5. Cobb

CHAPTER 5

COBB

J esus Christ, I'd never met a woman like the one sitting across from me at the coffee shop.

Too bad I was off women for the foreseeable future.

First, I hadn't even done anything and I was embroiled in a baby daddy situation in New York that hadn't hit the papers yet but could. That was one thing I was sure of. Second, the moment she found out about my situation, she'd probably run like a rat fleeing a ship because who the fuck wanted to deal with all of that, not to mention the fact that most women wouldn't want to be with someone who was shirking his responsibilities when it came to his kid.

Which I wasn't, but would she believe that?

No. It was better to keep my distance, but this woman, with her blue eyes and the freckles dotting her face looking innocent and like she could fuck up my world all at the same time had me wishing I could make a move.

Though that was likely to bite me in the ass, too.

She ran her tongue over her bottom lip quickly then took a deep breath and turned to look out the window.

"When did it start raining?" she asked.

"I don't know." I'd been too focused on her and the protective brick sitting in my stomach from when she told me she'd been basically without backup when she'd confronted the ex-dickhead who could've hurt her. Now, all of a sudden, I wanted to make sure he never could but had no idea why this feeling was raging through me.

Sure, I wouldn't want any woman hurt. If I saw someone trying to hurt a woman, I'd step in because it was the right thing to do and if it was my sister, I'd want someone to help her. But this was something more… and I couldn't explain it.

The rain picked up. Fuck. Was this going to fuck up the game tonight? If it ended soon, they could get the field ready. This was my first start with Kalamazoo and I sure as hell didn't want a rainout. I'd be bumped and it'd be five more days before I pitched. That was too long. I hadn't gone that long without pitching in a game in years.

"It's really coming down." She turned those blue eyes back on me. "I guess I should probably go."

Without breaking eye contact, I nodded slowly and said, "Yeah. Me too." I did need to get to the park to start warming up.

We both dumped our coffee cups in the trash on our way out the door. Then we stood under the overhang as a crack of thunder hit so loudly, it vibrated the ground.

"Where's your car?" I asked.

"I rode to the courthouse with my dad. I was going to take the Metro then walk." She looked out at the rain. "I probably will order a rideshare now."

"In this rain, they'll be busy. It'll take a while."

"Or I'll just wait for it to let up."

Without thinking about it too hard, I said, "I can give you a ride home."

Her lips parted, but no words came out at first. "I can't do that," she finally said. "I don't know you. You're a guy in a coffee shop. I'm pretty sure my dads would kill me for that one."

Oh, shit. That was right. We'd never even introduced ourselves. "Sorry. I'm Cobb Briggs. And remember I'm not the dangerous one who just got arrested."

She snickered and the way her nose scrunched up was so fucking cute that I almost couldn't stand it. "That's true. It's across town, though. I'm sure out of your way."

"I've got time."

She nibbled on that bottom lip then nodded. "I'll take it. I really don't want to walk in the rain."

"I'm over here." I pointed around the corner where I'd parked my car, knowing that I wanted to hit the coffee shop after my meeting. Thankfully, she didn't ask why I'd been near the courthouse. It was the coffee shop across the street. Anyone could be there for reasons having nothing to do with the law.

I hit the button on my key fob so that the doors would be unlocked before we got there as we both ran through the rain. I was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, but she was wearing a white top that women called ‘a blouse,' though I didn't understand the difference between that and any other shirt that they wore, and skirt that brushed against her thighs with a pair of sandals. It was warm in Kalamazoo this time of year, but it was dressy enough to meet with a prosecutor. It had just been a meeting, after all, not court.

We each hopped in opposite sides of my car, dripping with water. I started it up and turned the heat on for a moment to help dry us off, but she was laughing.

"That was actually fun." She sat back in the seat like she didn't care that she was getting the entire thing wet. I didn't care, so she shouldn't, either, but I loved that she was comfortable.

"Getting soaked?"

She smiled widely and nodded. "Yes. It's like when you're a kid and playing in the rain. As adults, we mostly avoid it, right?" She wasn't wrong. "I'm going to go outside in the rain more," she said, like the decision was made.

"Let me know when. I'll come with you." The words came out of my mouth before I thought about how that would sound. But we could be friends, right?

Was I attracted to her? Yeah, absolutely. Too attracted to her. That didn't mean we couldn't be friends. She was easy to talk to and far more carefree than I was. All I knew was I couldn't have her in a romantic way, but not having her in my life at all was unacceptable. And no, I didn't give a fuck that I'd met her, like, an hour ago.

