Page 102 of Stolen Bases

Cam snarls. “I told you not to disrespect my woman.”

“Calm down, big guy.” I place a hand on his chest. Cam’s shoulders drop, and he takes a deep breath. “There you go. What I think Anson is trying to do—and not so tactfully, might I add—is test you. Are you not?” I ask the good-looking gentleman watching me and Cam with scrutinizing eyes.

He gives a curt chin lift my way.

“See?” I rub circles over Cam’s racing heart. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

“You’re okay,” Cam repeats. He cups my face with his free hand and leans down to kiss me.

“Don’t even think about it,” Anson interjects. “You’re lucky I’m the one who walked in on the two of you. Miss Romero, it was a pleasure meeting you again, but I need to speak to my player for a minute.”

“Yes, sir, but please don’t be mad at him. We didn’t mean for this to happen. We tried to stay away from each other,” I plead.

He can’t fire Cam over this, can he?

“It’s okay, itty bitty. Get back out there. I’ll call you tonight. I love you.” Cam kisses my cheek and places his palm on the small of my back. He nudges me forward. “Go on.”

“I love you too,” I mutter before letting go of Cam’s hand. My heart lurches in my chest with every step I take away from him to rejoin my family.

Can this day get any worse?

twenty-six

Cameron

Worry grips my gutlike a vise, curdling my dinner in the pit of my stomach. I haven’t heard from Talia since this morning before her shift. It’s not like her to go without texting me during the middle of the day or after my game. For all I know, she could have been in an accident and is lying dead in a ditch somewhere.

I glance at a sleeping Nico beside me. He’s acting like his usual asshole self, so there is no way she’s hurt. From what Talia told me about him and their relationship, he would freak out if something was wrong with her. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself to stay calm.

I send Talia another text.

Big Guy:Baby, call me back. I’m getting worried.

I’m mid-flight, on my way home from a two-week away stretch on the East Coast, and I can’t do a damn thing besides sit here and wait. I want to rip my fucking hair out.

Talia’s supposed to meet me at my place tonight after her shift. We’ve been planning this for the last two weeks, and not hearing from her has me stressed out. Why isn’t she answering?

Staring at my phone screen, I will Talia to text me back. When my last message stays unread after ten minutes, I slam my phone into the tray table in front of me in frustration.

“What the fuck, Miller? I’m trying to sleep.” Nico lifts his eye mask and gives me a death glare. I could probably take the look more seriously if he wasn’t wearing an eye mask at six o’clock in the evening. Who the fuck wears an eye mask in real life?

I can hear Anson’s voice in the back of my head telling me toplay nice. After he caught me kissing Talia, he ripped me a new asshole. Something about breaking teammate code, this can fuck up the team, Nico’s going to kill me, blah blah blah. Like I didn’t know this already.

When Anson finished yelling, I couldn’t help being a bit of a smart-ass, so I thanked him for forcing me and Romero to room together. If it wasn’t for him, I never would have met Talia.

He didn’t appreciate my thanks. Now, he’s riding my ass to make amends with Nico before the guy finds out I’m dating his sister. I swear I’m trying, but Romero makes it difficult to like him.

The guy is a conceited dick. How he’s related to my girl, I will never understand. And after that brief confrontation he had with Rhys at the picnic, I haven’t been in a rush to go mending fences.

But I’m not a dick, so instead of talking shit, I mutter, “Sorry.”

“Whatever. Just don’t bother me,” Nico grumbles, replacing his eye mask.

Wouldn’t dream of it, princess.

I go back to staring at my phone, ignoring the huge douche-nozzle beside me.

“You’re bugging me.”

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