26. Avery

The first game in the series against Hamilton High was off to an amazing start. The guys were on fire, and I couldn’t help but feel hopeful that we could win this thing.

I felt the pressure of the game riding on Cameron. I sat in the dugout, nearly chewing my nails off, as Nathan stood near the field, clapping his hands. The other players stayed ready on their bases. We had all bases covered, and all Cameron needed to do was hit one good pitch to get Caleb and Tommy home from second and third base. Then we’d win the game.

Unfortunately, Cameron was two strikes down. I saw it happening—the anxiety of the pressure building up in Cameron. Our practices had been amazing, and I felt as if he was getting stronger and stronger each week, but I knew the nerves were still eating at him the same way I was eating at my nails.

He was all in his head and not in his heart.

This wasn’t going to be good.

I stood from the dugout and began clapping along with the rest of our crew. “You got this, Cam!” I shouted out.

His body language said the complete opposite as his father, Adam, shouted at him from the stands not to screw up. That made my blood boil, but I couldn’t focus on the asshat in the audience. I needed to keep my focus on my player.

The more Adam ridiculed him, the more I cheered him on.

Out of nowhere, Nathan called for a time-out. I shot him a look as he gave me a small smile before he jogged over to Cameron. Nathan placed his hands against Cameron’s shoulders and whispered something into his ear. Then Nathan began to jump up and down and broke out into a silly dance, shaking his hips all over the place and waving his arms in the air like a madman. Cameron laughed slightly, and I watched as the heavy pressure on Cameron’s shoulders began to dissipate. Nathan kept dancing like a tree in a windstorm, and he lightly shoved Cameron’s shoulder. Cameron sighed for a moment before he began to dance like Nathan, too.

What in the world was happening?

Nathan clapped his hands together, pulled Cameron into him, and whispered one more thing before patting the top of Cameron’s baseball helmet and swatting him back out to the batting diamond.

Nathan jogged back over to me and crossed his arms, focusing back on the field.

“What was that?” I asked, keeping my eyes on Cameron.

“Footloose,” he replied. “Always helped me get out of my head and more into my heart.”

My heartbeat quickened as those words left his mouth, knowing I was the one who taught him the Footloose technique all those years before. It was something I learned from my mom when I was a little girl and anxiety would swallow me whole. When life was too much, we would take a break to shake off the pressure that was building up. I hadn’t used that technique in such a long time, but to see Nathan use it on Cameron did something to my soul that I couldn’t quite describe.

I tried to push the feeling away and went back to my focus on Cameron.

I held my breath the whole time I watched him get into position.

The pitcher was in his zone.

The players were ready on base.

The ball was released.

Cameron swung.

And he hit!

Not only did he hit, but he freaking smashed the heck out of the ball. It soared, too, going over the stadium, which meant Cameron Fisher just hit a grand slam.

A grand freaking slam!

And he made it look easy.

I started shouting and jumping up and down, with Nathan doing the same beside me as each player rounded the bases, hitting their home runs. The moment Cameron made it around, the whole team rushed over and started jumping all over him, cheering like wild.

We won…

We won!

Without thought, I wrapped my arms around Nathan as we continued to leap up and down in pure shock from Cameron knocking it out of the field!

I didn’t know I could feel so damn happy from one hit. My happiness was more than winning the game, though. It was about Cameron finding his confidence, finding his strength in the midnight hour, and showing up not only for the team, but for himself, too.

Thatwas why I did what I did.

That was why I loved this sport so much.

The crew all shook hands with the opposing team, and their coaches shook hands with us.

“That was damn impressive, Coach K,” Coach Riley said from the opposing team. “It seems you and Coach P have a good thing going on over here. The other teams you have coming up should be prepared for challenging runs with your team. Great game.”

I thanked him, still feeling as if my heart was going to explode from my chest. The amount of pride I had swirling in me was almost all-consuming.

After the game, I had all the guys meet in the stands to tell them how proud I was of them. The energy burst shooting through everyone was something worthy of the movies. I knew it seemed like a basic win to the outside world, but for us, it stood as a shift. Things were changing for us, and I knew if we kept moving forward, we could go far this year.

It had been a long time since I’d felt so hopeful.

After the team headed home, I went to my office, still high as a kite. Not long after, Nathan came in, clapping his hands together in celebration. “Can you believe that?!” he exclaimed, his energy still an eleven out of ten. I couldn’t blame him because I was also still bursting at the seams.

I walked over to him and shoved his shoulder. “What the heck?” I laughed in complete awe, shaking my head. “That was fucking phenomenal.”

He playfully shoved me back. “I can’t believe it. Those guys were on fire.”

