10. Chapter 10
Chapter 10
G onzo placed his hand against Bailey’s back and guided her into the bar. He scanned the room, looking for his teammates.
The place was wall to wall people like it was after every game. The owner was an ex-player, so he usually set aside a couple of tables for players. He paused as a server handed out shots to a group of twenty-something guys. With the shots delivered, she dropped her tray to her side and turned. “Oh hey, Gonz, Pete’s already here. They grabbed a table around the corner.”
“Thanks, Jenna,” He smiled at the server, then tried to guide Bailey forward only to be stopped by the group in front of him.
“Gon-za-lez,” shot-taker number one sang out his name.
People around them snapped to attention the way they always did when they realized a player was nearby.
Gonzo raised his arm and smacked the guy’s extended hand. The smack connected exactly right, making that perfect high-five sound he loved. Normally when he made the attempt, the other person shifted their hand and what resulted was an awkward bobble that was just embarrassing.
“Nice game,” the guy said.
“Thanks.”
“Let me buy you a shot.”
“Thanks, but I gotta go easy. We’ve got to head to LA for a game tomorrow.”
“Cool, yeah, of course.” The kid’s head bobbed up and down in agreement, then he turned to Bailey. “You want a shot?”
“No, I’m good, thanks.”
“Your boyfriend is fucking awesome.”
Bailey’s eyes widened. “He’s not my—”
There really was no point in Bailey getting into who she was or wasn’t with some random fan, so he nudged her back to encourage her to move forward. Gonzo turned to the guy. “You have a great night.”
“Yeah, you too.”
“Did you see that? I just fucking talked to Gonzalez.” The guy’s voice carried from behind him, quickly followed by the sounds of hands slapping. Gonzo inwardly winced as several of the slaps made that sad little sound of an awkward connection. Guess the one he had with the guy was just a fluke.
Bailey glanced over her shoulder and smirked at him.
“Shut up,” he muttered. Pressing his fingers against her lower back, he guided her toward the pool table area where Jenna had said Pete would be.
After several more pit stops for congratulations, they finally made it to the table. “Holy shit, it’s busy in here already,” he said as he pushed a couple of stools away from the pub-style table. Bailey climbed onto one stool and he slid onto the second.
“I already ordered a pitcher,” Pete said before he turned to Bailey. “So, Bailey, I’m trying to figure out why you’ve been friends with this guy for so long. He’s a bit of a —” Pete scrunched up his face.
“Haha, asshole,” Gonzo mumbled.
“What can I say? I felt sorry for him and then he just kind of stuck.”
He shifted in his seat and faced Bailey. “You felt sorry for me? Come on now.” He flicked his finger against his shoulder like he was brushing it off. “I was king of that town. Homecoming King, to be exact.”
Bailey shook her head and smiled sadly. “Pity votes, all of them.”
Pete snickered from across the table. “I knew I was going to like you.”
“Glad one of us does,” Gonzo grumbled.
“Oh, don’t pout,” Bailey teased. “You know I love ya.’”
The server set down two pitchers of beer and a bunch of glasses. “Thanks, Danny,” Pete said.
“You good with beer or did you want something else?” Gonzo asked Bailey.
“Beer’s good.”
Kendall grabbed the stack of glasses and was pulling it toward herself when Peyton and Ryan walked up. “Keep pouring, Ken,” Ryan said as he pulled out a chair for Peyton, then pushed her up to the table before he sat down in his own seat.
Peyton squeezed Bailey’s arm. “I’m glad you came.”
“Yeah, now we can properly grill you.” Kendall rubbed her hands together gleefully.
“Oh, goodie.” Bailey’s fake smile made him chuckle.
Growing up, she hated being the center of attention and as far as he could tell, she still did, so her career choice always struck him as a little odd. Standing up in front of hundreds of people giving a lecture ensured she was the center of attention every day. Somehow she felt it was different, which he never understood.
“How are you liking San Diego so far?” Pete asked.
