Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Cole

Thank fuck I let Ty’s overbearing ass tell me what to do tonight. Not once did it cross my mind that Heather and Adriana would be here for the weekend. Let alone that Adriana would want to spend time with me like this. She surprised the shit out of me. I almost half expected her to tell me she only wanted to be friends. But now? Now I know I have some work to do, but it’s not impossible. I can’t wait for her to be mine.

“When do you guys fly back home?” I break the silence.

“Same as you. Sunday after the game.” She answers me.

“What do you think about a date night at my place after we get back?” I can’t help but to ask her, wanting to lock in more time spent with her.

“Definitely, Casanova. Let me know what day works for you.” She tells me.

She puts her head on my shoulder and gets engrossed in the movie. She doesn’t notice me looking at her. This woman just continues to draw me in with every moment I spend with her. Adriana just might be the one to take me out of the game.

The second movie ends and a few minutes later, the third movie starts. We are only about an hour in when I realize Adriana is sleeping. Wanting to take full advantage of her being here since I know she won’t always make it out on these away trips, I continue to watch this damn movie and enjoy holding her.

The sound of the door unlocking draws my attention, and in walks Heather and Ty. They come into the living room and see us. Heather sighs and smiles as I put my finger up to my mouth so they know to be quiet.

“She sleeping?” Heather whispers.

“Yeah. I’ll bring her into the room. I can pull the couch out. Why don’t you two go to our room?”

“Cole, you need a good night’s sleep for the game.” Heather argues in a whisper.

“I’ll be fine. You don’t get to come out often when we’re on the road. You did me a solid on this trip. This is me saying thank you.” I inform her.

“You sure?” She double checks with me.

“Yes, but go before I change my mind.” I tell her, knowing it’ll put her ass in gear.

“Love you brother.” she says, blowing a kiss at me.

“Love you too. Make sure you keep it down in there tonight.” I say with a chuckle.

I get up from the couch with Adriana in my arms. She snuggles further into my neck and fucking sighs. My dick twitches with the hot air of her breath on my neck. I have to remind myself as I head over to her room that slow and steady is going to be the path until she says otherwise. And fuck, I just know she’s worth it.

Heather grabbed a change of clothes and left the door open for me, and pulled back the comforter. Thoughtful sister.

I lay her down and pull the comforter over her. I lean down and kiss her forehead.

“Goodnight gorgeous.” I whisper.

“Night, Casanova.” she whispers back to me.

Closing the door behind me, I go pull the bed out of the couch. Getting settled, I keep the tv on but change it to the local sports channel and turn the volume up just a smidge to ensure I don’t hear my brother and his wife just in case.

Sleeping on the pullout couch wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. At least my back isn’t hurting from it and it hasn’t affected my game today.

It’s the top of the ninth inning and we’re up by three runs with only one out. I’m on deck to hit and Dean Lockwood is up at the plate. The pitcher throws a fastball and Dean swings, connecting with the pitch. The ball goes sailing into the outfield where it’s just out of reach to the right fielder, Andrews by a few inches. Andrews picks up the ball as Dean is turning from first base to run to second. Dean knows that he only has seconds to get the base before the ball does. He digs deep and sets up to slide. The second baseman sees this and changes his position by the bag as Dean slides feet first, and that’s when all we hear is a scream. Dean is laying on the ground on his side clutching his lower left leg. The trainers are running out from the dugout over to him. He isn’t getting up and we all know that this isn’t good. The trainers assess him before helping him up and carrying him over and into the dugout to get to the locker room to get checked out.

“Don’t let that shake you.” Ty says from my right side.

“Yeah, it won’t. I’m pissed now, so I think we’re good.” I angrily state.

I turn, walk to the batter’s box and dig my cleats into the dirt. Taking the first three pitches, two were strikes and one ball. The fourth pitch is on its way to me, right down the middle of the plate. Swinging, my bat connects with the ball just out of reach of the shortstop. The ball drops into shallow left center. Dane Rivers comes into score and now we are up four runs.

The next batter strikes out while the following hits a line drive right back to the pitcher.

Hunter Knight is the closer to tonight’s game and strikes each of three batters that come up to bat. We high five each other before we head into the clubhouse.

We’re all looking for Dean as we walk towards our own lockers, but he isn’t in sight. The trainers and team doctor aren’t here either.

“Great game men. I’m sure you’re all wanting to know about Dean. They took him to the hospital, and I just received the call with his prognosis. He’s out for at least three months with a broken ankle. No surgery luckily as it was a clean break, but he’ll be around for physical therapy until he can get back out on the field. He’ll be heading home once released from the hospital. He said "don't worry about him and go celebrate the win.” Coach Brian tells us.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Dean’s okay, but this fucking sucks. We have guys that can play his position in left field but they aren’t guys that can do it day after day. The goal is always to win as much as we can, as often as we can, to work our way to the championship finals. Fuck .

“Alright guys. Let’s honor Dean’s wishes. Let’s get cleaned up and we’ll make a plan back at the hotel.” Ty tells the team.

We all move into motion to get showered and dressed. I just want to go back to the hotel to hangout with Adriana but I guess that’s not happening. Hopefully, the ladies will join us.

Thirty minutes later, we’re all loading up on the bus. The drive back to the hotel only takes us twenty minutes and is uneventful. As soon as we walk into the hotel lobby from the bus, we’re greeted by Heather and Adriana.

Of course, Ty walks straight over to them.

“Hey babe, we’re all going out, including the two of you. You can thank Dean next time you see him.” Ty says to the girls.

“Hey you.” I say to Adriana as I give her a hug.

“Hey Casanova. You played great today.” She tells me, returning my hug.

“Thank you. So since you are the native here, do you know of any good places nearby?” I ask her opinion.

“Actually, I do!” she tells me.

“Care to share with the class?” I ask her. Chuckling at her excitement.

“It’ll be a surprise. Just tell everyone to hang out while we change, then we can go.” She says as she grabs Heather’s hand and they walk off to the elevators.

“Well. I guess let’s tell the guys.” Ty says to me and turns around to go talk to the team.

What did we get the team into?