“Me hitting a softball and you hitting a baseball is, no?”
“I may have hit a ball a time or two just to shut up my brother, but I guess you can kinda count this as a first. I can't wait to watch you swing for the fences only to strike out. Softball ain't no joke buddy.”
I open the passenger door but Damon is already there guiding me out. Such a gentleman. He shuts the door and as I walk in front of him and he slaps my butt. Maybe not. I smile and shake my head.
We walk over to the counter and Damon hands the teenage boy a twenty dollar bill and gets a bag full of quarters in return.
We walk over to the fence and he examines the bats before picking two and smirking.
“Fair matchup. Same crappy bats, no fancy stuff. You wanna go first or me?”
“I'll go first. I think if you go first, I'll be laughin’ too hard to even hold my stance.”
I reach for the bat but he pulls it back, grabbing my chin and planting a rough kiss on my lips. He lets go of my face dropping his voice low.
“This,” he says squeezing my ass, “Is gonna pay for that later,” he says bringing his fingers up to my bottom lip.
I let out a soft moan at his words and he smirks.
“You sneaky bastard. Gettin’ me all hot and bothered before I gotta go on and swing,” I say smacking his hand away.
He gives me a smug smile and puts his hands up taking a step away from me.
“What’s on the line Johnson? What do I get when I get more hits than you do?”
“What do you want angel?”
I narrow my eyes, thinking for a second before smiling.
“I get to drive your mustang home,” I say a sly smile creeping onto my face.
The smile on Damon's face quickly disappears.
“I...that's...I mean it's got a lot of kick and...it's…”
“What's the matter big guy? You about to chicken out on me?”
“Fine,” he rasps out. “If I win you get to eat sushi off these abs,” he says pulling up his t shirt.
“I...Damon I hate sushi.”
“I know,” he smirks.
“Dammit.”
“What's the matter Gavinwood, about to chicken out on me?”
“Start the machine,” I snap.
I open the gate and walk into the cage, taking a couple of practice swings. I step into the box zeroing in on the machine and I see the baseball wiz by me and the bat doesn't even make it off my shoulder.
“What the hell, how fast is this thing?”
“That's not even close to major league speed Gavinwood.”
I shake my head, annoyed at his smug tone and step back into the box, more alert this time. I see the ball too late and swing, missing, but not by much.
“I'm thinking spicy tuna roll.”
“Shut up,” I snap.
The ball slings fast again and I make contact, fouling it off.
“Hitters got a big butt,” Damon taunts.
“Will you quit!”
I turn around and stare daggers at him as I step back in the box, finally making contact, sending the baseball soaring past the machine.
“Alright, now I got it,” I whisper to myself.
After the machine shuts off I have seven hits under my belt. I walk out of the cage eyeing Damon as he grins.
“Not bad rookie.”
“Oh hush. Let's see how you do Mr. Overconfident.”
He walks past me but not before I grab a handful of his crotch, stroking him through his shorts. I let go of it just as fast and he shakes his head as he saunters in the cage.
I slip the coins inside the slot, starting the machine as I see him adjust himself in his shorts. I laugh zeroing in on his butt as he takes his stance.
“You got some nice junk in your trunk too Johnson. Makes me wanna grab onto it while you’re slidin’ that thick-”
“Bella…” he warns.
He turns to me, the softball whizzing past his head and he curses.
I shrug and he shakes his head stepping back into the box. He takes his stance again and swings but misses. I try to stifle my giggle, but it escapes past my lips.
“God I can't wait to get behind the wheel of that beauty. You got good car insurance, right Johnson?”
I hear him laugh and he shakes his head, taking another swing and missing.
“Do you even know how to drive stick?” Damon grumbles as I sit behind the wheel and run my hands over the steering wheel.
“Of course I know how to drive stick. It was a rite of passage in the Gavinwood house. My grandpa Hank taught my mama and then he taught me and Devin. Just shush and buckle up. Sit there and look pretty. Don’t be a sore loser.”
“Do you know how impossible it is to swing a bat with a steel rod between your legs? That was cheating and you know it.”
I smirk at him and he shakes his head as I start the car. I adjust my mirror and turn the gear shift into reverse, slowly pulling out of the spot. I throw the car in first, careful to keep the same pressure on the clutch and the gas and glide onto the street.
“Alright just keep it in second, you don't need to push it.”
I scoff and press the clutch down as I change to second gear.
“Like I said big guy, just hush and sit there lookin’ pretty.”
I press the clutch down again pushing the car into third and the engine rumbles.
“Oh yeah this baby is gonna move.”
