Earning a Ring (More Than a Game Series Book 4)

by Kristina Mathews

  “So? It was hard to tell, but that wasn’t Bryce in the video?” He looked away briefly. “Was it?”

  “No. Not Bryce.” She was pleased to see his relief. He’d been worried about her. About her relationship with Bryce. “It was, oh, how do I put this delicately? Some woman, I’m assuming it’s the one who filed the complaint, she’s um. She’s… Well, it looks like she’s giving Ryan Fletcher a blow job in an elevator.”

  “Ryan Fletcher?”

  “I think that’s who it was. The kid does kind of look like a younger, more clean-cut version of Bryce.” Or maybe it was the orgasm face that caused the resemblance. She was very familiar with the look on Bryce’s face when he came. But maybe all men made the same face.

  “Interesting.” Was he referring to the video or the idea of Ryan and Bryce looking somewhat alike? “Well, I guess that clears up the question of consent.”

  “Maybe. We may never know what happened after the video ended.” Rachel didn’t like to think of anyone being accused of a crime they didn’t commit, especially not one of the Goliaths players. But the woman must have had some reason to go to the police. “Besides, she looked like she was pretty drunk. And alcohol makes the question of consent rather tricky.”

  “She could have been too drunk to say yes or no.”

  “So where does that leave me? Do we wait and see if anything comes of it? Do you want me to interview the kid?”

  “Let’s go with the wait and see approach. Hopefully we’ll have something better to talk about, like a good start to the home stand.”

  “Let’s hope so.” Rachel was starting to relax. “Although… Where did you get the video?”

  “It was emailed, anonymously.”

  “I’ll bet we weren’t the only ones to receive it.”

  “Probably not.”

  “Which is why we should be prepared to address it with Fletcher.”

  “I knew I could count on you.” Steve smiled, almost as if he was proud of her.

  “There was something else I wanted to talk to you about.” Rachel’s knees started to quiver. She slid into a nearby chair. “I-I have some news.”

  This was so much harder than telling Bryce.

  “I’m pregnant.” She tried to sound calm; this would in no way affect her career. “I’m not due until December, so you don’t have to worry about me missing any games or anything. And I won’t have to take maternity leave, so that’s convenient.”

  “Congratulations.” His smile seemed genuine enough. “That’s great. Just great. I’m happy for you. And Bryce, too.”

  “Thank you.” That wasn’t so bad. “We’re excited. A little nervous, but mostly excited.”

  “Let’s go with the excitement.” Steve broke into a wide grin. “The fans have loved the segments on the players’ wives. Let’s give them more. We can follow your pregnancy, maybe even take the camera along when you and Bryce go shopping for a crib. Oh, maybe we could do a virtual baby shower, only instead of sending gifts, viewers could send in their best tips for dealing with a newborn.”

  “A virtual baby shower? What have you got in that coffee?” She usually liked how her boss tended to think outside the box. Sure, the regular broadcast consisted of baseball-related segments. Pregame interviews conducted during batting practice. The occasional in-the-moment spotlight after a milestone was reached such as hitting a grand slam on a rookie’s first at bat, retiring a record number of consecutive batters over several games, or breaking some obscure batting record held since the turn of the last century.

  She’d also done webcasts to show a more personal side of the Goliaths family. Interviews at players’ favorite restaurants. A tour of Alcatraz with Johnny ‘The Monk’ Scottsdale. She’d even kneaded sourdough with Marco Santiago down at Fisherman’s Wharf as a way of showing the players enjoying some of San Francisco’s popular attractions. And one of her favorite segments was filming Nathan Cooper at Golden Gate Park, playing his guitar and singing a love song for his fiancée Annabelle Jones.

  But shopping for baby furniture with a camera crew in tow? That was taking the whole “We Are Goliaths, We Are Family” slogan too far.

  “I’m sure no one wants to see Bryce and me pick out a changing table or argue over cloth versus disposable diapers.”

