Page 9

NINE

PARKER

“ D idn’t expect to see you so early,” I called over to Ace as his G-Wagon pulled up next to mine and he hopped out.

“Yeah, but my girlfriend works a real job, and I didn’t want to stay in bed by myself. Plus, I was hungry,” he replied, rubbing his stomach as he stretched out of a wide yawn. “I love Payton, but her cooking sucks. The only time her apartment has any food in it is when I bring it over, and seeing as we’ve been away for a week, the fridge was bare.”

“Yeah, why d’you think I came in early?”

He slammed the door to the trunk shut, threw his arm around my shoulder, and we made our way toward the front door to Lions Stadium.

I pulled my ball cap down and glanced around; a dull pang of disappointment flickered in my belly as it didn’t appear there was any social media content planned for today. It was a long shot. It had been so late when we’d finally landed last night, and I guess Scout had to sleep sometime.

Based on how empty the players’ parking lot was this morning, everyone else had had the same idea.

The only staff I spotted were the groundskeepers preparing the eleven-acre Lions site—tidying the flower beds and clipping the Lions-shaped bushes before the gates opened to fans later this afternoon.

“Because we’re synced as fuck and you love me?”

“Yeah, that’s why. And also Radley stayed over, so Lux wasn’t up to make breakfast as usual. I couldn’t wait. I’m starved.”

“Did I miss anything last night?”

“Whaddya mean?

“When you got home.”

“It was one a.m. You missed me crashing if that’s what you’re talking about.”

He dropped his head on my shoulder. “Did you miss your nighttime snuggle with me?”

“I did actually.”

“Good. Which brings me to my next topic. When are you going to replace me?”

I stopped walking, shifting my bag back up onto my shoulder, and looked at him. “What? Seriously, what are you talking about?”

“Scout.”

“Oh.” I rolled my eyes and pushed through the revolving doors into the entrance lobby. “What about her?”

“What’s the next move in Operation Strike Zone.”

I winced and stopped walking again, this time directly over the lion’s mouth on the logo in the floor, which I should take as a warning. “Dude, don’t say it out loud. It’s lame as fuck.”

“No, it’s not. It’s awesome.”

“You think?”

“Yup. So, what are you going to do? That was a cool move with the coffee.” He snorted out.

I shoved him hard in the shoulder. “Oh, fuck off.”

“What? You didn’t know.”

I groaned. On our first day in Chicago when one of the travel staff had come around for our coffee order, I didn’t think twice before I gave them Scout’s nausea-inducing morning special. If you’re wondering how I remembered something so complicated, I’d ask you how could I forget?

The thing was burned in my memory.

Anyway, I thought it was funny.

I knew she’d be down with the rookies making her TikToks and taking them out to get the coffee order. And I thought it was cute that one of them would ask for hers. I figured she’d see it and think, Wow, Parker’s so amazing, he remembered my particularly disgusting order, he must really like me. Maybe I should rethink my decision to not date him.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, the coffee order was posted as part of the reel on the Lions TikTok.

I was outed as having the most repulsive coffee order anyone has ever seen.

The post went viral.

In three days, it clocked up seven million views. I was publicly mocked by the Jimmys Fallon and Kimmel, by sports journalists who questioned my diet, regimen, and dedication to the club, and by the guys in the locker room who said that coffee order had clearly gone straight to my butt.

An amazing butt I’d hard earned through thousands—no, millions —of squats.

I hadn’t spoken to Scout, but every time I’d seen her, whether it had been by the field or on the plane, or walking through the lobby of the hotel we’d stayed in, she’d smiled at me. A sly smile, with a crooked curve of her lip. A smile I chose to interpret as her telling me how funny and cute I was, but she was funnier.

A smile which held a little secret only the two of us knew.

A coffee order–shaped secret.

I hadn’t seen her at all yesterday, or the day before that. Now I come to think about it, I hadn’t seen her properly since our flight from Chicago to Milwaukee when I’d walked down the plane to find my coach, and she’d been a couple of seats farther along.

“Something else will be news next week,” Ace added, pulling on my bag and dragging me over to the reception desk. “Come on.”

“Good morning, gentlemen,” greeted Pablo from behind the desk, his balding head looking shinier than usual.

“Morning, Pabs, how’re you doin’?” saluted Ace.

“Never better. I’m living the dream, especially this week. Well played, boys, well played. You got some good hits in, Parker.”

“Thanks, Pabs. Thanks for holding down the fort while we were gone,” I added, swiping my access card against the reader.

“It’s what I do best. How’re you feeling about the games this week?”

“Goddamn awesome,” Ace replied, flexing his bicep. “We got this.”

Over the next few days, we were playing the Yankees. It would be the first time we’d play them this season, and given last season we lost 90 percent of the games every time we met, the air should have been thick with anticipation.

Instead, we were buzzing off the best start we’d ever had. We were eleven games without a loss.

