Page 3 of The Catcher

“Yes, I said. “I was hired to help y-y-youspecifically.”

Tanner’s lip curled up. “You’re the one that’s supposed to get my endorsements back when you can’t even speak?”

I felt my cheeks flame.He was even worse than I thought. I stopped and forced myself to slow down, remember my mindfulness techniques I’d had to practice as a kid. But it was hard when my heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest.

“Yes,” I said. My voice still came out almost at a whisper, but at least I didn’t stutter.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he snarled. “I don’t need this.” I felt like I was trying to press my bodythroughthe table, attempting to scrape by him and get to the door, but he stepped sideways and cut me off.

He frowned and I saw him grab his crotch, the muscles glistening with sweat moving in his strong arm. “Wait. Not so fast,” he said. I’ll fuck nobodies too. As long as you’re here, come suck my dick and I might give you some cock afterwards.”

My face flamed and I tried to scuttle sideways. “You’re a pig,” I hissed, afraid to turn my back on him.

“Oh no, not that,” he said mockingly, but I saw his lips turn down as I tried to get away from him.

“You need help,” I said, trying to bring the conversation back to a professional level. “I know you’ve lost all your sponsors after your suspension and if you don’t try to play nice and improve your reputation, you might not get a contract this year.”

Tanner Courtenay’s frown deepened, and his pointed his bat at me, making me choke down a gasp.

“They’ll come back when I get out of my slump,” he said dangerously. “And I don’t need your fucking advice to ‘play nice.’”

Then he swung his bat, not at me, but at the lamp directly above me. It shattered too, into a million shards. My breath caught in my throat and I was frozen in place. For one searing second the pieces hung in the air, then they all descended in sharp, crystalline fragments over my hair and body. I closed my eyes tightly, feeling myself cringe inward in painful fear. I felt my breath begin to rasp in harsh, jerky pants, panic threatening to overtake me. The shards were so thick in my hair that I was afraid to brush them off for fear of cutting myself. I tried to gently shake my arms, but only succeeded in jabbing my finger on a sharp shard pointed up on the table.

“You’re a psycho,” I said, my voice low and throbbing with fear.

“Yes,” he said, and I realized the asshole was laughing, the action transforming his sharp, sculptured face into something that looked savage, “so don’t fuck with me.”

Just as I was about to try to sprint for the door in abject terror, it opened and the team manager came in.

“Oh good,” he said. “You’ve met.”

The manager’s name was Lou Hernandez, and he was a grizzled septuagenarian of the old-school variety, with a thick head of salt and pepper hair, a big bristly moustache, and a mouth full of chew.

“Lou, what the fuck is this,” Tanner bit out.

The older man ignored his question. “What the fuck happened to the lamp?” he demanded instead, his eyes darting between us.

“Accident,” Tanner said, fixing his eyes on me, daring me to object.

I saw the way a muscle moved in his jaw, and I was frightened. Who knew what Tanner would do to me? I nodded wordlessly in agreement.

Lou humphed angrily, then motioned us closer and out of the glass. I walked carefully, the shards falling from my clothes at each step, feeling glass pieces in between the bottom of my foot and my shoe. I stood as far from Tanner as I could, but I still felt his cold gaze all along my body, the sharp shards scraping along my skin as they fell off.

“This is your last chance, Tanner,” the manager said. “Emrys Finnegan is the only person I could find willing to take you on as a client. The team is paying for her exclusive services. I’d be nice to her, because if this doesn’t work the owner is talking about dropping you.”

“Dropping me?” Tanner asked sharply. “I haven’t been that bad. And the backup catcher is shit. Plus, my money is guaranteed. You’d be paying to bench me.”

“That’s right,” Lou said. “You obviously don’t realize how fucking toxic your brand is, Tanner. No one wants to touch you with a 10 foot pole. You’re a goddamn headache for us to defend and justify. Emrys is your last chance. So I hope you were nice to her.”

“I don’t want this job anymore,” I interposed, my voice shaking. “I don’t need this.”

Lou flicked his eyes over at me, then dug in his pockets and handed me a grubby piece of paper. “I was authorized to go this high if you were reluctant.”

His face looked grim. I glanced down at the paper.

Holy shit.

It was twice as much as even my old boss Jeff had offered me!

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