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But I don’t. Because that would be weird.
“You all did amazing. And I had fun teaching Raelyn the ins and outs of baseball.”
Drew smiles at me. “Good. So now you can start coming to more games and cheering us on. We could use a good luck charm.”
“Then we should leave her at home,” Cameron mutters.
“Davis, I will make you take a line drive to the nuts if you don’t cut the asshole behavior out.” Phoenix narrows her eyes at him.
“Stop getting on Mom’s last nerve, Davis,” Kayce laughs.
Phoenix takes two steps over to him and slaps him on the back of his head.
“Cut it out, Anderson.” Phoenix purses her lips. Then she walks over to the center of the logo and clears her throat.
I watch Phoenix stand there, tall, strong, confident. She talks to the team, congratulating them for their win, all their successes together. She looks fearless.
And I wish I was like her.
But I’m not. I’m scared, unsure, and all I want to do is hide. Being here, being around people, makes my skin crawl. Everyone stares at me, judges me. And I don’t know what they want from me.
The only thing I am sure about is that I need to find my way home.
Wherever that may be.
Chapter Nineteen
RAELYN
“Hey, Rae.”Drew knocks on the door to my room as he slowly saunters in. “What are you up to?” He’s dressed in a pair of jeans and a tight black Mavericks T-shirt. He runs a hand through his blond hair, his lips turned down in a frown.
“Hey, just reading.” I watch him carefully as he sits down on my bed.
“Whatcha reading?” he quips.
“Um,Kneelby Lily Wildhart.”
“Oh, is it any good?” he asks, raising a curious eyebrow at me.
I nod. “It’s amazing. Probably my favorite book so far.”
“What’s it about?” He stands at the side of my bed as he looks down at me.
And how do I answer that? How do I tell him about the spicy books I read? The dark bully romances, the reverse harem books, the stepbrother tropes? I can feel my cheeks redden under his stare. “Um, it’s a dark, spicy book.”
Drew hums and nods. “Spicy. Phoenix loves to read those.” He grins at me. “She could probably give you book recs galore. All the smut your little heart desires.”
My cheeks flush even further. “Noted. Um, did you need something?” I ask him as I place my Kindle, which Drew got for me to use, beside me.
He rubs his hands on his thighs.
My eyes widen slightly. He’s nervous.
Which in turn is makingmeextremely nervous. Is he kicking me out? Do I need to leave now? Has he had enough of my bullshit? Oh, fuck, I should have known this wouldn’t last.
“I, uh, it’s nothing. I, uh, just wanted to see how you were doing. Make sure you are still alive. You, um, have been locked away in this room all day.” He shrugs.
I can feel my heart start to race. He… thought I might kill myself?