  “You’d be surprised.” Steve grinned as if he knew something she didn’t.

  “Look, I’m all for making our announcement public.” Hopefully Bryce would be able to break the news to his daughter first. “But I don’t want it to overshadow the progress he’s made on the field.”

  Steve just nodded, as if he were considering her words.

  “I know we pride ourselves on bringing the game home to the fans.” She knew what her job really was. “But we have to keep the focus on the game. As much as we enjoy teasing Bryce about his hair, it’s his performance on the field that makes anyone even care about what kind of shampoo he uses and whether or not he’s about to become a father.”

  “But they do care.” Steve placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “They want to be a part of your lives.”

  “A glimpse. They only want to see a glimpse into our lives.” Rachel didn’t want to turn her marriage and her pregnancy into a reality show. “They don’t need to know what brand of breast pump I ultimately end up with.”

  Did she just say ‘breast pump?’ To her boss? Why the hell not? On a day where she’d watched a young player get a blow job in an elevator, there wasn’t much more to be embarrassed about.

  At his raised eyebrows, she backpedalled. “Look. I’m all for bringing the fans up to speed with the baby. It’s not like I’ll be able to hide it from them in a few months, if not weeks, anyway. But I don’t want to make too big of a deal about it. Really. I’ll post baby pictures, but no ultrasounds. And there is absolutely no way I’m having a camera, any kind of camera, in the delivery room.”

  “That’s fair. But if this Philadelphia problem gets any bigger, we might need you to ramp up the excitement over the baby.”

  “Bryce needs to tell his daughter first.” Rachel stood her ground. “She doesn’t need to find out she’s going to be a big sister from a webcast.”

  “Bryce has a daughter?”

  “Yes. From his first marriage. She’s nine and lives in Pittsburgh. I haven’t met her yet.”

  She looked forward to meeting the little girl. Her mother? Not so much.

  * * * *

  Bryce entered the clubhouse to the sounds of Aerosmith blasting above male laughter and ribbing. Poor Ryan Fletcher was getting the full locker-room experience. But instead of making stuff up to impress the other guys, he’d had to endure repeated playbacks of the surveillance video that had caught him in the act.

  At least it would help his case. No one would see the chick from the bar as an innocent victim. If anything, it looked like Ryan was the one taken advantage of. Other than the final moments, it didn’t look like he’d been too comfortable getting a little love in an elevator.

  He looked even more uncomfortable by the loud music, reminding him of the experience, and the teasing by his teammates.

  When he saw Bryce walk over to his spot a few lockers down, Ryan looked up at him with eyes that begged for a rescue.

  “Hey.” Bryce gave a friendly nod, acknowledging the kid’s pain.

  “I suppose everyone knows what happened, huh?” Ryan looked defeated. “No keeping it with the Philadelphia police department.”

  “The story broke before we even landed. Rachel had seen dozens of rumors while waiting to pick me up from the airport. Many of them insinuated that her husband was involved.”

  “Oh man, I’m sorry.” Ryan’s face got even redder at the mention of Rachel. “The last thing I wanted was to cause trouble for anyone. So, does she know the whole story?”

  “She knows the parts that were mine to tell.” Bryce came over and sat down next to him. “She knows my part in the whole thing. That I was questioned as a potential witness, and that I believed you when you
said nothing happened when you got to the room.”

  “Nothing happened. I swear.” Poor kid looked like he was going to be sick. “Did she believe you?”

  “Yeah. She did.” Bryce wondered why Ryan was so concerned with what Rachel believed. “The early reports were pretty vague. Only linking my name and ‘sexual assault.’ But she knows I’d never… And she has faith in this team. She was relieved to hear that it was a misunderstanding, brought about by too much alcohol, and that none of her players are—you know—rapists.”

  “Oh, hell,” Ryan said. “I can’t believe I got myself into this mess. And I dragged you, your wife, and the whole damned team into it.”

