More than the Game by Jenni Bara

10

@HotShotDemoda:I’ve always been a sucker for the Green Eyed Girls #nomorebarbies

The afternoon went by quickly as she and Marc played the happy couple, posed for pictures, and answered questions about how long they’d been dating. Their answer was three weeks, since it had been three weeks ago that Marc had slept with another woman. He didn’t know who she was, just some random girl. It bothered Beth that he couldn’t even remember the woman’s name, but it proved that not everything the media said about him was a lie.

This whole situation was a mockery of what she wanted. The bubble of anonymity she had found in being Beth Evans had popped. And her pretend relationship added one more job to her long list of responsibilities in life. Beth missed having someone she could share the responsibility of the family with. She missed the gentle touches of support, the ease of knowing what the other was thinking, and all the unspoken communication between a couple—the team aspect of a relationship.

For a few minutes this morning, when Marc had helped her get the kids ready, she’d felt that again. And when he’d said he was doing her father’s bidding to help her, that swell of ‘we’re in this together’ had enveloped her. But that was all a lie.

“Calming down?” Austin asked as he sat next to her.

“I’m calm,” Beth said, picking at the grass as she watched the baseball game that Luke had forbidden her to play, saying it was boys-only. ‘Boys-only’ included Marc. Her murderous glare hadn’t changed Luke’s mind; he’d even suggested she play cheerleader. She was watching the game, but not cheering for either side.

Austin watched Beth ripping the grass up, then reached out and touched her hand, stopping her before she put a hole in the lawn.

“Sorry. I guess I’m agitated.”

“Agitated is an understatement,” Austin said. “You would have kicked him out of your house a couple of hours ago if I hadn’t asked you for a favor.”

She couldn’t deny that. She’d been furious when Austin explained Marc’s current image problems and the solution she could provide. Her feelings shouldn’t be hurt, but no matter how much she would like to tell herself otherwise, a part of her had thought that maybe he was interested in her. And that pissed her off—at herself.

“You did well with the photographers, though. If I didn’t know your current mood, I wouldn’t have realized it. There were some great pictures.”

According to Paul, she and Marc had done great with the media. He said everyone could feel the sparks when they were together, and the press lapped it up. When asked about his playboy ways, Marc cheekily said she’d knocked him off his feet when he first saw her and he hadn’t been able to think of another woman since. She’d leaned over to him and murmured, telling him how full of it he was. He laughed and rested his forehead on hers, and the cameras clicked away. Marc had posted that picture on every one of his social media sites with a cutesy comment.

“Did you write that tweet, or was it Sid?” Beth asked.

Austin chuckled. “I take no responsibility for that. That was all Marc. I said women were going to claim sexism, but all we’re getting is heart emojis.”

“And about me?” Her hesitance was clear in her voice.

Austin frowned. “I promised you that if you did me this favor, if you helped him, then I would spin this to keep any mention of 2012 out of the media. Every connection, every favor I have, will go into that. Only good press for you.”

Beth bit down on her lip. “I’m not sure I can fix his image.”

“It’s more than his image that needs fixing, Beth. I wouldn’t have asked you for this if it was just about a job. He’s a mess.”

“In what way?”

“Marc’s entire world revolved around pitching. Once he lost that, he lost himself. Apart from my wife, his friends are all either people involved in his career or baseball players. His family is different,” Austin said.

She’d met Marc’s parents a few times, although she didn’t know them well. His father had always seemed friendly when he worked on projects for Helping Hands.

“My parents are far worse.” Beth’s eyes flicked to her parents.

“You’ve always had the Evanses and Corey,” Austin said. “Marc has nothing like that, and he needs some real friends.”

“So, you’re asking my brothers for a favor too,” Beth said. She fiddled with her ring on her thumb.

Steve was in mid-windup when Marc yelled for him to stop. He headed straight to Steve, who was holding the ball, and spoke quickly before bending down and showing him a specific spot on the ground. Steve started a windup and hit his foot on the spot Marc pointed out. Marc nodded and went back to first. Steve threw a strike, and Marc called out praise for him. Steve was glowing.

Beth didn’t want to like Marc, but something about him pulled at her. Was he the self-centered ass the papers showed him to be, or was he the guy who’d bought her a new iPhone and taught her son to pitch?

“He’s not a bad guy, Beth.”

She smiled at Austin and stopped fiddling.

“I wish he’d been honest about this whole thing, but then again I wasn’t either,” she said. “Who knows—maybe after two months, he’ll become like another one of my brothers.”

Austin laughed beside her.

“What?” she asked.

“The sparks between the two of you could start a fire. Marc’s never going to look at you like a sister.” Austin shook his head.

“Marc needed something from me and didn’t know how to get it other than to seduce me.”

That was the part of this that really stank, because as much as she didn’t want to be, she was attracted to Marc. The sizzle that had come through in those pictures was because he set her skin on fire when he touched her. But she was smart enough to realize she needed to ignore that. Marc was sexy and masculine, and he would have that effect on any woman. In two months, she reminded herself, he would move on to set many other women on fire. She didn’t need to be anything more than his friend.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

The sarcasm was thick in his tone, but she couldn’t pull her eyes away from Marc long enough to look at Austin.