Strike: Bases Series (Book Two)

by Grace, Hazel

  And I hit send, knowing I sound petty as hell, and I don’t give a fuck.

  Present day

  “How you dragged me out here to do this shit,” Taylor complains next to me, chomping down on a soft pretzel. “I have no idea. You don’t even put out.”

  “If you were a lesbian, I’d give it a go,” I counter, scanning the crowd for a familiar set of eyes. “But since you talk about dick all the time, I’m leaning more toward you’re a poser.” She chuckles, taking another bite and continues with her mouth full.

  “It can’t compare. Besides, who wouldn’t want to reminisce at Freemont’s Founding Day fair? Shit is legendary.”

  “I don’t ever remember it being that way.”

  “Because you’re lame as fuck,” she alludes. “But today should be interesting.”

  “‘Cause you thought of this dumbass plan, like you did all of them.”

  She scoffs. “It got you what you wanted.”

  True, it did, it just didn’t last long enough.

  “Yeah, but I don’t want Colson. I want Colson to leave me alone.”

  “Okay, because, again, this sounds super familiar.” I roll my eyes, but for the second time today, she’s right.

  However, this time, we have unfinished business. A past that both of us need to get over so that we can coexist in this town in peace. Because if we go back to our high school ways of my getting shunned by the female population and his car getting cemented to a flagpole, we’re going to live a very long life together in retaliation to where we might burn this whole town down.

  If it ever came to that, I’ll opt out and leave for Texas. The drive back and forth to visit my parents will suck, but my health and balance are more important than the hour and a half drive back and forth.

  “Speaking of,” Taylor chimes. I snap my attention to her then follow her eyes through the crowd of townsfolk bustling around the town square. I don’t see him nor do I feel comfortable doing what she’s planned for today. She says I need to break him.

  I don’t want to break him.

  I just want to break the animosity we have toward each other. I mean, God, we’re in our late twenties, time to act like grown ass adults.

  “By the baked goods,” Taylor conveys. “Black hat, white T-shirt.” Following her description, I scan around. It doesn’t take long for me to find him talking to a brunette, swatting at his arm and cackling.

  Well, maybe not cackling but laughing.

  “Ready?” Taylor asks.

  “Nope.”

  I’m not ready for his glare or any shitty thing he’s going to interject.

  But alas, it has to be done for me to sustain in Freemont.

  “Let me look at you.” Taylor shifts me to stand in front of her like a mom dressing her three-year-old to make sure my clothing is on straight.

  It is, thank you very much, but she picked out my outfit, and she gets super proud of her work. She has me wearing a black tank top with a gray long sleeve cover-up and jean shorts that are a little shorter than what I’m used to. She pulls a few locks of my hair and lays them on my shoulders then taps my cheek.

  “You look perfect.”

  I take in a deep sigh. “I’m ready.”

  Taylor smiles at me. “Oh honey, you were born ready for this.” She links her arm with mine, and we proceed through the crowd.

  My eyes latch on to him again, talking casually to the woman next to him. He looks at ease, normal, content while I’m a ball of nerves walking up to my execution. His baseball cap makes him look a tad younger, reminding me of our high school days and everything that happened back then. He always had a strong power over me, it snuck up on me even though I tried to fight it off. He had gotten under my skin, but everything needed to come to an end now.

  I needed to move on.

  “Hayes,” Taylor calls out, keeping her arm wrapped with mine. “I didn’t know you baked.” Colson looks over at her, then his gaze collides with me. His posture stiffens immediately then, like he’s practiced a million times, relaxes.

  “I didn’t know you were back in town,” Colson professes. “Good to see you.”

  “Just visiting my girl here,” Taylor replies, shaking me a little. “Couldn’t miss Founder’s Day.” Colson glances at me for a moment, he remembers what happened here a decade ago, what he did.

  He pulls his focus away and gives Taylor a grin. “Yeah, it’s the event of the season.” Taylor gives his friend a once-over, and Colson introduces her. “This is Mrs. Benton, one of the mom’s on the baseball team.” Taylor doesn’t hold out her hand, being petty as hell as always.

