Page 4 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)

SARAH

Jensen: We have a game tonight.

Too bad, it’s hair washing day.

What kind of shampoo do you use?

That’s creepy.

No it's not, I want to know what you smell like.

H is texts stop for a second and it’s almost like I can hear his realization as the little dots pop back up at the bottom of the screen.

Okay that did sound creepy but…

I think it’s some blue bottle, it's Amika.

I don't even know why I told him that, maybe the sick need to feel something took over.

Even if it meant being stalked by some cocky baseball player.

I was tempted to google the statistics of baseball players being horrible people.

Did I really want to know if the cute guy that was flirting with me about what kind of shampoo I used was a stalker?

Or did I just want to be stalked because it meant someone was giving me attention.

“Stop chewing your nails.” Tyson leaned over from his desk with a dirty look on his face.

I was going to argue with him but to do so I had to take my fingers out of my mouth. I set my phone in my lap and spun in my chair to face him.

“Talk to me,” he leaned back on his own. It was hard to concentrate because he was wearing a vintage band shirt with two naked women riding a motorcycle on it today that literally demanded all the attention in the room.

Tyson had been working with me as an app developer at Clarity for two years and we had trauma bonded over bad dates and even worse bosses.

I rarely ever saw him outside of the office.

His desk was covered in weird trinkets he found thrifting and his wardrobe was made up of click bait vintage t-shirts and obnoxiously bright Hawaiian button-ups.

He was made up of all the weirdest things, a curly ginger mullet, dark green eyes and more freckles than a normal person with a crooked smile and a dramatic flare.

Work would be boring without him and he proved it every time he opened his mouth.

I held out my phone to him with the messages open.

“Addy there’s like hours of interactions here.” He scrolled through it and with each swipe his big green eyes widened even more. “Who is this guy?”

“He plays for the college baseball team,” I said, taking my phone back.

“Ooh, a younger man,” he smirked. “You know, in two years of working together you’ve never once brought up a boy. I was starting to get worried.”

My phone vibrated again and I looked down to see it’s just my brother making sure that I remembered about dinner next week.

“Oh you’re in deep,” Tyson hummed and leaned forward with his mouth half open. “Tell me more.”

“We have to get the pitch out before Friday, we don’t have time for this,” I reminded him.

He rolled his eyes, turning around in his chair, typed on his computer for a total of three minutes before turning back to me. “Pitch sent.”

“Tyson!” I gasped. “There was—”

“Nothing to be done with it, you were being a perfectionist again, the client will love it.” He brushed off my worry, “now tell me about the cute younger man.”

“I don’t actually know a lot,” I confessed.

“You’re killing me,” he groaned and dragged his chair across the floor to my computer. He pushed me out of the way and started to type things into google. “What’s his name? You have him on your phone as J.”

“Uh Jensen, he’s the Catcher…”

“The Catcher?” Tyson turned to look at me, “Those boys are good with their hands.”

I laughed, “How the hell would you know that?”

“Freshman year, I had a stint with one. Hot sex, but he was stupider than a captivity-bred panda bear,” he scoffed.

“There he is. M. Jensen." He brought up his roster stats and the picture that went with it. “Holy shit, Addy…” he fanned himself playfully. “Is he Greek?”

“I don’t fucking know, Tyson. That’s the problem,” I said between a bout of laughter.

“Okay…” he shrugged and cracked his knuckles, “more research.”

He continued to type away on the computer, bringing up different tabs as he found more information on him. With every article it was becoming apparent that he was good, really good. He had a shot to go pro if he wanted but he was still playing college level for some reason.

Why wouldn’t he take the chance?

“Oh look!” He nudged me, “that’s where I know that handsome face from. His mother.”

The website was for a bed and breakfast chain that had over one hundred and thirty locations across the United States.

The picture on the main page was of an older, beautiful woman with a thick bundle of dark curls.

A man with salt and pepper hair and a softer look to him alongside a younger-looking Jensen, who stood beside the woman with a mirrored smile.

“They’re like The Jensens ,” Tyson emphasized. “That’s one of the most badass women in Harbor. By the age of sixteen she had already opened the first location right here in Harbor. ”

“Yeah, I know the place. My Dad loves staying there when he’s in town,” I nodded. It was down past main street.

“It was a heritage building that she won in an estate sale bid and redid on her own while going to school, and raising a brand new baby.” He read the bio below the picture and my interest peaked. “Holy shit, she’s only forty… I think I’m in love.”

“Shut up,” I laughed. “Does it say anything about Jensen in there?”

“Nothing really, his father helps run the business, and it just says they're proud of their son for all he’s accomplished in life so far,” he shrugs.

