Thirty
Holden
March
“This place is nice,” Harrison mutters as we leave the main concourse of St. Sebastian University’s baseball stadium to find our seats in the outfield.
It wasn’t hard to convince him, Noah, and Luca, to drive down to Nashville with me so we can support Leighton’s baseball team in their duel against St. Seb’s this weekend.
In fact, they were more than happy to make the trip; though I think most of their eagerness was due to the nearly seventy-degree weather promised the next two days, which is way better than the frigid, windy tundra Chicago is in near the end of March.
But I also think, after spending so much time with Theo, Wyatt, and Phoenix on our trip to Florida, they’ve become sorta tight with the guys. Not the way Theo and I are as roommates or Phoenix and I are as…whatever we are. Enough to consider them friends, in any case.
“Makes you wonder what their football stadium looks like,” I muse, my eyes catching on the view of downtown Nashville off to my left as we climb the stands to our seats.
I chose left-center for the four of us, seeing as those are the ones closest to where Phoenix plays. I’d have preferred seats directly behind him—mainly to have an excuse for staring at his ass the entire time—but the damn scoreboard ruined that little plan.
Plus, Theo and Wyatt both play on this side of the field too. At least, that’s what my Google search of baseball positions told me when I did my best to brush up my limited knowledge on the sport.
“I think I see them, but I can’t tell. None of their jerseys have names on the back like ours,” Noah says, shielding his eyes from the sun as he squints out at the field. “You said Theo plays…where?”
“Shortstop,” Harrison pipes up before his lips draw down in a frown. “I think.”
“Wait, which one is that?” Noah asks.
“The one next to Wyatt at third base,” Luca says, pointing to the position where Theo is currently scooping up balls from the ground and throwing them across the field to the guy at first.
Noah’s nose wrinkles. “That’s stupid. Everyone else’s position is called whatever base they’re next to. He should be second base.”
Luca’s brows furrow. “There’s already a second baseman on the other side of the bag.”
“So? Why can’t there be two? There are two wide receivers on the football field at the same time.”
“Sometimes I swear you don’t think about the words that come out of your mouth before you speak,” Luca says with an eye roll.
Maybe this wasn’t as good of an idea as I thought it was.
Luca’s the only one of us with a clear understanding of baseball, the rest of us having limited knowledge from way back in our tee-ball days.
But pair Luca’s competence with Noah’s endless questions, and Harrison and I might be in for a whole afternoon of listening to the two of them bicker back and forth.
Yeah, definitely didn’t think this through.
“Oh, hey,” Harrison says, leaning forward in his seat. “I think that’s Phoenix.”
My heart lurches at his name, and I’m starting to see I really am fucked when it comes to this guy. Head over heels, nothing-and-no-one-compares level fucked.
All it takes is one glance; even at a distance, I know it’s him. I’d know that sinful, uniform-clad body anywhere. But the twenty-one on his back is also a dead giveaway, as it matches the jersey I’m currently wearing.
I pat Noah on the shoulder and rise out of my seat. “I’m gonna leave you to debate the inner workings of baseball and go talk to Nix for a minute.”
Noah and Luca don’t even hear me while they continue bickering, but I catch Harrison shooting a glare my way. “You’re an asshole for leaving me alone with them.”
I don’t bother responding and instead give him my brightest smile before heading down the stands. They only go so far into centerfield, so Phoenix is still a good twenty yards away when I reach the corner closest to him and lean against the padding on top of the wall.
“Hey, Mercer!” I shout, not knowing any better way to get his attention. “Get your ass over here!”
Phoenix turns around the second he catches the ball his right fielder just threw him, and I watch as he squints at the stands.
“Holden?” he calls out, and I hear the uncertainty in his tone.
My grin is instant when he takes a tentative step toward me. “I said get your ass over here.”
Phoenix picks up into a jog, only slowing to a stop when he reaches the base of the wall. “I don’t have long, but what are you doing here?”
“We came to support our guys.”
Well, I wanted to support my guy. The others were just along for the ride.
“We?” Phoenix asks, but where he’s standing doesn’t allow him to see anything more than straight up at me. “Who else is here?”
I nod over to the three idiots I just left behind. “Luca, Harrison, and Noah are over in the next section.”
There’s a little smirk of amusement on his lips when he says, “Careful there, Sykes. You might make your teammates change their tune about baseball after all.”