  “Aw, that’s great,” she coos. “So, you’re married?” The brunette’s eyes shoot open for a second, but they soften, and she smiles feebly. I glance down at her left hand, which is dawned in a diamond wedding ring.

  “I am, he’s over at the beer tent.” She reaches out to shake Taylor’s hand. “I’m Emma.”

  Taylor takes her hand then and shakes it. “Really nice to meet you, Emma. This is my friend, Sawyer, Colson’s ex-girlfriend.” I feel my cheeks go up in flames.

  What the fuck?

  Emma looks startled at the candid mention, and Colson shoots Taylor a glare while I squeeze her arm against my ribs.

  She politely extends her hand to me, and I give it a brief shake. “Nice to meet you, Emma. What position does your son play?”

  “Left field,” she replies with a forced grin.

  “He plays right field,” Colson corrects, letting his irritation sound out in his tone as he looks over the crowd.

  Emma lets out a nervous chuckle. “Oh, right. Well, I’m going to go find my...uh, husband. You ladies have a really good rest of your day.” She takes off, not waiting for us to respond back, and Taylor shifts her weight, probably happy that she still has the same ability to embarrass people on the spot.

  She picks up a chocolate chip cookie and takes a bite. “You’ll never learn huh, Hayes?” His eyes slowly land on her, narrowing in.

  “Learn what?”

  She points at him in mid chew. “Exactly. So, you’re manning the...baking table?”

  “I’m relieving my players for a minute, and you’re going to pay for that cookie.”

  Taylor pulls her wallet out of her purse. “How much for the store bought cookie?”

  “Ten bucks for you, Walters,” he answers, crossing his arms over his chest. She pulls out a twenty and throws it on the table.

  “Keep the change.” Colson shoots her an exasperated look and swipes up the money. Then his eyes pin on something behind me, and his brows snap together.

  Warm hands wrap around my middle, and a pair of lips appear underneath my ear, placing a soft kiss to my skin.

  Before I can elbow the body behind me, a whisper sounds in my ear. “Don’t hit me, my ribs still hurt.”

  Jake.

  I casually blow out a breath as Jake presses another long kiss to my neck before straightening, keeping his body flush to my back.

  “Ah, Colson,” Jake greets. “Great to see you again, man.”

  Colson’s mouth opens, his tongue pressed behind his teeth with a smirk. “Wish I could say the same, Abercrombie. Still healing up?”

  It’s been eight days.

  Eight days since I’ve seen him.

  Spoken to him.

  Been threatened and promised by him.

  I can’t name all the emotions that have been strangling me since that day. It might be because it was the last thing I expected to have happen when Jake surprised me at the bar. I didn’t plan on him slamming me against the wall, telling me that Myles wasn’t going to give me what I wanted, that I needed to open myself up and not cower anymore.

  I didn’t consider that I was, but he was right, I haven’t dated since Colson, given myself up without abandon to someone who could love me because I’m scared. It’s pitiful and stupid, but it's how I’ve felt since what feels like forever. The things Colson made me feel, I don’t think anyone could replace
that for me, especially when I was half the reason he fled.

  “Thanks to Sawyer,” Jake taunts. “Been healing up just fine.”

  “Jake,” Taylor chimes. “Walk me to the food truck, I want a Pepsi.” Jake gives me a squeeze before letting me go, leaving me to the wolf who hasn’t taken his eyes off me in the last minute and a half.

  “Thought I told you to get rid of his ass,” he chides, looking me over while he does.

  Shit, I did.

  Jake was supposed to be on a plane right now, but I know Taylor has something to do with it.

  “I don’t do your bidding, Hayes,” I retort, raising my chin.

  He lifts his shoulder in a half shrug. “You may not get my laundry or make my lunch, but I remember you agreeing. Has he fucked you since the last time I’ve seen you?”

  “Colson,” I warn.

  “Bases,” he returns. “Simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question.”

  “I’m not here to play fucking games with you.”

  “No, you’re just here to flaunt your boy toy in my fucking face.”

