Anything but Minor (5 page)

“Does it always flood this badly?” she asked warily.

“When the tide comes in, and it rains this hard, yes. This town becomes soup, but it’s mostly downtown.”

“I missed that in my research,” she said as if she was disappointed.

“King tides came this year. They only come around every hundred years or so. Gotta keep up with the rain and tides if you go anywhere downtown,” Andy said as we pulled up to his bar. “Come on, pilot Alice, I’ll buy you a beer.”

“No thanks,” she said with another giggle as the two completely ignored me. “And no special treatment.
You
are the ball star.”

“Then I’ll buy you a drink for throat punching Rafe,” he said as he gave me a quick wink before he slammed his door, but not before I heard Alice say, “Well, in that case.”

“What’s your fucking angle,” I hissed to Andy as Alice excused herself to use the restroom an hour later. I cracked open a peanut and tossed the pods back in my mouth as Kristina delivered fresh beers to us.

I gave her a thank you and a wink. Andy cut his eyes my way.

“No angle. I told you she’s out of your league, and if you’d listened to one word she’s said in the last three beers, you’d realize it.”

“I heard her,” I said as I sucked down the froth off the top of my mug.

“Then you heard her say she’s new to baseball.”

“Yep.”

“You didn’t hear shit. You were too busy staring at her nipples.”

“So were you.”

“I have a dick. I noticed,” he shot back, unoffended. “I’m your best friend, and I’m telling you there’s no way she’ll be into you, so forget it.”

“I don’t want her to be
into
me. I want to be
in
her.”

“Well, good luck with that.”

“What makes you so damned sure I couldn’t get her?”

“You aren’t ready for
real,
and your career is about to take off.”

“What the hell does that have to do with fucking her?”

Andy narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re not that stupid. And you’re not that big of a prick.”

I saw Alice as she approached our table with a smile and nodded at Andy. The truth was, I didn’t know why I was suddenly so intent on having her in my bed. I pushed the hair off my forehead and looked at her,
really
looked at her. The woman was stunning with a heart-shaped face and lips. Her large brown eyes screamed innocence. Without a stitch of makeup on, she was simply beautiful.

“Sorry about earlier. I was just goofing around,” I heard myself say.

“It’s fine,” she said before she took a sip of her drink, and my eyes stayed glued to her lips.

Andy cleared his throat as I watched the liquid ease down her throat.

I had to fuck her.

I looked past Rafe and out the window, losing hope for my Prius. The rain hadn’t stopped since we got to the bar.

“It’ll be okay,” Andy said reassuringly.

“Thanks,” I said, unbelieving of his words with each minute that passed.

“I’m going to run back to my office for a bit. You two good? Gloves off, Alice?” Andy looked to me then to Rafe. “I’d watch my wandering hand if I were you...Bullet.”

“Funny,” Rafe spouted back, his eyes on mine. I felt the hairs on my neck rise in awareness. His eyes were almond shaped and beautiful, but the look in them reeked of a smug man. I may not have been a well-practiced flirt, but after years around pilots, I was well versed in cocky, horse crap detection. Rafe had cockiness in abundance.

“Ladies’ man, huh?” I said, unimpressed.

“Maybe,” Rafe said with pride as he tipped his beer, oblivious, taking it as a compliment.

“Every available woman in Charleston has the t-shirt,” Andy said with a hard pat on the back that made Rafe’s jaw twitch.

“Would. You. Fuck. Off,” Rafe said with menace as Andy honored his request and retreated down a hall behind the bar.

“Soooo,” I said as I stared at my drink.

“You aren’t drinking much,” Rafe noted as he observed the level of my drink.

“I don’t like to lose control of my senses.”

“Uh huh, well, it can be a good thing once in a while.” He grinned broadly as my breath hitched.

“Yeah,” I agreed as my horse crap meter ticked up a notch. He leaned in a little farther as he started to try to work me. “I mean, sometimes a woman just needs to let go.”

Rafe was flirting, and I was ready to run for the hills.

I wanted to explore men, and the body beneath the t-shirt in front of me matched with the face of an ad model would be a good start. But lowering my panties for a one night stand with a pitcher playboy I’d have to look at every home game for the next several months did not appeal to me in the slightest. Covered in goose bumps and the heat that built from his whisper, I looked up to meet his smoldering eyes.

