But the whole drive home, all I could think about were his pained words and what they meant.
You should have been mine.
CHAPTER 12
GRIFFIN
PRESENT
I gripped the steering wheel unnecessarily tightly, thinking about how fucking awesome Tate’s ass looked in the flimsy little piece of fabric they called a bottom. I’m sure if she bent over, you’d see her asshole.
I got on the phone with my agent, Nick, the minute she pulled out of the lot and told him about the situation. He agreed that for the safety of her image and mine, we needed to make sure they were released weeks, if not months, apart. I was now on my way to practice as we had a huge game tomorrow, and I had to get thoughts of Tatum’s perfect hourglass figure and perky ass far from my mind. We had won the last two games, and I wasn’t about to ruin the winning streak we seemed to be on.
Once I pulled into the stadium and drove to the underground parking garage for the players, I parked in my assigned spot. Unfortunately for me, I was the last one here, which meant fifteen minutes of extra drills, something our team leader, Jaxon Dexter, put into effect to motivate us to be early and on time. I, of course, was ten minutes late.
“Late again, Silver,” Jaxon said, staring down at the bench as he finished lacing up his cleats, annoyed and aware I was the guy arriving late. But he didn’t know the full story, nor should he really care. It was unusually quiet today, and I had a feeling it was because no one was late the day before a game day.
“It won’t happen again.” I stopped in front of him, my dress shoes squeaking against the tile.
“Twenty minutes of drills after practice.” He grunted, standing up and looking down on me. I hated the way one look from him made my skin crawl, and guilt consumed me. He wasn’t anything like my father, and yet I respected him more than I respected myself. He was an icon on the field and local legend around town, and I wanted to make him proud.
There were rumors floating around about him retiring and moving back to his hometown. Nothing was confirmed, but his girl just had a baby, and everyone knew this wasn’t the place to raise a child. Too much city and not enough safety.
Graham and Hunter had overheard that I might be getting his position if he did retire. Nothing was confirmed, but I made sure to play my best every game, just in case.
I mostly played center field with Graham and Hunter on left and right, respectively. It wasn’t my favorite position in high school. I’d been a pitcher in high school and in college too, but this was the only spot available on the Atlanta Braves, so I took it with hopes of getting back to the pitcher’s mound.
I changed quickly into my uniform, shoved my feet into my cleats, and met everyone in the dugout where Jaxon was debating with our manager. “I want to try it,” he insisted, and the coach shook his head.
“He’s not ready, and we can’t afford to lose the streak,” the old man said.
“You didn’t think I was ready either and now look at me. We’ll never know if you don’t try,” Jaxon pressed.
“Leave it, Jax. Start the drills.” The team manager walked out of the dugout and into the sun where the team owner was in his personal box with ice-cold drinks. Couldn’t fucking stand rich assholes who felt it necessary to watch us all up close and personal while we baked away in the sun, and they sat in the shade staying cool. Nothing felt right about the situation.
We ran the usual drills, played a scrimmage, and then everyone went back into the dugout for Jaxon to hold a meeting before we were dismissed. It was brutally hot today, and I wanted nothing more than to go home and sink into the pool.
“If we win tomorrow, we’re en route for the championships. Everyone better go home, eat a good meal, get some sleep, hell, have sex if you need it. I need everyone fresh as a fuckin’ daisy tomorrow and ready to win. No excuses! This is our year, and we are taking what we deserve, bring it in.” His southern drawl came out when he was most passionate about something.
The guy behind me snorted at the sex bit. I heard someone else whisper that Jaxon’s girl was a smoke show, and they’d be fucking her all night too. I shook my head at that comment. Sometimes the guys didn’t know when to quit.
“Meetin’ dismissed. Silver, don’t forget about those twenty extra minutes. I’ll be watchin’.” Jaxon sat down, gulped down a cold bottle of water, and looked out at the clay field where the sun beat down. I wiped my forearm across my sweaty forehead and fixed my hat before jogging out of the dugout and started on my laps.
Jaxon joined me on the fifth one, offering me a water bottle when he reached my side. I stopped only to gulp it down and then continued. He kept my pace and didn’t say anything at first.
“You’re obedient to the core, Silver. You didn’t bat an eye when I told you to stay.”
“I was late.”
“You could have argued that I added five extra minutes.”
“No point. I was late, and you needed to make an example.”
“I like you a lot. You got a girlfriend?”
“No. Not really my thing.”
“I thought the same thing. It was fun to party nonstop. The cleat chasers are cute for a while, but they are meaningless. They just want you for the money and a good time.” He stopped and grabbed my elbow, so stopped too.
