11. Bonus Chapter
Bonus Chapter
Brock
W hat the hell am I supposed to do? The stadium is closed. There isn’t anywhere else in this stupid town I can practice. No one else even wants to practice. They’re happy about the vacation. HAPPY about it. It’s disgusting. They’re all a bunch of loser beta males.
I finish my last push-up and chug the end of my protein shake. I’ve got nothing else to do today and it’s only the middle of the afternoon. Baseball has been my life for…well, it’s always been. I can’t just sit around and twiddle my thumbs until the old man kicks the bucket, and they reopen.
I scoot my dog, Catcher, out of my favorite chair, and turn on the rarely used television.
I’ll watch some old training videos, keep my mind in the game at least. I search for the remote and find it hiding under the magazine full of naked goth chicks I got the other day.
I know print is old-fashioned, but I’ve just never gotten into the whole Internet porn thing.
Something about a glossy babe in my hands can’t be replaced.
Dee’s got a live paper babe, I saw. Crazy stuff.
Never know what’s gonna happen around here.
I take a look at the chicks for a minute, but I gotta set the magazine down. My dick’s barely hard and, honestly, I’m sad. I look at the golden retriever curled up at my feet and sigh.
“Catcher, how am I gonna make Sharon like me?”
He doesn’t say anything because he’s a dog.
“I’m gonna go to her store to see her.”
Catcher huffs and it sounds frustrated, but I’m sure it’s a coincidence.
I put on a nice, cropped Wonder Balls t-shirt and some low-sling sweatpants to show off my abs, lace up my fresh, white high-tops, and my wraparound shades. Then, I jump in my red convertible, and speed to Rosa’s Dulcería.
I park in the closest spot to the front door. I think it’s a disabled spot, but no one ever uses it. They can just come inside and ask me to move if they need it. I will. I’m a reasonable guy.
I shut the car door, smooth my hair back in the rearview mirror, and make sure my teeth are still dazzlingly white. I paid a lot of money for these teeth to look this good, so I take care of them.
As soon as I open the door to Rosa’s and lift my sunglasses, I see her: Sharon Cristina Silva y Pacheco. The most beautiful woman in the world.
“Go away,” she says as she slaps a sticker on a bag of licorice.
Her black hair nearly covers her eyes, but I don’t need to see it to know what expression she's making. I know her inside and out. I’ve been studying her since we were kids. Right now, she’ll look the same as she almost always does—bored to death.
“Is that any way to speak to your favorite customer?” I reply leaning against the shelf nearest the registers so my shirt rides up nice and high.
I flex my abs and grin. A few things on the shelf fall somewhere, but I’m sure it’s fine. Sharon mumbles something, but it’s too quiet for me to hear. I notice that she changed her hairstyle. I’ll mention it with a compliment. Show that I care.
“I like your front hair today. Looks nice.”
“My front hair ? What the hell does that mean?”
“The hair in front.” I hold my hand where my forehead is. Hmm. There must be a girl word. Oh, right. I remember. “You cut your bongs. Looks nice.”
“Ugh. Something is wrong with you. What do you want?” She slaps another sticker on some licorice with enough force that her big knockers jiggle inside her black lace top. Hell yeah.
“I want something sweet, of course.” I set my elbows on the counter and lean toward her. “But I want it very, very spicy.”
“Ugh.” She slaps a sticker over my mouth and walks away.
Rosa, her mom, walks out from the back room and sees me leaning there with a sticker over my mouth like a moron. She quirks her head to the side but smiles and waves anyway.
I peel the sticker off of my mouth and wave back. The sticker reads “Welcome Belles.” I frown. Those must be gifts for the Wonder Belles. They’re the reason I can’t play baseball.
“Hello there, Mr. Baseball Pitcher. What would you like today?”
At least Sharon’s mom is nice to me.
“He said he wants spicy candy,” Sharon says to her. “Very, very spicy.”
“Hmm. I don’t want to sell him something too spicy. Maybe we just do some cinnamon or—”
“Hey mom.” Sharon bumps Rosa with her elbow and points out the front windows. “Look at his car. Nice parking job, huh?”
I look out at my car to see what she’s talking about. I guess I did a pretty good job. I’m right in the center of that blue rectangle. When I turn back to the ladies, they’re both looking at me with huge grins.
“Very, very spicy it is,” Rosa says. “A strong man like you can handle it, I’m sure.”
I flex my bicep as she walks past, heading to the taffy wall. Rosa gives it a squeeze just as I’d hoped. I’ve got this one in the bag. Won the mom over, now to win the girl.
Rosa opens the only taffy in a glass case and takes just one piece to the counter.
“One piece? That’s all I get?”
“All you need,” Rosa replies. “You just take a nibble and it’s enough for a normal person.”
I look over to Sharon, her arms crossed under her big, beautiful, bosom, waiting patiently for me to check out. I gotta make an impression on her.
“A normal person?” I scoff. “What about the handsome star pitcher of a leading minor league baseball team?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Someone would have to be pretty strong to handle the spice level in this.” Rosa scans the label on the taffy and pushes it toward me. “Two dollars.”
I pull two crisp dollar bills out of my wallet and slide them to her before taking the taffy and tearing open the red and pink striped wax paper.
“I’m not afraid of a little spice.” I wink at Sharon. “I’ll take everything you got.”
Rosa shakes her head and Sharon snorts as I toss the taffy in the air and catch it in my mouth. As soon as I start to chew, I know I’ve made a terrible mistake.
My scalp feels like it’s going to fly off. My nose starts to run. Tears stream from my eyes. I force my mouth to form the general shape of a smile as sweat leaks from every pore.
“Wow. It’s really good,” I say with air from lungs that feel like deflating balloons.
All of my muscles clench and my mouth starts to water uncontrollably. I manage to swallow much of the taffy, but I can’t get it all. It keeps burning and burning like a Molotov cocktail because it’s stuck in my teeth. My beautiful, expensive teeth.
I think I might puke.
“Wow, you’re really strong, Brock. I’m impressed. Now you can leave and get out of the disabled spot. Thanks,” Sharon says.
I wave as I back away, turn, then quickly exit. I can’t speak to say goodbye or I’ll hurl. I get in my car and speed away as fast as I can. It’s still burning when I get home. I drink a ton of milk and brush my teeth until I can feel something other than pain in my mouth again .
I sit in my chair and turn on the television to watch some baseball before bed. I think back to the events at the candy store and smile. I reach down and scratch Catcher on his head.
“She was impressed by my strength, Catcher. She even said it. We’ll be together in no time.”