Page 25

HENRY JAMISON

“H oly shit, dude! You fucking nailed it!” Truitt came bounding down the stairs from the dugout into the locker room to give me, yet another, rather aggressive high five. A half dozen other Sillys lined up right after him to do the same.

“Who knew you had all the moves? Shaking that ass.” Benson teased as he gave my ass a firm slap with a wink.

“Yeah, Jamie. You were on fire tonight.” Chimed in Kellan as he offered a fist bump.

“Hey dude, you’re supposed to make us look good , not show us up.” Arlow razzed me as he elbowed my bicep on his way past. The rest of the guys got a good chuckle out of that.

“Yeah yeah. I just had to show you how it's done is all.” I played right into their game. I was awarded with a locker room full of groans followed by a bombardment of sweaty socks, dirty hats, and Benson and Truitt’s cooling headbands.

While the opening number was hot shit, the opposing team, the Baltimore Crabbies, was unfortunately hotter. The Sillys gave it their all, but the guys from Charm City had that extra edge. We led for a good seven innings before Kellan missed a bouncing infield hit that rolled under his outstretched glove and into Truitt territory in the outfield, sending one runner home. We couldn’t catch up after that once their closing bullpen stepped up to the mound.

Despite all that, I was beaming from ear to ear. I didn’t care that we lost, I didn’t care one iota. That game was by far the most fun I’d ever had playing baseball. Between Cady granting my absurd request to dance to “Dancing Through Life”, to dancing with the woman I couldn’t get enough of, to the loudest cheers I’d ever heard in my entire baseball career. I was going to be living on this high for a very long time.

Cady was incredible as Ender’s Glinda understudy. A part of me was sure that the crowd probably loved having her out there instead of Ender. But I was never going to tell him that. It was magical, electric, and romantic as fuck.

My heart was still beating a million miles a minute. Because of the added adrenaline and ego boost from the dance number, I played my best game of Sillys baseball ever. Hell, if the rules had been the same as the majors, I probably would have beaten my stats there too. I managed a base hit with each at-bat and even a fucking home run during the bottom of the third inning. So even though we lost, I had a lot to celebrate.

I was on fire, and I had this team to thank for it.

I had Cady to thank for it.

She was such a fucking dream. A wet dream. A dream of a woman that was everything I could have ever wished for. All in a cute, petite package .

More than anything I wanted to sweep her up in my arms and bury ourselves in the sheets for the entire night. That was the kind of celebration I could get behind. A quiet, well not so quiet , night with just Cady and me.

Two months ago, I was so sure I’d hit rock bottom. Stepping into this ballpark was as if I signed off on my doom. That getting me to do any form of dancing would have been over my dead body.

But look at me now.

I inspired an entire dance number and then starred in it.

Was it Broadway-worthy? Absolutely not. Was it my best work in anything I’ve ever done? Debatably. Did I have an amazing time?

It was…

Incredible.

A round of cheers erupted, and I glanced up from unbuttoning my jersey to see the woman of my dreams waltz down the steps in her white sneakers and pink rhinestone Sillys jersey. I’d seen the woman completely naked and yet this was one of her sexiest looks. My fingers itched to grab ahold of her and not let go.

“Alright alright, keep your shirts on.” Cady dismissed the guys and their nonsense with a big ass grin. “Way to kill it out there, guys!” More cheers erupted as the Sillys went back to high fiving each other.

A loss in the majors usually turned the mood of the locker room into one of melancholy. Which, given how many games there are in the regular season, was kind of a moot point. A loss meant it was going to take more games to get to the postseason and the World Series.

But here? It was the complete opposite. The guys were still playful and lighthearted. It was infectious. How could anyone have a bad day here? Now that I had this whole dancing thing figured out, it wasn’t a bad place at all

Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t mind staying.

“Way to shake it out there, Slugger,” Cady murmured to me with a playful little smile as she walked past to head to her office. My hands shot out in reflex to pull her against me. I wasn’t responsible for anything that happened between us if she walked anywhere near my orbit. She had an irresistible gravitational pull.

