Page 18

EIGHTEEN

SCOUT

“ W hat’s that.”

My eyes flicked to the coffee cup Parker had given me and back to the screen where I was trying to concentrate. “A coffee cup.”

“Where did it come from?”

“It was a present.”

“From whom?”

I sighed deeply, enough to let Alice know I wasn’t in the mood for her games this morning, at least until this new job presentation had been sent off. Why they wanted it before the interview was above my pay grade.

“Can you let me finish this and then I’ll answer all your questions.” I glanced back at the screen. “Do you think I should add a final slide? Like, ‘the end’?”

“No.” She pushed off my desk and turned to the window where a bunch of the rookies were in the bullpen. I knew it was the rookies, because Parker had been there earlier and was now in the gym.

And how did I know that? Because he told me. Every time he was at practice he’d message me to say he was outside my window, like we were teenagers in an ’80s rom-com. But did I look? Of course I did.

He was taking up so much of my days that I honestly couldn’t remember what it had been like last season when I wasn’t so aware of every movement he made. Or every place he was. Even if he didn’t tell me, I’d look out for him.

“Hey, Scout?”

I held a finger in the air. “One minute.”

“Scout…Scout?”

“Jeez. Give me a minute,” I snapped, cursing myself for not charging my headphones so I could legitimately ignore everything around me.

Sticking my fingers in my ears, I read over the final page one last time and pressed Save. It was good enough, and I’d only drive myself crazy if I kept reading. Before I could make any more changes, I dropped it into an email for HR and pressed Send, praying it was enough before my formal interview next week.

I glanced up to where the voice had come from. “Yeah?”

Joey tapped on his screen. “Can you sign this off before we post it, please?”

Cursing again, this time for not moving my travel bags, which I’d dropped by my feet the second I’d arrived, I stepped over them and walked around his side of the desk.

Peering over his shoulder, he pressed Play on the content they’d filmed earlier this week.

I hadn’t seen it in full, I hadn’t been there when the guys shot it. It was the segment they’d thought up before the season started—the mom style what’s in your bag .

We’d been waiting until the team was fresh off a series win, and as luck would have it, the away trip to Dallas, followed by Cincinnati, achieved just that, so the second morning back we set it up outside and let them know.

It was the first segment the guys had managed totally by themselves.

While they’d been on the trips without me, there’d always been someone else to oversee or step in and answer any questions. But the team was now familiar with their faces, and rapport was building. They could do it alone.

“How long is this?”

“Ninety seconds.”

First up was Saint Velasquez, the giant right field, sauntering up as only he did, wearing a pair of exceptionally bright flowery board shorts, flip-flops, and a white tee. Give him a surfboard and you’d never know he was one of the best fielders in the league. I liked him a lot, he was always happy and smiley, and when I’d manned the content shoots all last year, he’d helped with every single one.

More unusual than it sounds, because some of the guys just wanted to get into the stadium and walked straight past with only a nod hello.

I watched as he stopped at the table, opened his bag, and pulled out a massive bunch of bananas, a bag of sunflower seeds, a protein shake, and a toiletry bag filled with more products than I’d seen in Sephora.

“Wow.” I chuckled.

Boomer Jones followed with nothing more interesting than a towel and a PlayStation remote.

Jupiter Reeves walked straight past without anything in his hands; Sawyer James, our second base, carried a bag of protein powder and a sweater he’d picked up from the dry cleaner on his way in.

The rookies produced better results; on being asked the question, one of them turned bright red and opened his bag to reveal a pair of girl’s underwear, which resulted in a lot of jeering from the two guys he’d arrived with.

The moment Parker appeared on the screen, my stomach flipped, and I forced my entire body to still just in case it did something stupid like leap into the air with a loud cheer. Ace was next to him, both of them stopping at the table and dropping their bags onto it with a thud.

Joey turned around and glanced at me. “This is a great one.”

In sync, the pair of them opened up their bags, and the camera zoomed in. If I didn’t know they worked at Lions Stadium, or played for the club, I could believe they’d committed a store robbery. Ace lifted his out first.

“Did you guys know that the Lions store now has to-go cups for each player? They just came in this week.” He beamed into the camera, holding up one of the cups. If he decided to leave baseball he could easily slide into a career on QVC.

I didn’t need to see inside Parker’s bag to know he was about to show everyone his to-go cup. The exact same one currently sitting on my desk.

“Are there any left in the store?” Cyrus laughed from behind the camera.

