Page 31 of Caught Looking

I was so mad all I could see was red. After the photographer ran off Seth made me sit and eat my food while he alternated between holding my hand and making terse phone calls to his security company. Roscoe stayed plastered to my leg. Seth insisted on taking me to my place to finish packing, then he dropped me off here, where he’d had my car delivered earlier in the morning from Dottie’s parking lot. Roscoe was spending the day at doggie daycare. It wasn’t one of his normal days but they made room for him without a problem.

The whole time I raged. Fuck Owen. Fuck the documentary. It was one thing for the paparazzi to take videos of us from a distance or when we knew we were being watched. They were only putting snippets of our lives out there.

But this photographer had hidden in the bushes, secretly capturing our lunch for a film. Or was it Owen’s personal need to know how serious we were? It stunk of Owen snooping on us.

And that pissed me off.

Seth was oddly calm though. I suspect it was because he knew only one of us could fly off the handle at a time. He was also probably secretly plotting Owen’s death. If there was one thing that made me fall for him harder than anything else, it was his mutual hatred of my ex.

Coach Summer’s office door was open. She looked up as I stormed in and her eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”

I barely got to the part where I realized it was a documentary photographer, not a paparazzi photog, when she lost her temper. If I walked like a storm, she was a fury.

“Coach, are they going to follow all of us around?” Nan asked as Coach flew to the doors that led to the field.

“Hell no!” she yelled with a fling of a hand.

Jeri and I traded a look as we tried to keep up. Owen stood in the corner of the practice field with a camera. He had to know what was coming because he took one look at our approach and instead of surprise there was a smirk. He had a casually bored look to his eyes that was far too practiced to be authentic.

“Is this true?” Coach Summer barked.

Owen raised his eyebrows. “Is what true?”

“Ryan had one of your photographers filming her at lunch.”

His gaze slowly moved to me. The look in his eyes sent a chill down my spine. Hate. Possession.Power.With one look he saidI can do anything I want.

Jerk.

“It’s perfectly normal. This is a documentary. We’re documenting all aspects of team life. That includes how certain stars deal with sudden fame when they start dating someone in the public eye.”

The bastard couldn’t have insinuated that I wasnotfamous any more if he tried. Or that my fame was entirely due to Seth’s.

Jerk!

“Hey dickface, Ryan sells more jerseys than anyone else on the team. You might want to check your facts.”

“Jeri,” Coach Summer chastised.

But Jeri just shrugged.

“Jeri is right. My team has their own fame to handle and I do not appreciate your suggestion that they aren’t already in the public eye.” She took a step closer. “Given your lack of appreciation for their standing and your invasion of their privacy, I’m wondering if you’re the right person for the job.”

Owen grinned.

Grinned.

“I assure you, Coach Summer, I take this story seriously. But Anna’s relationship has pushed her into an entirely different realm of fame. It’s a fact that baseball players are more well known. And Seth Butler is a celebrity in his own right. When he retires his fame will follow him because it isn’t tied to the sport, but to his personality.”

I wanted to strangle Owen with my bare hands. The way he crafted sentences was so purposeful. He got to deliver his toxin with a backhand and a smile.

Coach nodded. And nodded. And nodded. “Okay. Got it. All right. Well, from now on you are not to film any of my players off these premises without their permission. No matter hownotfamous they are. Understood?”

“Of course,” Owen said smoothly. “We’ll adjust accordingly.”

Coach spun with a sneer, waving for us to follow her. But before I turned, Owen’s smile fell. He pinned me with a look of pure violence.

It made my blood run cold.