Page 33 of Worth the Risk

“You’re okay. I’m here.” Her arms shoot up, threading around my neck, nuzzling into my chest. I put my arms around her waist, pulling her into me. Trying to comfort her and myself.

“I’m calling Rosie.” I hear Garrett from behind us and then hear him on the phone reassuring Rosie that we found her. “Emilia, do you want to call the cops?” Emilia pulls back slightly from my body, but I don’t fully let go, I need to keep her close. She looks down to where Garrett has James pinned to the ground, her eyes going wide.

“Oh no, no cops.” Her voice is soft but her eyes plead with mine.

“Emi. Are you sure?” I ask her, I can’t force her to do anything but if it were up to me we would be getting this man arrested, or kicked out of school at the least.

“I’m sure. Please.” Her eyes met mine, asking me to understand.

“Okay.” I nod, keeping eye contact with Emilia, before I turned my gaze to where James lays on the ground. “Never touch her again, you hear me?” James scowls at me. “Do you understand?” I spit out the words. Garrett’s standing now, his foot pressed to James’s chest.

“I hear you.” The doors to the bar open and a guy I somewhat recognize as Bobby comes over to us.

“What the fuck is going on?” Bobby asks, looking between me and his friend on the ground.

“You’re little friend here tried to assault her, that’s what's going on.” It’s Garrett who speaks up, anger filling his voice. I don't blame him but it shocks me, he’s usually very calm and collected. “Bring him home and if I ever see him disrespect a woman like that again? You don’t want to know what’s going to happen.” Garrett bends down, hauling him up and practically throwing the guy to Bobby.

“Hey James? I better not see you at practice this week or ever again.” Neither of them say anything as they climb into the car directly in front of us, peeling away. I still have Emilia pressed against my body, her head buried into my chest when Rosie and Ryan come flying out the front doors of the bar and over to us.

“Emi!” Rosie yells on her way over to us, her run slowing as she approaches assessing her friend and seeing she's in one piece. Emilia peels her head off of my chest slightly to turn and face where Rosie’s voice is coming from. “What happened?” Rosie asks tears in her eyes, Ryan right behind her his hand hovering over her waist but no quite making contact.

“Can we sit?” She turns her gaze back to me. I guide us over to the nearest bench that is right outside the front of the bar. She sits in the middle, I sit on one side and Rosie on her other. Rosie cups Emilia’s face in her hands, examining her all over and once she seems satisfied that her friend wasn’t physically injured, she holds her hand as we sit. Emilia threads her fingers through mine with her other hand, I’m thankful for the contact and reassurance she’s giving me.

“He found me outside the restroom, said he needed to talk to me privately.” She exhales a deep breath. “I never thought he would try anything, I told him we were better off as friends but …” She chokes back a sob, I gently squeeze her hand letting her know I’m here for her. “He reminded me that we kissed and I guess he thought it was good but I hated it.”

“I shouldn’t have left you.” Rosie shakes her head, before tilting it back to keep the tears from falling. Emilia lets go of my hand to wrap her friend in a hug.

“It’s not your fault.” Emilia brushes Rosie’s hair out of her face. “You can’t be with me at all times.” We can’t be but I’m pretty sure Rosie and I both wish we could be.

“I should be the one comforting you.” She huffs out a laugh and Emilia grins also letting out a little laugh.

“It’s okay. Liam’s got me.” She turns to meet my eyes and gives me one of her soft smiles. My heart soars. She trusts me. It’s the biggest win I can imagine coming for a terrible night.

“We should get you home. Both of you.” Garrett pipes up, him and Ryan have been standing in front of the bench like they are on guard.

“C’mon. I’ll drive you all home.” I say standing up. As we all walk to my Jeep I keep an arm around Emilia’s waist, letting her take the front seat, cramming the boys in the back with Rosie.

Chapter 21

Liam

I didn’t want to leave Emilia alone last night after everything that happened but she insisted she was fine. That she just needed to take a hot shower and go to bed. While I was standing in Emilia’s room making sure everything would be okay, Rosie sauntered in with her pillow and blanket. “We’re having a sleepover.” She declared to both myself and Emi. I relented, leaving them alone for the night, even though it killed me inside.

My mind was racing all night between the what ifs of what could have happened to Emi if we hadn’t found her and then ping ponging to picture her in the shower. What can I say? I’m not a perfect man and every part of me wanted to hop in the shower with her last night to take care of her.

My alarm blares at seven in the morning, I roll over with a groan to shut off the terrible noise and force myself out of the warmth of my bed. As we get deeper into the fall semester coach has been adding more and more practices so we’ll be prepared come spring. Practice doesn’t start until nine-thirty today but as captain I took it upon myself to invite the freshmen to come to the field and cages at eight with me to work on their swings and then do some field work. Something I’m seriously regretting right at the moment.

I keep my shower cold this morning, hoping it’ll help startle me awake. It only semi-works. My mind keeps playing the events of last night. I warned James to not show up at practice today, if he does he’ll have another thing coming. I’ll have to talk to Coach either way about his conduct and the conduct of the team in general. James is someone I never thought I’d worry about. He always seemed like a good guy, lives with his family and always talks highly about them but I guess sometimes you truly don’t know people.

I go through the motions of my morning routine, making a quick breakfast, then dressing in an old pair of baseball pants I use for practice paired with a school t-shirt and hoodie on top. Heading out the door ten minutes before I’m supposed to meet the freshmen.

Listening to the crack of the metal against the ball used to calm me, it would get me in the zone, focusing all my thoughts on this one dream. A dream I feel empty chasing now but it doesn’t matter, this dream is not for me anymore. It’s for my dad. To make him proud. I swallow past the lump in my throat attempting to refocus on the machine that’s spitting the balls at me but after a few misses I decide we need to change it up. We spent twenty minutes stretching, the next twenty in the cages and I want to spend our last twenty in the field working on some catching. These guys are decent but their reaction time needs some work.

“All right let’s run a drill.” I call, “Ethan take my usual spot at first, Aaron head to second, Brandan take your usual catcher spot, and David up on the pitcher’s mound.” David was recruited as a pitcher and he’s got a good arm but these guys need to learn to work together, something they haven’t had the chance to do yet. “I’m going to hit some balls and I want to see you all work together to get me out? Understand.”

“Yes, Cap.” I hear the boys chorus as I get up to the plate with my bat. I nod to David to throw the first pitch when he’s ready, a perfect ball down the middle, that I purposely bunt, rolling it just far enough away that Brandan won’t get me out in two seconds flat. I take off for first, making it safely, Ethan catches the ball from Brandan just seconds later. “Not bad. We just need to work on our response time.” Let’s run it again.

This time I hit the ball further, a ground ball closer to where the shortstop position would be. Aaron gets to the ball quickly and Ethan almost tags me out. “Good, again.” Over the next fifteen minutes we work on the same drills, me changing up where I hit the ball and the boys' response time improving every time. On the last drill I hit it short again and Brandan tosses the ball to Ethan who’s able to get me out before I make it to base.

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