Chapter 23
— Remmy —
Over the following weeks, I’d watched Scout’s games with more interest in baseball than I’d ever had. I found myself engrossed, infatuated, and stupendously giddy whenever the camera lingered on him.
When I wasn’t drooling over him through the flat screen, I was stressing about the “what ifs” of us being together. Despite Scout seemingly not being fazed, the ramifications of him knowing about my choice of job were huge. It had dread gnawing at my insides without warning, and more so each time I set myself up for filming for a client.
The money though... it was too good to walk away from. If it hadn’t been, I would have stopped as soon as I could have. Got a real job after I’d kicked my demons back down into Hell.
Scout and I had messaged every night and called every other night. When he was traveling, we’d chat and laugh, then when he was alone in his hotel room, we’d spice things up through a video call.
And as two nail cycles crept up then passed, I started to believe that we could be more. That even if we didn’t make it in the long run, we could still be great together for as long as it lasted.
After a girls’ night with Steph and Bren where I’d admitted that I couldn’t wait to see him again, we made plans to take a little trip across the country to Miami to catch the last game of the Bears’ series there.
Immediately after I’d pitched the plan to Scout, he’d arranged passes for the three of us to be seated in the designated family suites, adjacent to the Bears’ dugout. And a week and a half later, we were in Miami sipping light beer, eating loaded fries and candied popcorn, while shamelessly checking out asses in perfectly fitted pants.
Despite the talent, my eyes kept drawing back to one ass in particular, warming up in the nearby bullpen.
Scout glanced in my direction and grinned when he spotted me watching him. The flutter in my chest tightened my lungs, and I let out a breathy exhale as I waved. He responded with a wink that had my cheeks flushing.
Steph snickered and bumped my arm with her elbow. “He’s literally the first man in history to make you blush, Rems.”
I didn’t bother hiding my smile. “I still feel like it’s only a matter of time before the honeymoon ends.”
“You’re self-sabotaging again, and I won’t allow it,” she snapped in her sassy, no-bullshit tone.
“Besides…” Bren said at my opposite shoulder, “…you’ve made it past two nail cycles now. And the ‘double-F situation’, which he took like a champ. I’m with Steph, you’re looking for reasons to pull away.”
The double-F situation was the code-word for FootFet we used in public. “I was lucky he took that as well as he did. It would have broken most people.”
“But Scout’s not most people,” Bren reasoned.
“I haven’t told him about the other thing yet.” About how I’d met my two besties.
“And you will when the time is right.”
I hummed around my pop in response to Bren’s passive-aggressive reassurance.
If Scout and I worked out long-term, I’d eventually need to tell him about my past. About how broken I really was, and how I’d barely managed to find a way back. My brother Bastian was the driving force behind my recovery, but it wasn’t until I met Steph going through the same thing at the same time that I found the inner strength I needed to break the rusted chains that addiction had over me. While Bren pulled Steph through kicking and screaming at times, Steph and I became each other’s rock. One another’s personal cheering squad and bootcamp leader when the other needed reminding of how far they’d come. There was no way in hell we’d let each other fall into the void again, and when we weren’t enough at times, Bastian and Bren were the ever-enduring voices threatening punishment that kept us on the straight and narrow.
It was hard as fuck. There were times I wanted to give up, but we’d both been clean for three years now and living our best re-born lives because of it.
“ Oooof ,” Steph exclaimed. “What I’d give to be under that man.” She pointed at the stadium screen showing batter Blake Kennedy’s profile and stats.
“He’s hot,” I agreed. In a big, broad, bearded, mountain man kind of way.
Bren snickered. “Girl, he would bury you.”
Steph held up a loaded fry. “Babe, I could be six feet under and having the time of my life with that man on top.” She popped the fry into her mouth with sass and chewed dreamily.
My focus shifted from left to right when Bren spoke. “Nah-ah. Now him…” She lifted her beer and flicked out her forefinger to point at the screen. “ He’s my kryptonite.”
Closely trimmed beard with his long hair flowing from under this cap, Holden Chambers threw cute-as-fuck country boy vibes.
“I’d trade in my V-card for a one-night stand with him,” Bren added.
Steph snorted and barely contained her mouthful, while I laughed and gave Bren a playful shove. “Ha, you mean your B.A.V-card.”
Her eyebrows drew low, and her mouth moved silently as she tried to solve the acronym.
“Born again virgin,” I drawled.
She threw her head back and laughed. “I see no lies. Just like how someone can barely keep his eyes off you.”
The comment had me seeking out Scout again. His grin created my own, and the playful lift of his cap had butterflies taking flight in my belly again. After not seeing him in the flesh for weeks, he had me giddy to be in his arms again later that evening.
