16. Resistance Is Futile
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Dalton
Resistance Is Futile
S tanding at the town ballfield brought back so many childhood memories of playing with his brothers and the hours they would spend with their dad here—they’d spend their entire weekend hitting balls and playing catch. He could see his dad now on the pitcher’s mound with his ball cap turned backward, throwing balls and coaching them on their swings. Their dad had loved baseball, and had always joked that he needed at least one of his three boys to go pro. Maybe he’d seen Levi’s talent even then, but it was a damn shame he didn’t live long enough to see his youngest turn into an All-Star MLB player, even if he was the league’s supposed bad boy.
“Man to man, I don’t think you’re what Brooke or Max needs right now. Especially while she’s challenging my brother for child support.”
Dalton stood with his forearms resting on the chain-link fence to watch Max on third base. He looked over to find Miles Banks standing in his crisp, blue-collared shirt, slacks, and some fancy leather shoes not commonly found on a ball field.
“Good thing I’m not worried about what you think, Miles,” he replied, and looked back at the game. “Keep your eye on second base, he wants to steal,” Dalton called out to Max as the kid started to take a few steps off the base.
Max turned his head just enough to see what the kid would do.
“Come on, Dalton, they don’t need you making this into some kind of sad turf war between you and Tyler before you leave town again.”
He sighed. “What’s your concern exactly, Miles? Since when do you care about your brother’s ex-wife’s feelings?”
Miles squinted his eyes at Dalton and his jaw flexed.
“Ah, I see, unless you were thinking you’d claim them for yourself?” Dalton let out a low whistle. “That doesn’t sound like it’d go over too well with your baby brother.”
“It’s not like that, I’m worried about Max. And I know my brother let Max and Brooke down, but that doesn’t mean I have to lose a relationship with my nephew.”
Dalton nodded as he eyed him again. “Well, that’s honorable, but if you knew your brother wasn’t paying child support, you should have made sure you did.”
He leaned forward on the fence and sighed. “I didn’t know, I just thought Brooke wanted to raise Max without any of the flashy things. For years I lectured Tyler about honoring his responsibility to be a good father to Max, but then I realized that maybe they’re both better off if my brother isn’t involved much.”
“That proves you’re a better man than Tyler.” Dalton turned to face Miles, who was looking out at Max.
“It’s not easy when your brother makes decisions you don’t agree with, but he’s still my brother.”
“I don’t know what your brother owes Brooke or Max, and I can understand you wanting to look out for them. I admire that. But I’m not going to keep my distance so your irresponsible brother doesn’t have a tantrum.”
“Just remember that Brooke and Max are a package deal, and if you hurt one of them, you hurt them both,” Miles said. “Please.”
Dalton held out his hand to shake Miles’s. “Consider me warned. I won’t hurt your family.”
“Thank you,” Miles said.
Then the kid at bat hit a high line drive right to Max on third and the kid on second base started to run for it.
“You got it, Max. Get right under it!” Dalton yelled.
They both watched, riveted, as Max raised his glove, caught the ball, and tagged the kid barreling down on him out. But he made one error getting in the kid’s path: the two collided but the other kid happened to be almost twice Max’s size and Max went down on the base with a grunt. Dalton hopped the fence in a flash and ran over to him.
He was covered in sweat and dirt and his eyes were closed.
“Hey, Max, where’s it hurt, buddy?” He started to run his hands over Max’s shoulders and looked him over to see if any bones seemed out of place. But then a big smile spread on Max’s face and he held up the ball he’d caught.
“He was out,” Max said as his eyes fluttered open.
Dalton laughed as the ump and the coach joined them.
“That’s right, he was out, we just need to work on your technique. Never put yourself in the line of a player on their path to the base. Too much momentum.”
Max nodded.
“Alright, if nothing hurts, let’s slowly sit up.”
“Sir, no dads on the field,” the ump said.
Max sat up and laughed. “He’s not my dad, but you could be the team doc,” Max said.
