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Her eyes scan the bench and drift to Raven. I know she has an idea there’s something going on between Raven and me, mostly because she asks me constantly which tells me she’s concerned.

She gives a nod to Red dragging Nova back from the snack bar with nachos in her hand. “How are you doing, Red?”

I’m not sure why, maybe because we dated for so long but Berkley has it in her head she’s still friends with everyone, like Red and my parents. I guarantee even though Red is pissed at me, he still doesn’t like Berkley.

Red steps inside the dugout, his arm draped over Lenny’s shoulder. “Pretty good.”

When Red takes a seat at the end of the bench near the fence, I scoot next to Raven. “Did you miss me?”

She moves away from me and ties her hair up, her mitt on her lap. “Not really.”

I scoot next to her and she slides herself further down until there’s nowhere left to go without falling off the bench.

This time she glares. “Are you five?”

“Stop acting like you don’t enjoy it.” And when she doesn’t reply to that, I ask, “Did you get my text?”

She shrugs and stands up. “Stop talking to me. You’re up to bat soon.”

I’d forgotten the game is starting.

WE GO THROUGH the top five in the batting order and I’m standing outside the dugout waiting for my turn to bat, the sky’s painted with hues of red, orange and pink, which fade to a matte black as the clouds move in. Lenny’s up to bat, with Red coaching first base. He’s got one eye on Lenny and one on Nova, who refuses to sit still tonight and keeps running onto the field.

Wanting Raven’s attention, I tap the bat to the fence. It rattles with the weight of the bat and when her eyes are on mine, I dip my head a little and wink as I stroke the handle of the bat to get a rise out of her.

She scowls, her uneasy stare sweeping over me.

Nova bounces up from her place on the concrete inside the dugout. “What’s wrong with you? You look like you’re going to puke,” Nova says to Raven as she grabs the sunflower seeds out of her hand.

Raven grumbles something to her I can’t hear but I’m distracted now by Daniel, our lube tech at the shop, making his way toward me.

He’s batting behind Raven and leans into my shoulder and gives a nod to Raven. “I can’t believe you’ve been hitting that.”

Daniel is one of those kids you shouldn’t trust. You know he probably has good intentions inside of him somewhere; I’ve just never seen them. The only reason I tolerate the shit is because of Lyric, Red’s dad who passed away last May. He asked me to help the kid out and I’ve been trying to show him the right way. Only, he’s pretty fucking dumb.

I glare over my shoulder. “What are you talking about?”

He steps beside me. “I’ve been spanking it to images of that ass for years. Please tell me you’re done with it.”

My body rushes with anger and it nearly blinds me for a moment.

I blink, twice.

Did he seriously just say that?

Taking the bat in my hand, I lift it and smack his balls with the end.

“What the fuck!” he curses, dropping to his knees on the ground.

Kneeling, I get down to his level. “If I ever hear you say something like that again, about Raven, you’re going to be pulling this bat out of your ass instead of cupping your fucking dick.” Standing up, I point to the dugout. “Can someone bat for Daniel? He needs a pinch hitter.”

I’m a good softball player. Baseball was my sport growing up so it’s no surprise to anyone I hit a home run.

After I cross home plate, I’m walking back and I stop in front of Raven near the dugout, since she’s up next and hand her my bat she likes to use. “Your turn.”

She takes it but doesn’t meet my eyes. I watch her the entire time as she swings and drives one deep into left field. Their left fielder manages to get to it before she makes it to second.

Daniel’s up after her and I have to run for him, seeing how I smacked his ball sac and that leaves me watching Raven run to third. I want to make a run for second but I don’t have time.