Page 100 of The Strike Zone

A minute later Scout made an appearance, striding out purposefully in a pair of jeans, an overly large white tee with the Lions logo on the front, and a laptop was clasped to her chest.

Barclay was still lying on the ground, a ball by his feet, Murray and the tattooed guy were laughing with Ace. Penn had stepped away to the boards by the side and was on the phone, but I noticed the second she spotted him, and a split second of panic washed over her face.

I guess having him here was a surprise for everyone, though it could have just been her reaction to being in Penn Shepherd’s presence.

Biting down the smile I could feel forming, I resisted the urge to run to meet her and sent out a prayer she’d hear about this goddamn job before the week was up.

After a year of watching her from the sidelines, becoming virtually mute in her presence, and resigning myself to the fact I would never get a date with Scout, now that I had her, I didn’t want to be keeping it a secret.

I mean, I wasn’t about to be making out with her in front of our boss, but I’d at least like to smile at her without getting fired for it.

While I wasn’t totally hating the sneaking around or the surprising amount of times we’d managed a brief hookup in our closet, it was becoming harder to avoid Coach and his beady eye, not to mention his questions.

Truthfully, I didn’t think it would be quite this stressful, because ever since we’d gotten together, I’d been watching my behavior in a way I never had.

The ball of anxiety I’d been carrying around the last few days gurgled in agreement.

“Sorry we’re late, we had a problem with one of the cameras,” she announced, concentrating on the task in hand, while stopping as far away from me as she possibly could. “We’ll set up quick and then we can get going.”

After forming a small huddle with the guys and handing out instructions, they all took off and found their positions around the diamond, along with the angles they needed. Two tripods were set up—one near Tanner’s position as shortstop and one by the mound. A third was holding a video camera.

“You think Shepherd knows about you two?” whispered Tanner, or he thought it was a whisper.Ithought it was loud enough for the guy over in left outfield to hear, and therefore scowled at him.

“No. But you wanna say it any louder?”

In my opinion, Penn was far too busy to pay attention to any of the rumors circulating among his team.

Coach was a different issue, but thankfully we’d be safe from his watchful eyes this morning—his view on the content creation was that it took precious time away from practice, and he avoided it at all costs. He also wished the players would, but it wasn’t a fight he was going to win against Penn Shepherd’s brand-building juggernaut.

“What will you—” he started again, but I waved him off. My attention had been taken by something else.

“Shhh. I’m trying to listen.”

Scout was standing with Murray, her fingers stroking Barclay’s silky ears as they discussed what Barclay’s role was for the day. It was all perfectly innocent, totally professional, and absolutely nothing untoward.

Except every time she smiled at Murray, my fist clenched so tight, it could crush a baseball.

When she laughed, I thought my chest was going to explode from the tension. And when Tattoos joined in, making her laugh even harder, I was ready to start a fight.

“Dude, chill.” Tanner tugged on my shirt, breaking through the growing annoyance. “Sit back down, you’re being so weird. Stop staring at Scout, she’s just doing her job.”

I glanced around, taking one look at Tanner’s expression, and slumped back onto the step next to him. The anxiety ball that had exploded into jealousy raging through my blood simmered to a gentle wave, which I was now attempting to rub away.

It was official. I was losing it, something made even more pronounced when Scout turned away from them, her eyes locking onto mine long enough that when she smiled, I felt the full force of it hit me.

This time when Tanner spoke it was a barely audible whisper. “How much longer is this going to be secret?”

“Until the end of the week. They’re doing second interviews now.”

“Then you’re signing the form?”

I nodded right as Scout called out, “We’re almost ready. Tanner, we’ll shoot you first with Barclay and then you can get out of the costume. After that, we’ll follow with the other guys one at a time, is that good?”

For the first time all morning he let out a wide grin. “Hell, yeah.”

“Great, d’you want to get into position? The plan is to have Barclay follow the ball around the bases with you running too. We throw from one base to the next and he sprints to each, but you might need to give him a bit of encouragement. We’ll get a few shots of Ace pitching the ball, which we can cut and edit together so it looks like you’re all racing.”

“Cool,” he replied, holding his hands out so we could all help him up. “Let’s get this over with before anyone finds out it’s happening. I don’t need a bigger audience.”

---