Chapter 6
Desperate didn’t even begin to cover the way Cy was acting. Even Griff had joined into the erratic behavior, stalking all over the building and tacking up more flyers.
That wasn’t even including the stacks of flyers he sent out with the interns all over the freaking city and surrounding towns.
I sighed as I lost myself in the studio of our shared apartment. The table in front of me was covered in bits of leather and costume supplies.
There was a convention coming up in two months and I wasn’t about to miss it. The beauty of cosplaying was that there would usually be masks or makeup involved, meaning no one knew it was me.
Though, my face was hardly as recognizable as Cy or even Griff. Both of them did the interviews while I sat back in the locker room. Except the last one. Cy was losing his mind and seemed determined to drag us with him.
Despite having a job that was entertaining others, I didn’t do people well, especially when it was one on one.
Out there, doing dances, I could blend into a persona, another costume of sorts.
“What are you working on this time?” Cy asked as he sat down in the empty chair, eyeing the worktable and the mass of material and leather in my hand.
“The convention is a Sci-fi theme so I’m going Star Wars,” I said as I wove the needle through the material, creating the lining of my costume.
“Another mask,” he teased. “You don’t have to hide if you don’t want to.”
I had a feeling he was referring to more than just my cosplays.
I’d grown up in a family with six kids. I was the quiet one, the one forgotten for events.
I’d stood on stage at reward ceremonies, academic events, and even during opening nights when I did plays, with not a single person in the audience for me.
Until them.
Hiding made it easier to drown out the memories. I could fall into character and forget the rejected, sad little boy that everyone saw through like he was transparent.
Hell, even now they didn’t invite me to family dinners or events. My oldest sister got married and I didn’t even get an invitation.
The only time I heard from them was when rosters were announced. They were shocked I played baseball, let alone made it professionally. How fucking sad was that?
That voicemail sent me into a tailspin, my packmates the only ones able to bring me back to earth.
So, was I hiding now? Yes. Because I didn’t think I could take it if our mate only had eyes for them and overlooked me.
Outside of them, she was the one person on this planet that shouldn’t push me aside for someone better or more outgoing.
“Okay, enough. Up.” Cy said, clapping his hands. There was that familiar worry lining his eyes, making his smile fall flat.
Was I looking that bad?
“Yes,” he said. “I’m not risking another rock bottom, Jackson. Stay present with us and give her a chance. No hiding from this one.”
I blinked at him, stunned that Cy of all people was seeing right through everything and refusing to let me sink into the comfort of invisibility.
“We’re going to lunch,” he said as he stood. “Go shower, change, and meet us at the door.”
I never could deny him. The way Cy lit up made you feel safe and seen, and at my core, I craved that.
Ten minutes later I was showered and changed, a ballcap on my head to tame the wild tangles of my wet hair that severely needed a cut, dark jeans, and a Legend of Zelda tee I’d worn to the point of buttery softness.
“You here?” Griff asked. There was no hedging around with him. He was blunt to a fault. I swallowed hard and nodded.
“Trying to be.”
“Good,” he said, tapping the bill of my hat and leading me out the door. “We’ve got plans today. Lunch, then Coach needs to see us.”
“Us, specifically?”
“Apparently,” he sighed. “Lancaster didn’t seem to know anything about it.”
“A few days ago Coach was muttering about a summer kids camp thing, I bet he’s trying to rope us in,” Cy said with a sigh. “Which would be one more thing to pull us away from finding her.”
With that looming over us, not one of us was up for sitting at a restaurant. Instead, we snagged hot dogs from the kiosk in front of the stadium before heading into Coach’s office, hoping to catch him early.
“I’m glad you came in,” Coach said in that gruff way of his. Those shrewd, gray eyes started with Cy, moved to Griff, then stopped on me, lingering long enough to make me shift on my feet. “Are you good, son?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, sir. Fine.”
He narrowed his eyes and looked at the others. “You tell me if that changes.”
“Yes, sir,” they both agreed easily. “We’ve got him.”
The fact the coach noticed meant I wasn’t doing my best job at hiding it. It had barely been a week since that fateful game. The team knew what was going on, which meant Coach did, too. I’d have to get it together before they threw a whole ass intervention.
Coach was already moving on, leading the way to his office and sitting down.
