Chapter 20
“Where’ve you been, Rook?” Miller asks when I walk into the visitor’s locker room in Chicago.
“I had to stop by the Children’s Hospital,” I say, texting Bree while I respond. I’ve been trying to send her updates, and even when she acts like it’s annoying, I think she secretly likes it.
“So, you weren’t just blowing us off?”
“Nah, dude. Promised Br—” I catch myself before calling her by the nickname, “Gabrielle I would do community service on the road as much as I could. I really wanted to go see the kids at Chicago General since it’s down the street.”
“Let us know when you have community service. I’d hit up the children’s hospital for a couple hours.” Miller snaps his towel at me.
“You would?”
“Shit yeah. You were at my charity gala, right? I thrive in that environment. Plus, kids are cool as shit.”
“What he means to say is we enjoy volunteering too. During the pandemic, we partnered on a charity for healthcare workers. We’re passionate about community involvement on both a personal and team level,” Fields says coming up behind me.
“That’d be awesome. I’ve got a few others scheduled while we’re on the road and I still need to pick a charity to start in Nashville.”
“Any ideas?” Fields asks, setting his bag down in the designated locker.
“Not really. Taylor said I should consider something with animals, but I wasn’t sure if she was just giving me shit because of the horse thing.”
“You never know with Tay Bake. She’s a sneaky one. Do you like animals?” Miller starts putting his socks on. It’s almost time to take the field for warmups.
“Yeah, I do. But what would I even do? There’s already a humane society and other rescues in town, right?” I rush to get changed since I was cutting it close today.
“We can help you brainstorm. I’m sure Gabs could help too. When I was looking at starting my charity, she helped me.” Fields picks up his glove and sports drink.
“Really?”
“Yeah, when Ivory and I were in Belize during the pandemic, I told her I wanted to do more considering the state of the world. She introduced me to Gabs on a video call one day and Gabs talked me through a few different options and put me in touch with some people.”
A new text from Bree pops up, and I find myself barely listening to the rest of Fields’ explanation. My mind is already zeroed in on Bree and what she might’ve sent to me.
brEE
My day got better.
Have a good game.
“Who are you texting all the time?” Miller tries to grab my phone, but I dodge him.
“Do they really enforce the fraternization policy around here?” I ask, voicing the question I’ve been wondering for a while now.
“Are you asking because you have someone on your mind?” Fields directs the question back at me. I should’ve known he’s too intuitive to let me get away with asking a random question.
Miller suddenly gets serious. “Wait, are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“Maybe.” This wasn’t how I meant to ask Fields and Miller what they thought of my crush on Bree, but the question popped out of my brain and there’s no shoving it back in.
“What am I missing?” Fields looks between us.
“I know something you don’t know,” Miller sings in a high-pitched annoying voice and sticks his tongue out.
“What don’t I know?”
“Gabby and the Rookie here have a history.” Miller wiggles his eyebrows.
“Keep it down, man. We don’t need the whole locker room to hear you,” I hiss.
“What kind of history?” Fields asks, hesitantly.
“The boinking kind,” Miller unhelpfully answers.
“We met the night of your wedding.”
“You were in St. John?”
“Yep, made a move on our Gabriella at The Beach Bar.” Miller slings an arm around my shoulder.
“You knew?” Fields accuses.
“Of course I knew. I was there, you dingo. Left her on the dance floor with Romeo here.” Miller tries to put me in a headlock.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Fields throws the ball from his glove at Miller, who catches it out of the air.
“What happens on vacation, stays on vacation.” Miller shrugs. “Well, usually.” He laughs.
“I mean seriously, what are the chances that the one night Gabs lets loose she hooks up with the number one rated rookie who shows up seven months later?”
“Oh, she knew who he was.” Miller tosses the ball in the air, nonchalantly throwing me for a loop.
“Wait, what? She knew?” What the fuck? How did I not know this? Is that why she was cagey when I walked into her office that first day? She knew and had been regretting it ever since?
“Well, I don’t think she knew consciously when you were doing the deed, but she definitely realized who you were the next morning when she bolted out of the room without shoes on.”
“Oh my god, big dick energy. It makes so much sense now,” Fields says as if he just solved a puzzle he’d been working on for months.
“BDE,” Miller cackles.
“Who’s big dick?” I ask confused
“Yours,” Miller is wheezing now.
“Um?” I stare wide-eyed at both of them. “What the fuck?”
“When you stole the horse, the girls were talking about BDE. I didn’t understand what Taylor was saying but now I get it. She knew too?” Fields speaks to Miller now that the pieces are falling into place for him.
