Page 45 of True Honey (The Hornets Nest #4)

COURTNEY

T he office was a mess again. It felt like every time we managed to get it organized, a new rush of papers came across the desk and the phone rang non-stop with sponsors, scouts and press wanting to be transferred internally.

Susanna had left to get us lunch and thankfully the phone had stopped ringing for the time being, giving me the chance to separate the papers into urgent and easy. We could get to the important stuff within the day and the rest could wait until tomorrow.

I turned around, searching for the silver bin that Susanna liked to use for the easy papers without luck. “Where did you go?” I mumbled to myself and wandered back to the storage office, flicking the light on and staring around at the chaos of towered boxes and old merchandise left to collect dust.

In the corner on the bottom shelf there was a box, old and water damaged but opened that caught my attention. I knelt down, pulling it out so I could get a better look at what was inside.

“Oh my god,” I laughed, scooping up the box and carrying it out into the main office.

Susanna was setting paper bags on the desk when I appeared from the hallway, “now where the heck did you find that?” she asked me as I stopped in front of her.

“It was in the storage room,” I said. “What is this?”

“A few years ago, the baseball team did a fundraiser to raise money for cancer awareness. It was just after Lorraine died.” Susanna pulled a copy out and flipped through the pages. “I didn’t think there were any more boxes of those things around. ”

“There must be like a hundred calendars in here,” I said in disbelief.

“They sold about a hundred thousand,” she said looking up at me, “it raised so much money they had to print a second run to keep up with the demand.”

“Is—” before I had the chance to finish she was flipping to the image of Silas in a doctor's coat practically naked and bringing a blush to my cheeks. “Do you think I could take a fifteen-minute break?” I asked her, my mind turning with ideas.

“Of course.” She shrugged, “I’ll put your lunch in the kitchen.

” She called after me as I started through the stadium.

I had to follow the signage back to the medical wing because I’d never been this far down but eventually I popped out down a hallway leading to two giant doors.

Beside it was a smaller, empty office with Silas’s name on it and of course it was left unused in favor of the very public medical room.

I turned my back, pushing open the doors with the box still in my arms and spun to see him working with an athlete, “sorry,” I mouthed, not realizing I was interrupting until it was too late.

He didn’t look upset, more surprised that I was there as he excused the player, walking them out and locking the doors behind him to give me his full attention.

“Well hello to you too.” Silas circled me and the box, swiping his clipboard off the bed and tossing it on his bed after marking a couple things in pen.

“You need to do another one,” I said, digging into the box and holding the calendar up and letting it fall open to Mr. August.

“No.” Silas jumped toward me but I held it out of his reach with a smile on my face.

“Why not?” I asked, sincerely confused by his immediate refusal.

“Let me rephrase, hell no .” He reached for the calendar again but I stepped back and narrowed my eyes on him.

“ Why not?” I repeated, my tone dropping.

“It was humiliating the first time and we will never outlive it!” He sighed, “where did you even find that box?”

“The storage room.” I shrugged, “and are you going to listen to why you should do another?” I set the box down and crossed my arms over my chest. Silas stared at me, locking us in a silent standoff.

“There’s no good reason for it,” he argued.

“Susanna said last time you sold over a hundred thousand copies,” I said. “At what price?”

“Twenty-seven dollars and ninety-nine cents,” Silas said.

“And what was the printing cost?” I asked.

“Local place in Harbor did it, I think it was like six bucks per…” He said, his brows knitting together as I did the math in my head.

“So close to two point five million dollars in revenue, give or take?”

“Give or take,” he chuckled at the fast math.

“Two million dollars that didn’t come from your father’s name.

Two million dollars that only existed because of you .

” I tapped my finger on the calendar. “You want to show people that there is still good in the world? You don’t need him, you don’t even need their money if you don’t want it.

You just have to get creative,” I said with a smile.

“How?” He asked, and I knew that he was interested because his shoulders relaxed.

“Reshoot the calendar.”