“Does he have an Instagram?” I asked finally and Tyson held up his hand before switching tabs to another page. There wasn’t much on it, and for the majority it was all shitty taken photos of him and his friends. But there was one that caught my eye, “that one,” I said, pointing to it.

Tyson brought it up and it was a photo of him in a graduation gown smiling with his arms around his parents. “He’s graduated?”

“That can’t be right,” I said, “how is he still playing baseball?”

Tyson shrugged, “looks like a masters in business… maybe?” He titled his head to try to read the certificate he was holding but it was too small and too blurry even zoomed in. “He’s a smart Greek God? I don’t know what you got yourself into but God damn am I glad to be along for the ride.”

“So we’re going right?” Kaia was laid across my couch with her feet propped up over the arm and an intense look on her face. Her hair was braided back and it made her usually sharp, beautiful features blinding.

“I don’t think so,” I shook my head and closed my laptop on the island.

My studio apartment wasn’t exactly spacious but it was enough for me.

The exposed brick wall and hardwood floors had called to me the first time I saw them.

It was now decorated with neon signs and weird art that framed in a tv that hung across from the long, thrifted sectional in the center of the loft.

“This is bullshit, why are you fighting it so hard?” She rolled to sit up so she could really glare at me and I avoided the harsh gaze by grabbing a beer from the fridge.

“I’m not fighting anything,” I laughed, popping the top and flicking the bottlecap at her. “I’m just not ready to become some brainless bat bunny because a cute guy smiled at me.”

“There’s literally nothing wrong with a good brainless fuck from an extremely attractive baseball player, you’re just insulting a demographic to make yourself feel better about being a coward!” Kaia declared.

“Alright alright, calm down Killer,” I said, raising my hands in surrender. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

“I’m pretty sure Christian is cheating on me,” she blurted and I instantly handed her my beer as I sank on the couch beside her. “He’s been doing that I’m working late. I can't come over bullshit, and he bailed on the last three dates.”

She and Christian had been together for years but they had the worst relationship I’d ever seen and yet…

“Why the hell do you entertain that?” I asked her as she chugged back the beer.

“Because he’s sweet when he wants to be, and it’s the only love I’ve ever had. It’s about commitment okay.” She shrugged and set down the empty bottle.

“Who’s the coward now?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m not just going to quit. I’ve been at it too long,” she said.

“No one is going to call you a quitter,” I said to her.

“I will,” she argued. “Stop deflecting the conversation, we’re going to the game tonight.”

“Won’t that give him hope?” I asked and leaned over to rest on the back of the couch with my shoulder and head.

“We’re actively trying to give him hope, we need to get you laid.” She smiled and pushed off the couch, “come on you need to get cleaned up and you need shorter shorts. ”

I grumbled and followed her toward my closet. She helped me clean up a little, and redid my hair with some clips before she disappeared and returned with the jersey.

“No.” I shook my head. “Absolutely not, that’s too much hope.”

“Put it on.”

I knew I wasn’t going to win the argument so I slipped the jersey over the tight black cropped t-shirt and did the middle button up. I hated how cute I felt in it and how proud Kaia looked when she surveyed the finished product.

We took a cab over to the stadium, stealing two seats higher up in the stands tucked between some drunk college students and a few girls who kept giggling about Cael Cody. Kaia handed me a bag of cola bottles and I ripped them open, popping one between my teeth nervously.

“He can’t even see you up here, relax.” Kaia leaned over with a piece of licorice pressed to her tongue.

The game started and despite how much I wanted to put on a cool and collected front, the second I saw him that tingling warm feeling blistered across my chest and my fingers curled around the bag as I shoved my hands between my thighs to keep still.

“It’s like the sunshine makes him prettier,” Kaia swooned and I giggled because she wasn’t wrong.

It licked at his exposed muscles and made his tawny skin glow and highlighted every dark swipe of permanent ink that covered him.

“How dare you deny that,” she scolded under her breath as the game started.

I finally relaxed going into the bottom of the fifth inning.

Starting to think that Kaia was right that we could make it through the game without being spotted.

When Jensen came up to bat and knocked the ball out of the park with a resounding crack that echoed over the crowds screaming, everyone jumped up in excitement as Jensen carried himself to first. His head was turned up in the crowd and for a second I thought he wasn’t looking too hard but he shifted, jogging backwards to second base and pointed directly at me.

My cheeks turned a shade of red that burned at the touch as Kaia wrapped her hands around them and pulled our noses together.

“Are you convinced yet?” She asked loudly over the sounds of cheers. “Because that man is down bad! ”

I gripped her wrists as she squeezed my face and smiled at her.

I was screwed and I liked it.