26. Cord

Chapter 26

Cord

I track Macy as she climbs the stairs in the stadium and takes a seat in the fourth row. I'm not sure why, but she's always loved sitting in the fourth row. She settles into her seat and her eyes quickly find me. A slow smile spreads across her face and I know my lips are doing the same.

She blows me a kiss and I pretend to catch it, making her laugh and shake her head. I love seeing her happy. Especially after the last few years of being apart. Every time I saw her when we weren't together, she looked miserable. I'm not saying I'm her key to happiness, but she's happier now than she has been in a while.

"C'mon, Powell. Stop flirting with your girlfriend and get your head in the damn game!" Danny shouts from the dugout.

I'm not sure what his deal is. Ever since Charlie started working for the Pit Bulls, he's been a dick. When Macy arrived, it got worse.

"I think Danny has the hots for Macy and Charlie," Wheeler mutters under his breath.

"Why?" I scowl in the direction of my head coach. If he goes anywhere near my girl, I'll kill him.

"Because his panties have been stuck up his ass crack since the girls showed up. It's getting annoying."

"Imagine if he saw Liliana today." I chuckle, knowing Smithy would lose his shit if Danny flirted with her.

I was smart. I staked my claim on Macy as soon as she stepped foot in the locker room. I knew exactly what would happen if I didn't make it clear from the beginning Macy Hayes was mine.

"Damn, Smithy would lose it. I don't even know where he is. Danny said something about Smithy having something to take care of, but I don't know what." Wheeler strokes the thick beard coming in on his jaw.

"I wonder what's going on with him. Something has seemed off the last few days," I mutter, trying to stay focused on practice. I don't need Danny riding my ass for the rest of the week.

I zero in on Leo. He's pitching to one of the rookie catchers and it's been a struggle. I can spot the tension tightening his shoulders and the way he keeps rolling his neck. He needs to take a break and go see Charlie. He's going to injure himself if he keeps this up.

"Hold up!" I yell as I jog to the pitcher's mound.

"What the hell are you doing, Powell?" Danny growls as he drops his clipboard to his side and stomps towards us .

"What's up, Cord?" Leo turns to face me. There's a deep crease between his brows and he looks seconds away from punching a hole in someone's face.

"Get off the field and go see Charlie. You're too tense to be pitching."

"I'm fine," he growls.

"Your shoulder is tight," I push a little harder. I don't want to start an argument with him, but I will if I have to. Leo's one of my best friends, I'm not going to let him hurt himself and affect his season like this.

"My shoulder is fine," he says through clenched teeth. His jaw pulses as he clenches it tightly.

"Why are you messing up our practice, Powell?" Danny folds his arms over his chest and glares at me.

"Can you shut up for a minute and let me talk to Leo?" I'm typically more respectful of my coaches, but Danny's getting on my nerves today. He's been up my ass about every little thing I do and I know it's because he's pissed another hot woman slipped through his fingers.

Not my problem, asshole.

"Do you want to be benched for the first game?" He pushes me back a step and gets right in my face.

"Both of you back up," Wyatt says sternly, appearing out of nowhere and places a hand on both of our chests. There's no way he could prevent us from going after each other when he's still on crutches, but it's cute he's trying.

"I'm fine, Cord. Just drop it," Leo hisses.

"What are you talking about?" Wyatt steps closer. "I'm assuming Cord called you out on how you're pitching?"

I nod my head, keeping my gaze locked on Leo's glare. He can be as pissed as he wants, I don't care at all.

"He's right, Leo. I don't know what's going on inside of your head, but you need to get off the field and deal with it."

"I'm not inside my head!" He growls as he squats and drops his glove and ball to the ground.

He runs rough hands through his hair and grips the back of his neck. I've never seen him this upset, but something is obviously bothering him.

I don't hesitate for a second, I squat down next to him and place a hand on his back. He's been one of my best friends for as long as I can remember. I'll do whatever I can to help him.

"What's bothering you?"