“Drew, no,” he laughed and if I wasn't so determined to get my way I'd swoon at the way his eyes scrunched up and created little lines around his face.

“Silas,” I grumbled and he quieted. “We donate all the proceeds of the new calendar to Women’s funds, shelters and programs in Harbor. To the people that don’t have the support your mother had, or your brother. To the ones that need it the most.”

He watched me for a moment, his fingers tapping the desk he was leaning on as he thought about it. “You’re good.” He hummed, staring at the calendar. “Do you think you can give that speech twice?” He asked, looking up at me and I chewed my lip. “I'm not the only one you have to convince.”

The players. His friends. His family.

An inkling of confidence blossomed in the base of my chest and like he always did Silas caught it first, grabbing the crumbling box off the table and shifting it into his arms.

“Come on,” he said, motioning with his head toward the door.

I hesitated for a second but he was patient and eventually I picked up my feet and slipped through the door behind him.

I went left, in the direction of the office but Silas went right and my brows knit in confusion as I switched directions and followed him.

The sound of rowdy men got louder as we went and I realized he was walking toward the locker room. “I didn’t think you meant like right now!” I said loudly as he turned his back to the door and smiled, pushing it open.

“It’s now or never,” Silas said, like that was actually the only option. I inhaled slowly, listening to the chaos abruptly go silent the second he dropped the box on the floor loudly.

“Good afternoon to you too, Doc,” Dean said, his hands on his hips and a towel wrapped around his waist. In fact most of them were damp and without clothes making me turn my eyes to the ceiling.

“Get decent,” Silas said loudly and a few of them covered up with towels or shorts in a mumbled shuffle.

“Most of you know Drew, she lives in the basement with me, and works with Suse in the front office.” He explained, looking over to me still standing awkwardly by the door.

“She has something she wants to talk to you about.”

When the entire room turned their eyes to me the temperature in my body rose significantly and my throat closed over tightly but Silas’s expression was encouraging and if I only focused on him I could find the courage to do it.

“Um—” I cleared my throat. “I was thinking that maybe it was time you reshot the Harbor Hornets Calendar…”

The room erupted and it was overwhelming with noise for what felt like minutes.

“Shut up!” Arlo barked from the corner. I hadn’t even noticed him standing in the locker room but he was leaning against the wall near Josh with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Go on,” Silas said softly, his eyes drifting to his best friend in thanks.

“It’s not a secret that the calendar is important to a lot of people, and the last time you did one you raised a crazy amount of money for a good cause.” I tried to sound confident in myself but my voice shook a little.

“And never lived it down,” Van said with a soft laugh, causing a few of them to chime in.

“So I’m learning,” I chuckled nervously and looked to Silas for help but he just gave me another soft smile and mouthed keep going .

“Harbor needs your help again,” I said, trying to find my voice.

“All the donations from the new calendar would go to the women’s shelters, and programs that help rehabilitate women affected by domestic violence.

I promise it's for a good reason,” I added to the end.

“It’s something I know is close to my heart, but also Silas’s and I think now is the perfect time to remind Harbor why they love you all so much. ”

The room was silent, I expected more arguments but not that. The silence settled against my chest, the anxiety building the longer they remained quiet in the face of my proposal. I counted myself backwards, my fingers folding into my palm as I made it around to ten and started again.

“I’ll do it.”

I turned my head to see Josh standing up with a serious expression on his face.Arlo was staring at him and I couldn’t pinpoint the emotion on his face but his jaw was set tightly and there was a sense of admiration in his eyes.

“Fuck it, I’m in,” he stepped forward, unfolding his arms. “Blondie is going to flip.”

One by one, the Hornets fell in line with their participation, and eventually the entire room was in agreement to help with the new calendar.

Silas beamed at me with pride, his smile stretched from cheek to cheek and it did something to my heart that I wasn’t familiar with.

It wasn’t anxiety, the heavy feeling of dread wasn’t present but my heart was racing all the same.

“I have the perfect person to help you set it up,” he said to me.