Page 8 of Taking the Pitch (Love & Baseball #2)

CHAPTER SEVEN

amelia

The doors close on the image of the sexy pirate I leave standing there smirking at me in the parking garage.

So much for not running into him.

Not even twenty-four hours into finding out we live in the same building and boom, there he is in all his sexy pirate glory. Abs and all. And he caught me looking, so I had to deflect the fact that he is the sexiest fucking man I have ever laid my eyes on with what I deflect everything else that makes me uncomfortable in my life, humor.

Ok and maybe there was a little flirting, but honestly can you blame me? I haven’t had sex in months, and the things that man does to my body with just a look. I pinch the front of my sweater and pull it from my body a few times to get the air flowing. He makes me hot and bothered without even touching me.

But I can’t let him know I’m attracted to him.

One, because he is way out of my league.

Two, he’s now involved with my program for the library, and I would never do anything to jeopardize that.

Three, because… I’m broken.

I’ve never been able to make a relationship work for longer than eight months. But we’re not going to get into that right now.

The elevator opens on my floor, and I step out, Bruno following happily beside me. I took him for an extra-long walk this afternoon to make up for him having to stay home tonight while I go out with Charlie and Hazel to Ignite for their annual Halloween party. I don’t usually go out, thank you anxiety , but I feel safe with Charlie and Hazel and the alcohol I will be consuming won’t even give my anxiety a chance to flare its ugly head. Plus, I really need a night to just let loose after months of stress over the library and book tour.

Unlocking my door, I enter my apartment and unclip Bruno’s leash and take off his vest. Tossing my keys on the counter along with my shoulder bag. I look at the clock and see I only have an hour until Charlie and Hazel arrive so we can get ready together. We’re not even leaving for the club until nine, but we’re going to pregame before we go. Mostly I’m going to pregame before we go. We figured out if I have a couple drinks in me before we go out, the less likely I am to back out or freak out before we leave.

Is it the healthiest way to cope? Probably not, but my therapist advised me not to drink when I take my ‘emergency panic pills’ as I like to refer to them as, and if I’m going out, I’m drinking. So, this is my compromise to be able to be a somewhat normally functioning twenty-nine-year-old and go out with my friends. Seeing I’m going to be short on time if I don’t get moving, I give Bruno his dinner before I jump in the shower to get ready for a night of drunken festivities.

Showered, shaved, and still in my robe. I hear obnoxious knocks on my door as I finish blow drying my hair. Knowing those knock’s, I head to the door and open it to reveal Charlie and Hazel, both loaded down with their bags and costumes for the night.

“The fun has arrived!” Hazel announces, coming in and setting her arm load down on my couch before collapsing into the empty space next to it.

Charlie shakes her head and laughs as she follows her in with her much smaller yet still impressive arm load of stuff.

“Ladies, it’s one night. What did you bring?”

“Just the necessities,” Hazel says, digging through one of her bags and pulling out a bag of dog treats she makes at the café for Bruno.

“You spoil him too much,” I tell her, heading towards my kitchen and grabbing three shot glasses along with the whiskey.

“There is no such thing.” She croons to Bruno, giving him a cookie.

I roll my eyes and pour out the whiskey. Charlie takes a seat at the bar, and I slide a shot to her. “Hazel, get your cute ass over here so we can take a shot and start this night off right,” I tell her, setting a shot in front of the empty chair beside Charlie.

Hazel takes the empty seat and picks up the shot. “What should we toast to?”

“Hot, meaningless sex,” Charlie says, holding up her shot.

“Nope, something that benefits us all,” Hazel chimes in. “Because I’m already having the hot sex part.”

Charlie and I boo, and I throw a napkin at Hazel. She grabs it mid-air and sticks her tongue out at me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy Hazel is having crazy hot sex with her boyfriend. That doesn’t mean I can’t be a little envious.

“How about no panic attacks for the rest of the year,” I say, knowing damn well I’m the only one graced with that issue.

“Oh honey, are they getting bad again? I know this time of the year is hard on you,” Charlie says, setting her shot glass down and covering my hand, not holding my alcohol.