Realization took hold—awareness that I had actually missed him. That I like -liked him. And that I wasn’t sorry that he didn’t let me walk away after the secrets of my spare room had been revealed. Scout Gatlin was a guy I could see myself letting in a little more. Perhaps even falling for, if I hadn’t begun to already.
“Girl, you are dick whipped,” Steph purred into my ear.
I turned quickly, almost bumping noses before she pulled away and snickered.
“Babe, I’m not even going to lie about it—I totally am.”
“How many hours left?” Before getting said dick , Bren implied.
I sighed dramatically. “Still at least four. If it was any longer, I’d come out on the town with you guys.”
Bren raised her voice over the stadium music. “Nope! We came here for you to get laid. Don’t worry about us, we’ll create our own fun.”
Steph’s beer appeared in front of me. “Amen to that, babes.”
We all clinked our beverages together, then took a quiet moment to drink a mouthful.
Steph finished hers with a flourish. “Who do I need to bang around here to get another beer?”
An amused male voice came from behind us. “Uh, ma’am, that would be me.”
The three of us whipped around, coming face to kneecap with a cute, slightly overweight, beer vendor guy wearing his Miami Loggerheads cap backward.
“Well, howya doin’?” Steph drawled, appraising him up and down.
“Good thanks, little lady. How are you?”
Steph batted her eyelashes. “Better now that I don’t have to go anywhere for another drink.”
The guy grinned and nodded. “I’ll come down.”
Steph wiggled her brows at me as our snacks guy rounded the end of the row and returned down the walking space in front of us. His lashes were even darker from this angle and his chin a little more chiseled.
“What can I get y’all?”
“Bud please,” Steph sang.
“Make that two,” Bren chimed.
“And a juice—any kind,” I added.
Snacks guy smirked. “You ladies in for a big afternoon? Who y’all here supporting? The Bears obviously.”
“My…” I tripped over the word boyfriend. It sounded too high school. Too nineteen nineties. But I’d hardly call Scout my partner yet, so… “uh, boyfriend is pitching for the Bears.”
Snacks guy’s brows shot high. “Scout Gatlin? He’s made a stellar comeback after his injury, I’ll give him that. And how about you ladies?” he then asked Steph and Bren.
“No boyfriends here,” Steph announced proudly. “We came to Miami to enjoy ourselves.”
Dark-brown eyes echoed his smile. “Well, you let me know if I can get you anything else. More Bud. Candied popcorn. My phone number.”
Bren snickered behind her hand, while Steph sat a little straighter and handed him cash. “The day is young…”
“My name’s Nero,” snacks guy finished for her, counting her change. “Wave when you need another.” He nodded at our drinks, then smirked at Steph as he headed off.
Bren leaned across me. “How the fuck do you do that?”
“Do what?” Steph asked coyly.
“Summon whomever you need on demand.”
“Black magic,” I declared around a mouthful of popcorn. “That’s why we brought her along.”
Steph rolled her eyes. “I knew you only wanted me for my witchcraft. Oh! I love the pregame music!” She pumped her arms and wiggled her torso, and I held my hand high while taking another sip of juice.
Without warning, a body appeared on the other side of the safety netting directly in front of us, and my name was hollered over the music.
“Remmy!”
My hand froze high for a split second before I screamed and shot to my feet. “Scout!”
The widest grin broke out on his face, and he threaded his fingers through the wire netting. “Come gimme a kiss, honey.”
Didn’t need to ask me twice. After setting down my drink, I reached for him as best I could through the barrier and pressed my face to it.
His lips met mine without hesitation. He kissed me with urgency, but no tongue. As if he was taking the edge off his thirst just to get us through the next few hours.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you,” he whispered against my mouth, forehead resting against mine through the wire lattice.
“I’ve missed you too.”
“Get a room!” Steph yelled behind me, making Scout chuckle.
His landed another quick series of kisses to my lips. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it, Ace. Go kick ass.”
“That’s the plan, babe.”
With our pep talk complete, he pushed off the netting and walked backward, sending me a two-finger salute off his brow just like last time he found me at the ballpark in Portland. I blew him a kiss, then returned to between my girls to watch his ass jog back to the bullpen.
Bren grabbed my arm and hugged tight. “Oooooh girl, he likes you!”
Biting into my lower lip didn’t stop my giddy smile. “Good, because I kinda like him too.”
Steph snorted. “That’s Remmy-code for she’s really into him.”
I couldn’t stop the flush from spreading over my cheeks. Not because I was embarrassed but because it was true.