Page 2 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)

JENSEN

“ J ensen I swear to—”

It didn’t matter what Coach said next, the entire stadium was silent when she smiled at me. I could have sworn I heard her agree to the terms, but anything after she said fine was just useless details.

Deal came out of my mouth in between the rapid beats of my heart, and it only hit me after I said it, that I realized the gravity of my decision.

Shit. I turned back to the plate and surveyed the field.

Van was on third with a tight jaw, Cael on second with an unreadable expression and Louis was a bag of nerves on first. The three fastest guys on the team.

It could work. I was screamed at as impatience got the best of the dugout.

I looked over my shoulder at her again and couldn’t help but grin seeing her leaned forward in her seat watching.

If the prettiest girl in Harbor wanted a game-winning bunt, I’d give her one.

Dean hissed from my left as I delicately planted my feet in the loose sand.

Looking at him was a death wish. He would burn a hole through what little confidence I had to pull off the move.

I rotated my hands on the bat, it felt heavy in my hands, but the weight made me feel at home in the batter's box.

All I had to do was hit the ball.

Colhan stared at me like I was an easy out, rolling the ball in his pitching hand with a nasty smirk on his face that meant trouble.

I had one shot to get the swing right. I tapped my foot on the plate and inhaled.

Timing it exactly to how he pulled his arm back and released the ball with power behind it.

As the ball came at me, I turned my back like a flicker, sticking my arm out straight and tapping the ball with just enough force.

In the same second, I pushed off my back foot and took off running as fast as I could.

It didn’t matter where I made it. The second the ball bounced, everyone scrambled.

Colhan tripped over his step in the panic, missing the ball as it rolled through the infield.

The entire crowd was screaming as Van made it home with Cael on his tail.

Coach was screaming at Louis from the dugout as the infield finally got control of the ball.

I slid across the divide and crossed second before Louis slid home just beneath the hard whip of a ball from pitcher to the catcher.

As I collided with the third baseman, the ball hit his mitt, and the Ump called me out. The baseman shoved me hard, flying off insults as I scrambled backward to the dugout with my arms in the air. I didn’t want a fight, I just wanted the girl.

I stumbled a step, the smile on my face so big it was starting to hurt as I looked over at her. Puffing up my chest and rolling back my shoulders, I pressed my lips into a knowing smirk and gave her a wink.

The girls beside her burst into laughter and screams as she stood there staring at me. Her head shook gently in disbelief and my chest lit up with fireworks as the stadium ceased to exist around us.

A hand cracked across the back of my head and I knew that Arlo had met me at the entrance of the dugout from the way it stung in the back of my eyes.

“That was ballsy.” His bite was definitely worse than his bark that time. I rubbed the spot he slapped with a smile on my face. “Good job,” he added, the serious look still pulled tight across his face.

“A bunt?” Coach was the next in line for the berating, the bridge of his nose between his fingers as he worked to control himself. Other players clapped me on the back and celebrated. “You’re an idiot, Jensen.”

“It worked.” I shrugged, narrowly avoiding the daggers flying from Dean from across the dugout. He wasn’t actually mad he was just putting on his best Captain glare to make me think he was.

“It was a fluke,” Coach corrected and tossed his clipboard on the bench behind him. “Handshake,” he snapped at everyone. “This conversation isn’t finished.”

Cael and Van shuffled me out of the dugout, jostling me between them in celebration as we made our way up the small set of stairs to the field.

“What the hell was that?” Van asked, throwing his arm over my shoulder .

“That,” I said, my eyes trailing up to where she still stood with her friends. “Do you think Cosy will vouch for me?”

“With her?” Van barked out a loud laugh that turned his cheeks red. “There’s not a chance you ever get with that, Jensen. You’re good, but you aren’t that fucking good.” He pressed his hand to the back of my head and ruffled up my hair even more than it already was.

“Best let that one die and be grateful that play worked or you’d be single and a benchwarmer for the rest of the season,” Cael joked, jogging up to get ahead of us and waving to some people in the crowd.

“The second one might still be a possibility,” Josh said, sauntering past me with his arms crossed over his chest and his hat low on his brow line.

My eyes trailed up to the stand as I stood in the back of the line to shake hands with a very sour NYU team. Cosy lifted her arm in the air and tapped her wrist like she was wearing a watch as her eyes drifted to the smallest blonde shuffling from her seat to the end of the aisle.

Shit.

I was going to miss my only shot at getting her number.

I pushed in front of Van and dodged my way through a few bodies, shaking random hands and offering ‘good game’ to those who made eye contact until I was closer to the front of the line right behind Dean who took his sweet time to talk to Colhan about the play.

I interrupted with a stupid smile and patted him on the shoulder.

“Rough end to a good game buddy, catch you later,” I blurted in a string of words that all rolled together at the end as I ran back through the huddle of players to the edge of the field.

