Page 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

SCOUT

“ D id you tell Parker?”

I shook my head, pulling my hair from the tie and refastening it. It was totally pointless, just as much hair fell in my face. I should have never cut it so short.

“No. I couldn’t. It was such a perfect day together, I didn’t want to ruin it.” I groaned, blinking from my trance of staring down at the boys in practice. “I can’t do this. I can’t wait another two weeks of sneaking around. If it was just hiding it from work colleagues, that’s one thing. But hiding from management is another. It sucks, you think it’s going to be fun, and it isn’t. It is not fun. It’s stressful. And now I’ve found out Parker could get into real, serious trouble. It’s not worth it?—”

My rant was stopped mid-flow by Alice cracking open her Diet Coke and taking a big sip, only to pound at her chest when the carbonation got stuck.

“What’re you gonna do?” she croaked.

I sighed, leaning so far back, the chair almost tipped. “I’m going to tell HR Parker should be done at practice soon, then we can go. I think he has to get the form, I don’t even know. This whole thing is so dumb.”

“What about the job?”

“I don’t want it.” There. It was the first time I’d said it aloud.

I’d been thinking about it all weekend—since the email had come through, since I found out about the possible benching, or worse. The way I saw it, if they wanted to give me the job, it would have been mine already. As much as I loved being here, I didn’t want to work somewhere that had me jumping through hoops for each promotion.

“I like my job now, I’m just going to stay doing it.”

For the first time in Alice Tan’s life, she stayed silent, except for the occasional slurp through her Diet Coke. But even though I was staring out of the window down at the field, I could tell she was looking at me, assessing me, probably judging. I didn’t blame her, I’d judge me, too, if I was the reason Parker got in trouble.

“Alice…if you have something to say, say it,” I snapped eventually.

“I don’t know what I have to say. I’m trying to figure out both sides in my head.”

“And?”

“ And …I think you’re right. Even if you take Parker out of the equation, you’ve never been excited about this role and it’s not only causing you to hold yourself back from working, it’s stopping you from living your life too. But you feel obliged. I don’t think you would have been set up for success and you’d have resented all the traveling.”

Obliged. Yes, the perfect word for it.

I’d been put forward for an incredible sounding job, and it hadn’t ever occurred to me to ever say no. It hadn’t occurred to me that it wasn’t the right time. That I should be concentrating on making my current job the best it could be. That a new job and a new challenge wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

I nodded slowly. That was it. Even without Parker it wasn’t the right time for me to take a new role. The weight lifting off me at making the decision was almost tangible. The anxiety vanished, I could breathe a little easier, my shoulders lightened.

I stood up, no point putting off the inevitable. “I guess I should go and find Ava.”

“The management meeting just started, she’ll be in it.”

I sat back down again. “Okay, I’ll go in an hour.”

“Good idea.” Alice drained the rest of the Diet Coke and tossed the empty can in the trash. The pair of us resumed our watching of the field. The bullpen was empty, which meant the boys were done with practice. “Remind me who this next series is against.”

“The Mets.”

“Ugh, I hate the Mets. I hope we win, and I hope Shithead is watching.”

I chuckled. I hadn’t thought about Mark in so long, but I hadn’t forgotten about how pissed he’d get when the Mets lost. Or the Lions won. “Yeah, it adds a little sweetness to the win, don’t you think?”

“Yup. Sure does. If you and Parker become official, and we nail a win, it could turn out to be a real banner day.”

She sat forward again, resting her head on the glass like she always did, and I turned back to my screen where this week’s content calendar was up.

Joey and Cyrus would be down on the boardwalk, setting up the time lapse we had for all the fans coming through the Lions arch today. We were almost coming to the end of their internship, before they moved onto the PR team, and I would get another couple of interns to teach.

I was deciding whether I’d actually kind of miss the guys when my phone buzzed, my heart juddering when I saw the name pop up, and a broad smile spread across my face.

Parker: Come meet me downstairs for a kiss, and I’ll give you a coffee for free

Scout: I’ll do anything for free coffee.

Parker: Get your ass downstairs, Davison, and I’ll show you what I do for a free coffee

L uckily, Alice had gone back to her desk, there was no one else around to notice when I snorted with laughter. Swiping up my key card, I glanced over to the meeting room where senior management was, and hurried downstairs to find out what free coffee would get me. I’d be back up before they were done, then I could find Ava.

I expected Parker to be in the supply closet where he usually was, but as I rounded the corner downstairs, I found that he wasn’t. Nor was he alone. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice exactly who he was talking to until it was too late, nor that Parker’s face was filled with tension as he stared at me.

“…And I suppose this is a goddamn coincidence,” barked Coach, turning to see what Parker had been looking at.

Crap. Crap crap craaapp.

