Chapter 4
Covey
Cici stands and hands out hugs before taking her plate inside, so I stand and tell everyone I'm heading home. I know Cici’s preparing to do the same thing and I want to walk her out to her car.
“Oh, are you leaving too?” She stares up at me when she comes back out and finds me already slipping my keys out of my pocket.
“Yeah, I think it’s time to call it a night.”
“It’s been an insane week. I can't wait to crash.”
“How about I walk you to your car?” I motion for her to lead the way.
“That would be nice.” As soon as she begins walking, I keep pace with her and place my hand on her lower back.
Even with heels on, she’s still a few inches shorter than me. I love being bigger than her. It makes me feel like I can protect her from anything.
“Are you sure going out on Friday won't make your week too busy next week?” She glances up at me as I open the gate and wait for her to walk through.
“Nah, I don’t have much going on. Since we’re working and traveling so much, the guys probably won't get together to even hang out. We live pretty boring lives, contrary to what our fans believe.”
“I know, but I don’t want you to dread going out with me,” she says softly.
I wrap my fingers around her wrist and tug her to a stop. She keeps her attention on my chest, not wanting to look at me. I place my knuckles beneath her chin and lift until she’s forced to meet my gaze.
“Hey, nothing would make me dread going to dinner with you. I'm looking forward to it.”
“Maybe it would be better if we just cancel it now,” she murmurs under her breath.
“What are you talking about? Talk to me, Cici.”
“Well, you’re probably going to cancel anyway, isn't it easier if we just do it now?” Her bottom lip slips between her perfectly white teeth. Her eyes glisten with unshed tears and I instantly feel like a jerk.
“I'm sorry about canceling in the past. I promise, nothing will prevent me from seeing you this Friday. Ok?”
“Ok,” she whispers.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her in my embrace. I'm not sure which one of us needs this more, but I know one thing…
I need to stop being scared of what could happen if I took a chance with her. I need to put it all out there and take a leap. If I don’t, I’ll lose her forever.
After a few moments, Cici pulls away and I don’t stop her. On Friday, I’ll make sure she understands how I feel about her. I’ll take the leap of faith and hope Owen and Cord don’t kill me.
Leading Cici to her car, I open her door and smile when she doesn’t hurry to get inside.
She stares up at me with so many questions swirling in her eyes.
I wish I knew what she’s thinking about, but I'm not going to ask her. I don’t deserve her honesty if I'm not willing to give her the same right now.
I’ll take the next week to figure things out. I’ll make sure my head and my heart are on the same page and I’ll figure out how I can handle Owen and Cord. I’ll do anything to make Cici mine.
Then, I’ll need to convince her to give me a chance.
This day feels like it’s dragging. I'm exhausted and can’t wait to have off on Friday. I wish I didn’t have anything planned though.
Don’t get me wrong, I want to see Cici and spend time with her, but I’d love to stay home for that. I don’t want to go to a restaurant and be on the entire time.
That’s the thing about going out as a professional athlete, people approach me all the time.
They don’t care if I'm on a date or if I want to be left alone. If they recognize you, they expect you to chat with them and possibly sign a few things or take a couple of pictures. Either way, I don’t feel like dealing with that.
I’d rather curl up on the couch with Cici. I’d give almost anything to order take-out and watch some old movies. We’d fall asleep with her in my arms and it would be perfect.
“Covey? Are you ok?” Owen’s voice startles me out of my thoughts. I glance up to find him leaning his shoulder against the doorframe to his office. His thick arms are crossed over his chest and he’s watching me carefully.
“Yeah, I'm good,” I sigh as I get to my feet and grab a few things out of my cubby.
I'm supposed to be on the field with the batting coach, but I’d rather do anything else right now. I really want to go home and just take up residence on my couch. It’s only Monday though. We have off tomorrow, but then it’s back to it the next two days.
“Yeah, that’s not very believable. Do you want to try again?” Owen arches a brow as he watches me.
The man sees too much. It’s like he has a strange super power. Cord has it too. They both can see through the lies and can figure out what’s actually going on in your head without asking a single question.