Her surprised, but happy, squeal permeated my ears as I pulled her in for a kiss.

“I couldn’t have done it without such a badass coach.” The color in her cheeks was one that I wanted to bottle up and paint my entire condo with. I was obsessed with everything that was Cady. Today just cemented that fact.

“Get a room you two!” Truitt’s voice sliced through the delicious tension between Cady and me. He couldn’t keep a straight face or laughter out of his words. A few cat-calls followed from the team for emphasis.

“Oh, I plan on it.” I grinned, not bothering to look anywhere else but at Cady. The pink in her cheekbones only deepened before she playfully swatted my arm. The guys went fucking nuts. You would have thought we made the playoffs with how much they were cheering us on .

“You are going to get us into so much trouble…” Cady warned in a volume that was just for me.

“Nah. I can behave in public.” Her brow cocked. Okay, fair point. Given our past, especially with this locker room, maybe I couldn’t. “But I don’t have to behind closed doors .”

Cady sucked in her bottom lip. I was transfixed as her front teeth held it down in a subconscious move. Fuck, I wanted to devour this woman. Right now. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold myself back.

“Your place or mine tonight?” Her voice was breathy, barely above a whisper. I relished the fact that despite us seeing each other almost daily for four weeks, the excitement was still rampant. Hell, maybe it grew even more intense each day.

“How about yours?” I suggested.

“Hey Jamie, you wanna go get a round with us?” Benson purposefully interrupted Cady’s and my private conversation with a cheeky grin. They honest to god were like her protective older brothers. “Our treat.” I could hear the guys cheering in agreement with the suggestion.

“Go on, have a round.” Cady encouraged me with a smile. “The boys inviting you out is a big honor. That’s how you know you’ve been successfully indoctrinated.”

“But–”

Cady leaned in as close as possible, her lips against my ear. “We can do that when you come to my place later.” The whisper sent a delicious shiver down my spine as I remembered her toy drawer.

With a smug little look, Cady slipped from my arms. I blinked at her in utter stupor as I watched her hips sway, hypnotizing me for a long moment until she was out of view. It wasn’t until she was gone that I realized what she meant.

Clearing my throat, I subtly adjusted the sports cup in my pants to deter my erection from getting any bigger. I did my best to adjust my face to something more neutral, instead of one that made it obvious that I was thinking about that jewel sparkling between her chee–

“Well, you heard Coach!” Truitt slapped me on the back as he flashed me one of his trademark grins. “Let's go get some drinks, guys!”

Drinking with the Sillys was just as crazy as I thought it would be. They had their favorite little dive bar just around the corner from the stadium. Some of the fans from the game had migrated over and gave us an uproarious welcome when the guys bounded through the door. They certainly liked all this attention no matter where they went.

Fans recognized me instantly as the star dancer from the game earlier. It was interesting to be noticed for something that wasn’t my baseball talent. I found myself smiling. Smiling more than I usually did during a sudden onslaught of fans. If only Cady had come along. She’d probably be laughing her ass off and grinning the whole time. This was such a wild change from where I was a month ago.

Cady.

As much as I wanted to hurry to the promised land of her luscious ass, and the quiet that was just her and I, I was enjoying myself. Being able to blow off some steam like this was rare in the majors. During the season, your free time was either traveling, sleeping to recover from jet lag, or practicing. Letting loose like this didn’t happen until the off-season. And by that time, you’re so exhausted that you need a good month just to get back to what other people consider “normal”.

With the crowd now settled, Truitt hurried over to the bar to order a round of drinks for the guys as we commandeered a corner booth and a few tables to the far side of the bar. I promised myself to stay for one drink and enjoy shooting the shit with the Sillys. Since I was seemingly here for the long run, and the guys didn’t hate my clumsy ass, it was high time we did some team building outside the stadium that didn’t revolve around dancing.

The clinking of beer bottles being juggled by the armful pulled me from my wandering thoughts. Truitt, Benson, and Camden made their way over to one table to unload the bottles on the tables while the guys’ cheered. I stood to make my way to the table to grab the free beer I was promised, but a vibration in my back pocket stopped me.