He shakes his head, his fingers digging into his skin a little bit more.

"Fine." I roll my eyes. This is a long shot, but I could be right. "Who's bothering you? Who's fucking with your head?"

"Emma," he whispers in a broken voice.

And just like that, everything falls into place and makes sense. I understand exactly where he's coming from .

"We can't talk about this here, but we will," I reassure him. "But until we can, I need you to listen to me. Emma isn't here. Right now, on this field, there's only your mitt and that ball. Let everything else melt away. Nothing else exists on this field, Leo. Do you understand me?"

Leo lifts his gaze to meet mine. There's so much pain and misery swimming in his eyes. I know that's exactly how I've looked for the past few years.

"I don't know if I can do that."

"You can. You can leave it all in the locker room. As soon as you step on the field, it's just baseball and nothing else."

He nods his head and we slowly stand together. He grabs his glove and ball off the ground and rubs the ball into the leather.

"Are you ready to get back to work?" Danny sighs. He's more than done with us today.

"Yes," Leo growls again. Clearly his anger isn't gone, but maybe he can get out of his head. "Just leave me the fuck alone."

He spins around and stomps to the pitcher's mound. He doesn't wait for Danny or Wyatt to clear the field, instead he hurls the ball towards home plate and Smithy is left blinking when the ball hits the catcher's glove. He must've come back from whatever he was handling and jumped right into practice.

He mutters something as Leo sends another ball flying his way. Smithy swings, but it's too fast and he misses. He shakes his head and rolls his shoulders. He's the best batter on the team, he rarely ever misses one of Leo's pitches. The last pitch lands with a solid thud in the catcher's mitt and has Smithy throwing his bat across the field.

I don't know what's going on with Smithy, but he looks almost as frustrated as Leo is. Practicing isn't going to help either one of them. If anything, they're going to get more angry and more stuck in their head.

Danny's an idiot for not picking up on these things, but I'm not letting it continue.

Fans and the media think I'm the golden Powell child and because I play on a team my father owns, I get my way with everything. They think my life has been handed to me on a silver platter and that's almost laughable.

Yes, my life has been easier than many, but Dad didn't hand me a position on his MLB team just because I'm his son. Nope, he made me work my ass off to get here. He told me he wouldn't hire me unless I was good enough to play. Because I know he doesn't joke around when it comes to business, I worked my ass off to be here. How embarrassing would it be for me to have an MLB team owned by my family and yet I couldn't get picked to play on the team? I couldn't let that happen.

I still had offers from multiple teams. I could've gone anywhere. But I didn't want to leave my parents or sister behind. Hell, I didn't want to leave Macy. I knew staying in Philadelphia was my best option .

I've always followed the rules Dad expects every player to follow and I've given Danny a ton of respect as our coach. But today he's fucking up and I'm done with it.

"We're finished!" I cup my hands around my mouth and holler across the field. Everyone's eyes snap to mine and watch me carefully. "Get in the locker room."

"No, we're not!" Danny's face turns red as his furious glare lands directly on me.

"Yes, we are. Everyone go!"

Every player's gaze bounces from me to Danny, and then to each other. No one knows who they should listen to.

Leo's the first to make a move. He marches past Danny, making sure to keep a decent amount of distance from him. That's probably a good move on his part because he looks seconds away from smashing his hand into something and if Danny tries to stop him, he might become the target. And that won't end well for either one of them.

Smithy trails after Leo and Wyatt's quick to hobble after them. Once everyone sees the three of them go, they all follow suit and I hurry to catch up.

I've barely stepped foot inside the locker room when Danny bellows from behind me, "Powell, my office!"

I drop my head back so I'm staring up at the ceiling and let out a loud groan. I knew this would happen, but that doesn't mean I want to deal with it .

"Nah, let's come into my office." Dad's leaning against the threshold of his door. His arms are folded across his chest and he's not happy. I swallow hard. I'm not scared of Danny, not even a little bit, but a pissed off Owen Powell? Yeah, I'm terrified of him. I've seen what he can do to people.