That’s why I'm terrified of taking the jump with Cici. How do we keep our relationship quiet from them? I don’t know if Cici would even be open to the idea.
It’s not that I want to hide her away and keep her a secret, but I’d prefer to see how our relationship progresses for a little bit.
It’d be nice to know everything is going well between us before we tell the team and the Powells.
I’d rather not spill the beans right away and then our relationship not work out anyway.
What’s the point of putting a target on my back if I don’t even get to keep the girl?
“Not really. I don’t have the energy for that.” I rub at the back of my neck and feel how tight my muscles are.
Practice is going to be awful. I have a feeling I won't be able to hit anything. Baseball is mostly a mental game. If your mind isn’t in it, you won't play well. Owen likes to remind us of that all the time.
“Go see Charlie. Then I want you to go home.” Owen doesn’t take his eyes off of me.
“But I'm supposed to be working with the batting coach.” I point towards the field like Owen doesn’t know where it is.
“Yeah, something tells me it will be a waste of time. Go see Charlie to get those tense muscles worked out, then I want you to go home. If she says to sit in the hot tub, then that’s what you’ll do at home the rest of the day.
If she says to take an ice bath, then I hope you planned on stopping at the store to get a few bags to fill up your Christmas present. ”
I don’t know what normal owners give their players as gifts, or if they give them gifts at all, but Owen bought the entire team their own ice baths for Christmas.
He says he knows we all have hot tubs and these ice baths could come in handy too.
He wanted us to use them daily. I know some of the guys do, but most of them don’t. They avoid ice as much as they can.
I use mine pretty regularly. I know they’re great when it comes to muscle recovery and reducing inflammation. I really don’t want to climb inside of it tonight with how exhausted I am.
“Are you sure?” I scrub a hand down my face. I feel like I'm letting him down and I hate that. Owen’s a great boss and I’ll forever be grateful for him and how he cares about this team.
“I'm pretty sure you’re going to be useless on that field until you figure out what’s going on in your head. So, yeah, I'm sure I want you to do what I already told you to do.” He rolls his eyes.
“Thanks, Owen.”
“You’re welcome, but I expect you to be on the field bright and early on Wednesday. I also expect a win at the games this week.”
“I’ll try my hardest.”
He pats me on the back as I head past him and towards the physical therapy room. I'm happy to find it empty and Charlie sitting at her desk working on some paperwork.
“Hey, are you ok?”
“Owen said to come see you.” I shrug my shoulders. I don’t really want to get into it with her.
“Did he say why?” She arches a brow. She’s just like Owen with how she can see through the lies. Maybe I'm just not good at hiding things. There’s no way this many people can see past what I'm saying to what I'm trying to keep hidden.
“I'm tense? I don’t know. I'm supposed to see you, then go home and either sit in the hot tub or ice bath, depending on what you tell me to do.”
“Ok, lay on the table and give me a second to finish up this.” She motions to her computer.
I nod my head and settle on the table. I watch her work and when she tries to stand, I chuckle and shake my head.
“How are you feeling?”
“Sore. No one tells you how much pushing a baby out of your body really just drains you.” She smiles as she glances over at the bassinet sitting in the corner of the room. “I don’t know how Winnie’s doing it with a toddler running around. Pregnancy is rough.”
“Well, she’s still pretty early in her pregnancy.”
“Yeah, but that’s when you’re really tired. Honestly, I look at my mom all the time and think she’s a superhero. There’s no other explanation. I was around four when the twins were born and they weren’t even two when Sophia was born. Like how did she do it?”
“She had no choice.” I shrug my shoulders. “Is it difficult to work after just having Carter? Should you even be back at work?”
“Technically, no, I shouldn’t be back yet.
I’m basically just doing paperwork and evaluating what you guys need before handing you off to someone else.
I’d rather be here the entire season. It makes it easier.
Plus, Owen and Wyatt make it easy. They both demand I take a lot of breaks and no one cares if I walk away to take care of Carter.
They’re always watching and they step in when I need help.