Yeah, so not happening.
“Considering Luca and Noah are currently bickering about whether or not baseball should have also called the shortstop a second-baseman, I think I’m safe.”
One of those genuine, sinfully addictive laughs leaves him, and he shakes his head. “Probably makes you regret inviting them already.”
I let out a low hum. “Mmm, more like Harrison is regretting it, since he’s the one currently dealing with them.”
His lips lift in a small smile. One that makes me wish I could jump down into the field right now and kiss it clear off. “Well, I’m glad you’re here regardless.”
“Me too.” My gaze flicks over his face, noting the smear of black on each of his cheekbones. “You know, eyeblack has no reason for being that sexy.”
“Unlocking a new kink, are we?”
I bark out a laugh. “What can I say? Apparently, I’m a sucker for a guy in uniform.”
He scrapes his teeth over his bottom lip, his eyes raking over my upper body. “Yeah, I’ve gotta agree, especially when it’s you in mine. Though I am curious how you got it in the first place.”
“Theo,” I tell him with a soft laugh. “Guess we’re not the only ones capable of stealing stuff from the locker room without someone noticing.”
A scoff leaves him. “Glad to see whose team he’s really on here.”
“I mean, I’d say he’s on our team.”
His head cocks to the side. “So I take it he told you he knows about us,” he muses.
My brows shoot to my hairline. “Wait, you know he knows?”
All he does is nod, and I wonder how neither of them let that little piece of information slip.
Unless…
“Does he know you know he knows?”
Phoenix nods again, this time with a light laugh. “God, this feels a lot like that one episode of Friends.”
I roll my eyes at his incessant love for the show. But his reference to the episode triggers something in my mind, if I’m remembering it correctly.
“I doubt he’d be the only one on our side, you know.”
His brows draw down beneath the bill of his hat. “What do you mean?”
Licking my lips, I utter some of the most dangerous words I’ve dared since the night I snuck in his room. A subject I haven’t touched in over a month.
“Theo isn’t the only one who cares about both of us. And he certainly can’t be the only one who’d want both of us to be happy.”
“There you go again, assuming you could ever be the thing that makes me happy,” he notes with a tiny smirk.
I’m not sure what I was expecting his reaction to be, but that certainly wasn’t it. Neither is the twinkle in his eye. Nonetheless, if he wants to play a little game of back and forth, I can do that. Especially when we both know he’s full of shit.
“Oh, Nix. You win this game, and I can promise you, you’re gonna be really, really fuckin’ happy afterward.”
His smile is an all-out grin now, and my God, it does something to my heart that I can’t control—not that I even want to. In fact, I want to lean into the feeling instead. Let the words on the tip of my tongue roll right off, right here and now.
Lay all the cards on the table for him to see and hope he feels the same way.
After all, it feels like Phoenix is finally taking the steps he needs to make the things he wants for himself a priority.
I hope that’s the case, and all the worries and concerns I word-vomited to my roommates last month were unmerited.
Yeah, we still haven’t told Kason about us, but clearly, his reaction makes it seem like he’s not opposed to the idea anymore.
Or I’m reading far more into things than I should be.
I’m all for taking baby steps; the biggest is him letting go of the guilt eating at him for allowing his happiness to come first for once. Telling Kason will happen eventually.
Yet despite the progress he’s seemingly made, the last thing I want to do is rock the boat while we’re gaining a solid footing. So I swallow down the words I so desperately want to say in favor of some much more logical ones.
“You better get going.”
He nods, tossing a glance over his shoulder before looking back at me. “I’ll see you after the game, right?”
The grin I give him is instant. “Can’t get rid of me if you try.”
“So you’ve proven,” he says with a laugh as he walks backward. “I’ll see you later, baby.”
God, I’m never gonna get sick of hearing him call me that. Or ever get sick of him in general.
He’s everything I didn’t know I wanted, and now I doubt there will ever be a day when he isn’t.
The door to the hotel room Phoenix and Theo are sharing isn’t even closed when I start ripping clothes from Phoenix’s body. In fact, he doesn’t have time to think or breathe or drop his bag to the floor before I’m peeling his suit jacket off his toned, muscular shoulders.
“Someone’s eager to make good on their promises,” he murmurs with a low chuckle.
Eager? Try fucking desperate.
“I’ve been waiting hours. Can you honestly blame me?”