“Now, Henry told me that you three volunteered for the summer program. I’m not stupid.
I know damn well that’s a lie and I’ll address that later.
However, I do think you’re a good fit. I’ll even count it as half of your yearly event quota. ”
I perked up at that. Kids were way less judgmental and if it meant getting out of some of the awful, grueling galas and charity events, I was going to jump on it.
“What exactly are we signing up for?” I questioned, needing details before I let Cy blindly commit us to something.
He snagged three flyers from his desk and passed them over.
“There’s a summer camp that runs in the nearby town of Willow Lake.
Kids come from all over for the typical activities for summer camp, kayaking, swimming, that sort of thing.
But the local teams and businesses chip in.
We are offering baseball coaching for kids this year.
A training program to teach them the basics and set them up for the school year season. ”
I glanced down at the colorful flyer, taking in all the details and committing them to memory.
“Four weeks, weekends off outside of the two afternoon games against a summer camp a few towns over. Practice and team building from noon to four every day,” I said, glancing at the others.
“They coordinated our games with theirs, nothing should interfere outside of missing the first half of our team practices for those days,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at Coach. He was never this… agreeable.
He chuckled, a sound that had all of our eyes widening. “Look, my omega and beta run this thing. Make me proud.”
“We will, Coach,” I said, agreeing easily after a quick glance to see the others were on board.
“Perfect. I rented you a cabin out by the lake so you don’t have to travel as much. Here’s the keys, you start in four days. Pack up, boys. Time for summer camp. I’ll email you the details in a few if you have to head over tonight.”
"Thank you, Coach," I said as the three of us stood and headed out of the stadium. It was nice to know that Coach saw through Henry, but it still sent us out of practice and straight to the middle of nowhere.
Henry probably thought this was his opportunity to overshadow us and shine. Too bad he had nothing on Cy. It was nothing more than a weird, one-sided rivalry.
“I’m looking into this town a bit more since we’re about to make it a temporary home,” Griff muttered the moment we reached the hallway, pulling out his phone and typing away. “We better be able to get a decent burger at the very least.”
“Whatever makes you feel better,” Cy teased. “We have to go either way.”
"Hey, Jackson, remember that bookstore I mentioned? We’ll have to stop in.
This says that it went viral last year and helped bring some new life into the town along with a few other new shops," he explained.
“They probably have some of those comics you like. Oh, and a new cookie shop, too. Coach would flip but we might need to stop by.”
“And a local hole in the wall pub,” Cy grinned. “We can’t come back and forth the whole time, so we’ll have a few nights free. Even if it’s a shorter week of games. I bet they’d have the burger you’re looking for.”
He knew that I would brighten up at books and comics. And, of course, they were ready for the pub and carbs. Then again, I wouldn’t say no to either. I just wasn’t going to be flirting with omegas and dancing until I was pouring sweat. I did enough of that on the field.
"Just think, maybe this could be the location for the sports bar if we like it," Cy said, elbowing me before he held open the door for Griff and I. “Close to the city but with a bit more privacy for our undercover introvert.”
Undercover introvert. A name for the man who prefers to be invisible anytime he wasn’t on the field. I loved the crowd, the dancing, and above all, the game. That didn’t mean I was a people person.
Cy stretched as we stepped out into the afternoon sunshine. "So, do we go home and pack?" he asked just as a small group of fans ran up to us. They were a cloud of scents, another thing that had me looking forward to small town life for a few weeks.
"Can we get a selfie and autograph?" a shy omega asked me as she tried to bite back a smile. From the way her hands shook, it wasn’t an act.
"With me?" I questioned. Yes, I was the pitcher, but I was with the catcher and first baseman. Most of the time, no one even looked twice at me. Cy was the common target with his playful smiles and flirty personality.
"Of course, silly," one of the betas smiled at me. "You're our favorite players."
“My favorite player on the team,” the omega clarified. She was cute, but her scent was so subtle I knew it wasn’t right.
At this point in my life, I was ready for something more real.
We have a mate, I had to remind myself.
If we could just find her.
"Oh, thank you," I said awkwardly and smiled when she was positioned for the picture.
"Thank you so much, Jackson," the omega said with one last hopeful smile before her friend butted in.