The Reunion (Love Stories From a Small Town #5)

10. Price to Pay

The warm glow of the late afternoon Spring sun lit Faith up as she stood at the pitcher’s mound and sized up the batter.

Over the past nine months we’d been together, she and I became like one person. So when her shoulders pitched upward as she took a deep breath before she swung her arm, I almost smelled the freshly cut grass surrounding her.

She had the prettiest face I’d ever seen, but her teeth gnashed together, making her ugly for a second as she released her pitch. Bringing a quick end to the third inning, she blew a kiss at me as I waved at her on her way back to the dugout.

Her joy was my joy, and watching her pitch strike after strike filled me with as much pride as any touchdown I’d scored during football season.

Though she cowered away from the slightest attention on an average day, my girl shined like a diamond out on the ball field and demanded that everyone kept their eyes on her. Unfortunately, her coming into her own like that was a double-edged sword for me.

Faith wasn’t only my girlfriend, she was part of me. Our connection was more than the stupid fleeting infatuations the kids at school started with a new person every other day.

Like the roots of a tree tangled up with each other, we were inseparable, intertwined. Even when we weren’t together in the flesh, we were with each other.

I was never more secure about anything in my life than I was in our love for one another. But beneath the surface of that comfortableness and devotion was a constant fear that it would all be snatched away at any moment.

Stealing glances at her from the concession stand between customers, I found the older guys along the fence line watching every move she made.

Like a school of damn sharks circling the water, they’d gotten a glimpse of how her breasts looked a little bigger and her ass a little rounder in this year’s skimpier uniform.

Stretching his neck to have a better look at her backside when she got up to bat, one particular asshole who seemed to pop up more than the others cupped his mouth to yell at her. “Let’s go, Faith. You got this.”

“I hate that motherfucker.” Jason huffed a laugh at me as he slid the twenty-dollar bill into the cash register, and I took another sip of my soda before setting it down. “Every time I look up, he’s trying to get close to her. I’m about a second from going off on him.”

He fished a sucker out of the plastic bin and shrugged. “Travis has been around this school more times than the common cold. She knows better than to fall for his game.”

I shook my head as Faith whacked the ball out past the second base fence. “That’s not the point. It’s the disrespect. He knows she’s with someone, and he doesn’t even try to pretend he’s not moving in.”

As soon as she made it across home plate, Travis turned in our direction and jogged up the hill just to come start some drama.

What the hell anyone saw in him was beyond me. Yeah, maybe he had the farm boy tan and muscles, but he already had a body count of ten girls this year that he made sure everybody in the locker room heard about.

The thought of him getting his filthy hands on Faith made me sick, my tongue launching out involuntarily. “Ugh. You deal with him. I’ll only get myself in trouble.”

Uncurling from the counter, Jason tossed up his hands when Travis reached into his pocket. “What can I get you?”

Travis lifted his chin at him as he squinted at the price list. “Just a soda.” As Jason filled the cup, Travis flicked his eyebrows at me. “The two of you are here just about every game. Huh?”

Jason slid the cup to him, and Travis threw a dollar down instead of handing it over — and that irritated me enough that I couldn’t stop myself. “Where the fuck else would I be?”

Not one guy who lost their girlfriend to this dipshit stepped up to him yet. So, I guess me having the balls to do it must’ve taken him off guard, because he snapped his neck back and whispered. “Okay. Sorry I asked.” He took a drink and peeked back at the field. “Looks like it’s going to be another shutout. I think Faith’s going to kill it again at all-stars.”

Only hearing her name coming out of his mouth had my blood boiling, and I took off my hat to fan myself. “Is there something else you want? Or are you only here to tell me shit I already know about my girlfriend?”

He rolled his eyes at me as he swirled the ice around his cup. “Jeez, chill out Vasser. You don’t have to be such a dick to all Faith’s guy friends.” Hiding that stupid grin behind his cup, he shrugged like he knew a damn thing about us. “I mean, if you guys are as tight as you think you are, it’s not a problem. Right?”

If not for losing his place on the starting lineup for all-star baseball this year, Jason would have solved this particular problem weeks ago. But since school was about over and I was free until football season, punching Travis’ teeth down his throat wasn’t nothing to me. “After all those lies you spread about Carolyn, you and Faith are definitely not friends.” Tossing my hat on the cooler, I shot my finger out at him. “In fact, we all sit around and laugh our asses off about how fucking pathetic you are.”

I had this temper, this rage that was always bubbling deep inside me. I was ready to pop off at the slightest provocation — and when it came to Faith, I had no control at all. “This is your first and last warning to mind your manners where she’s concerned. You got me?”

Travis tossed the soda in the trashcan and laid his hands on the countertop, leaning over it slightly. “Dude. What the fuck is your problem? It’s not like you two are married or anything.” His fingers came up and waved apart. “This is high school, bro. Relax. There’s like a thousand girls out there.”

I shook my head at the group of kids coming toward us. “Yeah, I don’t have any idea what that means. Just because you can’t bag wife material on your first try, don’t project that shit on me.” I scooted the back of my fingers at him. “Now move along. We got people coming, and I’d hate to have to kick your ass in front of a bunch of youngins.”

Shifting toward me to hold me back if he needed to, Jason motioned toward the parking lot. “I suggest you do what he says. It’s embarrassing as hell to get your ass handed to you by an underclassman.”

Shaking his head as he turned around and left, Travis walked away like the punk I figured he was as Jason stepped up to the little boys at the counter. “Let me guess. Bubble gum? Right?”

It’s like I never got a chance to stop fighting for Faith. It didn’t even phase me anymore when I had to draw a line in the sand with another guy, no matter how big and bad they were. It was the price I had to pay for getting so lucky to be her man, and, it turns out, I didn’t mind that fee at all.