Wild Card by Ashley Munoz

Chapter Twenty-Two

“You need to square your shoulders.”Decker stared down at me from under the bill of his Devils hat. He stood on the white rectangle in the middle of the dirt mound, gripping a baseball in his left hand.

I eyed the size of the ball and lowered my shoulders.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to start me off on a softball, or maybe a tennis ball?” I winced at the overhanging sun, wishing there were a few trees around the field. Why weren’t there trees? How fun would that be to run and play ball through a fun forest? These guys were missing out on an awesome opportunity.

I could see the smirk ghost along Decker’s jaw. He wore jeans and one of those baseball shirts like from The Sandlot. In fact, this whole look with a pair of high-top Converse looked like one of those cute kids all grown up. It had been two weeks since that night in his bedroom when I asked him to be careful with my heart and he promised me he would.

Well, he hadn’t promised, exactly, but he had kissed me. Then he kept kissing me. I told him we weren’t having sex, because I honestly wasn’t ready to. I needed to know he was serious about me…about us. He did however wake me up with his head between my thighs and his teeth raking over my thong. I surrendered to an early morning orgasm courtesy of his expert tongue, and when he was ready to finish, he mentioned something about a fantasy and asked that I sit on my knees while holding my breasts together so he could come on my chest. Looking up into those eyes blazing with lust and need while he fisted that throbbing erection…it was a sight I’d never forget.

There was something so insatiable about his hunger for me that lit me up. I’d never craved someone like I craved him. I’d never woken up wishing I were still in bed with someone, never nearly burst at the seams when someone showed up at my door or asked if I wanted to learn how to play baseball. This was all new and terrifying, but I loved it and didn’t want it to end.

“You’ll do fine with the baseball, just remember to keep your eye on it. I’ll go really slow.” Decker brought my mind out of the gutter and back to the lesson he was trying to give.

I did as he said, thankful Juan and Hillary weren’t here to see this. They’d never let me live it down.

I watched as he brought his knee up in that traditional pitcher stance and, true to his word, lightly tossed the ball toward the plate I was hovering over.

I watched it sail toward me, and as it got closer, I became increasingly nervous. Regardless of how slowly it moved, it was still headed straight for me. Nerves rattled my insides as I closed my eyes tight and swung with all my might.

“Babe,” Decker droned in irritation.

I opened my eyes. “Did I do it again?”

“Yes, you closed your eyes again. You have to keep them open.” He ran over to grab the ball even though it was closer to me.

“Maybe we should switch spots?” I offered, but he only swatted my ass, smirking while he ran back to his perch on the mound.

We repeated this process a few more times over the hour before he finally gave up in need of sustenance. On our way from the field, I grabbed my purse and checked my cell. There was another text lingering on my screen, like there had been a few times in the last week. I’d responded to each of them, but as time went on, it was starting to feel strange that he was still doing it.

Elias: Party girl, when you coming back to watch me practice?

That was one I hadn’t responded to yet because it felt flirty.

Elias: We’re having a team party this Friday night, want to come and check it out?

I hadn’t brought up my article to Elias yet. We hadn’t really talked at all since that night we went out. Everything with Decker had felt like such a whirlwind, and I was merely responding to texts but wasn’t encouraging any future hangouts or anything. That said, here was this golden opportunity to attend a card game, right as I was on the tail end of finalizing my article. I would be an idiot to pass up the chance to go with a guide.

Biting my nail, I turned to Decker and decided to bring it up. We hadn’t officially given each other a label, but we’d made confessions in his bedroom about him falling and me asking him not to break my heart. That had to essentially mean we were dating, right? He called me babe now and always tucked his hand in my back pocket when we walked or looked at books at the bookshop, plus we were physical in some capacity every single day. His mouth was either devouring my pussy or attached to one of my breasts, and I in turn had essentially turned into a Hoover vacuum with how frequently I was going down on him. I mean, that was definitely relationship material…borderline serious relationship material.

Right?

“Hey, so I wanted to talk about something with you…but I wasn’t sure how,” I hedged, keeping my eyes on the ground while we walked. His arm hung over my shoulders, and my arm was around his waist. It was one of my favorite positions.

“Oh yeah?” He tugged on the ends of my hair before shoving that hand in my back pocket.

“Um…yeah, so…” God, what if he ended things because I was still talking to Elias? No, I would not be in that sort of relationship. I’d never done anything romantic with Elias, and I could be friends with him if I wanted to, especially since Decker still had never explained their past to me.

“Here.” I handed him my phone with the text still on it.