“I haven’t really seen too much of it yet, but I’ve got lots of time to explore.”
“Gonzo said you’re a sociology professor.”
“I am, yes.”
“Cool. Gotta admit that is not my wheelhouse,” Pete said. “I’m more of a hands-on kind of guy.”
Bailey smiled. “I won’t hold it against you.”
“There’re classes happening now?” Ryan asked.
“There are, but not ones I’m teaching. My classes don’t start until September, so I have some time to get to know the city before I start work.”
“Oh, that’ll be nice,” Peyton said.
“Why’d you move so early if you don’t start teaching till September?” Kendall asked.
“Umm…my lease was up.” Bailey glanced over at him. Her eyes widened in a ‘help me’ plea.
“How’s living with Gonz?” Ryan asked.
“It’s fucking awesome, of course,” Gonzo said. He took a sip of his beer, then smacked his hands together. “Who wants to play darts?”
The tension on Bailey’s face instantly disappeared. “I will.”
“Cool. Any other takers?”
“I’ll play.” Kendall pushed her chair back from the table.
“I humiliated myself enough the last time we were here.” Peyton shook her head. “Hard pass.”
“If we do guys against girls so I can kick my sister’s ass, I’ll play,” Ryan chimed in.
“Done.” Kendall stood up. “You any good, Bailey?”
“Not really, no.” Bailey grimaced.
“Well, crap.” Kendall laughed.
The owner of the bar walked up just as he was standing. “Hey Mark, good to see you.” Gonzo stuck out his hand and shook his ex-teammate’s hand.
“You too. Great game tonight.”
“Have a seat.” Pete gestured to the vacated seats around the table.
“You sure?” Mark asked.
Gonzo stepped away from his chair. “Yeah, take mine. We’re just going to play darts.”
At the board, he grabbed the darts off the shelf. “What’s the bet?”
“We’re betting?” Bailey squeaked.
“Bay.” Gonzo glanced at his friend. How long had she known him? Of course, this was a competition. And winning meant there should be a prize.
“I think if the girls lose, Kendall has to cook dinner for all of us.”
“You’ve seen me cook,” Kendall said to her brother.
“Yep, that’s why it would be funny.”
“Seeing me fall on my face would be funny?”
Ryan’s head bounced up and down. “Absolutely. Oh, and you have to pay for the takeout if it needs to be ordered.”
“Haha, asshole.” Kendall smacked her brother on the chest. She squared her shoulders and stuck out her hand. “Deal.”
“Umm, hold on,” Bailey interrupted. “That hardly seems fair. If we lose, it will be because I suck. Kendall shouldn’t have to cook some elaborate spread because of me.”
“We aren’t gonna lose,” Kendall declared confidently.
Bailey winced. “I’m pretty sure we will with me on your team.”
Kendall wrapped her arm around Bailey’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine.”
“So dinner for eight on Ken when the girls lose?” Gonzo said.
“Whoa, whoa.” Kendall held up her hand. “We aren’t going to lose. What do we get when we win?”
“You’re not gonna win,” Ryan said.
“You don’t know that. I used to kick your ass all the time when we were kids.”
“Gonzo’s a fantastic cook. How about he cooks dinner for everyone if we win?” Bailey chimed in.
“You can cook?” Kendall asked.
“Of course I can cook.” Gonzo rolled his eyes. How the hell did she think he ate?
“Well, I mean like cook, cook, like properly cook,” Kendall continued.
“Yes, Kendall, I can properly cook.”
“He’s really good,” Bailey gushed.
Kendall’s gaze darted back and forth between him and Bailey. “Interesting.”
“What’s interesting about it?” he asked.
Kendall’s raised shoulders matched her eyebrows as she smirked back at him. “It’s just interesting that you’ve cooked for her, and we didn’t even know you could cook.”
“I knew he could cook,” Ryan interjected.
“See.” Gonzo looked at Kendall. “I just haven’t cooked for you.”
Kendall’s forehead wrinkled. “Well, that’s just rude.”
