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Cole

The last fucking thing I want today is to be sat in the first car for this goddamn parade.

I should be more excited about it, honestly. I’m the damn MVP. But it’s hard to keep a fake smile plastered on my face when all I want to do is lay in bed and rummage through my thoughts.

At least I’m not alone up here, though. Since Knox got the win in game seven of the World Series, helping us secure the pennant, we’re both the stars of New York right now. I also know we both hate that.

Neither of us likes the spotlight, preferring to keep to ourselves. We also don’t have that luxury anymore. As soon as word got out about Knox and my sister, Harlow, we both just had to accept the extra eyes on us.

And with a story like theirs, it’s easy to see why everyone loved it. Grumpy pitcher falls for his teammate’s younger sister? The media ate that shit up. They both benefited from that, though. Knox landed a major endorsement deal with Axis Athletic Co., and Harlow’s blog Starred and Fast has taken off.

And I have eyes on me just because of my association with them.

I don’t hate it, though. They’re both happy together, and as a brother, I only want my sister to be happy.

I just wish I could find some of that happiness for myself.

But when the one woman I want is the one woman I can’t have, I don’t have that option.

Even if something did kind of happen between us the other day.

I shouldn’t have let it go that far, but when Rory pulled me away from everyone in the clubhouse, I lost a bit of my control. Who could blame me? She’s a fucking stunner, and I don’t think she even realizes it.

It’s been three days since that happened, and we seem to be trying to completely avoid each other. I fucking hate that. I can’t be with her, but that doesn’t mean I want to lose her as a friend, too.

“Dude, you okay?” Knox asks, lightly elbowing me.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m good.”

He eyes me suspiciously. “Sure you are. Lane’s been telling a story for the past five minutes, and I don’t think you’ve heard a word.”

“Of course, I’ve heard it,” I reply indignantly as I hear Josh laugh from his place beside Lane in the backseat.

“Yeah?” he smirks. “What’s he saying?”

“He’s, uh… telling us about Sage and her favorite toy?”

Knox rears his head back and laughs. “Or he’s telling us how Sage knocked an entire cake off his counter because she was so excited about it.”

I groan. “Fine, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Would that have anything to do with you and a certain manager’s daughter sneaking off during the champagne shower the other day?” he prods.

“Fuck,” I say, head in my hands. “I really hoped no one noticed that.”

“We all noticed, Cole,” Knox says, leaning closer now. “What happened while you two were gone?”

“It’s… kind of complicated.”

“As complicated as me trying to deny being in love with your sister when we still weren’t actually dating?” he chuckles.

That pulls a small smile out of me. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“Damn,” he replies, surprised. “What happened?”

“I’m not talking about it,” I sigh. “The last thing I need is anything to get back to Skip.”

“Alright,” he relents. “I won’t prod you. Just… be careful.”

“I will,” I say.

I have no choice but to be careful.

I have to do everything I can to keep all of this to myself.

Once the parade is finally over and we all make it back to the stadium, I take a shower to decompress. Knox telling me that everyone noticed Rory and I were missing together the other day has me going crazy right now.

If everyone noticed, does that mean Skip noticed, too?

I don’t think he did since he hasn’t said anything, but it could be really bad if he found out.

After I step out of the shower and towel-dry my hair, letting the wavy strands fall to my shoulders, I just throw on some sweatpants and a hoodie. It’s already getting close to freezing here in NYC, and it’s only early November.

Before I open the door to step into the hall, I hear her.

Rory’s just outside the door, probably with my sister and Knox.

I take a deep breath before pushing the door open and walking up to the trio I expected to find.

“Cole!” Harlow yells excitedly as I walk over to join them. “Did you enjoy the parade?”

“Yes, I just loved being front and fucking center,” I scoff.

She rolls her eyes and says, “You weren’t alone, though. You had Knox right next to you.”

