Page 75 of Liam

After his third strike, Benny throws the bat and…twerks.Liam busts out a laugh, as well as the rest of the Prestons watching from the bleachers. With the game now over, the team rushes the field, and now there’s a bunch of little kids surrounding Benny, dancing with him, all laughing, showing each other their dance moves. “Fuck it,” Liam says, grabbing my hand and dragging me onto the field. He finally caves, mimicking Benny’s moves, minus the twerking, and the pure joy in Benny’s laugh has me grinning like an idiot. Benny takes both my hands, making me dance with him, and of course, I do. Because who could say no to little Benny Preston?

It only lasts a few seconds before he releases me, his eyes wide. “Daddy!” He takes off, running toward?—

My smile slips as I watch Benny run into the arms of his dad… acop in full uniform.

“Did you see, Dad?” Benny exclaims. “I struck out!”

“I saw!”

“Come meet Addie!”

I try to escape, but I’m surrounded by too many bodies, kids mainly, and—unfortunately—I can’t just fly-kick them all away.

“Addie!” Benny yells behind me, and I freeze, my eyes shutting tight. I take in one full breath, then another, before opening them and turning around. I don’t know if my fake smile is convincing or if I look crazy. Probably the latter.

Benny’s standing off to the side, holding on to his dad with one hand, the other waving me over. I gather the courage I need and slowly make my way toward them, sidestepping all the parents collecting their kids.

“Daddy, this is Addie.” Benny beams up at his dad, the pure pride in his eyes evident.

“Hi, Addie,” Leo says, and up close, he’shuge. Muscle upon muscle. Definitely the biggest of all the Preston boys. I follow Benny as he leaves to say goodbye to his friends, only turning back when Leo adds, “My wife tells me you helped Benny with his swing.”

“Yeah, a lot of good that did,” I try to joke.

“Yeah, but he looked like he had a blast out there.”

I can’t meet his eyes. Or him at all. I’m staring down at the ground, unable to settle the pounding in my chest. Thankfully, Roman appears, handing me a bat. “For old time’s sake.” I’ve never been more grateful for an interruption.

Without a word, I leave Leo behind and tell Roman, “Don’t go easy on me, old man!”

He’s making his way to the pitcher’s mound, and he turns, walking backward as he replies, “Talking trash already?”

Liam’s already in a catcher’s position, no glove, and most of the boys have cleared the field, either to leave or watch. I get in position and jerk my head once, ready. Roman’s either gottenreally rusty over time, or I’ve gotten way better, because a loudcracksounds when the bat connects with the ball…

Liam stands slowly, watching the ball fly through the air and completely out of the park.

“Welp…” he murmurs. “That’s onlyslightlyhot.”

“That was pure luck!” Roman shouts, and he’s already got another baseball in hand, ready to go.

“Go ahead,” I yell. “Test your theory.”

He does. Same outcome.

Liam lets out a low whistle. “This is a horrible time to be as turned on as I am.”

I laugh, shoving his shoulder.

“I’mkidding,” he says, taking my hand and squeezing once.

The idiot umpire returns. “Y’all need to pack up now. There’s another game in an hour.”

“Anhour?” I ask.

“Clear the field, young lady.”

I wait for him to leave before muttering, “This fucking guy…”

“You should get Roman to take you to the batting cages,” Liam says. “Get in that clearly unneeded workout you were talking about.” He takes the bat from me, throws it in a bag with the others.

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