Page 33 of Tormented Bastard
“Yep.”
“Why would he do that?”
“The guy had it out for me ever since I set foot into the clubhouse. He thought I had taken his spot on the roster, and he was on his way out.”
“Yeah, well, he was. He’d lost his mojo. He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. I never could figure out why they kept him.”
“He’d been on the team for years. He was a decent backup. But he didn’t want to be backup. It was a cut in pay and a blow to his ego.” I shrugged. “I guess he figured since he couldn’t one-up me on the field, he’d do it off the field.” Images flashed through my mind like flashes from a camera.
Realization dawned in Eden’s eyes. “That’s why you guys were fighting on TV?”
I nodded once. “He’d run his mouth to me and about me one too many times, and I lost my shit. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. I was still a starter, but my pitching was for shit and we all knew it. That only served to piss him off and he needled me even more about the fact that I couldn’t throw a strike anymore.”
I paused and blew out a breath, trying to relieve some of the pressure in my chest. “In the end, he got what he wanted. I threw the first punch and with the way it was filmed, it looks like I hit him unprovoked. I ended up reinjuring my arm and I was deemed nothing more than a liability to the team. Both physically and for team morale. I was benched for my next game and a week later, I went in and asked to be let out of my contract.”
She shook her head, her forehead crinkled in confusion. “Why would you do that? Baseball was your life. Didn’t you only have another half season or so left on your contract?”
I tilted my head. “For someone who wouldn’t return my calls, you sure know a lot about me.”
A pink blush stained her cheeks, and she rolled her lips inward. “I watch the news.”
“Right,” I said with a smirk. “You watch sports?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Bullshit, Mitchell.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. I don’t watch sports, but I did watch sports news when you were involved, okay? Happy now?” She huffed, the motion lifting and lowering her chest in such a way I was momentarily distracted.
Was I happy to know that even when we’d lost touch, she’d followed my career? I hadn’t known a damn thing about her, but she knew all about my demise. And now she had the real sordid details. But no, I wasn’t happy because I had no clue what her life had been like and why she’d shut me out for the last four years.
“To answer your question though—yes, I only had six months. Which made it easier to get out of my contract. It was a mutual decision. I couldn’t win a game if my life depended on it. The media spun the video and the story so that I ended up looking like the bad guy. Even if I’d wanted to play for another team, no one would touch me. My reputation as the Hollywood Golden Boy was shot to hell.”
I turned my head toward the window. “I should have never gone back after the accident. I had all sorts of setbacks with the rehab and then with all the shit that went down with Ty…” I blew out a breath. “I was fucked in the brain and that was a bigger problem that even the team doctor couldn’t crack. After everything that happened, it was easier for me just to get out and move on. Get out from under all the media scrutiny and the lies and just be able to breathe.”
“These last few years have been shitty for you. I’m so sorry, Chase.”
“For which part of it?”
“For all of it. For losing your wife, for being betrayed by not only the woman who was supposed to love you but also by your teammate. For losing the one thing in this world that meant the most to you.”
I turned my head back and looked down into her eyes that sparkled with unshed tears, making them look like turquoise gems in the dimly lit room. I moved closer to her, our bodies brushing together. “You’re right. I did lose the most important thing in the world to me. But I lost it a long time ago.”
She looked up at me, her eyes a swirl of emotions. Hope, fear, desire, hurt, surprise. “What do you mean?”
I brought my hands up and cupped her face. My thumbs stroked her cheekbones, her eyes sliding closed for a brief moment before opening again and looking at me.
I stared down at her. God, she was beautiful. Stunning. And it was more than just her physical looks. She stunned me with her understanding. Why did I ever let her go?
“I mean you, Eden.”