He snickered. “Then maybe you should be nice.”
“I’m always nice,” she squawked.
“Eh,” Ryan replied.
Bailey stepped closer to him. “I really like your friends.”
He set his arm around her shoulder as he watched the siblings squabble over how they were going to decide who got which colored darts. “Yeah, I like them too.”
“Ha, I won.” Kendall threw her arms up in victory. “Pass over the gold ones.” Kendall held out her palm and wiggled her fingers until Ryan set the gold darts in her hand. She stepped toward Bailey and handed her their darts. “You go first.”
Bailey accepted the darts and exhaled a deep breath.
“Hey, Bay?”
“Yeah?”
Why did she look so nervous? It was darts. No one was going to be throwing them at her. This was supposed to be fun. “I’m not going to let you win like I did when we were kids.”
“Let me win? Oh my god, like you’ve ever let anyone win anything,” she scoffed. “You’re going down.”
Bailey walked up to the little tape line on the floor. She set the tip of her left shoe on the line, then wiggled her back leg until she was in position. He crossed his arms and leaned against the table as he watched her get set up.
Kendall set her beer down on the table beside him and turned to watch Bailey. “I like her.”
“That’s good,” he replied absently, not taking his eyes off Bailey as she threw the first dart. It hit the wall above the board and bounced to the floor. “Ooh,” he winced.
Bailey bolted over and grabbed the dart off the floor and faced the group. “That was just a practice throw.”
“Sure.” Gonzo bit back a laugh at the serious look on her face. “But you only get one.”
“I’ll only need one.” She pushed her shoulders back and marched to the line like she was going into battle.
“She’s really cute,” Kendall said.
“Mmm,” he grunted.
“Don’t you think?” Kendall pressed.
“Yeah, sure,” he mumbled noncommittally. There was no way he was getting into a discussion with Kendall about Bailey. The woman was relentless once she got an idea.
“I like her for you.”
He flicked a glance at Kendall. “We’re just friends.”
Bailey squealed, drawing his attention back to her. His eyes instantly latched onto the way her ass shook as she did some kind of weird little wiggle dance.
“Just friends, huh?” Kendall nudged him and he pulled his gaze off Bailey’s ass. “I don’t stare at my friends’ asses like that,” Kendall continued.
“Shut up,” he muttered.
“Just saying.” Kendall eyed him knowingly.
Well shit.
“Did you see that?” Bailey asked.
He flicked a glance at the dartboard. Bailey’s gold dart lay perfectly in the middle of the bullseye. “Nice.”
Bailey wiggled her hips again. “Bullseye, baby. Told ya you were going down for me this time.”
Ryan sputtered his beer, then banged his chest as he coughed.
“What?” Bailey asked in confusion.
“Nothing. I just thought you guys were just friends.”
“Huh?” Bailey wrinkled her nose. “Going down?”
And instantly Gonzo pictured Bailey sprawled out on the bed with him between her legs. Now that was a bet he could get behind. Whoa, where had that thought come from? This was Bailey.
Her eyes widened, and she slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god, that is not what I meant.” Or at least that’s what he thought she said. It was kind of hard to tell since her voice was all muffled behind her hand.
Ryan barked out another laugh. “O-kay.”
“I didn’t.” Amusement danced in her blue eyes when they connected with his. He could swear there was a little flash of heat as they held, but maybe that was just wishful thinking considering the path his thoughts had taken.
“I liked the celebration dance,” Hernandez said as he walked up with Sims at his side. The first baseman slowly scanned Bailey like she was an all you can eat buffet and he was trying to decide where to start.
Gonzo’s jaw clenched. Not happening. “Hernandez,” he said, drawing his teammate’s attention from Bailey.
That lasted all of ten seconds before the guy was looking at her again. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“Hi, I’m Bailey.” She gave a little wave.
Gonzo sighed. “Bailey, this is Lourdes Hernandez.” He flicked his hand toward her. “Hernandez, this is Bailey,”
“Nice snag in the third,” Bailey said.
