“Breathe, Liam.”
My hands start to shake, and I pull in another deep breath at his reminder, but I can feel myself growing hot all over again.
“You need to calm down.” Jordan keeps his voice low, and when he takes a step towards me, I know it’s because he wants me to put more distance between myself and Finn, so I back away as he moves towards me.
The umpire walks into the dugout, and as soon as our eyes lock, I know what he’s going to say. “Liam Walker and Jordan Rhodes,out!”
I turn for my bag and pass Jordan his, without a word. My coach tells me he’ll deal with me later, and I know I’m automatically suspended for the next few games, but I’m sure he’ll muster up some other consequence for me.
I head straight for Sage’s place, and I want to change out of this damn uniform, but I want to see her more. I doubt her brothers told her about this so fast, but I want to tell her first. As I walk into her building, her front desk guy stands up to greet me, but I keep walking before he can speak to me.
“Oh–” He closes his mouth.
I press the elevator, and he clears his throat from behind me. “Sage isn’t here.”
I let out a long breath before turning to him. “How long ago did she leave?”
“This morning.”
I ask if she mentioned what time she’ll be back because she usually tells people random shit like that, but he says he doesn’t know, so I call her as I head for my car.
The phone rings for a while, and when I get her voicemail, I immediately call back, but it goes directly to voicemail this time. I glance down at my phone and almost call again because I’m certain she had nothing planned today, but maybe she’s on the phone, so I text her and tell her to call me before heading home.
As I step out of the elevator, I pull my phone out and start recording. Mars has been trying to scare me, and I want to show Sage because it’s the cutest shit ever. He’s usually in the kitchen, so I make sure to make some noise so he knows I’m home. As I walk into the kitchen, he jumps out from behind the counter and meows so softly as he hops onto my foot.
“Ah!” I fake my surprise, and he hops around before running off. I shake with a soft laugh before sending Sage the video. After getting some pictures of all three of the kittens eating, I also send them to her, but she doesn’t respond, which is weird because she’s quick with her responses, especially for the cats.
I call her again and it rings twice before I get her voicemail. “What the fuck?”
I decide to take a shower before I think the worst, but as soon as I’m dressed, I call Moon.
“Should I play the damn lottery?!”
I roll my eyes in return, and his laugh spills through the speaker as I flop onto my couch. “Are you with my girl?”
“Nope. I was going to meet up with her later, but she canceled on me.”
“Call her and ask what she’s doing.” I scoop Periwinkle into my arms and lay her on top of me, but then Meeko starts scratching my damn couch for attention, so I bring him up with us.
“No need, I know what she’s doing.”
I wait for him to tell me, but a second passes, and he’s silent.
“Well, enlighten me, Moon.”
“Oh, she’s with her sisters.”
I hang up on him and call Sage back, and this time, she answers.
“Why the fuck are you ignoring me?” I ask innocently, although the annoyance slips into my tone.There's no way she saw that fight so quickly. “And don’t even say you aren’t, Sage Loana.”
She’s silent for a beat, and it sounds like she’s on mute because she’s too quiet. “Can you state your name for the record?”
I feel my brows furrow because that isnotSage’s voice, and there’s some ruffling in the back, then some hushed laughter.
“Who the fuck is this?”
“I asked first,” Whoever this is goes on.