  “He’s not supposed to—” I stop because that’s giving too much away. “Go fuck Mrs. Benton, if you like to play in fire.”

  “I do,” he admits. “I loved playing with you.”

  “Quit being a—”

  “Meet me in the back of the hardware store in two minutes,” he stresses. “And if the word ‘no’ is the next thing to fall out of your pretty little mouth, just remember what happened with your job at the Burger Joint. Except it’ll be you, who is said to be fucking the principal at Freemont High.”

  He gives me a devilish sneer and turns on his heels, blending in with the crowd.

  Fuck, here we go again.

  I glance over my shoulder to look for Taylor and Jake, but they're nowhere to be found, and I’m apparently on a timer. My heart hammers in my chest, I don’t have time or the balls to call out his bluff. While losing my waitressing job in high school was a blow, ruining my teaching career would be a detonation of my life. I’ve worked too hard to get where I am, and I can’t risk it.

  I have to meet this head on. Jake might be right, I took his sanity, and I’m the magical key to give it back. I can’t say it’d be completely horrible in the moment. All the words he seethed into my face warmed my body, sent every fantasy to the forefront of my mind, and in every fucked-up way possible, I wanted Colson to own me. The lust and anger in his eyes fueled the desire I’ve kept for him. He’ll fuck me once and continue on his way, but I’ll stop wondering and driving myself crazy with imagining.

  Walking through the crowd, I cross the street and out of the square, going through the small alleyway to the back of Harold’s Hardware. Colson wants to chip away my walls, the ones I threw up to avoid falling back into his grasp. But he didn’t need to try hard because I was always putty in his hands.

  The smell of garbage and mildew fills my nose as I pass another trash bin when I’m suddenly pushed into the brick wall. The smell of pine wafts around me as hands grasp my hips, lifting me in the air. I subconsciously wrap my legs around his familiar hips, and he slams his lips into mine.

  I melt between him and the brick behind me, knocking his baseball cap off his head as I lace my hands into his hair. His breathing is heavy and strained, only coming up for air for a brief second before taking my mouth again.

  His hard cock presses into my inner thigh, and he swallows my groan. I’m lost within him, his exhales are my inhales and vice versa. I shared everything with him, now and back then. He kept me alive with his words, his kisses, his body, and the way he looked at me like I was his sun, air, and rain.

  His teeth scrape my bottom lip then he sucks it gently to take away the slight sting. Jake was right. Myles wasn’t this. He wasn’t built for it or made for me.

  Colson Hayes was my ending, literally and metaphorically.

  He could destroy everything in one word, breath, kiss, or smile.

  No one could ever duplicate him.

  “Tell me,” Colson murmurs against my lips. “How much did you miss this?”

  I fight within myself, between my dignity and my will. One warning me away and the other releasing me of the pent-up desires that I hold for the man who has me wrapped up in his grasp.

  “I missed you,” I breathe between kisses. He growls in response, one of his hands undoing the button of my shorts.

  “Did you fuck him?” I shake my head weakly, too hazy with what his lips are doing to me. I’m so hot and ready for him that I can’t stand it any longer. I want him to just fuck me and throw me out of my misery.

  His fingers pull down my zipper, immediately finding my pussy already wet for him.

  “Hm, fuck,” he groans, breaking our kiss. His brown eyes are glazed in contempt and lust as he uses his middle finger to circle my clit over my panties. “You’re fucking ready for me.”

  I swallow and nod again, wanting more. I pull his head toward me, brushing my lips against his, feeling his hot breath along my skin.

  “Do you want me?” I ask. He doesn’t break his focus from me, using the fabric of my panties to make torturous rings around my sensitive nub.

  “I’ve wanted you for years, Bases,” he infuses. “But you’ve been misbehaving.” My brows furrow.

  Alright, so we’ve established this. He knows about Jake and Myles, let’s move on.

  “I’m breaking things off with Myles,” I allude. “And Jake was supposed to be on a plane this morning.”

  He shakes his head. “I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about Annabelle.” My intake of air stays in my lungs, and I freeze.

  How did he know that I knew about her?

