Page 11 of True Honey (The Hornets Nest #4)

SHORE

“ L et me see,” I demanded, kneeling beside Josh. His elbow was sore, limiting his range of motion when he pitched.

He grumbled something under his breath and I snapped at him again, “I’m not asking, let me see.”

Arlo watched cautiously, one eye on us on the bench and the other on the field where Cael took the first swing of the last inning.

We needed Josh, every game depended on him being out on the mound but as he pulled the compression sleeve back from his wrist and chucked it aside I realized he’d been letting us push him too hard.

“Fuck sakes,” I whispered.

The muscle in his arm had swollen, and there was a nasty bruise that faded out over his skin around his elbow up into the ditch of his arm on the top side. He’d been trying to deal with it on his own.

“Josh,” I growled. His eyes were focused on the field as Cael made contact with the ball and it was crushed into the outfield well past the barriers and into the stands behind it. “You shouldn’t be playing every fucking game. He shouldn’t be doing this!” My anger turned on Nicholas.

“That’s what we needed,” he said, completely ignoring my concerned rage.

“What we need…” I pressed on his bruise and watched his eyes go dark with pain. His jaw ticked as he turned to look back at me finally. “…Is a healthy pitcher and this is not it. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because it’s fine. I can get through the next three games, and if we win this series, we get a bye week. You can fuss over it then.” Josh reached for the sleeve again but I stopped him.

“Three more games? You’ve maybe got half an inning left before this turns into something permanent,” I warned.

“Drop the big brother bullshit,” he scoffed and pushed my hand away.

“This is ‘ I’m a doctor and you’re not’, bullshit.” I growled.

Dean was hovering and laughed at the joke making us both turn to scowl at him causing him to go dead silent. “Sometimes I forget you’re brothers and then you do that…” He backed away slowly leaving space for Coach to come in.

“Give me the options,” he said as he pulled off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “Mitchell, deck!” He hollered before I could say anything.

“He needs a break,” I said, as Ella shuffled closer to hear the conversation. “If he keeps playing beyond today, he’s going to seriously hurt himself and he’ll be done for the season. You’re working him too hard!” I snapped at Nick who was speaking in hushed tones with Reyes.

“Piece of shit,” I grumbled under my breath and Ella gave me a soft tap on the shoulder.

“Let me tape it, talk to Coach,” she offered and I pushed off my knees to give her space to work.

I stepped to the edge of the dugout with him where Arlo stood and Nick joined the conversation. “Did you know it was that bad?” I probed.

“I had no clue,” Nick said, “he barely talks and when he does it's about baseball.”

“His pitching elbow is baseball!” I snapped, trying to curb my anger.

Out here Josh was just another player. And he wasn’t wrong, Josh would have rather battled through every game than tell me that he was sore and that drove me up the wall for an entirely different reason.

I looked over at him, eyes on the game while Ella carefully taped the muscle for some support.

Luckily this game was over, with Cael’s grand slam we were up by three and last to bat. But it only put us up by two in the series, meaning we needed two more wins out of the three we had to play.

“You’re going to have to prep Reyes. There’s no way that Josh plays in these next few games.” I looked away from my brother and scowled.

“He’s going to fight it. Hard,” Nick warned .

“You're the head pitching coach, don’t be a pussy,” Arlo snapped, his glare sharp. Nick groaned.

“I don’t have to put up with this bullshit you know. This fucked up power dynamic, I have a hundred job offers in other cities.” Nick’s hand shook around the clipboard.

“They’d be lucky to have you,” Arlo said, stepping forward, his anger getting the best of him.

Coach pressed a hand to Arlo’s chest with an icy glare, and Arlo’s rage fizzled beneath the surface.

They’d been at each other’s throats more often lately, and I couldn’t figure out why.

. Maybe it was because I was failing to be a buffer between them but I just didn’t have the time to manage their discontent.

“Enough, focus on the problem,” I said, “Josh needs these games, but he’d be better off with the bye week. Can Reyes pull out the next two wins?” I asked.

Coach hesitated, looking at Arlo for answers which only made Nick angrier. I could feel the steam rolling off his shoulders between the four of us.

“He’s going to need all the help he can get, but—”

No one pitches like Josh.

That was the unsaid consensus.

“Fine,” Coach said. I could see the thoughts spinning behind his eyes. “We make up for the runs in the field. If a ball is hit, a ball is caught. There can’t be a single error made.” He wasn’t really talking to us, more to himself, but we all listened intently to the plan.

I could feel Josh’s stare burning a hole in my back.

“Break the news,” Arlo snapped at Nick who looked like he wanted to put his fist through his face.

“If you’re having an issue with the way I coach my pitchers, Arlo, speak up because throwing a hissy fit about it is incredibly unprofessional,” Nick said.

Arlo stiffened. “What’s unprofessional is you pushing these kids to a breaking point, like dad did to you and you did to me,” he said, holding up his hand.

The scars from his surgery had started to heal and fade but his pitching hand would never be the same.

“Now you’re killing another career, and for what?

Revenge because you couldn’t make it in the minors? ”

The conversation was starting to get louder and as the game ended, players flooded into the dugout surrounding them when they all should have been celebrating the hard win.

“You get more and more like Dad every day,” Arlo growled when Nick stepped forward trying to be tough, “Mom would be proud.”

That was the snap. Nick flew across the divide and the two of them started to wrestle back and forth in a ball of angry words and violent fists.

