Page 37 of The Strike Zone

He’d orderedmycoffee.

Joey was peering over my shoulder and making gagging noises. “Urgh, that sounds disgusting. How can he drink that and be in peak physical fitness?”

“Yeah, if it hadn’t been a ball player dressed as a Minion asking, there’s no way she would have made it. Coggings had to hand the form over to her because she didn’t understand it. Neither did he.” Cyrus snorted.

But I wasn’t listening.

Parker had not only remembered my drink, he’d ordered it. And this did not bode well for my plans to make smart relationship choices.

Not bode well, at all.

NINE

PARKER

“Didn’t expect to see you so early,” I called over to Ace as his G-Wagon pulled up next to mine and he hopped out.

“Yeah, but my girlfriend works a real job, and I didn’t want to stay in bed by myself. Plus, I was hungry,” he replied, rubbing his stomach as he stretched out of a wide yawn. “I love Payton, but her cooking sucks. The only time her apartment has any food in it is when I bring it over, and seeing as we’ve been away for a week, the fridge was bare.”

“Yeah, why d’you think I came in early?”

He slammed the door to the trunk shut, threw his arm around my shoulder, and we made our way toward the front door to Lions Stadium.

I pulled my ball cap down and glanced around; a dull pang of disappointment flickered in my belly as it didn’t appear there was any social media content planned for today. It was a long shot. It had been so late when we’d finally landed last night, and I guess Scout had to sleep sometime.

Based on how empty the players’ parking lot was this morning, everyone else had had the same idea.

The only staff I spotted were the groundskeepers preparing the eleven-acre Lions site—tidying the flower beds and clipping the Lions-shaped bushes before the gates opened to fans later this afternoon.

“Because we’re synced as fuck and you love me?”

“Yeah, that’s why. And also Radley stayed over, so Lux wasn’t up to make breakfast as usual. I couldn’t wait. I’m starved.”

“Did I miss anything last night?”

“Whaddya mean?

“When you got home.”

“It was one a.m. You missed me crashing if that’s what you’re talking about.”

He dropped his head on my shoulder. “Did you miss your nighttime snuggle with me?”

“I did actually.”

“Good. Which brings me to my next topic. When are you going to replace me?”

I stopped walking, shifting my bag back up onto my shoulder, and looked at him. “What? Seriously, what are you talking about?”

“Scout.”

“Oh.” I rolled my eyes and pushed through the revolving doors into the entrance lobby. “What about her?”

“What’s the next move in Operation Strike Zone.”

I winced and stopped walking again, this time directly over the lion’s mouth on the logo in the floor, which I should take as a warning. “Dude, don’t say it out loud. It’s lame as fuck.”

“No, it’s not. It’s awesome.”

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