“Hey!” I called out as she reached the stairs and my breath caught in my chest when she looked over her shoulder at me. “Where are you going?” I asked her and she paused on the step. “Come here.” I called her back down.

“I’m okay here,” she said, a tiny smirk playing on her perfect lips.

“You never gave me your name!” I linked my fingers around the barrier that separated the stands from the field. Her friends, including Cosy, were giggling around her and I could feel my heart creeping into my throat with every second that passed as the stadium emptied .

“When you figure it out, come find me,” she said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Her dark waves hung over her shoulder and I wanted to tug on the chunky pieces of hair that curled wildly around her heart-shaped face.

“What about your number, at least give me that so I can text you my guess!” I tried again, my feet lifting off the grass.

She shrugged her cute little shoulders at me, the smile growing as she drove me insane with her teasing. “I didn’t bring my phone,” she said and hissed something at the brunette behind her as she offered up a phone.

“That’s a shame,” I said, licking my bottom lip.

I gripped the barrier tighter just trying to keep her here by any means necessary.

I looked around and took a second to mull over my options…

She never took her eyes off me but I could feel her starting to retreat.

Whatever game we were playing, I was about to lose.

And I hated losing.

“Wait!” I said as she went to step up behind Cosy. I roughly tugged on my jersey until it came loose over my head and ran to the dugout.

“What the fuck are you doing now?” Arlo grumbled as I snatched the permanent marker from the clipboard and jogged out. I climbed over the barrier and ran up the stairs completely out of breath and half naked with my jersey in my fingers.

“Here,” I scribbled my number across it with my name and held it out to her. “Now you can text me when you start to miss me.”

She looked down at it, her tongue playing nervously with one of her sharp top teeth as her brows pinched together.

“What makes you so sure I’ll miss you?” She asked.

“Take the jersey…” I held it up to her, using the railing to lean forward. “ Please.”

Her lips twitch in amusement, “Only because you’re embarrassing yourself groveling like this.”

“You’ll know when I’m groveling,” I said, I let my eyes trace the expanse of her skin, stopping on the little sliver of skin above the jeans she wore. She cleared her throat and my eyes flickered up to her lips. “Use the number, you owe me a date. ”

She nodded, holding the jersey up as she backed away up the stairs after her friends and out of sight. I stayed on the stairs for a second, smiling like an idiot before my name was shouted for the hundredth time that evening.

“Locker room!” Coach glared, “now.”

“Coming Coach,” I hollered back and jogged down the stairs toward him.

Delta was packed as we all found spots on the ratty furniture in the living room. Todd was losing in Mario Kart to Ella who was barely paying attention to her controller as she talked to Zoey about something.

“What’s she like?” I kicked Van with my sneaker and sat forward on the couch. He pressed his lips to his beer and smiled over at me, it was bright and mischievous, and made me feel like I was being left out of some secret.

“Adeline?” He said, distracted by the way Zoey was stepping over people to get to him.

“God, she would have the prettiest name.” I leaned into the sound of it and if I thought about her long enough I could smell the warm flowery scent of her perfume in my nose. “She plays rugby right, with your sister?”

“Yeah, and she’s out of your league,” Van said, his hand wrapping around Zoey’s tiny throat to gently pull her deeper onto his lap for a kiss. I took his sudden interest in his girlfriend as a cue to leave the issue alone but my mind wouldn’t stop wandering to her.

“Earth to Jenny!” Cael tossed an empty can at me. I swatted it away at the last second and downed the rest of my own before throwing it back. A few people groaned as the can sprayed the foamy bottom around the living room as it flew through the air.

“What?” I ignored them all and slid off the couch to the floor, gagging when my hand hit something sticky. “Do the Delta guys ever clean?” I grumbled and moved closer to Cael .

Clementine handed me another beer with a soft smile.

“Thanks,” I said, cracking it.

“What’s wrong with you?” Cael asked over the intense booming of music, “you won the game today. You’ll be in the highlights for at least a month with that bunt.”

“Hey M-Clem,” I corrected. It was still weird calling her by her real name after we had been addressing her by Mary. She perked up, her brown eyes giving me their full attention. “What do you know about Adeline, she plays for the Hillcats.”

“Adeline Sarah,” she said, ignoring Cael’s protests not to get into it with me. “I don’t know a lot about rugby but her name is in constant circulation. She’s one of the faster wingers on the team.”

“Anything else?” I asked her but she just shook her head.

“That’s all I got, sorry Jensen,” she said, her voice sincere before Cael distracted her with his mouth.

I sighed, curling my knee up and looking around the packed living room.

Ella had successfully beaten Todd and was on her knees flirting with Arlo.

Dean was sunken into an old chair and Josh was perched on the side engaged in hushed conversations.

“Hey you wanna go get wasted and do illegal shit?” Todd asked me in passing but I just shook my head. I wanted company that didn’t smell like day-old beer and sweat.

I wanted Adeline.