I truly don’t know what I would do if I was working for a different team. ”
“Well, you don’t need to worry about that because you’re never leaving the Pit Bulls,” Owen growls. I swear the man has a sixth sense about these types of conversations. He’ll pop up out of nowhere and put people in their place.
“If you ever trade Wyatt, I'm going with him. Sorry, big guy, husbands before team owners.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“Why would I trade Wyatt? That would be stupid on my part.”
“You never know what could happen.”
“Do you want me to sign a contract that as long as he’s playing, he has a spot on the team?”
“No, that would be crazy.” Charlie rolls her eyes as she starts moving my right arm and feeling how the muscles are doing.
“Just as crazy as you working somewhere else,” he grumbles under his breath.
“We’ll see how you feel when Carter doesn’t sleep the majority of the day.” She waves him off as she turns her back on him.
I swear the girls around here could say almost anything to Owen and he’d still be smiling and bending over backwards to keep them happy. He definitely loves them the most.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about that…” Owen trails off, making Charlie lift her gaze to meet mine. There’s worry and fear staring back at me.
“What do you mean?”
“I want to turn the conference room on this floor into a daycare. I have a feeling you and Macy won't be comfortable leaving the babies for a while.”
“Who are you going to have babysit them?”
“Well, I was thinking of hiring a nanny with a lot of experience.” I can hear the smile in his voice even without looking at him.
“I really hope you’re talking about Winnie. I love that woman.” Charlie spins around to face Owen with her hands planted on her hips.
“She’s at the top of my list. I didn’t want to ask her until I spoke to you and Macy.
You could obviously benefit from it already and Macy doesn’t have long before she’ll need it too.
I know Winnie will be having her baby around the time the season ends.
I was thinking of seeing if any of the moms from Mulberry Lane would want to fill in if Winnie needs help or if she doesn’t want to do it and I need to find someone else.
For now, you can keep Carter with you while you work and if you need help, I’ll make sure you have some. ”
“Why do I have a feeling he’ll be the one wearing a baby on his chest all day?” I smirk.
“Because he will be. I think we’ll need to get him a carrier that holds two babies. He can carry Carter and Emmett at the same time then.” Charlie grins.
“Maybe I should make you and Macy find your own childcare and stress out about strangers watching your kids,” Owen huffs, folding his arms over his chest.
“No!” Charlie hurries over to him and wraps her arms around his waist the best she can with her stomach. “Thank you, Owen. You’re the best boss ever.”
“You could just call me dad.” He flashes me a devilish grin.
“Oh, I cannot! I already have a pretty amazing dad and an equally amazing father-in-law. Carter will be confused if I call a third man dad.”
“I think you could be Uncle Owen though.” Wyatt appears at Charlie’s side and pulls her into his arms. I swear the two of them can’t be in the same room together without touching in some way.
“Owen wants to open a daycare here so we can keep bringing Carter to work with us.” Charlie peers up at her husband with so much happiness.
“Really? That would be awesome. I was wondering how we were going to leave our little girl all day… Will this be for travel games too?”
“Obviously.” Owen rolls his eyes. “I don’t know how else I’d get two of my players, my head physical therapist, and my head public relations person to actually go to away games otherwise.”
“At least he understands where our minds are.” Wyatt grins.
“I think you’ll have to buy your own plane.” Charlie nudges Owen with her shoulder.
“That’s already in progress as well.” Owen tries to sound annoyed, but I catch the smile tugging on the corner of his lips. “Now, did you work on Covey? I want him home asap.”
“He needs a massage. Nicole is free so I’ll set him up with her. After that, he can go home.”
“Thanks, Charlie.”
I miss when Charlie used to handle our physical therapy completely, at least of the starting lineup. I know it was a lot of work for her, but it was nice to know we only had to deal with one therapist and she knew what she was talking about.
Since she took over for Gary, she’s had to cut back on the things she does and delegates some of it to other people. After she got pregnant, it happened even more. She’s amazing at her job and we all wish we could have a team of Charlies to take care of us.
When Nicole comes out to get me, I follow her into one of the massage rooms and strip down before climbing under the sheets. The faster this massage is over, the faster I can go home.