“Lesbehonest, I mean that literally. I’m a lesbian.”

I took a large pull of my drink through my straw to keep from bursting into laughter from the look on his face. It was one of utter confusion and slight disappointment. I was sure the conversation couldn’t go anywhere from there, and I was right. Thirty minutes later, I was dropped off with a silent goodbye wave from Rafe and a “see you at the next game” by Andy to my safe and sound Prius.

It was the best day of my life.

Almond Milk

Granola

Turkey cutlets

Asparagus

“Please stop him!” I heard as a little boy raced past me down the grocery aisle. I turned to see Kristina from Andy’s bar running full speed to catch the giggling child. She pulled a can from the vegetable shelf as she ran after him. “Dear God, don’t make me use this.” She laughed and took aim at his head in jest as I gripped the little boy by the arm and stopped him just before he cornered the aisle. He looked up at me in shock.

“Thank you,” she said, out of breath, as she caught up with us. “He’s five years old and thinks that
everything
is a race.” She looked down at her son and then back to me. “Hey, I didn’t even realize it was you. Thank you.”

“Alice,” I said as the boy fought against his mother.

“Cut it out or no Minecraft!” The child stilled instantly. “I’m Kristina, and this...oh God, I don’t know what this is.”

“I’m Dillon, Mommy!” The dark haired replica of her reminded as he pointed proudly to his chest.

“Yes, yes you are,” she replied with an exhausted sigh. “Thanks again for stopping him. This,” she said, holding a can of green beans, “is the only thing I’ve managed to get since we got here. Oh God, I left my purse in my cart!” She handed me back Dillon’s arm then raced away.

I looked down at him as he smiled up at me with devious eyes, wheels spinning in his mind. “I eat children,” I said in warning.

He looked up at me, his smile slightly disappeared as he tried to gauge if I was serious or not.

Kristina rounded the corner again, relief on her face and purse in hand. “Pizza and green beans it is,” she said as she reached into the freezer and grabbed a Baron’s cheese pizza.

“Well, at least you’re getting a vegetable in.” I tapped the can of green beans with my finger.

“Mother of the year,” she said with a groan. “It’s like the Lord is testing me.” She leaned in a little farther. “The sex wasn’t even worth it. But he is.”

Dillon started to pull his mother away as he eyed me, and I gave him the crazy witch-who-eats-children eye. I smiled at Kristina with an added, “Nice to meet you both.”

“See you at the bar?”

I agreed with a smile. The woman was beautiful, stunning really. I pondered what it was like being so attractive. And then for a fleeting moment, I wondered if Rafe had ever hit on her.

“Warm up, Hembrey,” Rod, my pitching coach, barked as I lay back on the grass of the field and looked up at the blue sky. I wasn’t into it today. I wasn’t pitching, anyway. I wanted to be on the waves. I had spent the entire winter perfecting my pitch. I’d spent countless hours alone or with Andy doing what I did best. I remained on the grass as my trainer, Mitch, pushed my hamstrings to the grass and twisted my form the opposite way.

“Get your head in, Rafe,” Mitch warned as he hovered above me and pressed my legs.

“Grow some tits and I’ll think about it,” I snapped back.

“Jon got a call this morning,” he said in a whisper. “And I know it was about you.”

I stilled my legs, and he shook his head adamantly, silently telling me to keep our conversation on the down-low as he resumed movement.

Jon Rustenhaven was the manager of the Swampgators and was both my greatest ally and enemy. He had zero tolerance for bullshit, which was a good thing when you managed a team full of competitive athletes at different ages full of fire and ambition. Tempers often flared, and egos got bruised. It was part of it all. And though I hadn’t given him much reason to, Jon watched me closely. I’d had an outburst on occasion but had long ago learned to handle my temper. Andy had helped.

“What did Jon say?”

“I don’t know. He closed the door, but I heard your name. He knows it. We all know it. This is it.”

“I’m not banking on shit,” I said, pushing away from him before standing to grab my stretch bands.

“Just thought I’d let you know,” Mitch said. “Conduct yourself and you’ve got it.”

“I blew up
once
,” I said as I turned away in disgust. “When are people going to forget about it?”

“And no one blames you, but it was your father,” Mitch said as he gave me the truth. “No one will ever forget about it.”