“Yeah,” Knox adds. “For some reason, they wanted the guy who pitched a complete game sitting next to the damn MVP.”

“I’m starting to think I miss you being grumpy,” I chide while Rory snickers next to me.

“Sorry, dude,” he says, wrapping an arm around Harlow’s shoulder and kissing her temple. “Your sister took all of that out of me.”

Harlow blushes and turns her face into Knox’s chest.

“At least you two finally got together,” Rory says, speaking for the first time since I entered the hall.

“And now I’m all moved in with him, too,” Lo replies, turning her face but still pressed against Knox’s chest.

“You already got everything moved in?” I ask in surprise. “Didn’t he just ask you to move in last week?”

“Yes,” she smiles, “but my tiny ass shoebox apartment didn’t have many things that I needed to move. I just brought the last box over to his place this morning.”

“Which means it’s now officially our place, baby.”

Suddenly, they seem to forget that Rory and I are here. That they have an audience for a moment that should really just be the two of them.

Harlow gathers Knox’s shirt in her hands. “Ooh, I like hearing that. Say it again.”

“Our place.”

“Mmm… you’re giving me some bad ideas, Slick.”

Wow, I could not be more fucking uncomfortable right now.

I open my mouth to say something, but Rory beats me to it. “Jesus, go home before you fuck each other right in front of us.”

Harlow turns bright red as Knox just laughs his ass off. “Oh, I definitely need to get her home. Season’s over now. Nowhere I need to be other than beside her.”

“More like inside her,” Rory mutters, low enough that neither Knox nor Harlow notice, but I hear it. Funny as it is, though, I still cringe because, ew, that’s my fucking sister.

“Take me home then, Knox,” Harlow says, standing on her tiptoes and pecking him.

“With fucking pleasure,” he replies, hauling my sister over his shoulder as she laughs. “Probably gonna be a little busy the next few days,” he says, turning down the hall as he walks them away from us. “We’ll see you… eventually.”

And they disappear around the corner.

Just like that, all of our awkward tension fills the air as it’s now just Rory and me standing here.

“So, that…” I stammer, turning to face Rory. “That was… awkward.”

“Yeah.”

I sigh. “Can we not be awkward, though?”

“I don’t know why you’d need to feel awkward around me at all, Cole,” she replies, shrugging her shoulders.

“Come on, Rory,” I say, letting out a breath. “We should talk about it.”

“Talk about what?” She fidgets with her shirt sleeves, clearly uncomfortable. “Nothing happened.”

“You know that’s not completely true.”

“I-” Rory sighs. “I know. Can we find somewhere private, then? Better to make sure there aren’t any prying ears.”

“Yeah,” I nod. “Come on. My car’s in the lot over here.”

Rory sits in the passenger seat of my Range Rover, awkwardly fidgeting with her hands. She’s clearly uncomfortable, but even then, she still looks so fucking good.

Clearing my throat, I break the silence. “Rory, what happened the other day?”

“Technically,” she says, flattening her hands on her thighs, “nothing happened.”

“Technically . But you know there’s more to it than it just being ‘nothing.’”

Silence falls over us again as we remember that moment.

“Cole!” Rory shouts, wrapping me up in a tight hug before we start the champagne shower in the clubhouse. “Congratulations!”

I return her hug, enjoying the close contact. “Thanks, Ror. I can’t believe we just fucking won.”

“You deserve it! You played an incredible game, Cole.”

My smile can probably only be described as dopey right now, but fuck if I care.

Rory flashes me an unfamiliar look before she grabs my arm, leading me away from the crowd and into the showers.

“What are you doing, Rory?”

“Getting you away from everyone else.”

“Why?”

“So we can celebrate! You hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth. You won the Stars the pennant!”

“So that’s why you pulled me into the showers, huh?” I tease. Because all we do is tease each other.

But she’s far more of a tease than I ever plan on telling her. Her fucking existence teases me.