We were sitting in the car. Goosebumps covered her skin, so I turned the heat up a little more and reached into my back seat to grab the hoodie I knew was back there.

"Here," I said as I handed it to her. "You can dry off with it or put it on." And for the first time, I glanced down at her wet clothing and noticed that the white was slightly see-through. That was when I became a fourteen-year-old boy seeing a bra for the first time. Or at least my thoughts did because the idea of peeling that blouse off her was right there at the front of my mind.

She held up the hoodie and looked at it. It was gray and large. Probably would engulf her if she put it on, but it would work for her to get into her house. She was a lot smaller than me. Probably would come up to my shoulder at most if we were standing together and she had curves that at any other point in my life, I would've loved to get to know.

"Wait. Cobb Briggs…" She glanced at the hoodie. "Are you a baseball player?"

"Yeah."

"But don't you play for…" She got a far-off look, like she was searching her memory for the right answer. "Boston?"

I shook my head. "I played in New York. I just got traded here."

Her eyebrows shot up. "The Knights?" I nodded. "My dads are probably happy about that. They love baseball."

"And you?"

She bit her lips together briefly before saying, "I tolerate it."

I laughed loudly in the confines of my car. Normally, people tried to gush even if they didn't love the game.

"Is that bad?" she asked.

"Not liking baseball?" I asked. She nodded quickly. "I think it's a mistake because the game is the best, but you're allowed to not like baseball."

"It's not that I don't like it. I just never got into it. My dads both love it. They go to games a lot. I think Dad has season tickets. I've gone to some when Papa couldn't go, but… I'm not sure I ever figured out the rules."

"Well, I can help with that. I know them pretty well."

"Why did you get traded? Did you want to come here?" she asked. It was a question anyone would ask, but I'd just been thinking that I was glad she didn't want to know why I'd been near the courthouse.

"There are lots of reasons a player is traded and no. It wasn't my choice," I said. Her eyes narrowed, but I'd leave it at that. "For me to drive you home, I need to know where you live."

"You're not going to tell me why you got traded, are you?" She watched me with those blue fucking eyes that made me feel like she was searching into my soul, but I kept my mouth shut. She snapped her fingers. "You're right. You need my address." Then she told me so that I could get us on the road.

Before putting her seatbelt on, she yanked my sweatshirt over her and it was all I could do to not get hard.

As I drove, I told her, "You know, you never told me your name. I'm going to have start calling you ‘Lawbreaker.'"

She groaned and closed her eyes as I snickered. "Please don't. My name is Monroe Phillips."

"Monroe?" I asked. It wasn't the most unusual name I'd ever heard, but it sure as hell wasn't common. Not that I had room to talk.

"That's what you get when you have two dads who love Marilyn Monroe—the feminist gay icon."

"It's a good name," I told her. "But I think I like Lawbreaker better."

She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

Now, I hadn't been back in Michigan long, but even in my life in New York, I wasn't sure I'd ever found someone so easy to talk to. Because we couldn't be anything else, I wanted this woman in my life as my friend.

For twenty minutes I drove with her asking me questions about baseball. Not about the game but about what I loved about the game, what I loved about playing the game, before switching to books I've read. Honestly, I didn't read a ton because I barely had time for life but the ones I had read recently she had too.

As I turned onto her street and she said, "It's three houses down."

When I pulled to a stop there, I looked over at her house. It was big. Not as big as Mom and Dad's, but I thought theirs was the biggest in the city and actually, it was technically just outside the city but close enough to still be considered part of it.

This was nice, and I'd bet more homey than ours had been growing up. It was hard to make such a large area feel homey, I supposed, though my mother did the best she could to make it that way.

"I live with my dads," she explained. "I mean… not with them. I have an apartment on the other side of the garage, but it's still their house. I'm in college." The words tumbled out of her mouth as if she thought I was judging her.

"It's nice to have your own space," I told her. "But it also wouldn't be a big deal if you lived in the house with them."

"I plan to move after I graduate."

"I'd probably stay if I were you."

She narrowed her eyes on me. "Do you live with your parents?"

Again, my loud laugh filled the car. "No. I haven't lived with them in a long time and not every family situation is the same."

Her face filled with questions as her lips parted again. Then she closed them. "Thanks for the ride home. And…" She tucked a piece of strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear. "Telling you all of that actually made me feel better. I don't know why. Can't explain it, but it helped."

