Page 168 of Stolen Bases

Nico pauses the video and looks up at me. He gives me a sad, crooked smile. “Last night’s game.”

“Was it bad?”

“Come see for yourself.”

I crawl into bed beside my big brother and rest my head on his shoulder.

He leans his cheek on my head. “Ready?”

“Not really, but I have a feeling this is why you’re here.”

“Such a smart girl.” Nico pats my leg and pushes play.

Cam is standing on the mound, and I can already see the distress in his body language. His shoulders are tense, and he has a furrowbetween his brows. Cam is usually all smirks and knowing looks, but right now, he’s anything but happy to be on the field.

Nico, in his full catcher’s gear, makes a hand gesture behind the batter, and Cam nods. I watch him rub his hat and get into his stance.

“The pitch. You can see that distinctive stretch style of Cameron Miller, but Swanson sees the change coming and hits it right down the middle for a double, and the Evaders give up another run. This is uncharacteristic of Miller, coming off a perfect game. You’ve gotta ask yourself: is something wrong with him? An injury we don’t know about?”

How can Cam go from throwing a perfect game to this?

Because it messes with his head when you run away scared, instead of pulling up your big-girl panties and talking to him.

Water wells in my eyes as I watch a defeated Cam lift his hat and run a hand through his shaggy hair. My big guy looks as broken as I feel inside.

Nico pushes pause, cutting off the announcers. “You don’t want to see what happens next or hear what they say after this. It’s not very kind.”

“It’s that bad?”

“This was the nice clip. I can’t bring myself to show you how bad his batting was the game before.” Nico turns off his phone and tucks it into his pocket.

My chest is heavy, like an eight-hundred-pound gorilla is sitting on it, and I lose the fight against my tears as they stream hot and heavy down my cheeks. “This is all my fault, isn’t it?”

Nico hums, not agreeing or disagreeing.

“What do I do?”

“I can’t answer that for you.”

“But you have an opinion.” It’s no secret Nico doesn’t like Cam.

“If you had asked me last week, I would have said fuck that guy. But now? I get what you see in him. I’m not saying I approve, but I’m also not disapproving. Does that make any sense?”

A watery chuckle escapes as I nod. “Yes. I just… I don’t want to hurt you by being with him.”

“Neeyeh.” Nico makes a weird sound between nah and meh, making me smile. “You can’t let other people get in the way of your happiness, especially not me. All I want for you, my baby sister, is to be happy. So decide: do you love him and want to be with him or not?”

I know my answer, but I’m scared. What if my fear of being abandoned made Cam feel like I was abandoning him? Could he forgive me?

“Do you think he still wants to be with me?”

“Ugh. Why? I just want to play baseball. I do not want to talk about this mushy shit. Ever.” Nico growls, mumbling under his breath, “But if it’s the only way to get your stubborn ass to see how much you two idiots love and miss each other, fine.” He reaches over and places a bag on my lap.

“What’s this?” I ruffle through the bag, biting back my smile.

In Nico’s own way, he just gave me his approval and support. I could burst from happiness right now.

“Inside, you will find a ticket for tomorrow night’s game, as well as a locker room family pass and something to wear. And to answer your question, yes.”

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