I shake my head. “No, my med change has helped. I’m just afraid it’s not going to last.” Not wanting to bring the mood down, I continue, “But enough about me. Tonight’s about fun. Oh! I know!” Thinking of a toast, I give the girls a mischievous grin. “Ladies, raise your glasses.” They raise their glasses to mine and I announce, “To a night of fuckery.”

Laughing, they both cheer, “To a night of fuckery.”

We clink and down our shots, all of us making faces from the burn that travels down our throats.

“So, how’s everything going on the friendly neighbor front?” Hazel asks, hopping down from her seat and going over to the couch to grab her makeup bag, before heading into my bedroom.

I sigh, following in behind her to finish my hair. “I don’t know. Fine, I guess? I ran into him in the parking garage and had a total out-of-body experience.” I plug my curling iron in as Charlie comes in behind us and takes a seat on the closed toilet lid. “I, I think I flirted with him.”

Hazel gasps and jumps up and down, clapping her hands, her dark-red hair bouncing along with her. “That’s amazing Millie! Did he flirt back?”

I scrunch my nose, thinking back to earlier. “Yeah, I think he did.”

Hazel lets out a squeal and Bruno tears in from the living room to see what the fuss is about, making us all laugh.

“So why don’t you sound more excited?” Charlie asks, rummaging through her own bag.

Sectioning off my long hair, I grab a chunk and wrap it around the curling iron. “I have too much going on right now. The last thing I need is to add to my stress.”

Hazel looks at me in the mirror, concern wrinkling her brow. “Still having writer’s block?”

I tip my head and grab another chunk of hair. “Unfortunately. I don’t know what I was thinking, giving myself a deadline at the beginning of January.”

“You thought it’d distract you from your heavy feelings you get around the holidays,” Charlie says matter-of-factly.

It’s true. I did it specifically to try to divert the darkness I usually experience during the holidays since losing my parents eight years ago. We all know that. However, I didn’t take into consideration that the heaviness I usually experience may prevent me from writing anything . Specifically, the witty and steamy scenes I’m known for. How can I be creative when I feel nothing inside?

I let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, well, I think I fucked up with that one. I may just have to push the release back a month or two, which will screw up my whole release schedule for the next year.”

Hazel bumps her shoulder into mine. “But isn’t that the benefit of being your own boss? Deciding what works for you on your own terms?” She would know, being the badass boss bitch she is.

“Yeah, but my readers will be disappointed, and I don’t like letting them down.”

Charlie gets up from her spot and walks over to me, setting a hand on my arm, and stares back at me in the mirror. “You know they would understand and completely support you if you told them why .”

I release the hair from my iron and set it down on the counter, shaking my head. “I can’t,” I whisper, staring back at her in the mirror. No one, besides my very close group of friends and Charlie’s parents, is aware of my past, and I intend to keep it that way. It’s not that I’m ashamed of what happened. Well, not now anyway thanks to years of therapy, but the image I portray as an author is the fun version of myself and that’s who I want the world to see me as. Not the depressed and broken version I actually am. Whose anxiety is so bad she has to take two different medications to even function as a semi-normal person and have another one on hand for extra bad days.

Noticing the shift in my mood, both Hazel and Charlie wrap their arms around me and lay their heads on my shoulders as we stare back at ourselves in the mirror. “We love you no matter what. Nothing is going to change that,” Charlie tells me softly.

Hazel tugs on one of my curls. “You’re never alone in this. We got you, Boo.”

Sensing my mood, Bruno squeezes his body in between Charlie and me and takes a seat, leaning his whole body against me. “See, Bruno’s got your back too,” Hazel says.

I bend over and give Bruno a scratch, who in turn gives me a lick on my nose, extracting a small laugh from me, and the pressure in my chest eases a bit.

Standing, I throw my arms around my best friends and give them side hugs. “Thanks, babes, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

They hug me back. “You’ll never have to find out. You’re stuck with us,” Charlie says and Bruno gives a small woof, like he agrees.

“We need another shot!” Hazel announces, extracting herself from the group huh and beelines it for the kitchen.

