4. Kyle

“Your favorite treat. S’mores coffee with the extra whip,” Cameron said, his far too chipper voice echoing around my dark room.

“No,” I muttered into the pillow. Last night, my dream of making it to the World Series had ended. The last thing I wanted to do was face the light of day, especially this early. I didn’t need a clock to know that I hadn’t been asleep for six hours yet.

“I get that it was supposed to be a sleep-in day, but Hannah rang, and when that girl calls, I answer.”

“Time to learn to hit the red Ignore button.” I pulled the thick goose-down comforter over my head.

“Time to learn to control the word vomit.” He was too damn cheerful.

A high-pitched beep pierced my skull, and then the darkness under the blankets wasn’t so dark anymore. The asshole had opened my shades. Whatever the fuck time it was, it was too early. My alarm was set for nine, and it hadn’t chirped yet. Cam could fuck right off. I was tired. I’d fallen into bed sometime around three. Maybe four. Either way, it was still too damn early for my assistant to be yapping at me.

“You’re lucky it was Hannah and not your mother. I’m surprised she’s not blowing up your phone and lecturing you for acting like a jerk.”

I winced. If not for the fact that she and her best friend were on a cruise I’d sent them on, she would be screeching in my ear. “Lucky me,” I muttered.

The blankets were yanked away, and cool air washed over me. “Have a cup of the nectar of the gods. Then you’ll feel more like hearing me sing.”

I blinked at the brightness, wearing a scowl. I had no interest in being tortured with Cam’s singing, but the coffee he’d brought could never be the worst part of my day.

“You get this one fun cup. After, you’ll have to pretend to love dark roast, no whip, no sugar.” The fucker had a point. Only he knew I wanted all the fun shit. The guys would be relentless if they knew I preferred coffee that tasted more like a milkshake.

“Fine.” I reached for the coffee, my eyes still mostly closed. He better not be lying . The warm cardboard settling against my palm was a momentary relief. “Why are you here?” Propped up on one elbow, I lifted the cup to my mouth. I tried to keep my scowl going while the burst of yummy goodness hit my tongue, but as a plastic bag hit the side of my head, I couldn’t stop it anymore. “ Aw , you brought M&M’s.”

“My little man always smiles for the baseball-colored candy.”

I might love it, but Cam was the one who bulk ordered them in the baseball design. He thought himself a comedian.

“I’m not ten,” I grumbled, even as I tore open the pack and dumped a few into my palm. One at a time, I tossed them into the air and caught them in my mouth.

“Says the man-child having whipped cream and chocolate for breakfast.”

He palmed my head, but before he could mess with my hair, I reeled back and batted at his hand.

“Don’t touch the hair.”

“You just woke up. How do you not have bedhead?”

“It’s a gift.” I tossed another candy into the air. “What’s with the candy and whipped cream? Are you here to bribe me?”

He propped himself up against my dresser, his own coffee sitting on its surface next to his hip. “Not me, man. Hannah.”

Eyes closed, I groaned. She hadn’t been thrilled with the statement I gave last night. And in the morning light, there was no way I could deny that I’d been an asshole. No one should be surprised by that, though. Least of all Hannah. I said dumb shit all the time.

“Moan all you want as long as you’re getting your ass out of bed and getting dressed. Car service will be here in”—he glanced at the silver watch on his wrist—“less than twenty.”

“Fucker,” I mumbled. No wonder he was dressed up. Normally, Cam drove me around in my Escalade, but when he wanted to make sure I got my ass in gear, he’d call the Revs car service. The asshole knew that if the car was on the way, I wouldn’t say no.

“It’s why you pay me the big bucks.” Smirking, he lifted his coffee into the air, then strode out of my room.

I tossed the covers off my legs and forced myself up. Fuck, I wanted to curse Cam again, but honestly, I couldn’t do life without the guy. I’d hired him as my assistant a few years ago, but since then, he’d become one of my best friends. Now he was my roommate, and he managed most aspects of my life. As annoying as he was, I couldn’t kick him to the curb. Something I reminded myself the entire way to the stadium as he laughed while showing me clip after clip of people calling me an asshole.

“Bosco.” Hannah snapped the second my ass hit the chair.

Head bowed, I rubbed my temples.

“Are you still drunk?”

“No.” I wasn’t drunk to begin with. I nursed beers and a bad attitude until I finally gave up and bowed out at the second club. “If you want to harp on someone, call Jasper. When I left the VIP area of Dreads, the kid was ten seconds away from pulling his dick out.”

Hannah gritted her teeth. “He’ll get his turn. But shockingly, our first baseman isn’t my biggest issue today.”

I rolled my eyes. Most of the media was bashing my statement. Not in Boston, though. Revs fans had my back. But around the rest of the sports world, as Cam had so cheerfully pointed out in the car on the way over, I was being called a jack wad. I got it. No one wanted some cute little redheaded kid to get smacked in the face. Even I could see that would have been a shit show.

Hannah slammed her hands onto her desk. “Are you even listening?”

I nodded, even though that wasn’t entirely true.

“Look at this.” She pointed a black remote at the screen behind me and another talking head appeared, throwing me and the Revs under the bus for once again showing how much we hated kids.