Blinking hard, I tried my best to keep my face as blank as possible, but I’d been horrible at lying as a kid and it I hadn’t gotten any better at it. I didn’t dare look at Parker or his two cups of coffee, instead pulled out my phone, ignored the pair of them, and kept on walking.

I couldn’t quite make out what Coach was saying as I passed by, but his tone was just as growly and no less quiet. It wasn’t good, I knew that much.

What I didn’t know was where this corridor was leading to, except the fire door now right in front of me. Didn’t really think this plan through, not that I had a plan beyond getting as far away from Parker and Coach as I could. Now I was stuck. If I pushed through the doors, I would definitely set off the fire alarm.

Turning around, Coach was still talking to Parker. Or maybe he was simply glaring at Parker. I literally had nowhere to hide, except behind the large Ficus plants flanking the corridor.

I was still debating whether to duck behind one when Coach stormed off, leaving Parker standing there, his head down. Even when Coach disappeared around the corner, his head remained dropped.

I ran back toward him. “Parker?”

When he turned around, the expression on his face hit me right in the chest. A combination of anger, hurt, and frustration all teetering on the edge of defeat. This was all my fault.

“What happened?”

“Coach saw me going into the closet and pulled me out. He saw these,” he held up the coffees, “and then you arrived.”

“Oh, no. Parker…I’m so sor?—”

“I’m going to be in deep shit if I don’t sign that form, Scout. Did you hear yet?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but…”

“What?”

“They’re still interviewing, it’ll be a couple more weeks. But I’m?—”

His eyes widened, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his hairline. “ Weeks. Fuck. I can’t wait that long, I’m going to get suspended. Coach will be glued to my ass.”

“It’s okay, I’m going?—”

“It’s not okay, I’m in deep shit,” Parker snapped, once more interrupting me. “Nothing’s okay about it. This is my job, Scout. My fucking job .”

I stepped back and stared at Parker, or whoever this guy was in front of me. It wasn’t the one who’d wrapped his arms around me last night and whispered into the dark that his dreams had come true. Not the one who’d pursued me since the beginning of the season. Not the one who was always laughing and joking.

This one’s face was a mask of fury and frustration, mirrored by the hard tone of his snapping.

And while I understood exactly why he was so pissed, and that it was a position I’d put him in without realizing the gravity of the situation, I was beginning to get kind of annoyed at the constant interruptions.

Because if he’d let me speak, I’d have told him exactly what I planned to do—go to HR and pull out of the interview. But from the way he was glaring at me, nostrils flaring, this guy didn’t seem to care about hearing what I had to say.

“Are you done?”

His jaw ground hard. From the tension running through him, I was amazed he hadn’t squeezed the coffee from the cups. “I need the form signed today, Scout. I have a job to do, and I can’t do it with this distraction. Coach was right.”

Distraction. I took a deep breath. I didn’t need an interpreter to translate what he was really saying. That my job didn’t matter.

“I have a job, too, Parker.”

“Yeah, but?—”

“But what?”

He broke the stern gaze he’d been holding me with, his eyes flicked down to his sneakers. “Nothing.”

“But what?’ I repeated, my voice barely disguising my anger. “Mine’s not as important?”

“No, I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Then what were you going to say?”

“Nothing,” he snapped, though he still couldn’t look me in the eye.

I had no illusions about the pecking order of this company. Parker was more important than me. Fans lined the gates to see him. They barely moved out of my way to let me enter the grounds.

But hearing Parker say those words, or hold back from saying those words, was different.

“Okay, I’ll go then. If you’d let me speak for one second, I was going to tell you I was going to HR today to sign your dumb form. I’d already planned on doing it, but I thought you’d want to come with me. Even though you failed to tell me about the benching or suspension, I should never have asked you not to sign it, and for that I’m very sorry.” I paused before my hurt got the better of me. “But after that gross display of condescension and egotism, maybe we don’t need to sign it.”

His eyes flared as they found mine again. “What? What does that mean?”

I threw my hands in the air. “You’re the big shot around here. You figure it out.”

“Scout—”

My finger prodded into his chest. “Let’s not forget that you were the one who pursued me . I told you I wanted to stay single, but you decided we were going to be together. And of course, you get what you want.”

“All I’ve wanted for the past year is you. But I’m keeping us a secret because of you, I’m doing this for you .” I couldn’t tell if Parker’s voice was on the verge of breaking or if he really was that angry at me. “That’s what you asked.”

“Well, I’ll make this easy for you. I’m not asking you to do it any longer.”

My sneakers squeaked as I spun on my heel and stormed back to the elevator, leaving him standing there with the two rapidly cooling cups of coffee. He was still calling for me to come back as I tried to swallow down the thick lump lodged in my throat.

Today definitely wasn’t going to be a banner day.

Parker and I just had our first fight. I had a horrible feeling that not only had I lost it, I’d lost Parker too.