“None for me!” Charlie calls to Hazel as she leaves. “You guys are going to be drunk before we even leave,” Charlie mutters.

“That’s why you’re going to stay sober enough to get us into the Uber and to the club,” I say, cheerily giving her a cheeky grin. “Plus, this is my last one until we get to the club. They won’t let us in if we’re already trashed, and I need this.”

She rubs my arm. “I know you do, babe.”

Hazel comes back and hands me a shot. “Drink up bitch, we’re getting our freak on tonight.”

“Lord help me.” I hear Charlie mutter under her breath as Hazel and I knock back our shots.

I savor the burn of the alcohol as it makes its way down my throat, pushing thoughts of my past down with it.

“Bye Bruno, Mikey will come take you for a walk if I’m not home by midnight!” I tell him as I close the door and lock it, not that he understands, but it makes me feel better thinking he does. I hate leaving him, but he loves Mikey, Marty’s seventeen-year-old nephew who lives on the second floor. I pay him to walk Bruno from time to time when I’m going to be out late.

Hazel hits the down button for the elevator, and I send up a small prayer that Judd doesn’t appear when the doors open. “Why did I think this costume was a good idea?” I grumble, pulling down the skirt to my very short costume.

“Because you look hot as fuck,” Hazel says, adjusting the top of her sexy nurse’s outfit.

“Yeah, but now I’m going to be tugging at my skirt all night hoping I’m not flashing anyone my ass cheeks.”

Charlie snorts and is the first one in the elevator when it arrives, sans Judd, thank God. “Babe, you’re going to be too drunk to notice or care in about another hour or so, and so will everyone else. Stop worrying about it.”

“Easy for you to say! You’re wearing a jumpsuit,” I say, motioning up and down at her costume that’s skintight, but covers everything.

“You can ‘arrest’ anyone who says anything? That could be fun,” Hazel suggests as she follows me into the elevator. I snort and my mind jumps to what Judd said to me yesterday about liking to be the one who uses the handcuffs. The thought sends a round of shivers through me.

“Earth to Millie,” Charlie calls to me, waving her hand in front of my face and snapping me out of my thoughts.

“What? Did you say something?”

Charlie raises an eyebrow at me just as the elevator dings announcing its arrival at the lobby. “I said that all the Ubers are backed up,” she tells me as we leave the elevator and head to the front doors. “Which is not shocking, considering it’s Halloween.”

“Soooo, what does that mean?” I ask, doing my ritual of checking my purse for my keys and phone, even though I already know they’re in there.

“It means,” Charlie says, stopping by the front desk and leaning against it. “We either wait,” she checks her phone, “about thirty to forty minutes for a car to be available, or we can try a group ride share?”

We scrunch our noses at that suggestion, but it would still be a better option than waiting close to an hour.

“Or I can take you,” a voice says behind me, sending chills down my back. I don’t even need to turn around to know who that voice belongs to because in the last two days, I’ve learned the sound of that voice well.

“Judd!” Charlie announces like he’s the lord and savior himself. “Happy Halloween! Were you going out too?” she asks, gesturing at him.

I still haven’t turned around, but I’m sure he still looks the same as he did when I ran into him earlier in the parking garage.

Tall, hot, and muscly.

Delicious.

Stop it.

I can feel him come closer and I tug at the back of my skirt as he stops next to me.

“Hi, Shortcake. Nice costume. I’m really digging your handcuffs.” An image of what Judd could do with those handcuffs pops into my head, and I feel my cheeks heat. I cock an eyebrow up at him and send him a side glare, extracting a low chuckle from him. “Where’s Bruno?” he asks, looking around for my sidekick.

“In my apartment, he’s not the club type,” I tell him, looking over at the girls.

Hazel looks at Charlie and mouths, “Shortcake?” Charlie shrugs and looks at Judd as he answers her question. “No, just coming back from taking Hudson Trick or Treating with Kess.”

Kess must be his older brother Kessler. I remember him and his now fiancée being plastered all over the gossip sites not too long ago when their relationship went public. And again, when Kessler got into a fight during a game after Hudson’s bio dad said some unsavory things about Lucy and her son at the plate.