“Sure are, but get there early. And I have a dozen to give away on my Instagram, plus enough for all my favorite people to have one. All coffee deserves to have a good cup, even disgusting coffee.”

“Oh, Jesus,” I mumbled, my eyes rolling to the skies.

“What?” asked Joey.

“Nothing.”

After Parker and Ace, came a couple of the coaches and PTs who had nothing interesting, followed by Riley Rivers, Robson Barry, and Lux Weston, none of whom had bags but emptied their pockets to reveal car keys, a phone, an assortment of gum, and headphones.

Last up was Tanner Simpson, who sprinted through the entrance without so much as an acknowledgment.

“Good work, it’s a bit long though, so trim it to sixty seconds. Keep Tanner Simpson but cut the first two rookies and Sawyer James. You need to cut those panties.”

I should have predicted the objection.

“No way. People will love them.”

“We can’t have panties on the Lions channel.”

Joey thought for a second, and spun around to face me. “What if I block them out with an emoji, or something. Everyone sees his reaction and how embarrassed he is, plus the guys laughing. It’ll make for good comments.”

“Sure, okay. But can you cut Parker King out and just leave Ace Watson?”

“You wanna cut Parker King?”

“Yes. We feature him too much, we don’t need that bit about his giveaway. What?” I asked as Joey continued staring at me.

“Nothing.” He shrugged, his eyes snapping back to the screen. “They’re funny together, people like it.”

Annoyance bubbled under my skin. It didn’t help that Joey was right, people did like Parker and Ace, they always had ever since they started playing together. The two of them were a double act that had captured the hearts of all Lions fans.

“Okay, but lose the bit about the giveaway. We don’t need it.”

“Don’t need what?” asked Alice, who’d clearly grown impatient with staring out the window.

“Parker King and his coffee cup.”

I almost knew it was going to happen before it did, all in slow motion as Alice lifted the cup from my desk.

“Like this one, you mean.”

“Hey, yeah! That’s so cool. I want one.” Joey grinned as I snarled at Alice as best I could without making it too obvious she’d earned herself a space at the top of my shit list.

But she had, though given the smirk she was now sporting, I’d say she didn’t care.

“Okay, you’re good with the edits?” I asked Joey, who nodded. “Great, it can be scheduled once you’re done. Thanks.”

Heading back to my chair, I stepped over my travel bag and sat down.

“Where did this come from again?” Alice asked, pointing to the cup.

“I told you.”

“You didn’t actually.” She leaned back in the chair next to mine, propping her feet on the desk as she always did.

And just like I always did, I knocked them off.

I pinned her with my sternest glare, though it was just as ineffective as my snarl. “You know where it came from.”

“I want to hear you say it.”

“Say what?”

She leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper. “That you’ve got a crush.”

I rolled my eyes again.

“Say it.”

I tried to buy some time before I responded, giving her a shrug instead. But she sat there and stared until I swore if I glanced down there’d be a giant hole in my chest where her eyes had bored through me.

It was pointless denying it. I couldn’t any longer. Not after two weeks of messaging or the morning coffees, or the cup Alice was turning around in her hands, or the Twizzlers, or the rescuing me from Mark, or his all-around sweetness.

It was all pointless.

“Fine,” I whispered back, so quietly I was almost mouthing the words. “I have a crush on Parker King.”

I expected her to jump up with a loud whoop, but instead, she leaned in further.

“And you’re more than friends?”

“No. We’re friends.”

“Who…”

I waited to see if she’d finish the rest of her sentence. “Who what?”

Her head quirked. “Nothing else has happened?”

I shook my head. “Like what?”

“All this time you’ve been spending together and you haven’t been making out in the janitor’s closet or screwing in the locker room after dark?”

“No…Alice, jeez,” I hissed, “where are you getting all this from?”

She let out a disappointed huff. “My active imagination, I just figured something was going on and you’d tell me when the time was right, especially after that thing with the shithead. But it’s been a couple weeks, and I was getting impatient.”

“Please take my sex life out of your imagination. Nothing’s happening.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Not nothing. You guys are flirting.”

I gave one long, deep nod, because she’d got me there. Parker and I definitely flirted. We flirted in person. Over messages. Every time I closed my eyes and saw him, we were flirting. And what’s more, I liked it. I liked his stupid jokes, I liked that he tried to make me laugh with them, and I liked his teasing.

As stupid as it sounded, it made me feel…good. Special. That I was important to him.

“Yeah, we flirt.”

“Well, you know what happens next.”

I shook my head, confused. “No, what?”

