Page 75 of Without Bound
“I have no idea. I just walked up right before you.”
“Goddammit, Camille. Out in the hallway. All of you, now,” I bark and march off without checking to see if they follow.
“Should I get Luca and Anais?” CeCe asks and I simply nod my head.
I push my way out into the quiet hallway and turn so that I face the group. CeCe, Luca and Anais are the last ones to join us and now seven sets of eyes stare at me.
“So what is it that you have to tell us?” Vaughan asks, impatiently rubbing his hands together.
My eyes catch Anais’ and she gives me a short jerk of her head. It’s too late now. The ball has left the pitcher's hand and all I can do is give it a wide target and hope it lands safely.
“I am seeing someone, so I need you all to quit trying to set me up on dates,” I say plainly.
Gasps sound amongst the group with CeCe being the first one to speak up.
“Well who is she? When can we meet her?” Her smile is wide and the light in her eyes is pure happiness.
“You already have met her. In fact, you know her quite well.” Everyone goes silent, each one searching the face of the others for the slightest clue.
Cami looks straight at Vaughan whose eyes slowly grow bigger and bigger until his jaw drops with a, “oh shit.”
“What? What’s oh shit?” Cat asks, her head flinging between Vaughan, Cami and I.
I look over to Anais who is chewing her lip, and Cat follows my eye line to Anais then back to me. Then back to Anais.
“Oh…my…God,” she finally says.
“Can we stop with all the veiled guesses? Who is it, Bishop?” CeCe stomps her foot and Luca rubs her lower back and whispers something in her ear that has her exhaling a slow breath.
I pull in a gulp of air and say, “Anais and I are together.”
Like a scene straight out of a movie, they all move as one as they turn to watch her reaction for either confirmation or denial. Her response is to shrug her shoulders and smile tensely.
“Are you kidding me?” CeCe screeches.
“Shhh, C. Please. I was not planning on telling you any of this tonight, so I’m sorry about the delivery of the message.”
Anais pushes her way through to come stand by my side and takes my hand in hers.
“Uncle Nix doesn’t know yet. And neither does Viv.”
“No. Anais. What are you doing?” CeCe reaches out to her as if she’s going to tug her away from me, but only touches her hand.
“What we’re doing is giving up the fight to stay away from each other, and giving in to what seems so right. And we plan to tell Uncle Nix, but we’re waiting until after the series. What do you think would happen if we told him something this big right as he’s working towards his second title?” she asks.
“He’d quit baseball, kidnap you, take you to a remote corner of the world, and lock you in a tower,” Vaughan quickly spits out. “Just spitballing here. As a dad.”
“Look. We’re going to tell him but until then, can you all just keep it quiet? We want him to hear it from us.” It’s a big ask, I know, but it’s the one I need from them most of all.
“We won’t tell him, but you better do it soon,” Cami warns, pointing a finger in my face.
I nod and they begin to file out of the hallway and back into the suite. I usher Anais ahead of me and before I can step back in, CeCe comes charging at me, pushing my chest until I’m smacked against the wall.
“What the fuck are you doing, Bish? This is nuts. She’s a child.”
“She’s not a child, C. She’s younger, yes, but she’s an adult. Remind me, how much older is Luca than you?” I cross my arms over my chest, waiting for her to realize her error in judgment.
“That’s different,” she sneers. “We were both adults when we came together.”
