Chapter 12
Walker
I bought the property.
I put in an offer the day after I spoke to Cohen.
It was accepted, and thirty days later, I officially closed.
I was headed to spring training at the end of the week and planned to show Farrah the property before I left—what I hoped would eventually be our property.
I also had a whole speech prepared to tell her exactly how I felt about her and what I wanted. I was going to fight for her this time.
With Addison back in Boston, Weston back in Virginia, and Ava in California for college, my mom met me out at the property so I could give her a tour of the place. When she stepped out of her car, her jaw immediately dropped before she even closed her door. "Wow, Walk! This place is incredible!"
I couldn't help the proud grin that took up my face.
"Isn't it? I can't wait to get a couple of horses out here.
Come check out the house first, and then I'll show you the barn.
" I walked my mom through the large house.
She was enamored with the large windows that framed the rolling hills, the clean lines complemented with homey touches, and was absolutely obsessed with my kitchen and the massive quartz island that could easily accommodate our large family.
After we toured the barn and the guest house, which was essentially a smaller carbon copy of the main house, we made our way back to my kitchen.
I leaned my elbows against the counter. "So I was thinking Farrah could help design and furnish the place.
The house obviously doesn't need any work since it’s new, but I don't have a clue how to furnish or decorate it.
With me leaving for spring training at the end of the week, it would give her plenty of time before I get back. "
My mom smiled and nodded. "That's a great idea, I'm sure she would love that. So, I take it you and Farrah are friends again?"
I wasn't about to tell my mom that, no, I was still in love with Farrah, and I was pretty sure she was still in love with me too. That this property was actually for her, and by asking her to design it, I thought she could make it her own. "Yeah, we’re good."
"That's good to hear, but how do you feel about the big news?" My mom looked at me cautiously, causing a large knot of uncertainty to form deep in my gut.
"What big news?" I asked as my heart rate kicked up to a worrisome level. I was surprised my mom couldn't hear it beating against my ribs.
My mom's eyes fell to the countertop, where her fingers traced along the smooth surface.
"Liz called me yesterday. Farrah got engaged over the weekend—on Valentine's Day.
" She almost whispered the last part, or I thought she whispered, because I couldn't hear her very well over the rush of blood to my ears.
I stood there, frozen, in complete shock.
It was all happening again.
My breathing felt labored, my heart slammed against my chest, and I felt like a panic attack was edging its way in.
I was such an idiot.
None of it made sense. How could we have the night we had, spend the last month and a half together, and she have said the things she said about Jake, to then turn around and fucking agree to marry him?
My mom sat patiently as I processed her news, a look of concern in her eyes.
She reached out and placed her hand over mine.
"I'm sorry, Walker." She continued to try to comfort me and say all the right things, but I couldn't hear any of it; all I could hear were Farrah's words. The longer we’re together, the more I see big differences between us.
I scrubbed a hand down my face, continuing to play that Christmas Eve night on a loop in my head.
I'm just not sure what to do or if this will work. Sometimes I think we’re just too different.
I remembered the look in her eyes when I called her Wildflower. You haven't called me that in years. I've missed it. The way her breath hitched when I pressed my lips to her forehead. How she’d leaned into my touch. Was I really that fucking wrong about her?
At some point, my mom pulled me into a big hug before she left me alone—she had to get back home to help my dad with something. I called Cohen, told him I was headed back to Austin that night instead of in a couple of days, and to meet me at the bar.
"Please. Don’t stop… fuck me harder, Walk.
" The brunette that was spread out beneath me moaned.
Nicole? Nora? Natalie? I don't remember her name, but I continued to slam into her at a punishing pace.
After I finished her off, I rolled off the bed and tied off the condom before I threw it in the trash.
I stuffed the trash bag into my bag… where she couldn't find it… just in case.
Girls could be nuts, and I've heard horror stories of stolen condoms from other ball players' hotel rooms. When I walked back out, Nora?
Yeah, I think it was Nora, was still lying in my hotel bed.
Her eyes looked hungry as they raked over my bare chest. I grabbed my shirt from the ground and slipped it over my head. "You want me to call you an Uber?"
"I thought maybe we could have another round, and I could stay the night?" Her deep chocolate eyes looked up at me, hopeful.
"Not tonight, sweetheart. I've got a game tomorrow." We were still in Florida, nearing the end of spring training, and I was having a great time fucking out all of my pent-up anger over Farrah's engagement.
Nora nodded and slipped out from underneath the covers, and I took a moment to peruse her curves one last time, because sue me, I was a guy.
She had big tits, a tiny little waist that flared out into luscious curves, and a great ass.
The thought of round two crossed my mind before I shook it away.
I needed to get some sleep since I was pitching tomorrow.
After Nora got herself dressed, she placed her hand on my chest, leaned up onto her toes, and placed a kiss against my lips. I placed my hand on her throat and deepened the kiss.
Ah, what the fuck, why not?
After I grabbed another condom from the nightstand, I stalked towards her, moved my hands beneath her ass, lifted her up, wrapped her legs around my waist and pressed her up against the wall.
Luckily, she was wearing a dress, so I shoved my shorts down, pushed her panties to the side, and impaled her on my cock as she screamed my name.
I woke up the next morning to pictures of Nora and me splashed across the tabloids.
This was quickly becoming my new normal, but I didn't give a fuck.
My pitching was still solid, and as long as I had that, I didn't care about much else.
After our last spring training game, a bunch of us decided to go out to a club before we flew back to Texas the following day.
We had a VIP section in the back of the club and several good-looking women surrounding us.
I was about five drinks in at this point, feeling solid, when a sexy little blonde straddled my lap.
She raked her nails up and down my chest. "Hey, I'm Sarah.
You pitched great today. You want to come dance with me? "
Cohen sat next to me with a hot redhead on his lap. "Yeah, James, why don't you go dance with her?" He gripped the girl’s ass as she leaned forward and started to kiss up his neck. Cohen dropped his head back against the couch. "Fuck, I love being a ball player."
I chuckled and turned my attention back to Sarah, running my hands up and down her thighs. "How about we go back to my hotel room instead?" Desire flashed across her blue eyes as she nodded, running her hands through my hair.
Ignoring the flashing cameras, Sarah and I walked hand in hand down the sidewalk leading to my hotel. Once we were inside the elevator leading up to my room, Sarah dropped to her knees and sucked me off. It was a pretty solid blow job, so I knew the night wouldn't disappoint.
And I was right.
Sarah was a dancer and was very flexible.
We fucked three times before I sent her on her way and slipped under the covers to try to get some sleep before our flight back to Texas in the morning.
I grabbed my phone and began aimlessly scrolling through it.
My DMs were out of control lately, and I had a ton of photos of half-naked women in my inbox.
Life didn't suck.
After browsing through some of the photos, I checked out my main feed, and sure enough, pictures of me and Sarah were already up across all of the gossip accounts.
I sighed as I put my phone back on the nightstand.
I knew I was going to get an earful from Scott about the pictures tomorrow.
He had told me on more than one occasion that he was concerned about my drinking, my partying, and the number of girls I was openly fucking around with.
I told him until my pitching suffered, who the fuck cared?