I shoved him back, and he playfully fell backward, landing against the edge of my desk. “It was like they were high. Jackson, Caleb, Tommy, Cameron! Freaking Cameron! I can’t believe it! What in the world did you say to him? I saw his energy lift before the dancing happened. What did you say?”

“I told him what I wish I would’ve heard during some games when the pressure felt so high and all on me,” he explained, placing his hands against the edge of my desk. “I told him that he was good enough, no matter what happened, and that the world wasn’t resting on his shoulders.”

My breathing slowed as I stared at him in complete awe.

“Nathan?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re a fucking remarkable coach.”

His smile reflected our shared triumph that afternoon, and for what felt like the first time, we were coasting on the same wave, feeling the same feelings as one another, completely in sync.

“Avery?” he said.

“Yes?”

“You’re a fucking remarkable coach.”

And just like that, everything began to shift.

In the afterglow of the electrifying baseball victory, the air in my office felt supercharged with excitement and relief as I studied Nathan. His biceps were on full display as he held the edge of my desk with a wicked smile of bliss plastered against his mouth. My eyes danced around and peered at the walls adorned with strategies and team rosters, signs that spoke of the countless hours of dedication Nathan and I had put in over the past few weeks. This wasn’t just my win. This was ours.

It was clear as day to me that I couldn’t have gotten the team to where they were without Nathan’s guidance because he added such an important part to the game that I’d somehow forgotten over time—heart.

He was the heartbeat of our team, and somehow, he’d managed to get my heart beating again after so much time of it being shut off.

I shook my head as I paced the room, replaying the game’s final moments as the air between Nathan and me sat thick with an unspoken bond forging between us through the victory.

“Can we talk about Caleb, too?” I expressed as I recounted the pivotal play that got the team to a solid spot in the eighth inning. As I turned to him, my stomach fluttered with butterflies that surprised me. Nathan’s gaze met mine, with unspoken words lingering in the air. Did he feel it, too? The tension that I had no clue how to decipher? My pacing came to a halt as my eyes stayed locked with his. At that moment, the world beyond the office walls faded, leaving only the two of us suspended in the aftermath of our victory.

Without a full understanding of the impulse, I found myself closing the distance between us. Nathan, as if drawn by the same invisible force, straightened up, his attention fixed solely on me. The air shifted, charged with a new, unexplored tension.

My heart raced, pounding against my chest with a fervor that matched the adrenaline of our win. My mind, which was normally so focused and clear, was a whirlwind of emotions and a newfound desire. What was happening to me? What was this feeling taking over?

Words were lost to me as I stood there with his approach. Instead of running or pushing him away, I stepped out of character. I acted on a compulsion fueled by the high of our victory and the sudden, overwhelming realization of feelings for the man who stood before me. At that moment, I felt like eighteen-year-old Avery again, lost completely in Nathan Pierce’s soul, uncertain if I wanted a roadmap out.

With a boldness that surprised me, I reached up to him, my hands finding the sides of his face, and I pulled him into a kiss that crackled with the moment’s intensity. I fell into uncharted territory, and while I should’ve felt fearful of the dive I’d taken, I felt nothing but pure bliss.

He instantly responded to my kiss and didn’t hesitate to kiss me back. Within seconds, he took the lead, wrapping his arms around me and pulling my body closer to his. The world around us, the office, the echoes of the game, the weight of our responsibilities—it all fell away, leaving only the truth of the moment we were creating.

He kissed me as if he’d been waiting decades to find his way back to my mouth, and I kissed him back, famished for his taste as his fingers dug into my back. At that moment, all common sense disappeared, and I was left with nothing more than the need for more.

More, more, more…

I didn’t know how long we kissed, but it didn’t seem long enough. His hands wrapped around my body as he deepened the kiss. When we finally parted, breathless and with a new energy flickering between us, my mind caught up with what had happened.

But I wanted more.

I needed more.

Yes…yes…my gosh, yes…

I didn’t know kisses could taste like his. Powerful and sensual all at once.

I moved in to kiss him again, to get lost once more against his mouth, yet this time, he stopped me. I took a step back as a somber look fell over him, making my stomach turn. What was that expression? Regret? Disappointment?

His mouth parted, and he whispered, “Avery.”

“What is it?” I asked.

Nathan grimaced and cleared his throat. His stare moved past me, over to the door. What was he staring at? Did a student catch our act? Was there a player taking in the passionate kiss he and I’d shared? I turned to see what caused Nathan to look so distressed, and I understood his expression within seconds.

My heart.

It dropped.

“Wesley,” I murmured.

There, in the doorframe of my office, stood my ex-fiancé. Wesley held a bouquet of roses in his hands while his eyes were packed with pain. Without a word, he turned and hurried away.