Chapter 6 #5
“Thank you,” she muttered to him, embarrassed for having been taken out by a baseball and by how much she liked the feel of
his body against hers. She would erase this night from memory for both reasons.
“I’m so sorry,” he said again.
“You can stop apologizing. It was an accident,” she said through gritted teeth. Her left leg was still useless. Its only function
seemed to be throbbing in furious pain.
They’d made a pitiful amount of progress back toward the dugout when Pedro whipped around from in front of them.
“Um, guys? We gotta go.” He pointed up at the field level, where lights had flicked on. Someone was marching down the stadium
steps with a flashlight.
“Oh shit,” Silas hissed from behind them.
Everyone in the group took off running for cover. Emmy felt Gabe’s momentum shift forward on the same instinct, but her body
dangling at his side stopped him.
“I can’t—” she said with a shake of her head. “This is as fast as I can go.”
He glanced down at her like a soldier who’d just been told to save yourself by a fallen comrade. His jaw clenched with a determined grit.
And then he scooped her up into his arms.
“What are you doing?!” she yelped in surprise.
“Saving our asses. Hold on.”
He began to jog to keep up with the others.
He held her against his chest tightly enough that the bouncing was minimal, but each time she bobbed against him, it stirred something deep in her belly.
With her arm still looped over his shoulders, she could feel the con tours beneath his shirt pressing into her side.
Just as she’d always imagined, his chest and abdomen were firm as a slab of rock.
Without her permission, her eyes traced the line of his jaw.
The way it smoothly connected to his throat inches from her face.
The way she imagined it would smell if she touched her nose to it.
Oranges, leather, spice. She clung to him tighter, suddenly needing to ease the involuntary burn radiating in her own chest, and she swore she could feel his heart beating against her.
“If you ever tell anyone about this, I will murder you,” she threatened, horrified by all of it.
“Don’t worry. As long as you don’t tell anyone I beaned you with a baseball, I won’t tell anyone you needed me to carry you
off the field.”
She scoffed. “I don’t need you to do this. You picked me up before I could stop you.”
“Kinda looked like you needed me,” he said with a grin.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance, knowing he was one hundredpercent right and secretly enjoying it.
They made it into the dugout where he carefully carried her down the stairs. He didn’t set her on her feet until they were
deep into the hidden hall they’d snuck in through. The others had disbanded to take cover elsewhere.
“Can you walk on it?” Gabe asked, only slightly out of breath from carrying her through their escape.
Emmy chanced putting weight on her leg and immediately winced. “Not really.”
“We should get you some ice.”
“We should get out of here. I don’t think getting caught trespassing will bode well for anyone to get promoted.”
“True. Want to split a ride home?”
She arched a brow at him from where she’d taken to leaning against the cool concrete wall. He was chewing on his lip and still
looking worried. A slow smile spread over her face. “You feel guilty, don’t you? That’s why you’re being so nice to me.”
He combed a hand through his hair that had lost some of its hold and huffed. “Of course I feel guilty, Emmy. I could have seriously hurt you. Thank god it was your leg and not your head.”
The thought hadn’t occurred to her until that moment. Yikes. She could have been unconscious in an ambulance rather than goading him over his guilt trip in an underground hallway.
“Well, it wasn’t my head. It was my thigh. And if you were going to whack me with a ball anywhere, we can be thankful it was
someplace that could take the hit. The only better option would have been my butt.”
His lips twitched at the corners. A flush pinked his cheeks like he was suddenly thinking about her butt. “Are you still drunk?”
“I certainly think so. Otherwise, I would not be handling this situation very well. I might have hit you with the bat.”
He quietly laughed and swiped his hair again. “You know, your hit was really impressive.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why do I feel like you are actually complimenting yourself right now?”
He laughed again, and Emmy found herself enjoying the sound and concluded she had to be really, really drunk to be getting along with Gabe Olson.
A door clanged shut somewhere in the distance, and they both jumped.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” Gabe said.
They hobbled their way out of the ballpark and found a rideshare. Gabe made sure Emmy got to her building’s door safely, and
once she assured him she could handle the elevator and she owned a bag of frozen peas to use on her leg, he let her go.
It wasn’t until Emmy had made a snack, drunk a gallon of water, and collapsed on her couch with said frozen peas on her leg that she managed to look at her phone.
She had an unread message from Axe Murderer from a few hours before.
Given the night’s events, she couldn’t even remember where their conversation had left off.
Based on his message, she quickly recalled she’d told him his most recent bird-band puns weren’t up to snuff.
Hootie and the Bluefinch, Doja Catbird, Cawmilla Cabello.
Emmy instantly smiled and laughed.
Much improved.
Guilt prickled at her for messaging so late, but it dissolved as soon as he responded.
Why are you still up?? I thought you went to bed at like 10.
I told you, I was out with co-workers tonight.
Until 1am?!
God is it that late?
Yes, we are well into regretting our life choices tomorrow territory now. And I guess I shouldn’t be talking because I just
got home too.
Tsk-tsk, Axe Murderer. Did you score any more fake phone numbers tonight?
No. I’m in an exclusive fake number texting relationship already, so not looking anymore.
You mean with ME?!
Who else, Bird Girl.
She knew they were just drunk bantering but couldn’t fight the warmth spreading slow and thick in her chest.
Well, I am honored. Shoutout “Lacey” for the bait & switch that started it all.
She did me a solid.
His dots disappeared, and Emmy’s eyes drooped closed. The strong current of sleep was ready and waiting to pull her under.
She popped back awake when her phone buzzed again.
But in all seriousness, I’ve never talked with anyone the way I’m able to talk to you, Bird Girl. These past several days
have been the best I’ve had in a long time.
A slow smile unzipped across Emmy’s face. She was tired and tipsy, and he was making her feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy
to the point that a confession she’d hardly admitted to herself bubbled to the surface.
Wanna know a secret?
Desperately.
You’re my favorite part of every day.
Her eyes fluttered closed again, and she let the warm, heavy feeling of having told him the truth sink her into the couch. Another buzz popped her awake again.
You’re mine too.
The pain in her leg had almost disappeared. She smiled again. She managed to hit the heart reaction to love his message before she fell asleep.