“It’s like I live in freaking Groundhog Day ,” Hannah said. “For the love of God, how many times can this team show the world that they hate kids and birds and dogs, and act like assholes?”

I blinked.

“Well?” she asked, brows lifted into her hairline.

“That was a question for me?” I cocked my head. “I think Jasper’s the real issue. Or maybe Tristian.”

She scowled. “Bosco,” she said through gritted teeth.

No one liked Tristian Jenner. We’d all been hoping that Miller and Langfield would trade the left fielder.

She moved around the desk to stand in front of me and crossed her arms. “The family is coming here.”

“Family?” I asked.

“Yes, the poor woman you turned all of Boston against. And her kids.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. Shit. I had to face this woman? Today? “Why?”

Her eyes narrowed. “To fix the situation. Asher and Zara are coming to help.” Asher, the Revs’ catcher, and his wife were not only well-known to most of the country, but they were two of the most outgoing people I’d ever met. It made sense that Hannah would invite them to be the friendly faces in the group. “And bringing their kids, since they’re close in age to Sam and Piper.”

The names tickled something in the back of my mind. “Who?”

She closed her eyes and lifted her head for a moment. After a long breath out, she zeroed in on me. “The kids who almost got their teeth knocked out.” Typical Hannah, bringing all the drama.

I slumped in my seat, scowling. “Never would have happened.”

“Not how it looks when you watch the tape.”

I fought back a wince. I’d seen replays a few times at this point. Though it stung to admit it to myself, she might be right.

“Avery and Chris are picking up Puff and bringing him over.”

That lifted my mood a fraction. It was hard not to love our favorite feathered friend. Although when Damiano struck the bird with a pitch, it had seemed like a disaster, now we all agreed we couldn’t do without the little puffin in our lives.

“Emerson and Gianna are coming too.”

“Of course you want Bambi. You’re filming this shit, aren’t you?” I chuckled. Our third baseman always put on a good show. “Sounds like you don’t need me.”

“This is not a joke.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’ll be there. Not to be the fun or entertainment for the kids, but to apologize. You’ll grovel if you need to.”

My spine snapped straight as annoyance burned in my veins. “Like hell I will.”

“You will.”

Gripping the armrests on either side of me, I scowled at her. She glared right back, eyes hard, like she wasn’t at all intimidated by me. She probably wasn’t. The girl had grit and an iron will. But I didn’t back down.

This moment had the potential to turn into the world’s longest staring contest, but a knock behind me broke the tension and had us both turning.

“Sorry, Hannah, babe, but I need my little man a minute.” Cam stepped into the room. His charming-as-fuck act even got a smile out of our PR boss woman.

“Maybe you can talk some sense into him.” Her tone with Cam was nothing like the verbal daggers she had been hurtling my way.

“That would be a first,” Cam joked. His light expression dropped quickly as he held out his phone. “It’s JJ.”

My stomach sank. I had ignored two calls from him already.

“This is a real thing.” Cam cocked a blond brow.

His tone instantly had me on edge. “Is everyone okay?” If something had happened to my aunt, JJ would be losing his shit.

Slowly, Cam nodded, pushing the phone my way.

I took it hesitantly and swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Sup man?”

“You promised me.” JJ’s tone had a bite I didn’t understand.

I ran my hand through my hair. “I have no idea what we’re talking about.” I promised him a lot of shit. And I always followed through. He was my boy, and I’d do anything for him. Still, I had no idea what he meant.

“You promised you’d help me with the Harper stuff. I know I fucked up, and she got the shit end of the deal, but you promised you were going to help me.”

I rolled my eyes. What the hell had happened this time? “Yeah, and I will. I told you that as soon as the season was over, we’d smooth stuff over.”

“So why in the name of God did you make her the target of the entire city’s wrath?”

My heart stopped, and ice ran through my veins. I’d put a target on someone, sure, but that couldn’t be who JJ was talking about. “What?”

“White shirt, red-haired devil, she hopefully knows better than to show her face in Boston again .”

I swallowed. I’d seen the clip enough to know he was dramatizing my words a hair, but the point was the same. “Harper… Your Harper …” I shook my head. No way fate would do this to me. It wasn’t possible. “She was the one who caught my foul ball?”

“Yes. And now, because of you, the kids got kicked out of day care, people are egging her apartment door, and some dickhead let the air out of her tires.”

Fuck me. I sighed.

“You need to fix this.”

I nodded like a tool bag, even though he couldn’t see me.

Cam cleared his throat, garnering my attention. With just a glance at his face, it was clear to me that he knew the story already. With his lips pressed in a firm line, he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well?” he mouthed at me. “What are you doing about this shit show?”

I wanted to say nothing . Two minutes ago, I’d told Hannah that this wasn’t my problem. But I loved JJ, and I had promised to help with Harper. Though I couldn’t have guessed that she’d ruin my World Series run when I said it.

Still, I turned to Hannah, and through gritted teeth, I said, “Harper and the kids are coming over to Lang Field today. Hannah has a plan. I’m…” I cleared my throat. “I’m apologizing.” The phrase tasted like acid on my tongue, and it took a concerted effort to keep myself from grimacing. “We’ll fix everything.”

Hannah’s smug smile made me detest the words leaving my lips all the more, but I didn’t have a choice. I’d made a promise, and now I had to keep it.