Hector (Season One: The Ninth Inning #3)

by Lindsay Paige

  “I hope my past actions will not hurt us moving forward in the future. And before you ask, no, Hector and Manuel don’t know I’m here. I came here alone.”

  Yep, I’m dreaming. I know I’m hearing her, but I can only stare at her because if I say anything, something might change. “I’m shocked, but I appreciate everything you said. I care for Hector very much,” I speak slowly and softly, and Carissa’s eyes are still wide in shock.

  “I know and I’m glad you both are happy.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Now, let’s enjoy lunch.”

  “HECTOR! YOU’RE NEVER going to believe what happened today!” Zoey shouts.

  I hear the door shut and begin leaving my bedroom. Dad and I went golfing today. I haven’t been home long enough to do much other than change clothes.

  “What happened?” I ask, kissing her cheek before pulling her next to me on the couch. She went out with my sister, so anything could’ve happened.

  “Your mother—” she begins, but I cut her off, my blood boiling with anger already.

  “What did she do now? I thought it was just going to be you and Carissa? I’ll—”

  Zoey covers my mouth with her hand. “Be quiet and listen to me.” I nod and she drops her hand. “She surprised us and joined us for dinner. I still can’t get over my shock.” Zoey shakes her head incredulously. “It was totally unexpected.”

  “Will you just tell me what happened?” I’m still unsure if this is a good dinner or not.

  “She apologized.” My jaw drops. “I know! She started asking me some questions about the showings, asked if my aunts were always so nice, and then she explained. She basically said she thought if she picked who she approved of, knew, and introduced to you, then you couldn’t possibly get hurt and would be happy. She apologized to me and said she hoped we could move past it because she saw how much you love me and my family.”

  My brows pull together. “Are you sure you’re talking about my mother?” This doesn’t sound like something she would do. At least, not for a few more months of stewing.

  Zoey laughs and slaps my arm. “Yes, I’m talking about your mother. We ended up having a really good dinner and she said she hoped I came with you when you go home to visit.” She leans back into the couch. “I can’t seem to wrap my head around it. Maria is actually a pretty nice person when she’s not being judgmental.”

  This time, I laugh and lean back into the couch, too, letting it sink in. My mother finally came around. “Wow.”

  “I know,” Zoey agrees. She takes my hand in hers, turning her head to look at me and I do the same. “I won’t lie, I feel so much better now. I know it had to have been bothering you the way she’s been toward us and how she wasn’t talking to you anymore; it was bothering me for you. I was also worried about how it would end up affecting us. Now, the only thing we ever have to worry about is which one of us is going to mess up.” She gives me a half smile.

  I shift in my seat to face her, cupping her neck with my thumbs rubbing along her jaw. “As long as you realize that while messing up may be inevitable, so is making up. I’m not going anywhere ever. I’ll chase you for the rest of my life if I need to, and we both know I won’t mind doing that. Things with us wouldn’t have been affected my mother either. It would have bothered me, yeah, but nothing in my life has ever felt as right as loving you. I wouldn’t give that up, not for anyone.”

  Zoey smiles and kisses me softly. “I love you, too. I never would have taken the jump with my art if it wasn’t for you.”

  I kiss her for a long time, but not nearly long enough when I pull away. “I need to go do something. Will you stay here tonight?”

  “I was actually hoping to work on a piece tonight. You could stay with me though.”

  I nod. “That’ll work.” I kiss her one more time before we both leave my house after I’ve packed a bag.

  The drive seems to take longer than I expected thanks to traffic, but I’m not in any rush. The hotel is like any other and thanks to Carissa, I know which room my parents are staying in. I give a small smile to the receptionist and head to the elevator, riding up to the fifth floor. Within minutes, I’m standing outside of their room. I knock.

  “It’s Hector,” I say. The door opens a second later. My mom has already changed into her pajama gown. I step forward and hug her tightly. “Thank you.”

  “I want you to be happy, Hector, and she makes you happy.”

  “She does,” I agree, pulling away.

  She cups my face. “I promise I won’t get in the way anymore and any issues I have left, I’ll work on myself.” She takes a deep breath. “I’m even going to stop trying to set Carissa up with someone, but you need to promise me you’ll look after her. She talks to you more than she talks to me.”

  “Carissa can handle herself, Mom, but I promise. I need to go. I’ll see you guys before you leave.”

  Mom nods and then I’m off to Zoey’s. This whole having to stay at one person’s house or the other sucks. When I get to Zoey’s, she’s in her studio. She doesn’t notice me either. I lean against the doorframe and watch her. I could watch her all day. I love seeing her being immersed in her art, lost to the rest of the world. It makes me so happy to see her doing what she loves.

