Page 119 of The Strike Zone

He broke the stern gaze he’d been holding me with, his eyes flicked down to his sneakers. “Nothing.”

“But what?’ I repeated, my voice barely disguising my anger. “Mine’s not as important?”

“No, I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Then what were you going to say?”

“Nothing,” he snapped, though he still couldn’t look me in the eye.

I had no illusions about the pecking order of this company. Parkerwasmore important than me. Fans lined the gates to see him. They barely moved out of my way to let me enter the grounds.

But hearingParkersay those words, or hold back from saying those words, was different.

“Okay, I’ll go then. If you’d let me speak for one second, I was going to tell you I was going to HR today to sign your dumb form. I’d already planned on doing it, but I thought you’d want to come with me. Even though you failed to tell me about the benching or suspension, I should never have asked you not to sign it, and for that I’m very sorry.” I paused before my hurt got the better of me. “But after that gross display of condescension and egotism, maybe we don’t need to sign it.”

His eyes flared as they found mine again. “What? What does that mean?”

I threw my hands in the air. “You’re the big shot around here. You figure it out.”

“Scout—”

My finger prodded into his chest. “Let’s not forget thatyouwere the one who pursuedme. I told you I wanted to stay single, but you decided we were going to be together. And of course,youget what you want.”

“All I’ve wanted for the past year is you. But I’m keeping us a secret because of you, I’m doing thisfor you.” I couldn’t tell if Parker’s voice was on the verge of breaking or if he really was that angry at me. “That’s what you asked.”

“Well, I’ll make this easy foryou.I’m not asking you to do it any longer.”

My sneakers squeaked as I spun on my heel and stormed back to the elevator, leaving him standing there with the two rapidly cooling cups of coffee. He was still calling for me to come back as I tried to swallow down the thick lump lodged in my throat.

Today definitely wasn’t going to be a banner day.

Parker and I just had our first fight. I had a horrible feeling that not only had I lost it, I’d lost Parker too.

TWENTY-NINE

PARKER

“KING, YOU SUCK. YOUSUUUCCK. KING, YOU SUCK.”

Fucking Mets fans.

We’d been out at pregame warm-ups for five minutes now, and they hadn’t let up once. I could hear them loud and clear, even over the deafening levels of music playing out of the speakers. Whoever was shouting meant business, and was about to get a baseball launched into his face if he wasn’t careful.

I might not have a power arm like some of the guys, but I could hit a target at fifty yards without breaking a sweat. It was irrelevant that I kind of agreed with him.

“KING, YOU SUCK.”

Ace walked over from where he’d been throwing the balls I’d been catching.

“Hey, bud, switch places with me.”

I shook my head. “No way, I’m not giving them the satisfaction.”

He glanced over my shoulder to where the chants were still going strong and looked back at me as confused as I felt. I wasn’t normally one who received the hate from rival fans, that honor usually went to Jupiter, or even Ace, but I guess someone woke up this morning and decided to make my shitty day even shittier.

“Let’s go in then, or move to the other side of the field where Lux and Tan are. They can switch places with us. Even if those dicks aren’t getting to you, they’re getting to me. Fucking douches. How have they not been shut down yet?”

I shrugged. “Dunno. But fuck ’em. Get back to position, we’re not going in. And we’re not moving.”

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