Chapter 22 Will
Quite the First Impression
“Lucy, what are you doing here?” I ask, though it’s pointless because I know what she’s doing here. Her parents are good friends with mine, and I’m pretty sure they haven’t missed a single gala since the inaugural one nearly twenty years ago.
“Well, other than the fact that I wanted to support your family, I also selfishly hoped I’d run into you,” she admits, sighing in contentment as she breathes me in.
Lucy Astor—or shit, I guess it’s Lucy Cromwell now—was once the woman I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with. That is, until she cheated on me with my friend and teammate at the time, Darren Cromwell.
Okay, so maybe we weren’t destined to become husband and wife, but our parents sure were set on the two of us ending up together.
We were high school sweethearts, and she was beside me when my name was called for the draft.
She even went to college at UPenn when I was drafted by Philadelphia.
Fast forward to my second season with the team when I came back to our shared apartment early from a pitching practice to find Lucy riding my third baseman in our bed.
Looking back on it, the betrayal hurt far more than the fact that I’d lost her. Lucy and I were good friends, and we shared a few years of memories together, so that part was hard. But the fact that I was cheated on by someone I had trusted hurt the most.
Of course, the last time I talked to her, she had blamed me for being distant and never opening up to her.
What I can realize now looking back on things was I never really focused on anything outside of baseball and the physical release our relationship provided me.
She was right to resent me for keeping my walls up with her.
Still doesn’t excuse the betrayal from her and my former friend, though.
I’m pulled back to the present when I look over Lucy’s shoulder to find Brooks wearing a forlorn frown. Stepping out of Lucy’s embrace, I try to excuse myself, but before I can, she pouts her bottom lip out. “I was so upset when you didn’t show up to the wedding.”
The wedding. As in her wedding. To Darren. Is she really that obtuse to the situation?
My eyebrows shoot to my forehead. “Really?” I ask through a chuckle before I can stop myself.
“Yes, really. I never imagined you’d miss my wedding day. In fact, there was a period of my life where I thought you’d be the one I’d marry.”
“Well, it turns out that everything worked out for the both of us in the end. We’re both happy now, and that’s all that matters.”
Lucy opens her mouth to say something, but she stops when I pull Brooks flush to my hip. He places his hand on my lower back in a way that instantly soothes me.
My ex doesn’t miss the gesture, her eyes zeroing in on where our bodies connect. “So the rumors are true? You’re . . . gay?”
“No, I’m his,” I correct, causing both Lucy and Brooks to straighten in surprise.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to dance with my date,” I tell her, grabbing Brooks’ hand and leading him out onto the dance floor where the band has just started playing. Leaving him standing off to the side, I go up to a member of the band and make a song request.
As I make my way back to Brooks, I grab his hand in mine and ask, “May I have this dance?”
Brooks’ cheeks heat in the most adorably bashful way. “You sure?”
“I’ve never been more certain,” I assure him.
“Should we talk about what just happened back there?”
I shrug. “What’s there to talk about? Lucy was my high school girlfriend. We dated until we were twenty, when she cheated on me with my teammate. Honestly, it was for the best. She ended up marrying him, and if not for her cheating, I may have never met you.”
“Is that so?” he questions.
“I’m beginning to learn that some things happen for a reason.”
“You’re damn right they do,” he tells me, tugging me toward the dance floor. Just as we make our way onto it, the band plays the opening chords of an acoustic version of “Collide” by Howie Day.
Pulling Brooks into my chest, I grasp his waist with one hand and join our hands with the other.
“Did you pick this song?” he asks in a hushed tone.
“I did. I heard it the other day on the radio and it made me think of us.”
“What about it made you think of us?” he questions as we move in circles around the dance floor.
“For starters, I’m quiet, and you made quite the first impression. But really, you came crashing into my life and knocked me off my feet. You took me off guard when your heart collided with mine.”
His eyes twinkle as he looks up at me. “Quite the first impression, hmm?”
“Yeah, you really got me with the whole name calling thing.”
Brooks chuckles. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No? What was it you called me again? Oh, yeah, I believe it was ‘arrogant, pompous dick.’”
Now he throws his head back and howls. “God”—he hiccups between laughs—“you really were an arrogant, pompous dick at first.”
“And now?”
“Now you’ve become one of my closest friends. Someone I trust entirely. The first person I want to talk to about my day or when anything big or small happens. My sole fixation as I fall asleep and my first thought when I wake.”
Warmth I’ve never felt before spreads through my chest from his words.
Fuck, I’m pretty sure at some point in the past few months, I’ve fallen inexplicably in love with Brooks Warren.
Just as I’m working up the courage to declare my feelings to him, something catches his attention out of the corner of his eyes.
“Nothing like being fashionably late,” he mutters.
“What?”
“Turn around,” Brooks tells me, nodding to something behind me.
When I do, I see about a dozen of our teammates filtering into the ballroom.
I whip my head back to Brooks and ask, “What are they doing here?”
His smile lights up his face as he says, “The guys came together to support you. We each came up with items and activities to donate to the auction.” Pulling up the sleeve of his tux, he looks down at his black watch and rolls his eyes.