Dalton laughed. “Not a bad idea.”
“We could always use a doc out at the ballfield, these kids are kamikazes,” the coach said.
“Max, are you okay?” Brooke yelled from where she was standing next to Miles on the fence line.
Max popped up off the ground. “I’m great, Mom, I got that kid out.”
Brooke smiled. “Good job, baby.”
“Mom!”
“Yup, sorry. Great job, champ.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Moms are so girly.”
All three men laughed. Dalton helped shake off some of the dirt on Max’s white baseball uniform and watched the other kid who hit Max stomp off the field.
“Alright, let’s play ball!” the ump hollered. “Docs and coaches off the field,” he said, lower and for them to hear.
Dalton walked to the dugout with the coach and agreed to be on standby for the rest of the season’s games. He just kept committing to things without even thinking about how much longer he’d be staying in town. He didn’t like the fact that Brooke stood talking to Miles for the next inning, but when she finally made her way over to him, he felt like he’d won a hard-fought battle.
“Thanks for getting to Max so fast. These games are hours of no action mixed with random moments that put me into a full-on panic attack.”
“No problem. He just had the wind knocked out of him, but the coach asked me to sit on standby as the team doc just in case.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense. I hope you’re ready for concussions and balls hitting faces.”
“After the SEAL team missions, I think I can handle it.” He was sitting in the shade of the dugout and waited to see what she’d do. Like a wounded animal, it was most likely she’d run, but then she surprised him and sat next to a stack of bats, just far enough away that they wouldn’t touch.
“I guess you probably saw the worst of the worst as a SEAL?” she asked.
“Our worst days weren’t pretty” was all he said. People were always impressed with someone’s service on a special military team, but the truth was they were brutal. Teammates died, missions were violent, and he didn’t like to talk about it like it was all some action movie.
“I heard a few years back that you were shot, but your brother didn’t seem to want to talk about it.” She fidgeted and brushed dirt off the bench. “I was worried you’d come back injured, but then your gran said you were fine and working in Virginia.”
“I didn’t realize you heard about that. I’m sorry I didn’t think to reach out.”
She shook her head. “Why would you? It’s fine. I just meant I’m sure you’ve been through a lot and can handle a few baseball injuries. So thanks for volunteering.” She looked around and leaned forward like she was ready to bolt.
He reached out and put his hand on her knee, then flipped his forearm over to show her one long scar. “There were a few injuries during my time on the team, and even though I was one of the lucky ones, I still don’t like to think about it. That last one was enough for me to decide it was time to get out of the Navy before I died on the battlefield.”
The line ran from his wrist up to his elbow in a distorted, white, puffy patch of skin from the knife wound he’d sewn up. “A close quarters fight is the worst kind, it’s barbaric. This knife wound has a few more to match on my hip and stomach, but I won that battle. Maybe I’ll show you those another time,” he said with a forced smile.
She gulped, but surprised him when she ran her finger along the thin scar. The skin was less sensitive, but just watching her fingers move over it put his body on high alert and had his heart thundering.
“I’m glad you won.”
“Can I ask you something?”
She shook her head. “No. Because I’ll want to say yes even though I know it’s a bad idea, and then I’ll keep saying yes until it ends.”
“Maybe it doesn’t end.” They both knew what she meant. They were dancing around this kinetic energy between them, but their mutual desire was undeniable. Every second he was around her the urge to pull her close grew stronger.
She looked up at him with a forced smile. “I’m not looking for any maybes, Dalton,” she said before she stood and walked away.
He fought the impulse to go after her and tell her he would stay for her, because that would be a lie. Every time he drove out to his gran’s house, his old childhood home, he thought of them. The reason he’d fled his hometown, his parents’ deaths.
It had been Dalton’s fault. And the worst part was, he never told anyone. Not his brothers, not his gran, no one. Instead, he just graduated high school and ran off to the Navy against his father’s wishes, and away from all the pain and guilt.
But that was a losing battle, because the guilt just followed him wherever he went.