Page 116 of The Strike Zone

The phone cut out just as Tanner walked back into the living room holding a remote control. “Was that Millie? Is she here? Did I hear her voice?”

“No.” Radley shook her head. “She was calling.”

“She’s still coming over, right? She was supposed to be here for breakfast.”

“Yes, she’s still coming. I’m going to go get her in a second.”

Tanner’s eyes widened. “Get her, where from?”

Tanner had launched the remote onto the couch next to Parker and was tugging on a pair of sneakers before Radley had time to say, “Grand Central.”

“I’ll do it, you look busy…and you also come with Secret Service. Don’t worry, I got it. I’ll save everyone the trip.” He snatched up his keys and hit the elevator button as fast as he could, crying, “Be back soon,” as the doors closed.

It felt like we’d all just been stuck inside a tornado, or the drum of a dryer, the calm returning only now that Tanner had disappeared.

Parker got up and walked back over to the kitchen. “What just happened? Where’d Tanner go?”

“Um…he went to get Millie.”

“Millie?”

Radley nodded.

“Where from?”

“Grand Central.”

Given his PlayStation buddy had just sprinted for the door, Parker pulled out a stool and sat down. “Oh man.”

I’d heard Tanner mention Millie in passing once or twice, but based on how quickly he’d sprinted out, and the look Parker and Lux were currently sharing, plus Holiday shaking her head, I’d say whatever happened was much bigger than a passing mention. I just wasn’t sure what.

“Is Millie going to be happy about Tanner picking her up?”

Lux shrugged, scooping out a cup of sugar and passed it to Radley. “I guess we’ll find out.”

We didn’t find out.

Even through baking two batches of cinnamon buns—one of which went to Radley’s security—a movie, a game of Twister, then another movie, this time with pizza, Tanner and Millie never came back.

According to Radley, Millie had decided to go back to her dorm to deposit whatever she’d been carrying, and the boys figured that was a good enough explanation to not bother asking where Tanner was too. Holiday left before we’d started the movies, and everyone kind of forgot about it.

As Parker and I crawled into bed, and his arms wrapped around me, I couldn’t remember when I’d last had a day as fun and as unexpected as this one.

“Today was the perfect first date, Davison,” Parker whispered, turning me in his arms until I was facing him enough that I could make out his features in the dim light. His lips were so close to mine that I could smell the mint of his toothpaste. “I can’t even explain to you how happy it makes me that you’re here. For so long I thought being with you was going to have to live in my fantasies, but now you’re really here and I have to pinch myself every morning to remind myself I’m not living a dream. But I am…you’re my dream. And I know that we’re only just beginning.”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. For the first time ever, the feeling of dread was beginning to set in at the thought of going to work in the morning.

The very stark reminder of Parker getting benched catapulted back into my brain. Benched because of me. I managed to stem the prickle of tears inching up from my belly, scratching at my throat, my chest, my nose, until he drifted into sleep.

TWENTY-EIGHT

SCOUT

“Did you tell Parker?”

I shook my head, pulling my hair from the tie and refastening it. It was totally pointless, just as much hair fell in my face. I should have never cut it so short.

“No. I couldn’t. It was such a perfect day together, I didn’t want to ruin it.” I groaned, blinking from my trance of staring down at the boys in practice. “I can’t do this. I can’t wait another two weeks of sneaking around. If it was just hiding it from work colleagues, that’s one thing. But hiding from management is another. It sucks, you think it’s going to be fun, and it isn’t. It isnotfun. It’s stressful. And now I’ve found out Parker could get into real, serious trouble. It’s not worth it?—”

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