Player Loves Curves Box Set #4-6 by Hope Ford
Carter
I barely getany sleep at all because all I can think about is Hanna. I get up early and instead of reaching for a beer, I have a breakfast protein shake and drive over the gym at the stadium clubhouse.
I’ve always enjoyed working out, and today’s no different. I can tell I’ve let myself go a little as I’m covered in sweat and huffing and puffing, but I don’t give up. I keep busy, first running on the treadmill for a half hour to loosen up, and then moving to the weights. When I’m drenched and covered in sweat, my coach walks in. “I’m surprised to see you in here, especially this early.”
I keep lifting. “I needed to work out, Coach.”
He nods his head. “You know when I put you on leave, I didn’t mean I wanted you to go to the bar every night.”
I should be mad that he’s checking up on me, but I’m not. Instead of giving him attitude, I tell him the truth. “I haven’t drunk in three nights. I’m at the bar to see an old friend.”
I finish my reps and drop the weights at my feet. I’m about to move to the dead lift track when he stops me. “I’ve heard about you, Carter. From your old coach and your teammates. If I go by what they say, I should just cut you from the team and be done with you. But I was there your senior year, at your state championship game. I know what you’re capable of. But somehow you’ve lost your way. This is your last chance, Carter. Stop the booze, stop the women, stop the drugs…”
I start to deny the drugs, but he gives me a look like Don’t waste your breath.
I stare at him for a full minute and see the truth in his face. And I finally get it. I either get my shit together or I give up baseball.
Instead of the smart-assed answer I would normally give him, I just nod my head. “Okay, Coach.”
The coach walks off and I go to the treadmill to run some more. I have so much to think about. Everything with Hanna has my head all screwed up. What does she mean her family disowned her?
She comes from a well-to-do family. And they were always good to her, good to me. I can’t imagine them doing that to her. Why would they do that to her?
I have so many questions and no answers. She said she had tried to reach me, but at the time I didn’t want anything to do with her. As a matter of fact, I would have been happy to have never heard her name again. I was so tired of hearing from my agent that she was calling for me that I finally told him to quit telling me if she called. At the time, I was dreaming about her every night, and I thought it was because she kept trying to reach me. I had hoped if I didn’t hear about her anymore, I wouldn’t dream of her. I would forget her. But that didn’t work either. There hasn’t been one day in the last two years that I haven’t thought about her.
I need closure. I need to move on. But I also know that I can’t just walk away like this. She obviously needs help, and no matter how much I know I need to turn the other way, I can’t. She still has a hold on me, and it sickens me that I’m that weak. She had told me she loved me and then basically shit on me. I should hate her. I should want her to hurt as much as she hurt me, but even thinking it, I know I can’t do that. I know I need to talk to her and try to put this all behind me. We can talk and put this all on the table and then hopefully bury it.