“Thanks.” Hernandez puffed out his chest at the compliment.
Brandon Sims stood off to the side with his hands buried in his jeans pocket and a slightly annoyed look on his face. Win or lose, Sims always looked like he wasn’t sure he wanted to be out at the bar with the team. “And you’ve already met this grumpy bastard,” Gonzo told Bailey.
“I’m not grumpy. I’m just not a fucking golden retriever like you.”
“I’m not a golden retriever,” Gonzo scoffed. “If you’re gonna compare me to a dog, at least compare me to something badass.”
“What’s wrong with golden retrievers?” Bailey asked.
Was she serious? Who the hell wanted to be called that? “There’s nothing sexy about being a golden retriever.”
Bailey smirked at him. “Got to be honest with you, Gonz. There’s nothing sexy about any dog, so I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
“Haha.” He scowled. “You know what I mean. No guy wants to be compared to a golden retriever.”
“Right, because what woman would like a loving, sweet, fun guy that’s always there for her, no matter what?” Bailey shook her head. “That sounds awful. Who’d want to date that? Blech.” She glanced over at him. Their eyes held and he felt that same little blip in the pit of his stomach.
Brandon cleared his throat and he tore his eyes off her. Whatever this was, he needed to rein it in ASAP. He wasn’t going to fuck up his friendship with Bailey just because his dick had decided it wanted a starring role in their relationship.
“So who’s winning?” Brandon asked.
“We’re just getting started,” Ryan said as he walked up to the tape line.
Bailey glanced over at him. Her eyes dancing with amusement and said, “But apparently we established Gonzo’s in the mood to go down.”
Ryan sputtered out a laugh. Kendall threw her arm around Bailey’s shoulder. “Oh my god, I love you.”
And Gonzo’s dick twitched against his zipper. So much for getting his dick on board with the whole just friends thing. Because yeah, the more he thought about it, the more he realized Bailey was right. That was exactly what he wanted to do. Shit.
He picked up his beer and downed the rest of the glass.
“You okay, dude?” Brandon asked.
“What? Yeah, of course.”
Bailey walked over and picked up her drink while Ryan lined up for his shot.
“How long have you two been together?” Hernandez asked.
“We’re not together,” Gonzo replied.
“Obviously.” Bailey snorted. “Can you imagine?”
Why did she make it sound like the idea of dating him was so ridiculous? Women all over the place would love the chance to date him. What the hell was her problem? “Why’d you say it like that?”
Bailey glanced over at him, then her brow wrinkled in confusion. “Look at the women around here.” She waved her hand to encompass the bar. “And look at me.” Her left eyebrow rose as she scrunched her face into a look that said, duh.
“Wha—?” he grunted. At the same time Hernandez said, “Huh?” Good to know he wasn’t the only one that didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
Bailey rolled her eyes, then smirked. “Case in point.” She nodded her head toward the two women in Hawks’ jerseys coming toward them like a heat-seeking missile.
The women stopped in front of them. The blonde stepped up so close she was practically touching him. “Hi.” She batted her heavily made-up blue eyes at him. “You guys were great today.”
“Thanks. Were you at the game?”
“No, but we heard you won.” She leaned back, drawing his attention to her exposed, tanned stomach.
He flicked a glance at Bailey. Her lip popped out slightly, like she was biting the inside of her cheek the way she always did when she was hurt but didn’t want anyone to know. Damn. He didn’t know what was going on with her, but he planned to find out.
“Excuse me, ladies, it’s my turn.” He pointed at the dartboard.
“You want to buy me a drink?” the blonde asked.
On any given night, he would have said yes. She was exactly the kind of woman he usually took home from the bar after a game, but tonight he had Bailey with him, so as tempting as the gorgeous blonde was, it was going to be a big no. He eyed the number on her jersey and rolled his eyes. “You’ve got the wrong player,” he said, pointing to the number on her jersey.
“What?” the woman blinked back at him.