“I told Mateo to get them here a half hour ago. I swear the guy is never on time for anything.”
Brooks leads me across the room to where several of our teammates are standing in line at the bar.
I shake Mateo’s hand and thank him for coming and helping Brooks organize this. Truett cuts in, letting me know he plans to auction a date night with him, and that he hopes a cougar is the winning bidder.
Just as I order drinks for me and Brooks, our head coach and his wife, Quentin and Stormy Hunter, come up behind us in line.
Shaking Coach’s hand, I ask, “Can I get you two a drink?”
“Sure, I’ll take a scotch, please,” Coach requests.
“What about you, Stormy?”
“Oh, I’ll just take a club soda, please,” she answers, her cheeks heating.
Truett not having a clue when it comes to filters asks, “A club soda? Are congratulations in order, Coach?”
Stormy laughs awkwardly. “Oh, no. Not yet, at least. We’re about to start trying though.
” Hooking her arm through Coach’s, she looks up at him and smiles, but if I’m being honest, he looks a bit green.
He grabs at his collar, adjusting it in discomfort.
His wife doesn’t miss the action, and she does a poor job of hiding her frown.
Yikes.
I turn to the bartender and add Coach’s drink order.
“Thanks for offering up a week’s stay at your ski chalet in Aspen for auction, Coach,” Brooks says, shaking his hand.
I reach out and shake his hand as well. “Yes, thank you for being here, Coach. It means a lot to me and my family.”
“Our pleasure,” Coach answers, placing his hand on the small of Stormy’s back.
“Brooksy! I made it!” a feminine voice squeals before a woman slams into Brooks’ arms, causing him to stumble back a few steps.
“Jade! About damn time you showed up,” he tells her, giving her a kiss on the side of her head as he sets her back on her feet.
“It takes time to look this good,” she retorts, stepping back and making a show of waving an arm down her body. Brooks’ little sister looks stunning in a deep green, floor-length velvet gown that clings to her curves in ways that has the heads of several of our teammates turning.
“You look stunning,” I tell Jade, wrapping my arms around her when she pulls me into a hug.
“Everything looks perfect. Thank you so much for having me come with you guys.”
“You’re the only plus one I realized the two of us had,” I admit.
“He did good, didn’t he?” she asks as we both gaze at her brother.
“He did,” I agree, a small smile curving the corners of my mouth.
“What are we watching right now?” I lean in and ask Brooks as we stare at the bidding war I just stumbled across after using the restroom.
“One thousand dollars! Do we have fifteen hundred?” The auctioneer looks at Dawson’s raised paddle and points. “Fifteen hundred!”
Dawson openly leers at Jade’s backside in her form-fitting dress, causing me to curse under my breath.
Brooks narrows his eyes at my little brother and then mutters, “I swear to God, I’ll kill him if he so much as looks at my baby sister again like that.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Oh, come on. Daws is relatively harmless.”
A guffaw escapes him, and I scratch my head. “What I’m confused about is why he’s bidding on Jade’s month of hot yoga instruction when he clearly lives here and not San Diego.”
“Two thousand! How about three? Can we get three?”
“And I’m confused why Mateo would have a death wish. What is he thinking, bidding on these private sessions with Jade?” he turns to ask me.
“Three thousand! Can we get thirty-five hundred?” The auctioneer pauses, looking around the room. “Three thousand, going once, twice, sold!”
Leaning down, I place my hand on Brooks’ shoulder and ask, “Did you know about this?”
“About Jade auctioning off a month’s worth of her hot yoga sessions that I had no idea she taught? No, can’t say I did,” he huffs, crossing his arms.
“What’s got you more upset right now? The fact that Mateo won the bid and will have alone time with her or the fact that you didn’t know something about your baby sis?”
“Both,” he grumbles.
He’s so fucking adorable right now. All worked up like someone pissed in his cereal. God, I’m starting to sound like him even in my own head. What’s gotten into me?
Brooks turns his head and fixes his gaze on me. As I stare into his mossy eyes, the rest of the ballroom fades away. My heart is filled with adoration for all the work he put in to get the team here to surprise me and add to the auction.
He gave me time to open up to him about Abigail, honing in on his patience. I’ve never felt such pure, unadulterated love for someone else before. And I think it’s time I show him just exactly where my feelings stand.
Dipping my head, I whisper into his ear, “Perhaps I could help you take your mind off things?”
Brooks smirks. “Oh yeah? How do you plan on doing that?”
“My parents offered for us to stay at their place tonight. Did I mention my childhood bedroom is on the opposite wing as my parents’ bedroom?”
He rocks back on his heels. “That’s a shame. I was hoping we’d get to role play like we’re back in high school and try to keep quiet while I made you come.”
“I prefer to hear every whimper and moan you give me,” I hum in his ear, nipping at the lobe before pulling away and subtly adjusting myself.
“Let’s go,” Brooks growls out, grabbing my hand and making his way toward the exit.
“I’m going to give you the prom night of your dreams, baby.”