I wasn’t sure if she paused for dramatic effect or if she was really considering her answer, but then she threw her head back with a loud cackle.

“You become friends who fuck.”

My own head snapped around, checking to see that absolutely no one in the vicinity or neighboring desks heard her. “Alice! Don’t say ‘ fuck ’ so loudly. And that absolutely isn’t what happens next. Jeez.”

“Mark my words,” she said, jabbing the air with her finger, “it’s going to happen. So you better be ready.”

“Ugh, shut up.”

Pushing out of the chair, she rubbed her hands together in glee. “Ooh, I can’t wait for you to tell me how right I am.”

“I’m not going to,” I snapped back.

“We’ll see. Hey, you wanna go out after the game tonight?”

I shook my head, purposely focusing on my screen, or anything other than Alice. “I can’t, I’m heading to L.A.”

She dropped down in her chair again, gripping onto the armrests of mine and spinning me until I faced her.

“I didn’t know you were scheduled for this away stretch. Haven’t you been on three of the four last away series?”

“No, I haven’t been away for the last two. I went to the plane for game day fit. But I wasn’t on the plane, which you know. And for this one, Dave took vacation, so I volunteered.”

“How convenient.” She smirked. “Looks like I’m going to be correct much quicker than I thought.”

I rolled the chair out of her grip and pursed my lips. “You’ve not been on any away trips, so you don’t know but there’s actually very little free time.”

“I don’t think that’ll stop lover boy.”

I opened my mouth to respond, only to close it again. I had no response.

It wasn’t because I thought something was going to happen with Parker, I didn’t. Not yet. But it would be a lie if I said I hadn’t volunteered because it meant I could spend a little more time with him, do a little more flirting.

Even though we’d both be super busy working, I kind of wanted to stay in the same state and time zone as him for a while longer.

“I’ll take that silence as confirmation.” She chuckled. “Come on, let’s go and get lunch, I’m hungry.”

“I need to pee first.” I jumped up, suddenly desperate.

I rushed into the first stall open. I hadn’t noticed the other stalls, or whether anyone was standing at the sinks, but by the time I’d finished peeing, there was a conversation happening. Once the faucets and hand dryers stopped running, I realized the conversation was about me. Not just me, me and Parker.

“Do you think they’re hooking up?”

“Who?”

“Parker King and Scout Davison. I saw them again yesterday, they’re always together.”

If there’s a less dignified place to freeze, sitting on the toilet with your butt hanging out, I’d like to hear it, because that’s exactly what I did. I barely took a breath as these two girls discussed my dating life like it was daily news. I didn’t even dare shift to peer through the gap so I could see who it was, because I didn’t recognize their voices.

I should’ve known something like this would happen, it had only been a matter of time.

I hadn’t noticed it at first, but the more Parker and I were together, the faster we became friends. Little things I’d previously brushed off—the odd look here, the whispered conversation there—were becoming more obvious, and more frequent.

This place ran on gossip, the more scandalous, the better. And clearly, the more elaborate, the better, because Parker and I were not always together, I knew that. We met for morning coffee then went our separate ways until the following day when we’d meet again. And that was it.

Not to mention, our morning coffees were a new development.

“I dunno, I heard he asked her on a date and she said no.”

“There’s no way that’s true. Who’d say no to Parker King, that boy is H-O-T.”

“True. Do you think she signed that form? Maybe it’s legit.”

“God, she’s so lucky. First Leanne, now Scout. Who else is single on the team this year?”

“Stone Fields, Tanner Simpson…”

“Nope, playboy. Not interested.”

“They’re all playboys.”

“Hmm. What about Sawyer James? He’s hot.”

“Hate to break it to you, ladies, but Sawyer James has a girlfriend,” shouted Alice right before she flushed the toilet.

The next thing I heard was a muffled giggle, followed by a shuffle of heels on the tiled floor and the sound of the door opening and closing.

“You can come out now,” called Alice, turning on the faucet. “Rookie mistake not checking the stalls for feet. Ten bucks it was the interns in PR.”

I pulled up my jeans, flushed, and opened the door to find her standing there, leaning against the sink with her arms crossed and a grin spreading from ear to ear.

I held my hand up before she started talking. “Don’t.”

“Hey, you know you’ve made it here if people are gossiping about you. And you wanna know what I think…”

I raised an eyebrow, holding my hand under the soap dispenser. “I’m not sure why you’re pretending I have a choice.”

“Exactly. I think if people are gossiping, you may as well enjoy it by making it true.”

I couldn’t decide if it was better or worse that she had a point.