“I’m Gonzalez.” He pointed toward his teammate. “That one’s Hernandez.”
The blonde looked over at his teammate, then back at him in confusion. “So?”
“So, you’re wearing the wrong player’s jersey.”
She stepped in closer to him and pressed herself against his body. “I won’t be wearing anything when we get back to your place, so does it really matter?”
Normally, not a bit. But tonight? Yeah, it mattered.
He smiled to soften the blow. “Sorry. I’m up.” He pointed at the dartboard, then walked away.
As he glanced at the scoreboard, he winced. Was that really the score? He threw a look at Ryan. How were they losing that badly already? “What the hell? Bailey missed the board on her first throw?”
“Yeah, but Kendall didn’t,” Ryan grumbled.
He hadn’t been paying attention, but from the looks of the scoreboard, Kendall had hit trips every time. They had some ground to make up. Gonzo stepped up to the line and threw his first dart. Triple twenty. Nice. His second dart hit the metal at the edge of the bullseye, bumping it back onto the twenty.
“See, it’s not that easy,” Ryan said.
“Don’t choke, Gonz,” Kendall taunted.
He glanced over at Bailey, who stood slightly off to the side, not saying a word. He lined up and threw his third dart. Triple twenty again. He turned to Kendall. “Ha, suck it.”
“I don’t think Pete would like that,” she mocked.
“Haha.” He bumped her with his hip. “You’re up, Bay.”
Bailey pushed off the table and took her place at the line. The blonde from earlier stepped up beside him. “You’re really good.”
“Thanks,” he said absently, not taking his eyes off Bailey as she lined up to take her shot. If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he wouldn’t have noticed the way her shoulders slumped when she flicked a look his way before she lined up her shot. The dart hit the wall above the board and stuck. Bailey’s chest heaved as she took a deep breath and lined up again.
Geez, she was a terrible dart player, but he had to give her credit for still taking the shots.
The blonde trailed her finger down his arm. The touch drew his attention from Bailey, making him miss her last throw. It pissed him off that he’d missed it. Doing his best to still be polite, he gave the blonde a tight smile. “If you’ll excuse me.”
He walked up to Bailey and bumped his shoulder against hers. “I don’t remember you being this bad at throwing.”
“Throwing and darts are two different things.” She picked up her beer and took a sip. “Why aren’t you over there?” She gestured to the blonde who was watching them.
“Why would I be?”
“Umm, because she’s clearly interested in you.”
“I’m not interested.”
Bailey snorted. “You’d have to be dead not to be interested in that.”
He looked over at the blonde. “Yeah, she’s hot, but I’m here with you. That’s not what tonight’s about.”
“Gonzo, honestly, it’s fine. If you want to hook up with someone, I totally get it, especially when she looks like that.”
“What’d you mean earlier when you said it was obvious we wouldn’t be dating?”
“Are you kidding me?” Bailey’s eyebrows nearly hit her hairline as she gaped at him. “With that woman over there? Are you serious?”
“Yes, I’m serious. Why did the idea of us dating seem so ridiculous?” Sure, he was a baller, but he wasn’t an idiot. Maybe intellectually he wasn’t in the same league as a professor or lawyer like Brad, but he’d graduated from university on his own steam, which had been fucking hard with his baseball schedule.
“Gonzo, the women you date look like that.”
“So?”
“Please don’t make me say it,” she whispered.
If she wanted to insult him, she was damn well going to say it out loud. He stared down at her without speaking, waiting her out. Finally, Bailey huffed out a breath. “I’m very well aware of how I look.”
“What the fuck does how you look have to do with anything?” His mind raced to catch up.
“Umm, everything. You don’t date fat girls.”
“You aren’t fat,” he growled. He hated how women always did that. Put themselves down for having a different kind of body. His mom and his sisters did it all the time, and it pissed him off.
“I’m not skinny.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the way you look.”
“I didn’t say there was. It’s just not the kind of body guys like you go for.”
“Guys like me?” Wow. The little jab hit like a knife in his sternum.
