60. Ari
sixty
Ari
“Let’s go, Pierce!” I shout from the dugout, watching Cole get ready for the pitch from the Miami Sharks’ starting pitcher.
Man’s on fire this season, so of course, he ends up with a solo home run.
Josh, Lane, and Knox watch from beside me.
“Cole keeps this up,” Knox says, “and we’ll be seeing him in the Home Run Derby next month.”
“That’s his sixteenth of the season,” I say, “and it’s only the beginning of June. He’ll definitely be there. After he passes a ‘random’ drug test, I’m sure.”
Lane tips his head back and laughs. “You might be right there with him, Ari.”
“Yesterday was your twelfth, right?” Josh asks.
“Yeah. Having a damn good season so far.”
Knox keeps facing forward with a playful smirk. “I’m sure that doesn’t have anything to do with a certain trainer.”
I chuckle. “Of course it does. Happier now than I’ve ever been.”
“At least now you get to live out your own romance novel,” Lane teases.
“Morgan!” I turn around to see Lucia with her hands on her hips. “You’re supposed to be working on your hip flexors. Chop chop.”
She turns on her heel and walks over to help Nathan and Greg with something.
“She’s certainly not giving you any special treatment,” Josh laughs.
I shrug. “I wouldn’t want her to.”
I walk away from the guys now to a less crowded part of the dugout. Don’t particularly want my girlfriend to reprimand me for not listening when we get home.
I get into position and close my eyes, keeping mental count as I go.
“Need any help with that?” a voice cuts in.
I immediately roll my eyes. “Nope, I’m good, Logan.”
He crosses his arms and doesn’t move away. “My job is to help you.”
“I don’t need your help,” I chide.
“Well, Lucia shouldn’t have just left you to do it on your own.”
I huff. Naturally, this is about Lucia.
“She left me on my own because I know how to stretch out my fucking hips.”
Logan’s nostrils flare. “When I’m Head Trainer next year, you’ll be doing all of this with help.”
I fall out of position as I laugh. “You’re not going to be Head Trainer next year, Dawson. Lucia’s better at her job than you are.”
“I’m the best trainer we have,” he asserts as if I’m just going to believe what I already know to be untrue.
“Oh, I believe you think you’re a better trainer.” I stand up since Novak just struck out, and we need to head back to the field. “You don’t have half the ambition and drive Lucia does. If the team’s opinion matters at all, I can fucking promise you we’d tell Dr. Coltrain we want her over you.”
Logan seethes behind me as I readjust the cap on my head and jog out to first base.
Knox takes to the mound and warms up before tossing his signature knuckleball to the Sharks’ center fielder. Unfortunately, it hits him in the arm, so he walks to first base.
Their second baseman bats next and sends a two-run homer over the right field wall.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath.
Knox doesn’t give up many home runs. When he does, we usually end up losing the game.
Not sure why that happens, but the stats don’t lie.
The catcher comes up now, and Knox throws a fastball this time. He connects with the ball and sends a line drive straight to me. I nab it right out of the air.
One out.
The left fielder hits a single into the shallow outfield next, and then the shortstop walks up to bat.
He whiffs on the first two pitches, but the bat connects on the third one. Another line drive, this time straight to Josh at third.
He snags it out of the air to give us our second out of the inning, and then guns it over to me. The left fielder is still turning on his heel to get back to first, and I catch the ball and tag the base before he makes it back.
We escape the inning with just those two runs.
We jog back over to the dugout and get ready to bat again, but Lucia grabs my arm before I make it inside.
“You weren’t working on your stretches.”
“Doing them now, sweetheart.” I wink and jog backward into the dugout.
Lucia laughs and shakes her head.
We spend the rest of the game sneaking glances at each other, and we both feel the defeat when the Stars end up losing 4-2.
Morale is bleak when we get back to the clubhouse. Our usually raucous and loud space is quiet and somber. It’s only a single loss, but none of us likes to lose games.
I take my time in the showers, enjoying the heat from the water on my hips.
I’m thirty years old, but I think my hips are going on sixty.
Once I’m cleaned off and less sore, I get dressed in a white T-shirt and black athletic shorts before gathering my things and heading into the hall. The rest of the team is already gone since I took longer than everyone else.
I swing the clubhouse door open and find Lucia waiting for me right outside.
“Hey, Spitfire,” I smile as I walk over to where she’s leaning against the wall.
“Hi, Casanova,” she grins before fisting my T-shirt in her hands.
“You going to yell at me about my hip stretches again?” I tease.
“That’s my job, Ari,” she chuckles. “I can’t give you special treatment.”
“I know, sweetheart.” I brush her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t get to see you much today. You left to meet Ella for coffee so early.”
“About that…” Lucia bites her lip. “I didn’t actually grab coffee with Ella.”
I look at her curiously. “What were you doing then?”
She pulls me closer to her, brushing her lips over mine. “I had my annual appointment with my gynecologist today.”
My hands fall to her ass. “Yeah? Anything exciting happen?”
“The usual. Pap smears, speculums. All the fun stuff.” I visibly cringe, and she laughs at me. “I also got my IUD removed.”
My mouth falls open. “No more birth control?” I pull her against me so she can feel how hard that just made me.
“It’s gone, Ari. I picked up a prescription for the pill just in case we change our minds, though.”
Change my mind?
Like hell is that going to happen.
I crush my lips against hers, needing her so desperately at this moment.
Lucia slips her tongue into my mouth, and I grind my hips into her. She lets out a soft moan, and I’m this close to bending her over in the hallway.
“I fucking knew it!” a voice shouts, startling us both.
But it’s not just any voice.
It’s fucking Logan.
Lucia stares at him with wide eyes. “Logan…”
”I knew something was going on between you,” he scoffs. “Ari sang your praises a little too much during the game today.”
“I meant every word I said, Logan.” I cross my arms and stare him down. “It has nothing to do with what you just saw.”
Lucia dusts herself off and stands up straight. “There’s nothing wrong with us being together. There are no rules that say we can’t.”
“No, there aren’t,” he shrugs, and I really don’t like how calm he is about this. “I wonder how it would look, though, if you were to become Head Trainer…”
“Like she said,” I huff. “There’s nothing against us being together.”
“But how would it look if the girlfriend of one of the players got the promotion? It would look a lot like favoritism if you ask me.”
“Good thing no one’s asking you.” God, he gets my blood boiling.
“You know it wouldn’t be favoritism, Logan.” Lucia’s voice is softer than it usually is, and I hate that this prick has my confident girlfriend wavering right now.
“I don’t give a shit what it actually is. I’m going to use this to my advantage.”
Lucia’s breathing is heavy, and I can see that she’s genuinely nervous right now. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m not going to do anything,” Logan says with a smarmy smile. “Dr. Coltrain will have to decide what actions to take in regard to the promotion, and I get the feeling he doesn’t know about this.” His features turn dark. “For now…”
Logan spins on his heel and walks down the hallway, leaving Lucia and me wondering how the fuck we fix something that isn’t even wrong.