The dugout exploded with hollering as the brothers tossed each other around, Van shoved through the bodies wrapping himself around Nicholas until he was able to haul him backward off Arlo with one forceful heave.

“Get the fuck off my field!” Coach blocked his path and barked as Arlo stepped forward to attack his brother again. “Cool off,” he warned, “we’ll have a meeting tomorrow morning.”

Ella took to checking over Arlo. “You can check him,” she grumbled in passing and looked over my shoulder at Nicholas bleeding from the nose. Christ.

Players started moving around like normal after the fight died down and I shifted through the dugout to confirm Nicholas’s nose wasn’t broken.

“Why do you do that?” I asked him, feeling along the bridge for any abnormalities.

“He started that fight,” Nick grunted when I hit a tender spot.

“No you did,” I sighed, “he’s your little brother stop being his number one enemy and have his back now and then, you’re supposed to be a team,” I said.

“Sorry I forgot you have six months of experience being a brother under your belt and now you’re the authority on family dynamics,” Nick huffed in anger.

“You’re jealous and resentful, and you’re acting like Arthur.” I snapped my words and his nose back into place.

“He called me a pussy and I’m the resentful one?” Nick shoved me off and gave his sore nose a tiny wiggle.

“That fight wasn’t about Josh’s pitching schedule and you know it.

Talk to him, and be an adult about it because Coach is getting pretty sick of these arguments and you know exactly who his favorite is.

” I warned as he walked away from me. “And for future reference Nicholas,” I said before the dugout door slammed shut, he stopped to look at me once more, “I’ve always had brothers—Arlo, this team, Josh.

.. and once, even you. So if you ever throw that in my face again I’ll make sure you get to call in all those other great job opportunities. ”

Nick scoffed, a sick annoyed smirk forming on his face and suddenly I wish Arlo had hit him a little harder. He didn’t say anything but he stared at me for a moment longer before finally letting the door close and disappearing, scurrying away like the cockroach he was.

When the dugout was finally empty I leaned over the padded banister and looked up at the stadium as everyone started to file out now that the game was finished. With the stadium quiet I finally inhaled, filling my chest with fresh air and slowing it back down to a normal pace.

I didn’t even notice him return until he leaned on the bannister beside me.

“Are you okay?” Josh asked, his dark eyes looking up and out at the diamond.

“Yeah, sometimes I like to stand out here after the game in between that time when the laughter and cheering of drunk college students is fading and before the crew start cleaning away the cans and spilled popcorn. It’s—”

“Quiet,” Josh cut me off and nodded gently in understanding. “I’m screwed aren’t I?” He asked after a long bout of silence.

“Not completely, but you’re going to have to sit out the next few games and we’re going to have to overhaul your therapy during the bye-week,” I explained. “It’s that or you play on Thursday and never play again. Your choice.”

“Do you think it’s that bad?” Josh asked, I could hear the concern beneath his typical stoic tone.

“I know it is,” I said, finally looking over at him. “Just trust me?”

“I don’t know,” he smirked arrogantly, “of all the rumors about the Shores, everyone is adamant about never trusting one.”

“Shut up,” I said, shaking my head with a soft laugh. In moments like these it’s nice because it’s a small reminder that through all of the drama and all of gossip, I had gained a vital piece of family and repaired a relationship I never thought I would get to have.

I was grateful for Josh and our shared love of silence.

“I promised Dean that I’d help him study so…” Josh cleared hi s throat.

“Yeah of course, go,” I said. “Hey,” I called out to him. “When Nick breaks the news to you about Reyes starting, give him hell.”

Josh smiled again. “I think I can manage that.”

In his absence the stress of holding together our newly stitched together family seeped back in and gripped my bones too tightly to breathe. Drew hadn’t called or showed up to the stadium and it was time I started to think of a Plan B of how to get my shares in the company from my Grandfather.

I’d come on too strong and scared her away, trying to fix everything without realizing some things just can’t be fixed. I was trying to shove a square peg in a round hole and broke the toy in the process.

I waited a few more minutes, soaking in the quiet before the brooms started to sweep across the concrete and echo down onto the field.

I wandered through the busy stadium and collected a few things, and my laptop in my backpack before making my way out to the parking lot.

Pushing out in the open air, a chuckle left my lips at the sight of her leaning against her car in a pair of washed out jeans and a zip-up gray hoodie.

Her hair was pulled up into a messy bundle at the top of her head and she looked tired but… pretty.

“I was starting to think I scared you off,” I said, adjusting the strap on my bag.

“There’s still time,” Drew answered. The tension stretched between us and for a moment I thought she might still bail. Her body language was timid, closed off—it was clear she was terrified.

“Did you decide?” I asked her. She had to have come to give me an answer, I braced for the worst and waited until she mustered up the courage to speak again.

“Did you get it in writing?” she asked me as I moved closer and I nodded. It was brutal on my nervous system, having so much hope that she might actually be going along with the deal. “Auggie can’t know,” she repeated it from the day before.

“Our little secret,” I said to her, stopping with a foot of space between us.

She stared at me, her massive green eyes a little watery but she stuck her hand out in front of her.

“Husband,” she said .

The word rolled off her tongue and for a second I was almost the one to back away from the arrangement. It had taken a lot for her to make the decision. I could see it on her face, the way she squared her shoulders to meet my gaze and how she exhaled a slow, careful breath to steady herself.

I looked down at her hand, taking in how it trembled a little as I closed mine around hers. “Wife.”