“Oh, don’t be all offended, you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, unfortunately I do.” Is that really how she saw him? As some kind of dick who thought a woman was only beautiful if she was a size 2? He pushed off the table. “We should join the group.”
Bailey grabbed his arm. “What’s the matter? Why do you seem all hurt?”
“Really?” He stared at his childhood friend. “You just told me you think I’m a shallow piece of shit and I’m not supposed to be offended.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It kind of is.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “I think I liked it better when I thought you meant I was too stupid to date.”
Bailey’s head snapped back. “You thought I was insulting you when I laughed about us not dating?”
“Yeah. You’re gorgeous, Bailey, you always have been. Just because we’ve never dated doesn’t mean I’m not fully aware of how attractive you are. What else was I supposed to think?”
“You think I’m attractive?” she asked.
That’s what she latched onto? “Yes. Lots of guys like curvy girls, Bailey.”
“I know. I just don’t see athletes with any.”
“How many athletes do you know?”
“What?”
“How many do you know? Besides me, how many do you know?”
She scanned the bar. “Umm, your friends.”
“Okay, so like four people? Pretty small sample size for that kind of bold statement.”
“I watch TV as well.”
“Ah gotcha, the ol’ media barometer. Then it must be true. Not a single athlete is married to a curvy girl.”
She smacked him on the chest. “Shut up.”
“I’m just going to throw it out there, Bay, your assumption says more about you than it does about me and the women I sleep with.”
Bailey sucked in a breath like his words had hit the mark.
Good, let her stew on that for a bit. “I’m up.” He walked back to the dartboard and threw three bullseyes in a row.
“And that’s how it’s done,” Ryan cheered.
Gonzo glanced at the scoreboard. His last turn had secured the win for the boys.
“Damn it,” Kendall grumbled. “I want a rematch. You guys were already warmed up. We were cold.”
“What? How were we warmed up?” Ryan scoffed.
“You’d just played baseball. We’d been sitting in the stands. You had an unfair advantage.”
Gonzo flicked a glance at Bailey while the siblings bickered over Kendall having to cook. Bailey walked over to him and rested her head on his shoulder. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against his side. “It’s all good.”
“Ever since Brad, I’ve been a little—” She flicked her wrist.
Gonzo’s jaw clenched. He hated that she’d allowed some asshole to question how amazing she was. “Any guy would be lucky to have you, Bay.”
She glanced up at him through her lashes. A sudden urge to kiss her instantly hit him. He clenched his fingers together to stop himself from threading his hand through her thick red hair and pulling her toward him.
A throat cleared beside him, and he pulled his attention off Bailey. Ryan stood to his left with a big smirk on his face. “We’re gonna head back to the table. You guys sticking around or—?” Ryan asked.
What the hell was wrong with him? This was Bailey. He needed to knock it off. “Yeah, of course we’re staying.” He eyed Bailey’s empty beer glass. “Let’s get you another drink.”
Ryan glanced at him and raised his eyebrow in question. Gonzo shoved him to get his friend to move back toward their table. Whatever that moment was between him and Bailey, it was done now and not up for discussion.
As they approached the table, he eyed the newcomers sitting with Peyton and Pete. “Holy shit, Aiden.” Gonzo turned to his teammate’s wife and gave her a hug. “Good to see you, Sloane. You guys never come out after games.”
“We got a sitter so I could come to the game and I’m taking full advantage of it,” Sloane said.
“You have a sitter and you guys came here?” Gonzo asked.
“We aren’t staying long,” Aiden said as he eyed his wife.
“We’ll see,” Sloane replied. “Aiden still gets to do this when you’re on the road, but since we had Madison, I don’t anymore, and I miss it.”
“And we miss seeing you,” Kendall said.
Gonzo pulled Bailey closer to him. “Bailey, this is Aiden Patel and his wife Sloane. Guys, this is my oldest friend, Bailey.”
“Friend?” Sloane raised an eyebrow.
