Page 68 of Crew

“Crew Stratton?”

“Yeah.”

“This is Brent Waters with the Colorado Rockies. We’re taking you at pick five. Welcome to the organization.”

My heart stopped.

Everything after that moved in a blur. People started shouting. My mom cried. Finn grabbed me in a hug that nearly cracked my ribs.

I stared at the patio, toward where Mallory stood in the doorway. She plastered on a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and came to hug me.

She leaned in. “I’m proud of you.”

I hugged her back, so full of adrenaline and disbelief I didn’t think to ask her what was wrong. Two days later, she broke up with me.

Present Day

Knox stepped up beside me.I cleared my throat. “This is Knox. He’s my teammate.”

The word tasted wrong. Not because it wasn’t true, but because it wasn’t the whole truth. We shared a dugout, sure. But we also shared a bed. Shared secrets. Shared things I wasn’t ready to explain in the middle of the Dixie Mart with a ghost from my past staring at me.

Mallory gave him a polite smile. “Nice to meet you.”

Knox stuck out his hand and they shook. “You too.”

I should’ve introduced her too, but everything in my head short-circuited the second I saw the boy. Knox didn’t know who Mallory was. He didn’t know she used to live with me. That we used to date.

I gestured to the boy. “And this?”

She glanced down, brushing a hand gently over the boy’s back. “This is my son. Grady.”

Grady.

I managed a faint smile. “Nice to meet you, Grady.”

He didn’t say anything, just blinked at me before hugging his crackers tighter.

Mallory straightened. “We should get going. It was good seeing you.”

“You too, Mal.” I couldn’t stop watching the boy as they walked away.

Those eyes.

Too damn familiar to ignore.

He couldn’t have been more than three or four.

I did the math.

Was it possible? Had Mallory been pregnant and never told me? Or did she get pregnant right after she broke up with me?

I dragged my hands down my face and let out a slow breath. My heart was still galloping like I’d just caught a foul tip off the wrist. I didn’t know what to think.

But I knew what I had to find out.

Mallory had a son.

And I was starting to think he might be mine.