“Will you stop complaining and just come over here already?” Rory huffs, trying to be annoyed, though I can tell she isn’t because of the large smile she’s sporting.

I slowly saunter over to her, unable to help myself. “I like it when you’re feisty, Fisher.”

Rory looks up at me as I tower over her. “You’re getting a little flirty there, Pierce.”

She claims I’m flirting like she isn’t doing the same thing right back.

I plant one hand on the tile wall behind her, and she bites her lip. “I don’t think you’re actually complaining about that.”

“What if I’m not?”

“Then-” I cut off abruptly as Rory moves her arm, accidentally brushing right over me. Right over my dick, specifically. And just that light touch is enough for my dick to betray me, showing her exactly how much I liked it. “Shit.”

“Cole!”

“Your hand brushed against me!” I cry, trying to adjust myself so I don’t tent my fucking uniform pants. “I can’t help that.”

She eyes me curiously. “Is that the only reason?”

“Potentially,” I admit, heat creeping over my cheeks. “It’ll go down.”

“Or…” she starts, fire flashing in her eyes. “I mean… I could…”

“Get on your knees?”

Did I just say that? Fucking fuck. She’s probably about to storm out of here at my stupid fucking suggestion.

“Yeah.”

Oh fuck, that’s worse.

Because that’s exactly where I want her.

Fuck fuck fuck.

We really shouldn’t do this…

So, technically , nothing happened. But it sure as fuck almost did.

Rory lets out a breath. “I’m sorry about that. Clearly, I’m very forward, even with my friends, but I shouldn’t have offered to literally blow you in the fucking showers.”

My traitorous dick twitches at the memory.

Down boy.

You’re still not going to be seeing more than my hand anytime soon.

“We just got, uh… caught up in the moment. Right?” I ask, no conviction in my voice.

“Right,” she mutters. “Just lots of adrenaline running wild after the win.”

“Yes,” I agree, lying through my teeth because I know that’s far from the only reason it happened.

I wanted it.

And I think Rory might have, too.

“So, uh…,” she starts before taking a deep breath. “Are we good now?”

I shoot her a soft smile. “We’re good, Aurora.”

Rory cocks her eyebrow in confusion. “Aurora?”

“Rory’s gotta be short for something, right?”

“Nope. It’s just Rory.”

“Shame. Aurora seems like a fitting name for you.”

“It sounds more like a name you’d see for a mermaid, Cole.”

I squint, pretending to inspect her legs. Well, technically, I am inspecting her legs, but not at all in a friendly way. “Huh. Guess you are lacking a mermaid tail.”

She throws her head back as she laughs, and the sound is just as sweet as it was the day I first met her. “Then I guess you’re safe from my siren song.”

We’re both happy and smiling now, seeming to be back to our usual banter.

“I missed this,” I admit.

“Yeah,” Rory replies, a look of contentment on her face. “I did, too. We’ve been friends for more than three years. I’d hate for a lapse in judgment to come between us.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” I lean back against my seat, hands folded behind my head. “You’re stuck with me. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her coffee-colored eyes sparkle as the sunlight hits, and I can feel the warmth they radiate. “Good. I like having you around, Pierce.”

A smug sense of pride washes over me. Nothing more can happen between us, but I sure as hell enjoy that she wants me around.

“Yeah, you’re not so bad yourself, Fisher,” I smirk.

“You’re a dick,” she laughs, shaking her head.

I just smile, soaking in the normalcy of our conversation.

It may not be normal to everyone else, but Rory and I always poke and prod each other, looking for a reaction that outshines the last one. Friendship with her is so damn easy.

Wanting her for more? Not so easy.

In fact, I’d say that’s really fucking hard—literally and figuratively.

But I’ve ignored that feeling for more than three years. I’ll just have to keep doing it.

The more I ignore it, though, the larger the flame inside me grows each time she’s around.

I’m still okay right now, but I know one day, the fire will all but consume me.