Player Loves Curves Box Set #1-3 by Hope Ford
Trinity
I don’t knowwhat I expected when I slammed the door in his face. The cops came and told him to leave. But I’m still upset that he left. I don’t know why. I should hate him right now, but the way he told me he didn’t sleep with my sister, well, even through the window, I could hear the sincerity in his voice. Almost an hour goes by before Sheena comes back and she’s carrying bags of food in from my favorite restaurant. This is not Sheena. She’s not ever nice to me, so I have to assume it’s a guilty conscience. But what exactly is she guilty of?
She’s pulling food out, and I wet a towel, wiping at my face. When I’m done, I turn to her. “We need to talk.”
“Sure.” She hands me a plate and the whole situation is weird to me. I mean, if she truly slept with my boyfriend, do I really want to sit down to a meal with her?
But I know anger is not the way to handle this. That’s what she wants. “I need to know exactly what happened.”
She shrugs. “There’s not a lot to tell really. We both had too much to drink and one thing led to another.”
Something’s not adding up. “Which night was it? 1st game in the series? 2nd?”
She looks up at the ceiling like she’s thinking about it. “Second. Definitely second.”
I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding. “Really? Well, I remember that night. Do you know why?”
She puts a big bite of chicken lo mein in her mouth and looks at me with big eyes. “No, why?”
I sit down in the chair across from her and look at her through new eyes. “Why are you lying to me, Sheena? I talked to Jasper that night. He didn’t even go to the after party. He went to dinner with Shawn.” When she doesn’t answer me, I continue. “I remember because he was FaceTiming me and Shawn was making fun of him for being whipped. He got off the phone, but he called me when he got back to the hotel and stayed on the phone with me until I fell asleep talking to him.”
Still, she says nothing. I stand up from the table. I want to scream, I want to throw a fit, but I don’t. I’ve put up with Sheena for so long, and now I almost lost the one person that means everything to me because of her.
I turn away from her, but when I get to the door, I look at her again. “Just tell me why. Why would you do such a thing?”
She shrugs her shoulders and with no remorse in her voice, she says, “Because Carter broke up with me.”
My mouth drops. Does she think that explains her horrible behavior? Is she really that demented to think what she did was justified?
I open my mouth and then close it again. There’s no use talking to her about it. I have to go see if I can get my player back.
* * *
Jasper
For the most part,I’m fucking it up. I can tell that Neil, the catcher, is frustrated and my coach is about to lose his mind. I keep throwing, trying to adjust and get my mind right, but all I can think about is Trinity.
“Time,” Neil calls to the umpire, and he gets up from his squat behind home plate and runs over to meet me. “What’s up?”
Before he even gets to me I’m shaking my head because I know I’m not giving it all for my team right now. “I’m sorry… I just have stuff on my mind.”
He spits on the ground and puts his hands on his hips. “Well, all right, you want to talk about this shit, get it off your chest? Because I want to win a ball game.”
“Nothing, man. I’m fine. I’ll work it out.” I pat him on the back and don’t notice Shawn is standing next to me until he pecks me on the shoulder. He’s a big man and an awesome 3rd baseman. But an even better friend. He listened to me for a good hour in warm-ups today stressing about Trinity and what I needed to do. He points over my shoulder. “I think your little problem worked itself out.”
I follow where he’s pointing and Trinity is standing there, waving at me. She’s not smiling, but at least she’s here. I start to walk toward her, but Neil stops me. “Two more outs, brother. Then you can go see your girl.”
I hit him in the chest with my glove. “Let’s do it.”
He walks back to home plate… and I throw six strikes in a row, striking out the next two batters. On the sixth one, the ball barely leaves my hand before I’m trotting off the field over to the fence where she’s standing. The crowd is going wild, but I only have eyes for Trinity.
She’s holding the fence, her fingers wrapped around the metal. I put my glove in one hand and with the other, I hold on to her hand through the fence. “I didn’t sleep with your sister.”
She sniffles, nodding her head. “I know. I’m sorry, I should have trusted you. I should have known. I ruined everything…I’m so sorry.”
I lean into the fence, ignoring the fans eavesdropping around us. “I’m all fucked up without you. I’ll forgive you for anything, because I’m miserable without you. Just tell me you’re moving in with me tomorrow. We can work everything else out. I just need you with me.”
“Get in the dugout, Reilly, so we can continue the game.”
I don’t look at my coach, who’s hollering at me. Instead I wait for Trinity to answer me.
She smiles. “Yes, I’ll probably just come home with you tonight if that’s okay with you. I think I owe you another IOU.”
I lean in and kiss her through the fence. When I pull away, the crowd is cheering and they have us up on the Jumbotron. I can’t even stop myself from smiling. “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about.”
I kiss her again and walk over to the dugout. “You think you can win this ball game now, Reilly?” My coach is a hard ass, but I don’t blame him. My first inning was shit.
I pat him on the back. “I can do anything now, Coach.”
I go on to pitch the best game of my life that night. The coach touts that it’s because of his motivational speech. But I know it was because I needed to get home to collect on my IOU.