  It takes about two hours before Zoey stands and turns around, jumping when she sees me.

  “Move in with me,” I say before she can get a word out. She drops her brush, her mouth hanging open. “Or I can move in with you. I’m not attached to my house. Or we could get our own place.” As I speak, I realize that if I had a ring already, I would probably be asking her to marry me instead. One step at a time. I don’t want to overwhelm her and I don’t even know if she’s ready for that yet.

  Zoey stares at me for what feels like a lifetime before she says, “Really?”

  I nod.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay? Not a squeal and a yes? Or you could have jumped over here, hugged me, and screamed a yes,” I tease.

  Zoey rolls her eyes, closes the distance between us, and wraps her arms around my neck. “You asked me to move in with you, not to marry you.” Her eyes widen as she realizes what she said.

  “I haven’t asked you yet,” I point out. “I still expected some excitement. I’m excited.” I run my hands up her sides. “I can’t wait to live with you.”

  “I can’t wait either.” Then she leads me to her bedroom where she shows me how excited she really is.

  WE’RE SUPPOSED TO clean out our lockers today. My parents left yesterday, and I had to drag myself away from Zoey to see them off. I’ve been trying to convince her that we need our own place, instead of me moving in with her since she has her studio here and I wouldn’t have the extra room at my place. I’m pretty sure I’m close to making her agree. All her arguments against it have been pitiful at best. I think she’s just having fun saying no to me.

  I’m about to leave when my phone rings.

  Zoey laughs when I answer, “Grumpy! Miss me already? You do know you’ll see me in a few minutes, right?”

  “You haven’t heard, have you?” His voice is somber and my first thought is that something must have happened to either his mother or Sofia.

  “What happened?”

  “Trent’s wife was murdered yesterday.”

  “What?” I’ve never met her, but my heart immediately aches for Trent. The guy loved his wife more than anything. She and their daughter meant the world to him. “Shit. Is his daughter okay? What the hell happened?”

  “I don’t know details and it hasn’t hit the news just yet, but they said it was some drug addict. His daughter wasn’t with her. I wanted to call in case you didn’t know, so you’d know what was up with him today.”

  “He’s still coming to get his things?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Alright, well, I’ll see you soon then.”

  “Everything okay?” I turn at the sound of Zoey’s voice.

  “No, one of my teammates,
Trent, his wife was murdered yesterday.” I fill her in on what Blake just told me. “I can’t imagine,” I shake my head at the thought of losing Zoey like that. “I better go.”

  She hugs me and then I’m gone. What do you say to someone who just lost the love of his life? I’m sorry seems vastly inadequate. The locker room is quiet when I arrive and Trent is sitting down, holding a photo of his family that he kept in his locker.

  He looks devastated and like he’s barely keeping it together. He shouldn’t be here. He should be with his daughter. She’s five, I think. I go about my business as everyone leaves Trent to himself. Twenty minutes go by and he’s still staring at the photo, his thumb running over his wife’s face.

  Before I can second guess myself, I walk over and lay a hand on his shoulder. He startles, looking up at me.

  “Go home and be with your daughter, Trent. We’ll take care of things here for you.”

  He nods and stands, leaving without another word. The media is going to have a field day with this, and it’ll probably be twice as bad as it was for Blake. His story was shocking. This one is heartbreaking. We don’t need to have a conversation to know that we’re all going to do whatever we can to help him.

  We’re a team and we’re a family.

  About the Authors

  LINDSAY PAIGE is a romance author from North Carolina who has published YA, NA, and Sports romances of her own. She is a huge hockey fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and loves read. When not writing, Lindsay is focused on completing college.

  MARY SMITH was born in Chicago, Illinois, but currently lives in West Virginia. She is an avid reader, co-founder of Book Nerds Across America, and author of NA, Paranormal, Sports, and other romances. She goes nowhere without her cell phone or Kindle. Mary loves anything to do with Chicago Blackhawks, Patrick Sharp, and hockey related!!

  DESPITE THEIR LOVE for different teams and players, Lindsay and Mary write sports romances to vicariously live through their characters and their experiences with these hot athletes. Together, they have written The Penalty Kill trilogy, Oh Captain, My Captain series, and The Ninth Inning series.

  Authors Links:

  Facebook

  Lindsay: facebook.com/authorlindsaypaige

  Mary: facebook.com/authormarysmith

  Twitter

  Lindsay: twitter.com/lindsaypaige11

  Mary: twitter.com/marysmith1980

  Blog

  Lindsay: authorlindsaypaige.blogspot.com/

  Mary: authormarysmith.blogspot.com/

  Stay tuned for more information on Season 2,

  featuring Trent, Jordan, and Colby, and releasing in the Spring of 2016.