He used his free hand to shove the bag of equipment higher on his shoulder before accepting my phone.

After a few seconds of him reading, he handed it back.

“So, you want to go to the game, to get notes for the story…that it?”

I looked up, feeling hopeful. “Yes, exactly.”

His gaze stayed fixed on the parking lot as we approached it. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Surely it wasn’t that easy for him to let me go with—

“I’ll take you.”

He smiled down at me with mischief stamped across his face. Those delicious lips slung to the side in a sexy smile, and all I could do was gape because he was handsome. Sometimes it hurt to look at him and believe he actually liked me, believe he was falling for me.

“You’ll take me?”

“Yeah…I mean, I can take you. No need to deal with Elias anymore. Actually…you know…” He cleared his throat, setting the equipment down. “At all.”

I slowed my walk, spinning to face him as he settled items in the back of his truck.

“So, I can’t be friends with Elias anymore?”

“I just don’t see why you need to be. I can answer your questions.” He shrugged again, walking toward his door. I walked to mine, opening it and climbing inside. Starting the engine, he began backing up while I waited for him to answer me. “I won’t tell you what to do.”

Okay…that was vague, but I supposed it was as good as I was going to get. I waited for him to take this opening and explain what had happened or tell me why he didn’t like Elias, but he didn’t. I tried not to care, but hurt leaked through my chest just the same.

* * *

“So, what’s after graduation?”he suddenly asked while sipping on his soda. We’d stopped at one of those make-your-own-pizza places. He’d taken me on several dates over the past two weeks, but I loved that he didn’t insist on paying for each one. I knew he didn’t have a lot of extra income from bits and pieces of conversations I had picked up on between Kyle and his mom. Being the daughter of a multi-millionaire, it was hard for me not to offer to cover everything. Still, I liked that he seemed okay with our balance.

I sipped my lemonade and began explaining about Kline Global.

“An internship? Gotta be honest, I didn’t see that coming.” He laughed, jumping up to grab our orders.

Once he returned and we started on our pizzas, I eyed him suspiciously. “Did you assume I’d work for my dad?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. Isn’t Taylor getting a New York spot or something?”

I continued to chew, trying to tamp down the confusion swirling in my mind. How did he know that…and how did I not know that? Was Taylor considering a spot in New York? What about… Now that I took a second to think about it, she hadn’t shared a desire to pursue anything after graduation except a trip around the Caribbean.

“I don’t know,” I finally replied, trying to keep the mood light, but it was obvious that I needed to talk to my stepsister. We’d been out of sync since I started dating Decker. I’d barely been home, or I was tucked away in my room working on finals and my article. Some nights I spent over at his apartment, and other nights he’d be in my bed by the time I got home from the library.

“What about you?” I returned the question.

“Me?” He stalled, sipping his drink again. “I don’t know…I think I might take over my dad’s company. It’s been dormant for over a year, but nothing some good marketing can’t help.”

“What about baseball? Not only going after it…I guess, professionally, but even if that doesn’t happen, isn’t that the entire point of being a Devil? Playing, having a good word put in for you, etc.?”

I had gathered enough intel about the Devils that I now understood the draw of being part of an organization of its caliber. Their pockets had pockets, and their references were pure gold. Playing for them was literally like having a winning lottery ticket.

Decker chewed, sipped his drink, and wiped his hands before he bracketed his plate with his arms.

“I mean, that used to be my dream.” He shrugged like it was nothing. “But then Dad died, and I got hurt. I just…I don’t know, I guess I just set those dreams aside while I make sure my mom doesn’t lose her house.”

My eyebrows caved as I thought over what he’d said, my heart aching to help.

“Is she pretty far behind, or what’s going on with it?” I hoped it wasn’t rude to pry, but I had to know.

His tense jaw told me maybe I had overstepped with my questioning.

“It just all went to hell after Dad’s funeral, and the medical costs…we got hit by bill after bill, and instead of selling, my mom just let them bury her.”

I understood that. Grief was too painful all on its own; add in having to give up the last piece of you that felt like the person you lost, and it would be too much at once.

“It’s only been a year?” I carefully asked, softening my tone. I’d lost my mother at ten and had years to acclimate to her absence, but it still hurt.

Decker nodded. “A little over.”

Suddenly he stood, grabbing his garbage, effectively ending our conversation.

“You done with this?” he asked kindly, like we were just going to push past the topic. I knew he needed to, so I smiled and let him take our things, all while secretly wishing there was a way I could ease some of his burden and he’d trust me enough to let me.