Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Adriana

Cole rests his forehead against mine, and I feel the heat creeping up through my cheeks from blushing. I didn’t think when I pulled back to look up at him I would end up kissing him, but in that moment, it just felt right. Holy shit, can the man kiss. Small dick Toby or anyone before him never kissed me like Cole just did.

The more it’s just Cole and I talking or spending time together, the more I like him and feel our connection deepen. I wasn’t expecting us to talk about our parents tonight. I don’t talk about them enough, but I also know that sometimes it can be a heavy topic. But this man understands a part of my soul that no one else has been able to in my lifetime after my parents.

“Hi,” Cole says with a smile as he opens his eyes so they meet mine.

“Hi Casanova.” I say with a smile.

“Let’s finish eating. I have movie snacks for you, too.”

“You went all out, huh?” I mention.

“Only the best for you,” he tells me.

“You are ridiculous. What if the night went into flames before the movie?” I question.

“I wasn’t going to let that happen. I need at least one full date before I can let you write me off,” he says..

I can’t help but laugh at him.

“I don’t think there is any writing you off, big guy.”

Cole laughs and drops a quick kiss on my lips.

“Let’s finish eating so we can go watch a movie.”

“What are we watching?” I ask.

“It’s a surprise. But trust me, you will be happy.”

“We shall see.” I tell him.

We make small talk, keeping it light while we finish eating. Once we are done, I help Cole clear off the table, bringing everything back inside the house.

“Are you okay if I go change before we go watch a movie?” Cole asks me.

“Of course. I don’t blame you. Why do you think I have leggings on?” I smirk.

“I’ll be right back,” he tells me and leaves the kitchen.

While Cole changes, I clean up the kitchen.

The sound of the water running while I’m at the sink must cover up any sound Cole made coming back downstairs. I feel his hands on my waist and yelp because he scared the hell out of me. He wraps his arms around my waist and brings his chin down to rest on my shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he tells me.

“You must be a damn ninja. I didn’t even hear you come back down at all.”

“You didn’t have to clean up, you know,” he says sweetly.

“I know, just wanted to help.”

“Thank you.” He says.

“You’re welcome, but you have to let me finish.” I tell him.

“Okay, okay,” he says and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

I finish loading the dishes, turn the water off, and turn around.

“See, didn’t take long.” I say with my hands on my hips.

“I see. You ready?” Cole says as he lets his eyes roam over me from head to toe.

“Yes, sir.” I salute him.

I hear a slight groan leave his lips as he takes my hand. He moves me next to him and lets go of my hand, only to put it on my lower back to help guide me. We make our way down to the movie room.

“There is a t-shirt and hoodie if you want either or both to wear.” he shows me the clothing on the couch.

He really thought this date out. Damn, he is making a fucking effort. More than anyone has ever done before.

“They both look very comfortable. I think I’ll take you up on that.” I say as I move to grab both items off the couch.

“There is a bathroom on the other side of the wall by the end of the couch.” He says as he points to the other side of the room.

How did I not notice the wall didn’t go all the way from one side to the other? I go into the bathroom and make quick work of taking my tank and cardigan off and replacing it with the Grizzlies shirt. I’ll wait on the sweatshirt for now.

I walk out of the bathroom to find Cole in the same spot on the couch as the last time we watched a movie. He’s scrolling on his phone and it’s like he knows I’m looking at him because his eyes lift from his phone. Without looking, he locks it.

Why is that so hot? Because he’s showing you that you are more important.

“You going to stand there all night looking at me?” he asks me with a satisfied smirk.

Yeah, I’m caught.

“I was just trying to figure out where I was going to sit. The other side of the couch looks spacious and I can stretch my legs out.” I tease him.

“You could do that or you can come cuddle up with me. I even have a blanket.” He says, as he holds up a fleece blanket.

I roll my eyes at him, but it’s seriously adorable how he planned everything for tonight. I look to the other side of the couch one more time to tease him, knowing damn well I’m going to go cuddle with him.

As I walk the few steps to him, he smiles with his teeth and all like he won. I don’t think he realizes I’m the one winning here. He’s a damn giant teddy bear. Cuddling with him isn’t a hardship. There is something about being in his arms. The comfort and safety that I feel in his arms has me feeling like he would go to the ends of the world to protect me.