Reaching down, I slid the device from my jeans and glanced at the screen before hurrying to answer it. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

“Yo, Jamie, don’t you want your beer?” Truitt looked over at me as I briskly headed for the door. I needed someplace quiet. Pointing to my phone, I slipped outside to escape any further protests.

“Coach,” I was breathless as I found a quiet spot by the dumpster. “What can I do for you?”

Topper’s voice was even more gruff coming through the phone than reverberating off the walls of the Sillys locker room. And like always, he got right to the point. “Rheems. I just got the call.”

The call? I blinked for a moment as my eyes adjusted to the summer sunset out in the bar’s parking lot.

Fuck.

The call.

“Your backup is out with a hamstring strain and your backup’s backup just got ruled out with a concussion during tonight’s game. They need you for the game tomorrow.” My mouth dropped open. While I didn’t want any of my replacements to get injured for me to get called back up, it was usually the reason why they had an empty roster seat. There was a hint of sadness in Topper’s tone as he continued. “And well, the foreseeable future.”

In true Topper fashion, he hung up the phone without any further pleasantries. Slowly, I lowered my phone from my ear and just stared at it. This was it. I got my wish. My sentence with the Sillys was over.

So why wasn’t I happy?

Despite the urgent phone call, I had to go back in and tell the guys I needed to leave. The majors waited for no man, especially when a team was in dire straits. Besides, knowing them, they probably would think up some hair-brained, elaborate scheme that I’d been kidnapped if I left without telling them.

“Hey guys, I gotta head out,” I said quickly, tossing my thumb over my shoulder for emphasis.

“Dude, what the fuck? We just got here.” There was concern in Arlow’s tone.

“Jamie, man. You look like shit. You okay?” Benson stepped up to me, followed by half the Sillys roster. I didn’t want to be confronted by all of them. How were they going to take it?

I swallowed. “I uh…”

Benson eyes widened. “ Holy shit, you got the call.” There was a clusterfuck of murmurs all at once as the guys talked among themselves.

“Fuck, Jamie. You gotta go, man.” I looked up at Kellan who gave me an encouraging nod. Taken aback, I looked at the guys one by one. While they looked bummed, I could tell that they knew. If you got a call up from the majors, hell to even level up in the minors, there’s no fucking way you turn it down.

There was a resounding chorus of enthusiastic support from the guys. “But, I–”

“No buts man.” Camden chirped.

“We will miss you like hell, but Schmidt’s been dying to get his full-time star status back,” Truitt added as Schmidt shot him a look. I did feel bad taking away the job of an already outstanding catcher. He deserved his spotlight once again.

“But no one can fill the stands like Jamie can.” Schmidt reminded everyone. They all grumbled in agreement.

“I’m gonna miss you guys too. It's been fun as hell.” My smile drooped a bit. Fuck, Cady. Dammit, how was I going to explain this to her?

“Does Cadence know yet?” Benson asked cautiously, almost as if he could read my thoughts.

“No. I literally just hung up the phone with Topper before I came back inside. I–” The air in the room had gone dry as I tried to swallow back my worry. “I don’t know how to tell her. Especially after such a great performance today. ”

The Sillys clinked their beer bottles together with a murmur.

“You’d better tell her you love her,” Martin added nonchalantly, completely out of the blue. The entire Sillys roster turned to look at him.

“Dude, it's been like two months.” Benson snapped back. “It’s stupid to think that–”

“No,” I said firmly. Between Martin and I, we were giving the guys’ necks a workout. “It's not stupid. Honestly,” I let out a laugh as I shook my head at the incredulousness of it all. “I knew weeks ago.”

I swear to god Schmidt’s gaze turned into cartoony heart eyes. Like Martin, he was the only other married guy in the bunch. They had to have some knowledge of what I was feeling.

“Knew what?” Oh, poor, oblivious Tomas.

“That our guy is in looooovveee.” Truitt teased his fellow outfielder with his sing-song answer. More cheers followed and I felt myself break into a grin.

