usually watching every at-bat and every delivery on every damned pitch. But today, I’d barely paid attention to shit and I was ready to give up, because the second I got my mind off Evie again, Diaz came around.

“You serious? You’re seeing someone?” he asked. He could barely hide the fact that he was fucking glowing. I looked at him then back at the field. Technically not an answer but he still gave me a pat on the back. “Proud of you, brother. Can’t let that L.A shit hang over you forever.”

Then he left before I could respond, which I was grateful for because while I wasn’t mad at Diaz, I really didn’t need him mentioning L.A. I was already completely on edge and wound up tight over this Evie situation. I just needed a fucking break from my own brain.

It was for that reason that I was actually relieved when, an inning later, Ty came loping over with a big, dumb grin on his face. At least I knew he never had anything important to talk about.

“Yo.” He plopped his ass down next to me. “I take it since you’re finally wifed up, I can call dibs on your tittalicious blonde down the third base line,” he said, nodding at the girl with the “show me your big bat” sign.

“Go nuts,” I said.

“Nice. So you coming out tonight? Or is your crazy ass banned from nightlife now that you got a nice girl at home?”

I leaned my elbows on my knees as I stared out at the game. Ty was joking but I technically was banned from nightlife. Iain made me swear it off, save for “a few special occasions,” and while he probably didn’t count day two of the contract as a special occasion, I did because I suddenly felt the urgent need to blow off steam. I answered Ty the second he gave up on getting a response from me and started leaving.

“Yeah, I’m coming out,” I said.

He spun right around.

“Yeah?” He pumped his fist. “Hell yes, dude. It’s gonna be fuckin’ tight. I can feel it in my bones, brother!”

He said that literally every time we went out, or any time we were about to eat at a new restaurant for that matter, but I prayed he was particularly right tonight. I sincerely hoped that wherever we went tonight and whatever we got into, it would be a deserving last hurrah for me.

Because if I was about to risk getting pictures taken of me doing all the shit the Empires didn’t want me to do, then it had better be worth it.

As it turned out, it wasn’t worth it.

I had stood barely a minute outside the club with Ty before finding myself mobbed by the girl with the “big bat” sign and all her screechy friends. From what I could tell, they were wasted and there were already cameras flashing as they basically rubbed up on me, posing on my body like I was a fucking stripper pole.

Goddammit. It was too early for this shit, and it was giving me nothing but anxiety so it wasn’t long before I was peeling women off my body and ducking back into my car. Once I had the door shut, I texted Evie to come meet me. It took about five minutes but she eventually replied that she’d need “a minute” to get ready and find a dress.

I thought nothing of it because I thought a minute meant a minute. But apparently, it meant damned near an hour-and-a-half.

Tags: Stella Rhys Irresistible Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net