He is absolutely the opposite of Toby. Even in our first few months of dating, when Toby laid on the charm to hook me, he never went to this length. He did nice things for me, but not even a fraction of anything as thoughtful as Cole has done tonight.

Cole scoots over until his back is against the arm of the couch. He has his arm stretched out for me. I sit down and toe my shoes off before placing my legs on the couch and turning my body to face his.

“Come here often?” I ask with a laugh.

“Only with you.”

Casanova, what the hell was Layla thinking leaving you?

“I guess I should tell you,” he says.

Oh shit, I said that out loud.

Cole sighs. Am I making him talk about this when he isn’t ready to tell me? Shit, now I feel bad.

“We started dating shortly after the season ended for the Grizzlies. I was around a lot more. Once spring training started and I had to go down to Florida, that’s when the problems started. She would get upset if I couldn’t make it to parties or events if I had practice or games. I called, texted and we would video chat, but it wasn’t enough of an effort for her. I offered to pay for her to come down to be with me, too.

“We had talked about what my schedule would be like once I had to report for spring training and the season began. Initially, she said we would figure out long distance where she would come visit me and if I could, I would come visit her when I had a few days off clustered together.” He takes a breath after he finishes. He looks like he’s questioning himself.

“You don’t have to tell me anymore. The question was supposed to be inside my head and not out of my lips.” I tell him.

It’s the truth. I really meant to say it in my head because from what Cole has showed me with his texts and tonight is that when he cares, he makes the most fucking effort.

“It’s okay, because I wanted to ask about Toby at some point, so don’t think you’re getting out of it now,” he says with a knowing look.

“That’s fair. I’ll tell you the entire story.” I confirm.

“Layla was all about being seen, so when I wasn’t around, she felt like people didn’t care about her when she went to red carpet events and such alone. I feel now that it was more about my name and what came along with it than who I was as a person for her. While I think she cared about me, I realize now it was more in a friendship way and not at all romantically.

“About five or six months ago, she would only answer me by text. She didn’t call or video chat me back if she missed them. She started to hang out with a crowd that was helping her be seen. A week or two into being in with this new crowd a photo made it’s way to a gossip site, and it picked up traction. Can you guess which photo?” he stops talking.

“The one with her walking out of a club and it was another guy with his arms around her shoulder?” I ask.

I remember seeing the picture while scrolling on social media. The comments were unkind, with Cole being so popular. I almost felt bad for her. Almost because she had to have known that something like that could or would happen.

Cole nods his head to confirm my answer is correct. I beat him to speaking.

“So she was unhappy but didn’t talk to you about figuring it out together or breaking up with you?” I ask.

“Yeah. It sucked seeing that. She finally called me then. She was crying, saying how sorry she was and that nothing happened with the guy. The backlash she got was tremendous. Turns out the guy was actually just a friend and his boyfriend was with them. But it made me recognize I didn’t want to be with her any longer.

“I let her get what she needed to say out and then told her we shouldn’t be together. Clearly she was unhappy, but I wasn’t giving up baseball for someone that wouldn’t even talk to me about their feelings. She wasn’t happy with me expressing my feelings, but she agreed. I basically got the blame because I wasn’t home and if I was, then she wouldn’t have been out with her friends. In that moment, I knew I was making the right decision.”

“So she didn’t take any accountability for her actions?” I ask.

“Nope, and that’s not even the worst part. She yelled at me and told me I was heartless since she was being attacked by my fans. Told me to go fuck myself, hung up on me and then went out with her new friends and got shit faced and caused this huge scene that was covered by the media,” he tells me.

I nod my head because I know what article he’s talking about. She was outside of a nightclub being spoken to by police officers making a scene. It was everywhere.

“Well, because of the backlash she was already getting from the first photo, that night didn’t make it any better. The next day, she called me and I reluctantly answered. She was a mess, telling me she was going to a two week intense treatment center so she can get herself together. She asked that we not give statements about the breakup because everyone will think she cheated and it would only make things worse for her. I agreed to that because at the time I didn’t think it would be months of pretending. I’m happy she got the help she needed to deal with what was going on, but I’m even happier now that I get to move on with my life.” He states, finishing.