“Oh, how fun! Did you get pictures?” Charlie asks. Judd takes his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it, bringing up a picture and handing his phone to Charlie.

“Aaawwww,” both Hazel and Charlie croon, looking at the picture.

“Hudson and Kade look so adorable,” Charlie says, handing Judd his phone back.

“You wanna see too?” he turns to me, holding his phone up.

Not wanting to be rude, I nod my head once and he hands me his phone. Two tall pirates with identical green eyes have their arms slung around two much shorter pirates who are holding their fake swords out towards the camera. Wide grins grace all four faces. Seeing Judd being so ‘domestic’, the opposite of what his reputation is known to be, gives me a funny feeling I’m not used to in my stomach.

“Cute,” I tell him, trying to play it cool that he turned my insides to mush with just a picture, handing the phone back to him. Our fingers brush when he takes his phone back, sending a jolt through my hand like the same jolt I felt yesterday when we shook hands. My eyes connect with his, seeing that he felt it too.

A throat clears, making us both jump and look at the two women that we forgot were standing in front of us. Taking my hand back, I cross my arms and shift to my left, trying to create a little distance between us without being noticeable.

“Anyway,” Charlie drawls out, looking between us and giving me a look that says ‘we’ll talk about this more later’. Cool, just what I needed. “We wouldn’t want to impose, Judd. We can just find a group ride share,” Charlie says, holding up her phone and shaking it.

“Absolutely not,” he argues, crossing his arms as if that’s final. “You’re not imposing. I was just going to go upstairs and turn on Hocus Pocus .”

“Ooh, I love that movie!” Hazel exclaims. Looks like someone’s still buzzing. Mine has unfortunately died down since freaking Jack Sparrow has joined us.

Judd holds out his fist for a bump, and Hazel enthusiastically returns it. “Judd,” he says to her.

“Hazel, nice to officially meet you!”

“Same,” he says, giving her his playboy smile. “Anyway,” Judd continues, “there’s no imposition. I’ll take you.” He pulls his keys out of his pocket and shakes them.

Charlie and Hazel look at each other and shrug. I, however, protest. “That’s unnecessary. Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll just wait for an Uber to free up,” I tell him, grabbing my phone out of my purse and bringing up the Uber app, which now shows that there’s nothing available for at least an hour.

Awesome.

“I found a group rideshare that could be here in fifteen minutes,” Charlie says, looking at her phone.

“Perfect!” I yell at the same time Judd says, “No.”

I whip my head to look at him, and he gives me a pointed look. “It’s not your decision,” I tell him, matching his look.

He takes two steps towards me, closing the gap, towering over me. “It is when you look like that,” he says in a low voice.

I narrow my eyes at him. “What’s wrong with how I look?”

His eyes quickly drop to my cleavage, then back up to my eyes. His stare a little more heated than before. “Not a damn thing.”

I squirm under his gaze, fidgeting with the strap on my purse, but not breaking eye contact.

“Okay, you know what, we accept,” Charlie says, breaking our stand-off.

“Charlie!” I start, but Judd interrupts me.

“Great, cars in the garage. Let’s go,” he says, turning on his heel and making his way back to the elevators. Hazel looks between me and Charlie before taking off after Judd, whose long legs have him half-way back to the elevators in a few strides.

“What the fuck, Charlie?” I whisper, following behind her.

“I could ask you the same thing, Millie,” she shoots back. “What was that?”

“What? I told you we didn’t get along.”

Her lips tip up and she snorts. “Looks like you guys get along just fine .”

I stop and put my hand on her arm, stopping her with me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means Hazel was right. He wants to fuck you.” I let go of her arm and she trudges ahead, leaving me standing there with my mouth gaping open, watching her join Hazel and Judd.

“Coming, Gumdrop?” Judd asks when the elevator opens, and he sees me still standing in the hallway.

I’d like to punch him in the gumdrops. I think to myself as I trudge down the hall and walk into the elevator, not saying a word.