  Embarrassment washes over me. He was trying to move on, and I willed in my head that they wouldn’t last. My selfishness overpowered everything else I was feeling, I envied her when she was curled up under his arm in dozens of pictures. The way she took selfies of them on vacation and stole snapshots of him here and there.

  She took what was mine, whether it was fair or not. I broke his heart, but I still wanted to keep it.

  His lips dip down into the crook of my neck. “What did you think you were going to do, Bases?” His voice is soft, only intensifying the sensation of his lips so close to my skin. To the spot where he used to drive me crazy.

  “I...I don’t know,” I rasp.

  Honestly, I didn’t.

  The moment I saw Annabelle in the window of their kitchen, every idea fled my mind. Before seeing her, I was going to knock on his door—to say what, I wasn’t sure—I didn’t have it mapped out in my head. All I wanted to do was see him. Feel his eyes on me for a moment so I could just feel something.

  Anything.

  “You know,” he coaxes, his tongue gliding and tasting my flesh. “I saw you.” I jerk my head away to face him, and his fingers stop teasing me, but he doesn’t remove them. He just meets me dead on with his eyes locked on mine.

  “How did you know?”

  “I saw you, on my sidewalk, standing there looking at my house in the rain.” My jaw twitches because I don’t know what he’s thinking. How upset he might have been or maybe a little happy. “What were you going to do, Bases?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  “You’re fucking lying,” he rumbles. “You were going to ruin everything.”

  I shake my head. “No, no, I wasn’t. I didn’t know she’d be there.”

  “And if she wasn’t?”

  “I...was going to knock. I wanted to see you.”

  “And, what, reminisce on our memories?” I break our gaze because he’s making it sound like I purposely planned a vacation there just to show up in his life.

  It wasn’t thought out, Taylor and I were in Cali to pick up a car for her mother. I wanted a break from Oklahoma, and Taylor wanted a buddy to come along with her. We stayed overnight, and being in the same state as Colson, it was an internal tug-of-war to see him.

  So, I stalked him. I pulled him up on White Pag
es and found him. I should’ve looked up Annabelle too, I didn’t think of them living together for some reason.

  Colson’s hand slips out of my shorts, and he uses it to lift me higher up the wall. I’m looking down at him, studying who I’m dealing with. Angry Colson, calm Colson, I-don’t-give-a-fuck-about-anything Colson. The possibilities were endless.

  “What do you want me to say?” I propose. “Do you want me to apologize again? Because you already told me you were tired of hearing it. Do you want to keep going back and forth like we used to do and fuck each other’s lives up? Or do you want to let it go? Because I’m tired, Colson. I’m exhausted to the point where you can’t even begin to imagine how heavy it has weighed on my mind for years. If you want to fuck me, do it now. Get me out of your system and then just let me the fuck go.”

  He stares at me for a moment, contemplating my words, and it grinds every nerve I have left.

  When I was seventeen, I promised that I’d never let anyone bully me. I wouldn’t let someone mentally break me down to the point of a breaking me down. Instead, not only did Colson help, but I did it to myself as well. I’ve beaten myself up for years because of a mistake.

  An honest to God mistake.

  One that changed the entire course of both of our lives.

  “I want you to tell me why,” he finally says. “Why did you do this to me?” I release my held breath.

  I’ve told him why, over and over again in text messages and voicemails. He never responded to them.

  Not once.

  “You still think I did all this on purpose?” Colson looks away from me, and I grasp his chin to bring him back. He lets out a staggered sigh, looking at my chest, not at me. “Colson.”

  “What?” He peeks up at me.

  “You closed up on me again after you opened up. I know what you did.”

  He perks a brow. “What I did?” He lowers me back down so that we’re almost level then lets me down onto wobbly feet. “I think we’ve had enough talking for tonight. That’s not why I asked you here.”

  “Then why am I here?”

  His fingers rim my shorts, brushing my stomach, and he edges them down. “You’re here, Bases, to satisfy what we both want.” He sinks down, making my shorts come along with him. The warm spring air hits my thighs, and Colson starts peppering kisses with the tip of his tongue.