“Bella…”
“I won, Damon. If I'm drivin’ this thing, I'm drivin’ it.”
I turn and pull onto the highway, pressing down on the clutch pushing the shift into fourth gear. Damon curses as I put it into fifth, exerting the car to the limit, hearing the engine roar.
“Gavinwood, you're pushin’ it.”
“I like to push it,” I rasp.
As I'm about to rev it up more I see flashing blue lights behind me and my smile fades.
“Shit,” Damon says looking behind us.
“Well this is a first. I never got pulled over before,” I say shrugging giving Damon a half smile.
---
I adjust my gloves and line up at the plate again. I'm having a hard time concentrating today and it's showing. Fielding was a disaster.
I misjudged a ball coming up the line and almost got rocked in the face. My glove came up last minute, but it hit the side and I messed up the double play.
Another easy play down the line and I completely missed the catch. When I finally found the ball on the ground, I missed stepping on third. Coach is getting angry and I can sense it.
Batting hasn't been easy either. This is my third time up and I already have two strikeouts under my belt. Luckily, it's just practice, but still.
All I keep thinking about is Damon. Our “date” at the batting cages a couple days ago and how he got us out of that ticket has my brain and heart all jumbled up.
This thing we have going on is making it impossible to concentrate on anything else. My body has become addicted to him and it's almost like it's shutting down, it can't function without his. It hasn't had its fix in days and its protesting any type of living without it.
I dig my cleats into the dirt and take my stance. The machine lunges the ball forward and I take a swing, barely making contact and fouling it back.
I step back shaking it off and dig my heels in again.
Another ball flings forward and I swing with everything I have and completely miss, almost letting go of the bat.
“Dammit,” I mutter.
I slap my thigh and the contact stings my skin. I need the jolt to wake me up and take my stance again.
“Come on Gavinwood, we both know you can handle the wood, stop fuckin’ around,” a voice says from behind me.
I step out of the box and turn around towards the voice and freeze.
“What the hell,” I whisper.
Damon smiles and hops over the right field barrier from the stands and jogs towards me. Before I can think, he cups my cheek and col
lides our lips together in a kiss that literally takes my breath away. He breaks the kiss still smiling and I gasp for air.
“Damon, what the hell are you doin’ here?”
“You forget I play for Tampa? I have to report for spring training, thought I'd come see my favorite player.”
“But your knee…”
“Team trainer is gonna work with me. My physical therapist has been a miracle worker though, it's lookin’ good.”
“Oh yeah?” I smirk.
I lean in for another kiss and hear a throat clear behind us. I whip around and see my hitting coach with her arms folded.
“You on the national lip locking team or the national softball team, Gavinwood?”
“Sorry Coach,” I mumble.
Damon walks backwards to the stands and I shake my finger.
“Remember the last time you did that?”
“I fell for you angel, how could I forget,” he yells.
I hear some girls on the team laugh and I shake my head, walking back to the plate with a big, goofy smile on my face.
I take my stance, with a new found fire stirring inside me. I can’t strike out with Damon watching. The ball hurdles to me and I take a big swing, fouling it off again.
I shake out my arms, adjusting my gloves again, squatting back in the box. I take a practice swing, zeroing in on the machine, watching for the second that ball leaves the mechanical hand.
I see the neon yellow of the softball barrel towards me and I take a huge swing, clenching my abs, digging my heels into the ground, tightening my quads as I hear the crack of my bat. I finish my swing, watching the ball go soaring into the left field stands and smile.
I hear cheers from the sidelines where the rest of my teammates are, and they jog over and smack my butt.
“Get it girl.”
“I need ass like that kissin’ me senseless and maybe I'll hit like that too.”
“Nice shot Gavinwood.”
“Alright, alright,” says coach. “Break time. Take the hour then hit the weight room. I don’t care if you girls use this one or you’re own but make sure you hit all the circuits.”
Amy, one of my good friends on the team and my roommate here in Florida, puts her arm through mine.
“You did not tell me you were fucking Damon Johnson,” she squeals.
“I...I’m not,” I lie. “I’ll meet you inside, give me a minute.”
I jog over to the stands and Damon is clapping.
“Not bad Gavinwood. Do I get to smack your ass too?” he says in a low rumble.
“I gotta do weights for an hour, we can meet up after?”
“You can always come workout with me? I have a state of the art gym in my basement. I can show you my place...my real place.”
“I know what that look in your eye means, I really have to workout Damon.”
“Believe me angel, you’ll get your workout in,” he smirks.