On the flip side, we were going to lose at some point.

Statistically there’s no way we were going for much longer without a few foul balls and thrown away runs, but it would be better all-around if we didn’t lose to the Yankees. We were playing the Nationals after that; we could lose to them instead.

“So, what’s the news here?” Ace leaned across the reception desk, propping his chin on his fist. “What happened while we were gone?”

Pablo’s beady eyes narrowed a fraction as they flicked between us. “Not a whole lot happens when you boys are traveling. But I did find out something interesting. Wanna hear it?”

“Um…yeah, obviously.”

“The other day, my granddaughter was showing me this video. I’m not so much into the apps or whatever the kids use, but my granddaughter likes them and sometimes she shows me things she thinks I’d find funny. I’d told her you were out playing the Cubs and that it was time for the rookies’ initiation, so I guess she was looking out for it.”

I’d never been totally convinced I had a sixth sense, but right now my belly was fluttering in a warning, making it very hard to ignore. This conversation was going in a way I already knew I wasn’t going to like.

“I’ll tell ya, I don’t know whose idea it was, but those Minions were funny, especially when they were ordering coffee. But you know what I found the most amusing?”

“What?” Ace said, his chin resting in both his palms while he listened to the most fascinating story he’d ever heard.

I could tell him the ending to save time. I knew exactly where this story was going.

“Parker’s coffee order. It’s an unusual one, I’ve only ever known one person to have that coffee order before.” His head turned slowly, and he pinned me with a stare.

“Pabs, it’s not like that.” I groaned before this story went on any longer. “We’re just friends.”

“Parker, I know how you feel about her.”

“Yeah, you and everyone else in this building,” I grumbled. “I like her, it’s not a crime.”

“Scout’s a good, hardworking girl, who got treated badly by her last guy she was dating.”

My jaw clenched at the mention of Rangers Douche. “Pablo, I haven’t done anything. I asked her out and she said no. We’re friends.”

But Pablo continued like he hadn’t heard a word I’d said. “Don’t be doing anything stupid.”

Each word was punctuated with a wag of his finger.

“I’m not. Jeez.”

My tone had Ace interrupting before I got even more annoyed with this conversation. “Pabs, Parker’s done nothing wrong. He’s just got a new friend, is all.”

Pablo was still holding me with his glare. It was intimidating at best, terrifying at worst. I’d heard rumors he’d made grown men cry with it; while he always came across like your favorite grandpa, in my opinion he was way closer to Tony Soprano.

His thick, bushy black eyebrows shot up. “I know what you boys got up to last year with your sex magazines.”

Ace scoffed. “They weren’t sex magazines. It was Cosmo .”

“Same difference. Scout’s worked so hard since she got here, she’s building a career. Don’t mess it up for her.”

I frowned deeply. “Pablo, are you warning me off her? Because you don’t have that right.”

“No. I’m not. But I’m saying don’t fuck up her career because you can’t keep your dick in your pants.” This time his finger jabbed straight toward my groin.

“Hey, Pabs, what the fuck? You know how long I’ve liked her. I want to date her.” I huffed, stepping back from the desk, trying to guide Ace with me so we weren’t stuck here any longer. “She said no.”

“Hmm.”

We stepped back far enough that I could legitimately walk off. “See you around, Pablo. I was in a good mood when I drove here.” I added with a grumble to Ace.

“Ahh, it’s not that bad. He’s messing with you,” he replied, turning toward the corridor leading to the locker rooms, right before a broad grin spread across his face.

“What?”

“Don’t turn around.”

Obviously, I turned around.

Scout was running down the staircase by the elevators.

“Dude, what did I just say?” Ace nudged an elbow into my rib.

Instead of freezing on the spot, I jogged over to her quick enough to catch one of those little smiles cross her face as she spotted me.

“Hey, Davison, you know how much shit I’ve gotten since you posted that goddamn coffee order?” I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Even Late Night has been talking about it. You know how hard I’ve worked to cultivate my reputation as being cool?”

She shrugged with an innocence no one was buying. Or at least I wasn’t. “I couldn’t leave it out. It was part of the video we shot.”

My eyes narrowed. “I think you could have left it out.”

“Yeah? What you gonna do about it?” she challenged. “You mock my coffee order, you need to handle the consequences. Why do you think I don’t share it with anyone?”

“You shared it with me.”

“Huh.” Her blue eyes held mine and she sucked in her cheek. “I guess I did.”

I kept my smile to myself, stepped in a little closer, and lowered my voice. “Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind?”

“About what?”

“Dating me.”

The hesitation right before she answered was all I needed to bring my good mood back in full force, and it wasn’t just good. It was excellent.

Her bottom lip curled into her mouth, eyes scoured my face before they rolled to the sky. “See you later, Parker.”

I watched her walk off down the corridor.

That smile I’d kept to myself was now beaming out for anyone who wanted to see.