I rested my forearm across the steering wheel as I turned toward her. "Talking to you helped too. I wasn't having the best day. Now I think it'll be all right."

She grinned right at me. "You're welcome, then." When she reached her hand out to me, I waited for her to say something. "Can I have your phone?"

I gave it to her immediately. There was no reason not to. Then she held it up to my face to unlock it and typed away. "There," she said as she handed it back. "I put my number in. In case you need another pick-me-up."

That wasn't a bad idea. Right away, I called her phone from mine then hung up once it had rung in the car. "Now you have mine in case you need to unleash your thoughts on a stranger. Or if you get into a sticky spot again. Call me instead of putting a brick through a window."

She cringed back. "That was a one-time thing. Also, are we actually strangers now? I assumed we became friends today."

One corner of my mouth turned up in a small grin. She had me there. Though I fucking hated the word ‘friend' coming out of her mouth, it was all I could offer right now and it seemed it was all she wanted since she'd said it. "I guess we are. Friends, I mean. Regardless, call."

"Will do." She opened the door. The rain had lightened up, but it was still falling. "Thanks for the ride, Cobb."

"You're welcome."

Then she shut the door. She got halfway up the driveway when she kicked her sandals off and hurried into the grass. Then she threw her hands out to the sides and spun around in the rain. That was when I realized she was still wearing my sweatshirt. I didn't want it back, but it did give me an excuse to call or text her later.

Monroe spun slowly around three more times, her skirt only flying partway up, given how wet it was before her body shook with laughter and she ran over, grabbed her sandals off the driveway and headed up. Though she stomped her foot in a large puddle along the way, causing the water to splash her legs.

I watched until I couldn't see any longer admiring how carefree she was in those moments. Something she decided right here in my car. She decided then made it happen.

Now I had to get to the field.

The rain let up about an hour later while I was doing my workout. That meant the field would be fine for tonight and I'd pitch my first game with the Kalamazoo Knights.

"Why were you wet when you got here?" my brother Silas asked when we were heading back to the clubhouse from the workout room. There was time to eat, shower, dress. Then it was batting practice, which I participated in, but not on the days that I pitched.

"Got caught in the rain." Which was the truth. They didn't need any more information than that. Given that Brooks and Urban were right there with us.

"Was it a pi?a colada in the pouring rain situation?"

I stopped and looked at him. "I don't even know what that means." Then I started walking again. "I was near the courthouse this morning to meet with Mom's lawyer. Went next door for a coffee. It rained. It's not an exciting story."

"You could've lied," Urban said as he gave me a shove. "Made it interesting at least."

"What'd the lawyer say?" Brooks asked before I could respond to Urban.

"Not a lot. He's going to see what he can do about getting a paternity test in a few weeks." I shrugged then pushed through the door of the clubhouse. "I just have to wait it out and hope it doesn't hit the papers."

There wasn't anything else to say about that. We went onto the business of getting ready for the game.

I was walking out to the field to watch batting practice when my phone vibrated in my pocket. When it came time for the game, I wouldn't have it on me, but I wasn't doing batting practice today. In a short while, I'd be in the bullpen doing my own warmup.

As I continued to walk, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, saw a text from Monroe, and couldn't keep from smiling.

I forgot to leave your sweatshirt.

Now I chuckled. I'd known she'd still had it on but hadn't wanted to ask for it back. I know , I sent her, then followed it with, Keep it. Because I absolutely didn't want it back now. I wanted her to wear it.

I can give it back. I'll wash it first, though.

I shook my head and sighed. No. Keep it.

Then I was about to put the phone away when another text came through.

Thanks. It's really comfortable. I'll be watching the game with my dads tonight. I saw online that it said you're starting. I think that means you're a pitcher, right? Anyway. Have a good game.

There was no way I'd be able to wipe this stupid grin off my face. Had she really not known I was a pitcher before? She knew I was a player, but now that she was going to be watching the game, I wanted a win even more. Fuck. I wanted a complete game just so I'd be the only one she was watching the entire time.

We'd have to see on that, but one thing was for certain.

I'd have to figure out a way to see Monroe again before too long. But I had to do it in a way that was friendly and didn't come off as a date. Because as much as I wanted to date that woman, I couldn't bring her into my shit and she'd made it clear that friends was the only thing on the table.

Honestly, it was probably best for both of us, though the need to know why not dating was best for her was now at the top of my list.

No matter what she was to me, I wouldn't be able to get her out of my mind.

The question was: Would she run when she found out why I was really back in Michigan?