Why did everyone do that? “Yes, friend,” he grumbled. He gestured for Bailey to take the vacant seat next to Sloane at the end of the table. Kendall hopped into the vacant seat beside Pete. Since there were no more chairs at the table, Ryan picked up Peyton, slid himself onto her seat, and placed her on his lap. She giggled and wrapped her arms around Ryan’s neck.
Gonzo’s chest tugged as he watched his friends cuddle at the table. He glanced at Bailey and felt an odd pull in his chest that he kind of wanted to do the same to her. Geez, he’d been spending too much time around couples lately, if that’s where his head went.
“So Sloane, how’s the daredevil business?” he asked.
Sloane rolled her eyes. “It’s good, busy, which I love.”
Bailey raised an eyebrow and looked at him, then turned to Sloane. “Daredevil business?”
“I run a skydiving company with my brother,” Sloane said.
“Wow.” Bailey’s eyes widened. “I don’t think I’ve even met someone who jumped out of a plane before, let alone someone who did that for a living. How did you get into that?”
Sloane chuckled. “I was upset after I got dumped and needed something to kick my ass into making some changes. I thought skydiving would do that. Little did I know what felt like a terrible decision after a crappy breakup turned out to be the best decision I could have made for myself.”
“So you went skydiving for the first time after getting dumped?”
Gonzo shifted so he could see Bailey’s face. Was she seriously thinking about jumping out of a plane because of Brad? “You aren’t thinking about doing that are you?” he asked.
“What?” Bailey flicked a look at him. “No, no, I like my feet firmly on the ground.”
“Well, if you change your mind, I’ve found nothing puts things in perspective quite like taking a leap.” Sloane dug into her purse and handed Bailey a business card.
“How come you’ve never tried to get me to jump?” Gonzo asked.
“Well, one because if your contract is anything like Aiden’s, skydiving is a no-no activity, and two, I think you’d be too scared to jump.”
“Ack, how dare you say I’d be scared?” He pretended to be offended by the suggestion, then chuckled. “But there’s zero chance I’d jump out of a plane even if it wasn’t in my contract. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.” Honestly, he thought it was insane to jump out of a plane, not that he’d say that to his teammate’s wife.
Sloane rolled her eyes. “It’s not about proving anything to anyone. Sometimes it’s about proving something to yourself, or at least it was to me.” Sloane glanced at Bailey as she spoke. Bailey flicked the business card between her fingers and nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind.” She stuck the card in a little pocket in her purse.
The TV screen above their table caught his eye and he shifted to watch the highlights from the league.
“Oh-ho, Gonz,” Pete called when a clip of Gonzo hitting a home run flashed on the screen. They posted his stats so far for the season and the feeling of pride he felt made him smile. The TV cut to the highlights for New York and he glanced away from the screen to find Pete and Kendall watching him with amused looks on their faces. What was that about?
Suddenly he noticed that he’d been absently playing with Bailey’s hair as he’d watched the TV. He pulled his fingers away from her hair and stuck his hands in his pockets. Bailey glanced over her shoulder at him.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“For what?” she asked.
Had she not realized he’d been playing with her hair? He sure as hell wasn’t going to admit to it if she hadn’t known. It was kind of embarrassing. “Nothing, don’t worry about it,” he told her.
When he glanced back across the table, Pete raised an eyebrow at him. Gonzo pulled his hand out of his pocket and subtly flashed his friend the middle finger. Like the cocky bastard he was, Pete just smirked back at him. Gonzo grabbed his beer and took a sip. Despite what Pete thought, it didn’t mean anything. Bailey was just his friend. Except his fingers itched to play with her hair again. Now that he knew how soft it felt against his skin, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like elsewhere. Fuck. “Anyone want to play pool?”
“I will,” Aiden said.
“Cool.” He turned to Bailey. “You good here?”
“Absolutely.”
Thank god. He needed some space. Being around all these couples had clouded his brain for a minute, that’s all. “Great, let’s go, Aid,” he said, pushing away from the table.