“Do you know where they went?” I all but ground out through clenched teeth, my fists clenched. I needed to get to Christina before things with her and Logan went too far.
“No. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Look at you, acting all caveman right now, like she owes you anything. You’d go there and cause a scene. She doesn’t deserve that, Cole. She deserves better. And you’ve never been the one to give it to her.”
Her words were like weapons, blunted, sharp, and aimed to kill. I took a step back like she had struck me before pulling it together—barely.
“Lauren. Please. Listen,” I started, but she interrupted, finally pulling the door wide enough so that she could step through it.
“No. You listen,” she said, jabbing a bony finger into my chest. “You’ve done nothing but hurt and confuse her. You don’t get to do it anymore. She has a chance to be happy, and if you give a shit about her at all, you’ll let her be.”
“But Logan isn’t a good guy,” I said, my head shaking, wishing that Lauren could see the real Logan and not whatever fictitious one he was pretending to be.
“Says the guy who is worse than all of them,” she said, glaring.
I wanted to tell her that she was wrong about me. That I’d changed and seen the error of my ways and that I needed Christina at a level that scared the hell out of me, but there was no use. Lauren would never believe it, and those words weren’t meant for her anyway.
“I’m not sure why you did that thing during the game today, Cole. And I have no idea why you’re here right now, but I do know that it’s not fair.” She shook her head as she made her way back into her apartment, her hand holding on to the door. “And you know it. You’ve played her like a yo-yo for years. Cut the damn string already and go find a new toy to play with.”
The door closed without another word, and the sound of the dead bolt clicking into place reverberated throughout the hallway. I stood there like a kid who had just been scolded by his parents, staring at my shoes, wondering what the hell to do next.
Crossed the Line
Cole
I tucked my tail between my legs and drove back to the baseball house. But not before driving past five local restaurants and three bars, all looking for Logan’s car. It wouldn’t be my fault if we all happened to end up in the same place at the same time. I wasn’t sure which of us I deemed the lucky one when I finally gave up.
When I walked through the front door, I saw some of the guys who didn’t live in the house were already hanging out, drinking and getting ready for the party. They called my name and waved for me to come into the kitchen. Ignoring them, I headed straight for my bedroom instead and locked the door behind me. Usually, one or two of my teammates would end up in my room to shoot the shit, and I wasn’t in the mood. I needed to shower and think in peace.
As Lauren’s words played through my mind, I shook them away, refusing to get pissed off. I knew that she was only sticking up for her friend and wanted the best for her. What Lauren didn’t realize was that the best thing for Christina, was me. It damn sure wasn’t Logan. But the only person I needed to prove that to was Christina, and I still planned on doing exactly that. I’d let her have this date today with Logan even if it ripped me apart inside, but tomorrow, all bets were off.
I’d wrongfully assumed that she wouldn’t show up here tonight. Especially not on Logan’s arm, with his hand wrapped around her waist as they navigated their way through the crowd of people blocking the doorway. My senses heightened the moment they arrived, calling my attention over my shoulder to where she stood … with him. This scene was growing far too familiar—her in my house. But the rest of it, who she was here with, was all wrong.
I shouldn’t have been so surprised to see her here, but I was. I’d looked in the stands for her today, called out my home run, and gone to her apartment with my heart in my fucking hands. If the girl was trying to show me that she didn’t need me in her life, I was starting to believe her. Because a private date was one thing, but showing up here, to my house for a party, was a fucking statement. A slap in the face. A knife in the goddamn back.
Logan’s arm was still holding her, and I wanted to tear him limb from limb for even thinking that he could even though I had no right. My eyes moved from where his hand touched her exposed skin, to her baby blues, and back again. I couldn’t stop. She watched me, her expression unreadable. The heat that raged to life inside of me started radiating out of my pores, and it was a damn wonder that I didn’t light things on fire with my presence. I wondered if everyone else in the room could feel my rage as they grew closer to me in the kitchen.
Like clockwork, my two shadows appeared at my side, flanking me.
“Jesus, fuck,” I growled, and they only moved in closer. “Shouldn’t you be making out with some poor girl already?” I asked Mac.
“There’s plenty of time for that,” he said with a laugh before growing more serious. “He’s only doing it to get to you,” he reaffirmed what I had already known, but it changed nothing.
I didn’t give a shit about Logan or his reasons for doing anything. I only cared about Christina. And she had come here tonight with him, knowing that I’d be here and that I’d see them together.
“He knows you have your head on straight. We can all see it. That your balance is back. He wants you off-balance again,” Chance informed me, and I shot them both annoyed glares. “Using her is his last-ditch effort.”
“It’s all he has left in his arsenal,” Mac added. “He knows if this doesn’t work, nothing will.”
I wanted to call Logan out on it. Make him admit that he was only using her to get to me, but I knew that it would embarrass Christina. And no matter how desperate I was to show her the truth, I’d never willingly put her through that.
“Hey, Cole,” Logan said as the two of them walked straight up to me, Mac, and Chance. “You know my date, Christina, don’t you?”
I looked straight at her. “Hi,” I said, only to her, but she didn’t respond.
She looked uncomfortable as she wiggled her body to move out of Logan’s grip, but he refused to let her go.
Instinctively, I reached out and removed his hand from her. “She wants you to let go.”
He cocked his head and sweetly looked at her. “I’m sorry, babe. Was I holding on too tight?”
“No, I just”—she stumbled on her words before recovering—“want to go out back and get a beer.”
“I’ll go with you,” Logan started to say, but I put a hand up to stop him.
“I’ll go with her,” I offered with a grin. “Unless you have an issue with that?”
It was a challenge. One I knew that Logan wouldn’t accept. He cared too much about what people thought of him to act ruffled over me walking his date to the keg.
“No issue,” he said just like I had known he would, and I waved a hand toward the backyard and waited for Christina to start walking.
She kept her pace ahead of mine and didn’t look back at me. “You don’t have to come with me.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to,” I said as I reached for her arm, forcing her to stop moving.