I slowly step inside his office and lower myself into a chair. I don't open my mouth or try to defend myself. I know how Dad works and me trying to talk first isn't going to help.

"Aren't you going to say anything, Cord?" Danny growls.

I pinch my lips together and shake my head. It's going to piss him off, but I don't care. I have a hell of a lot more respect for Dad than I do for him.

"Why don't you tell me what's going on?" Dad's tone is eerily calm and relaxed.

"Cord decided to fuck up practice. After disrupting our practice game to talk to Leo, he told everyone to go to the locker room."

"Ok."

"He can't do that, Owen! I'm the fucking coach! I get to make the calls." Danny's face is so red, he almost looks like a cartoon character. If steam starts billowing out of his ears, I wouldn't even be surprised.

"Cord, speak." Dad turns his attention to me. He folds his arms across his desk and leans in closer to me. His eyes lock on mine and I don't look away. He does this to make people uncomfortable and to see if they're lying. He wants to see if I'll break eye contact, but I didn't do anything wrong here. Not really.

"Leo was throwing like shit. He's stuck in his head because of something going on. He was too tense and was going to end up hurting himself. So, I pulled him aside and talked to him. It would've been fine if Danny didn't storm the mound and try to get in my face."

"What's going on with Leo?"

"It's personal." I barely motion with my head to Danny, but it's enough for Dad to get the drift. This doesn't pertain to Danny and he doesn't need to know.

"Nothing is personal when you're getting paid millions of dollars to play ball," Danny growls.

"I think I'll be the judge of that." Dad's voice is hard and stern, surprising Danny. "What else happened, Cord?"

"When Leo started pitching again, I could tell Smithy was in the same headspace. He couldn't hit shit. If they kept playing, they'll hurt themselves or be shit when the season starts. They needed a break and I think giving them the rest of the day off would be a good idea. Let them go home and figure out their lives. They can come back tomorrow with a fresh head."

"Did you tell Danny that?"

"No, I can't tell him shit because he's decided I'm a piece of shit who only got on the team because you own it." I settle back in my chair and watch Dad's eyes flare with anger .

He'll always be protective of us, but hearing someone say we didn't earn something pisses him off. He dealt with it a lot when Aunt Logan started working at Scott Powell and Coleman. He dealt with it when he and Mom started dating and people said she didn't deserve him.

"Cord, I want you to go talk to your team. Get them in the right headspace, then send them home. If you need to talk to them individually, then do it. I have a feeling Wyatt's already started, but help him. Then tell everyone else to go home too. We're taking the rest of the day off."

"Everyone?"

"Take Macy home, Cord." He rolls his eyes, knowing exactly who I'm talking about.

Danny scoffs and shakes his head. He's such a douchebag. I used to really like him, but ever since we came back for spring training, he's been different and I lost a lot of respect for him.

"Do you have something to say?" Dad turns his hard gaze to Danny.

"He gets everything handed to him, Owen. He has no respect for anyone! He thinks he can walk over everyone without a care in the world."

"Take a fucking seat." Dad points at the chair next to me and the look he gives Danny leaves no room for arguing. "I was going to wait to talk to you until after he left, but you've given me no choice. I won't have him slacking on the field tomorrow because he's too stuck in his head about what shit you're spewing today."

Danny's eyes widen and he slowly moves over to the chair and drops into it. He's trying to appear strong and keep his chin held high, but he looks like he's about to piss himself.

"Obviously you have some pretty shitty opinions on my son, and I'd like to clear them up." He gives himself a second to regain his composure.

I've heard about what a loose cannon he used to be in the boardroom, but Dad's matured a lot over the years and has learned to control himself… most of the time.

"Cord shouldn't have put himself in charge on the field today-"

"That's what I'm saying!" Danny cuts him off.

