23. Hudson

23

HUDSON

S ome of the guys on the team thrive on events like this. I’ve never favored it one way or the other, but you can tell which ones love the attention and which ones couldn’t care less. I’m definitely the latter.

I’ve always been more of a homebody, but now that I’ve spent the last couple of weeks coming home to a beautiful woman who likes the same, it’s hard to want to do anything else.

There is only one reason we stand up here during the auction, and it’s because people like to see the team and the players pay attention and congratulate the winning bidders. The foundation feels like it adds to the experience and we end up getting more money. That part I don’t mind if it’s raising money for the foundation that benefits the kids in the community. So, I easily play the part I need to.

Between bantering with the guys on stage and congratulating the winning bidders, I try to look out beyond the blinding lights that are spotlighted on the stage to find my girl. Looking out over the crowd, I find my gorgeous green-eyed beauty, who stands out amongst everyone out there like a beacon. It’s been easy going these past couple of weeks. Completely platonic, unfortunately, but easy, and dare I say, blissful.

I’ve somehow managed not to cross over the friend zone boundary, which I’m both impressed by and pissed off at. But overall, we’ve done nothing but have a great time, enjoying each other’s company while we talk about our day. It’s been perfect. Except the night she referred to me as a roommate.

That was not perfect. It took everything in me to refrain from showing her all the ways I am not a fucking roommate. Again, impressing myself with my restraint.

The spotlights change for a brief moment, highlighting the last high bidder, and I’m able to see her with more clarity. Her smile is on full display and hypnotizing, and I squint to see who she’s talking to.

What the fuck.

What the hell is Henry doing here? And what the hell is he doing talking to Ember?

Full panic laces through me. Panic, stress, anxiety. Jesus, I need to get her away from him. My fists clench and Callahan, our pitcher, who is standing next to me senses it immediately.

“What’s up, man?” He leans in closer to me, trying to find my line of sight.

“My brother is here. He’s talking to my wife,” I say, between clenched teeth.

“And that’s a problem because?” His question is clearly laced with confusion.

Because the last woman I had, he didn’t hesitate to seduce, which ultimately led to her cheating on me with him before we called off our engagement. He proposed to her shortly after, then broke off the engagement a few months before the wedding date.

That’s why that’s a problem .

I don’t say that because I never talk about that. That was in college, a long ass time ago, but I still don’t talk about it.

I watch as they talk to each other, smiling loosely, like he doesn’t have a care in the fucking world. That’s probably because everything has come so easily for him, or maybe it’s because he doesn’t give a shit about who he hurts while going after whatever it is that he wants.

“She came after me. That’s what happens when you can’t keep your woman pleased, Hud,” he tells me, like his actions didn’t just tear my world apart.

“What the fuck were you thinking? You don’t pursue your brother’s fiancé. There’s a basic moral code, and you fucking broke it, Henry!” I yell, practically spitting in his face.

My fists are balled and ready to swing, but I’m holding myself back with everything I have. He fucking slept with Veronica. And she slept with him. How did this even happen? How did I not see it coming? Probably because what brother, flesh and blood, would do that?

Henry, that’s who. And clearly without remorse or guilt.

“Why would you do that? What the fuck did I ever do to you?” The asshole is actually smirking. Smirking.

“Sorry, bro, I really like her. We’re going to see where this goes.” He pats me on the shoulder, silently saying, ‘no big deal—get ‘em next time, Tiger’, and turns to leave my room.

Fucking prick.

Henry has always had it out for me. He got all the attention, being the first born, then when the twins came along, that changed a lot. They got most of the attention, and I feel like, sometimes, he just lashes out at me, being I was the youngest and the last, and our parents knew that I was the final child. I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt, being he had to grow up faster than any of us, but he’s the most immature, self-centered person I’ve ever met .

It doesn’t matter if it’s school projects, baseball, or now, my girl, he feels entitled to take over anything that I take any liking to.

I’ve fucking had enough. Too many years of built up frustration explodes out of me.

I push him from behind, making him turn to face me, and punch him square in the face. His body stumbles backward into the wall, holding his broken nose.

“You fucking dick, you broke my nose!” He lunges forward, grabbing my shirt and swinging me back against the wall he just fell against. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” He grabs my left hand, my catching hand, wrapping one hand around my pinky and ring finger and the other around my middle and pointer and tears them apart, sending a searing pain through the back of my hand.

“Ah, fuck!” I pull away as he reaches in again for the same hand.

The door to my room opens, and Grant comes barreling in, ripping us apart and throwing Henry across the room.

“What the fuck, you guys?” Grant creates a blockade between us.

“Hudson just can’t keep his girl happy and he’s pissed off about it.”

I’m holding my catching hand, hunched over in pain. It’s not broken, but it’s definitely sprained.

Grant looks at me, confused, as Henry pushes himself off the ground, glaring at me like I’ve wronged him, as he walks through the doorway, leaving my room.

“I gotta go,” I say to Callahan and exit the stage.