Chapter 34
ISLA
“Stop being a baby, Cal, it’s just a bird!”
I bite my lip to stop from laughing as I watch Juniper glare impatiently at Cal, who’s staring in horror at the large, yet remarkably calm, owl perched on the gloved hand of a volunteer from the wildlife rescue.
“Easy for you to say, June Bug,” he mutters. “If that thing takes my eye out, I’ll never forgive you.”
I turn away as I hear someone call my name, still laughing to myself. Who would’ve guessed Cal “Pretty Boy” Prescott was afraid of owls.
Brady Dixon, Griff, Foxxy, and a couple of the other players are gathered in a close circle. At least these guys don’t look scared.
“We need you to decide who gets which animal,” Griff announces when I walk up.
Placing my hands on my hips, I arch a brow at them. “Are you seriously saying that as grown men, you can’t come to an agreement?”
They look back and forth amongst themselves, but no one says anything until Brady steps forward. I don’t know the quiet newcomer all that well, but he seems like a good-natured and polite guy.
“The problem is, we all want the otters.” He gives me a wry grin. “They’re babies.”
“Fucking adorable babies,” Rowdy, one of the outfielders, pipes up.
“But you said we all had to have different animals,” Griff adds. “So only one of us gets the otters. I said Foxxy should go with the fox, because, well, duh.”
Foxxy narrows his gaze at his best friend. “Yeah? Well then, you should go with the raccoon since you’re both fucking snack bandits.”
The group erupts into a debate over who gets which animal, and all I can do is shake my head in disbelief for a couple of minutes as I come up with a plan on the fly.
Grown-ass men arguing over otters. They are pretty cute, I have to admit, but this is ridiculous.
“Okay, enough!” I clap my hands to get their attention.
“Here’s how it’s gonna go. Foxxy, yes, you’re with the pair of foxes in the dugout.
The marketing potential for that is endless.
Rowdy, you get the squirrels, be as silly with them as you want.
They’re inside, in the locker room. Griff, go and see Juniper, she’s got a hawk that needs someone who can be calm.
And” —I look at the remaining three players—“Brady is with the otters. Lucky, go put on some eye black, you’re with the raccoon, also in the locker room, and Hiro…
” I fix him with a hopeful look. “How do you feel about eagles?”
He shrugs. “Fine, as long as it doesn’t bite my head off.”
“Great. Go with Griff to find Juniper, she’s with the birds of prey.”
Hiro and Griff head off to find my best friend and Cal, and I turn to the others. “Well, you know your assignments, get going.”
“And they call me lucky.” Lucky throws his arm over Brady’s shoulders good-naturedly. “Of course, the new guy gets the baby otters. Betcha didn’t expect this when you signed on with the Thunder.”
Brady chuckles. “Definitely not. I thought I’d be playing ball, not playing with otters.” He grins up at me. “Thanks Isla, but why’d you choose me?”
I shrug. “Actually, Lucky’s right. It wasn’t about me choosing you, you did just get lucky.
Rowdy’s goofy enough to have fun with the squirrels.
Foxxy was a given. I’ve seen photos of Lucky’s eye black and knew that would be a great photo, so it was between you, Griff, and Hiro, and I went alphabetical. Dixon comes before Voss and Tanaka.”
The guys all disperse, and I take a minute to regroup. With multiple different shooting locations set up throughout the stadium and facilities, there’s a lot of moving parts today.
The photos with the birds will take place on the field, the otters and ducks are naturally in the medical treatment area, where the large tubs that will eventually be ice baths have been filled with slightly warmer water.
The dugout and the locker room have also been commandeered for other photo setups.
As long as I don’t have to break up any more arguments over who gets which animal, we should be good to go.
“Have I told you how sexy it is when you take charge?” Luca’s voice is warm and low in my ear as his arms slide around my waist, tugging me back.
“Not recently,” I tease, letting my body relax into his arms. “But let's save that conversation for later. We’ve got wild animals to wrangle.”
“Do you mean the players, or the actual animals?” Luca retorts and I giggle.
“Both.”