My entire body relaxed once I finally admitted it out loud. Now that the words were out in the open, and I was no longer stuffing my head so far up my ass in denial, everything felt right.

But, how to tell her?

“I can’t tell her this shit over the phone.”

“Hell no.” Benson agreed. “You need to do some grand gesture. Women love that sort of stuff.”

“How the hell do you know?” Arlow shot at him. Benson rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious.

“I read those romance books that are all over the internet. Women rave about the guys doing all sorts of shit in those books.” The roster of the Sillys burst out laughing, save for me and Benson. “Look, if you guys weren’t such a bunch of heathens, you’d learn a thing or two from them.”

“Benson’s right. Cady likes to read.” I agreed as I glanced from Benson’s smug face to the rest of the guys’ faces who were growing more interested by the second. A few ideas started to percolate in my head. But I realized I would appreciate any feedback from the group of guys who’d known her the longest. “What do you think she would like?”

“You have to invite her to the game.” Camden offered.

I hesitated. “Do you think she would come?”

“Cady is the biggest fucking fan out of all of us. If she got a ticket to the game, there’s no way she’d ever say no. Plus we’re off tomorrow.” Kellan shot back. Fair point.

“What about a jersey? Would she wear one if I got her one of mine?” I asked, trying to keep my growing excitement at bay. That vision of Cady in my jersey still swam in my head ever since I told her about it. All the guys shared the same look.

“Having your girl wear your jersey is just about the biggest fucking turn-on ever. Pretty sure all the guys agree with me.” Martin added without hesitation. There was an encouraging rumble of agreement. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t fantasized about Cady wearing my jersey. While riding me. Reverse cowgirl style.

“A horse and carriage!” Tomas hollered before slowly slinking back as all of us turned to look at him. “What? I like fairy tales…” He admitted sheepishly. I chuckled.

“I’m not sure how easily I can get a horse and carriage down by the stadium.” Tomas did have a good point though. Game day travel and parking sucked. Cady needed an easy way to get to the game. “But what about a car service?” The guys all gave an encouraging nod. Now we were getting somewhere.

“But you have to keep it a surprise.” Roman insisted. “We threw Cadence a surprise party once and she still brings it up from time to time.” Considering he was the only guy on the Sillys to date Cady, I took his opinion with the highest regard.

“Got it. Thanks, Roman.” I gave him a curt nod. “So, game ticket, jersey, car service…” My eyes looked around at the guys. “Anything else?”

“After she gets all that, that’s when you tell her you love her.” Benson insisted with a dramatic flair as if I was an idiot. And maybe I was. I couldn’t remember if I had ever told Vanessa that I loved her. Or any other woman for that matter. I hadn’t felt anything even remotely this powerful and so sure with anyone else. Just with Cady.

“How am I supposed to do that when I have to play? I can’t exactly take over the jumbotron.”

Truitt blew out a raspberry. “Professing your love on the big screen is so overdone and cliche. You need to keep it classy with Cadence. Classy and low key.” I knew that much about Cady. She liked her peace, just like me. Besides, I wasn’t overly fond of making a public spectacle of myself. Today excluded.

“Get her seats in the Diamond Club. Maybe by the dugout?” Arlow added.

“Yeah! Then you can talk to her!” Tomas cried out as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

Considering there was only a safety net there to protect the fans from any foul balls or wild pitches, that could work. Although having her so close…wearing my jersey… I was already getting hard at the thought.

“Done.” I nodded in agreement. I felt good about this. This was all doable. Well, I was going to have to make a few phone calls first. “Thanks, guys!”

“Go get your girl.” Martin fist-bumped my shoulder as the other cheered me on. With an almost drunken grin, I spun on my heels and made a beeline for the door. Before I reached it, I turned around to address the guys one last time.

“If this works, the next home game you guys are off, box seats and beers on me!” A resounding chorus of cheers filled the bar. The fellow bar patrons chimed in, not knowing what they were cheering about. With a laugh, I slipped out the door as I dialed my agent.

“Hey, Tom? Yeah, I heard. Coach called me already. But before I head over, there’s a few things I need you to do.”