“She was there that night. Her and Miller left together,” I confirm, and then what he said registers. “Wait, did Bree say I had a big dick?”
“Bree?” They gawk at me.
I shrug. “It was the name she gave me. I can’t think of her as anyone else. So, did she?”
“She was noticeably avoidant when Taylor mentioned it.” This is from Miller who looks like the cat that ate the canary.
“Do you think Ivory knows?” Fields asks.
“I don’t think so. Gabby didn’t mention it, and she’s pretty insistent that no one acknowledge the elephant in the room.”
“Is the elephant my big dick?” Leaning back in my chair so it tips up on its back legs, I cross my arms behind my head and smile. God, this feels good. I’m going to ride this high all the way home.
“Now you’ve inflated his ego.” Fields throws a thumb in my direction.
“Oh yeah he did.” I’m not even ashamed. This feels a lot like she doesn’t regret our time together at all and it’s great to know I’m not the only one.
“So, what’s your next move then? Do you want the girl? Is that it?” Fields asks sternly.
“This feels a lot like a ‘what are your intentions with my daughter’ conversation.” I drop the chair back down to the ground with a thud.
“Well, what are your intentions?” Fields directly asks this time.
“I’m trying the friends thing. Following her lead like you said.” I recall our conversation on the plane before the All-Star break letting him know how long I’ve been considering more with Bree.
“She may say she wants to be friends, but I see the way she looks at you,” Miller says. “Don’t let her push you away too much. That’s just her overthinking brain.”
“I can be patient.”
“These women we love, they’re strong women.
Independent. A force to be reckoned with.
But they don’t have a lot of experience with someone showing up for no other reason than to be there for them.
You do that, you accomplish everything, and you’ll get the girl in the end.
Whatever you do, just make sure you make her happy.
” Fields gives his blessing, which means a lot considering these are the two most important men in her life so I tell him as much.
“Thanks, man. That means a lot coming from you.”
It’s too soon to talk about love. I care about her.
I want to see her when I’m out of town. Even when I’m in town, I count down until I can see her again.
Like now, I just talked to her, and I already can’t wait for another excuse to text her.
Yeah, I am firmly in the land of “like” with this woman.
“Anytime. Now, let’s get out there. We’ve got to hold onto our lead in the division.” Fields starts walking out of the locker room, and Miller and I follow behind him.
Three days later, it’s Horse Patrol night at the stadium.
I’ve spent the last few weeks between road trips talking to the officers on the horse patrol unit, and I’ve even attended some of their training courses.
It’s been nice to get to know them on a personal level.
I’ve also had time to visit with the horse I stole, who is also in attendance for today’s game.
His name is Herbert, which never fails to make me laugh.
Even I can admit it’s a bit of a dog and pony show as I look around the outfield concourse near the right field entrance where Herbert and the officers are waiting for the pregame meet and greet to begin.
The crowd of people outside the right field gate in line to meet me and the horse in exchange for a donation to the unit proves it’s worth it.
I can be the butt of jokes as long as I’m still able to play.
“Do we need to go over the plan again?” Taylor asks, walking up with Grant, to where I’m standing with my back to the field by the outfield lawn. Those two are together an awful lot considering she doesn’t officially work for the team.
“Don’t think so. Smile. Talk to fans. Take pictures.” I’m distracted when Bree stops to greet the officers. She’s wearing a skirt that may as well be painted on with the way it accentuates her curves. “Seems pretty straightforward.”
Taylor goes over the plan again, but I don’t hear a word she says.
The stretch of red fabric over Bree’s body and how it molds to her ass has my cock twitching in my pants.
Inconvenient if you ask me because baseball pants are designed to leave nothing to the imagination.
Luckily, the warmup hoodie I’m wearing covers my front, giving me added coverage.
Deciding to test the limits, I send her a text before I get started with the meet and greet.
ME
What do I get if I hit a home run tonight?
She immediately looks at her phone and responds.
brEE
A higher batting average.
When she looks my way after hitting send, I don’t miss the way Bree’s eyes rake over my body behind those sexy as fuck librarian glasses she rarely wears. I flex my biceps and watch her flush as she lingers on my exposed tattoos.
Knowing she still wants me is a burst of adrenaline. One I’ve rarely felt outside of playing.
This woman has my body reacting in ways I didn’t know was possible, but I don’t want it to stop anytime soon. In fact, I’m reaching my breaking point. She needs to make the first move. Let’s just hope my balls don’t fall off before then.