"He shouldn't have put himself in charge because you should've seen what he saw. Maybe I should call one of the other coaches in here and see if they saw it too. No matter what, you should've seen it. You should've been the one to call practice and send everyone home."

Danny opens his mouth to respond, but Dad holds up a hand. He doesn't want to listen to whatever bullshit he's about to say.

"I hope all of my players have the balls to stand up to their coaches when they're fucking up. If they don't, they should." Dad sits back in his chair, but his eyes never leave Danny. "And as far as my son goes, he's here longer than anyone else every fucking day. He comes in before you do and stays long after you. He works out harder, practices longer, puts more of himself into this game than ninety percent of the guys on this team. Don't fucking diminish the work he puts in because of his last name. If anything, you should have more respect for him because he could possibly skirt by without putting in as much work."

This time, Danny's smart enough to keep his mouth shut and accept the ass chewing he's getting. No matter what he does, it won't get easier, but it could get harder.

"But I think this has a lot more to do with a new employee than it does with Cord. You're pissed you lost Charlie to Wyatt and you're livid Cord claimed Macy right away. My employees don't belong to you. As a matter of fact, you can't date anyone who works in this franchise."

"Why not?" Danny growls.

"In your contract, it says you can't date someone who works under you. You're the head coach. It could be argued that you have power over every player and employee in this franchise. Basically, the only person who doesn't work under you is me. And no offense, but I don't want to date you either. Sorry, princess, you're just not my type."

"Then why can the players date the staff?"

"Because they're equals and they work in separate departments. Charlie's the lead physical therapist, but she has no power over Wyatt. Macy's our PR person and the only professional interaction she'll have with Cord is telling him how to not fuck up. Which honestly, she's the only person I'd trust to call him out on his shit. She's not afraid of anyone."

"I have nothing to do with the PR or PT department!"

"But you have a say in both of them and that's more than enough to make you considered a superior. Plus, there are three really important details you're forgetting."

"What?" Danny growls.

"First, Macy and Charlie have known Wyatt and Cord forever. Two, they're still in love with them. And three, they don't fucking want you."

Danny mutters something under his breath that I can't quite hear, but Dad must. His brows raise in surprise for a second before his scowl turns deadly.

"You're out for a week. I don't want you coming back until the tenth. If I see you on this property before that, I'll have you escorted off by security. I don't want you talking to anyone on your way out today, but grab your shit and go. Do you understand me?"

Danny nods his head and stands. He stomps out of the office and slams the door behind him. The tension in the room slowly dissolves, but it's still awkward.

"I'm sorry-"

"You have nothing to be sorry for. He should've been paying attention to his players. Everyone knows ninety percent of baseball is mental." He shakes his head, clearly annoyed with his head coach. "You did good, Cord. You probably could've handled it better, but that's why I hired Macy. You need help with your people skills, but you've got an eye for how your players are doing."

"Thanks, Dad."

"You know, I always planned on you taking a spot in Scott Powell and Coleman when you retired from baseball, but I think you should coach. You'd be good at it. Then one day, you can take over as owner."

"Really?" My brows raise as I stare at Dad in shock.

He's never hinted at letting me take a place on the Pit Bulls once I have to retire from the game. And contrary to what Danny thinks, it wasn't a given it could be an option. I knew if I wanted to do anything after I couldn't physically play, I'd have to fight for it. I'd have to put in the work.

"And that right there is how I know Sunshine and I did a good job with you and Cici. You didn't expect to have this team handed to you." Dad smiles to himself. "You're a good man, Cord. You make me proud every day. Now, go talk to your team. Then take your girl home… what's going on with her anyway?"

"Her head and heart are a mess, but she's doing ok."

"Then go take care of her. Show her how much she's loved and remind her she's a part of our family."

"Thanks, Dad."

He stands as I do and comes around the desk to wrap me in his embrace. I swear no matter how old I am, I love getting hugs from him. He makes you feel like you're not alone in this world and you always have someone to lean on. I couldn't imagine not having a dad like him in my life.