“Wow, that’s a lot. That’s really shitty. You truly are a good man, Cole. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.” I tell him.

“Thanks babe. I appreciate that. Now just remember that if I ever make you mad.” He laughs.

I can’t help but laugh with him. He’s right, I’m sure I will get mad at him, but I don’t think I’ll remember those words when it happens.

Holy shit, that was a lot, but not at the same time. What a bitch. It’s not like she didn’t know what was coming with his season starting. Note to self: if this goes any further, always remember you know what you are getting into with his schedule.

“Do you want to tell me about Toby in full, or do you want to watch the movie I picked out?” He asks me, letting me decide what happens next.

He was so honest and forthcoming that I want to give him that back.

“Small dick Toby first, movie and cuddles after.” I tell him.

“Sounds good to me.” he says nodding.

“After I ended things with Toby and looked back at our relationship, I saw all the signs I ignored. The first six months of us dating were probably the best, and they weren’t even that great. He put effort in to get me but after a few months of us being official, things changed. We would do date nights and sleepovers don’t get me wrong, but Toby wouldn’t always call me back or answer my texts. When I would call him out on it, he would blame work.

“He would also consistently say I was needy. But then he would dote on me to make me happy for a while. It was a never-ending cycle. Dani pointed it out a few times, but I would always say that his job was the reason. During our relationship, he received two promotions in his company. He became a project leader and then towards the end of our relationship, a project manager. I knew he had aspirations to grow within the company and I fully supported that. He supported me, wanting to get out of being just some glorified receptionist.” I tell him.

“Well, at least he did that right.” Cole notes.

“I guess. The last few months before I caught him cheating, I could feel some sort of disconnect, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I stayed with him, even though I wasn’t exactly happy. For a while, I tried to make it work. He didn’t put the same effort in. We would spend most of our time together inside his place. I would try to get him out, but he would just complain he was too tired from work.” I say.

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“It wasn’t. But I loved him, or so I thought. Which meant I wanted to give him what he needed. I don’t even know what made me want to work on the relationship.”

“You don’t beat yourself A. We’re human and are emotional creatures.” Cole tries to console me.

“But, I know now. I know I was lonely and felt like there wasn’t anyone in the world that loved me anymore. And that’s a tough pill to swallow because I should have been stronger than that. When I met Toby, I was still grieving the losses of both my parents. I needed someone to care about me because I wasn’t sure I even cared about myself. But just like we talked about our parents earlier, I knew what Toby and I had deep down wasn’t even close to what they had.

“I truly felt my mom having heart issues was because of the loss of my dad. They didn’t start until after he passed away. She died of a broken heart and because the other half of her soul wasn’t here on this earth with her. That’s the type of love I want and deserve and I’m obviously still living, so that means that Toby wasn’t the one.” I finish with tears in my eyes yet again tonight.

Fuck.

I bury my face in Cole’s neck, and he instantly rubs my back while kissing the top of my head.

“I’m glad you’re still on this earth and he wasn’t the one. We wouldn’t be here if he was,” Cole whispers to me.

Now the tears fall. He knows when my tears hit his skin because he wraps his other arm around me and just hugs me. This man must be a damn bulldozer because he breaking all these walls I thought I had built with steel. Instead, it seems like I built it with bricks and he is knocking the wall away brick by brick.

“A, you have people who care and love you. Dani, Heather, Ty, the team. I care about you a lot more than I should probably admit. You might not have had that when you needed it the most, but you will never not have that from now on.” He assures me.

I take my time gathering myself. I don’t know how much time passes before the tears stop. Cole doesn’t stop rubbing my back the entire time.

He has now let me cry twice, and it’s only our first date, but it doesn’t seem like it’s scaring him off. If anything, it feels like I’ve been able to let go of a lot of hurt and it’s only allowing Cole to get in deeper. How in the hell did all of this happen? The last six years have changed so much of my life and who I am, but for the first time I’m not asking why but saying thank you because it’s led me here to this moment where I feel a piece of my heart healing.

Even if Cole and I don’t work out in the long term, this man has shown me that even after so much pain and grief that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. You just don’t know how long the tunnel is and how long you will be in the dark.