I bite my lip debating the choices. I am curious about his home, getting a glimpse inside the real Damon Johnson, and it would be hard for me to turn down watching him workout. Ah shit, new Bella says fuck it.
“Alright, give me five minutes to get my stuff. Meet ya in the parking lot?”
He nods and I turn to walk away but he grips my wrist pulling me back. Our chests bump together and his hands land on my lower back, right above the swell of my ass. He takes one hand off and I feel a hard slap right on my left ass cheek.
“Just want to give you a proper job well done on that homer,” he smirks.
He kisses my lips and pulls away too quickly, causing me to lean a little into his body.
“Oh angel, I am going to enjoy watching you push this body to the limit,” he growls, running his big hand down my ribs, past the belt of my pants and gripping the back of my thigh.
His eyes roam down my body, examining me and I should be embarrassed, but it turns me on.
“I’ll be right back,” I say quickly turning and jogging to the locker rooms.
I’m bombarded with questions the second I walk inside and I laugh.
“Are you dating Damon Johnson?”
“Is he good in bed?”
“Is his dick as big as people say it is?”
“Did he really cheat on Brynn Roberts with you?”
“Okay, okay ladies, enough,” Amy says saving me. “She’ll tell us when she’s ready to tell us, give her some space, Jesus.”
I turn towards my locker and mouth a thank you to her. The rest of the girls go back to packing their things or mixing their pre-workouts for the weight session.
“Okay, I don’t count as everyone else, what the hell is going on? I saw the picture of you both at the gala but is this more than just a date to a charity event?” Amy whispers.
“I...I don’t know. We have sex, we kinda go on dates, I ain't too sure. I’m not gettin’ my hopes up because we leave in a couple days but, I like him Amy. I really freakin’ like him,” I huff out.
“Oh Jesus. What about him? What does he want?”
“I don’t know. Brynn ditched when she found about his knee injury, so I don’t think he wants anything serious. It was a blow to his ego, but I ain’t like that. We’re just...I don’t know, takin’ it day by day I guess.”
“Well honey, even if it’s just a ‘day by day’ thing, enjoy the shit out of it. It’s not every day you get to shack up with a man like that. My God, how is he in the sack? No! Don’t tell me, I’m already jealous as shit. Ugh, let’s go.”
“I’m uhh...goin’ to Damon’s to workout with him, at his house,” I say quickly.
“Coach said weight training Bells, not pussy training.”
“Oh my God, no! He has a gym at his house, we are gonna weight train,” I say slapping her arm.
“Yeahhhhh...right….” she says smirking. “Have fun Gavinwood, just...make sure he wraps his bat, if ya know what I mean,” she winks and leaves the locker room.
I jog out to the parking lot with my backpack behind me and search for Damon’s car. I walk towards mine, taking out my phone to call him when I hear a horn honk behind me. I see a big black pickup truck pull up and Damon sticks his head out.
“Hop up angel. We'll get your car later.”
“I swear every time I see you, you're in a new car” I laugh, hopping inside.
“My Mustang attracts way too much attention down here and I’m not in the mood for the shit. Plus, it's got a bad track record with you,” he chastises.
I laugh and buckle up as we drive in silence to Damon’s house. I’m on edge, thinking about the last time we were together and every time before that. Things are changing between us, at least I feel like they are and it’s scary. It’ll only be a matter of time before I’m falling in love with him, I know myself. I love, I love so fucking hard.
We pull up to a large wrought iron gate and Damon presses a button on the visor. The gate slowly opens and he looks over to me smiling.
“Welcome to my crib,” he says.
I laugh and roll my eyes and he drives down the driveway slowly until I see the biggest damn house I’ve ever laid eyes on. My brother does well for himself and he has a big ol house in Texas with a farm but holy hell, it is not like this.
“My God Damon, how many people live in this house?”
“Truthfully, don’t be weirded out but my parents do. It's separated though, they won’t know we’re here. I actually think they’re away on vacation.”
“Your parents live here?” I ask dumbfounded.
“Is it weird? I hoped it wouldn’t be weird. We don’t have to see them, I know this isn’t that, I just...we grew up pretty poor and when I made it big, I was determined to give them a nice place to live. Nico followed a couple years behind me but they like Tampa better than Miami. They literally live in a total separate part of the house. The connecting door is always locked. I fucked this up, didn’t I?”
“No!” I say quickly touching his arm. I smile and shake my head, “You didn’t, it’s okay. That's
really admirable of you. Devin and I are the same way with our mama. We didn't grow up with much either and although she does well for herself now, we always take care of her here and there too.”
Ballers with Benefits (Double Play Series Book 3) Page 14