  “Look, we’ve all been there. Just trying to have a good time.”

  “Yeah, but have you had the police involved?”

  Lawyers, yes. Police, no.

  “Hey, one of the things you’ll learn in the big leagues is how to be more selective.” How could he explain this so a kid, a pretty raw one at that, would understand? “It’s like when you step up to the plate the first few times. Every pitch looks so fat and juicy, you just can’t help but swing away. But with experience, you start to figure out which ones you can hit, and which ones to lay off.”

  Ryan nodded, an expression of understanding spreading across his young features.

  “Same thing with women.” Man, when did Bryce get to be the wise old veteran? “At first, they all look spectacular. Hotter than anything you ever even dreamed of in the minors. But you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to learn how to sit on a pitch, or in this case, a come-on, and only take the ones you can do something with.”

  “I just hope I get another chance.” Ryan sank into the folding chair in front of his locker. “With hitting, I mean. I’m done with women. Especially the kind of women who would go up to a hotel room with a guy they just met.” A pained look passed over Ryan’s face. “I guess I shouldn’t judge. I mean, I did invite her up to my room.”

  “True.”

  “It’s just that I didn’t feel right about leaving her there in the bar, all by herself.” He leaned over, his forearms resting on twitching knees. “Her friends had already abandoned her for, you know, the other guys who were there. And I couldn’t just put her in a cab. Who knows what would have happened to her.”

  “So you invited her up to your room?”

  “Yeah. And she was pretty enthusiastic. As you, and everyone else, could see.” He exhaled and raked his hands through his hair. “But once we got to the room, I had second thoughts. And by the time I could work my nerve up to tell her I’d changed my mind, she was passed out on the bed. Naked.”

  “Only it’s your word against hers.”

  “Yeah. And that video makes my insistence that nothing happened seem like a lie.”

  “It also makes it clear she was a willing participant.”

  “But she was in no shape to participate, you know…” Ryan searched for the right words. “She wasn’t exactly making good decisions.”

  Couldn’t argue there. “Look. I know some people will think the worst. Of you. Of her. Of professional athletes. Hell, some people will think the worst of our whole culture. You’ve just got to live with what you actually did, and your intentions.”

  “That’s the thing. I wanted to. I had every intention of following through.” He lowered his voice, and leaned closer so only Bryce could hear the rest of what he had to say. “Until the elevator. She came on a little too strong. And I couldn’t help but think that something wasn’t quite right with the situation.”

  “You think she set you up?” Bryce’s blood began to boil. “You think she had this planned before she even walked into the bar?”

  “No. No. That’s not what I mean.” Ryan looked around, as if he was checking to see if their teammates would be too busy getting ready for the game to listen in on their conversation. “It just seemed too easy, you know? I haven’t always had the best luck with girls. Then all of a sudden, I’ve got this really hot chick who can’t even wait until we’re in my room to…get busy.”

  The way the kid blushed, Bryce would think he was sixteen and recalling his first make out session in the backseat of his parents’ minivan.

  “Maybe I just wanted my first time to be… I don’t know. Special.”

  Whoa. Did the kid just say his first time?

  “Yeah, I know. How can a guy make it to the majors and still be a…” Another glance about the clubhouse. “Technically, I’m still a virgin.”

  When Bryce recovered from the shock, he patted the rookie on the back.

  “Look. What we need, more than anything, is to get the focus back where it belongs. On the game.” Bryce had learned a long time ago that the only thing he could control in this life was his approach to the game. When the rest of his life started getting to be too much, all he had to do was step into the batting cage. A few dozen swings and all was right with the world again.

  At least that had been his go-to stress relief. Until he met Rachel. She was better than any workout at clearing his head. And not just when they were in bed. Just being in the same room with her seemed to center him somehow. He could be having the worst day, and just seeing her pretty smile would make him forget all about whatever was troubling him.

  After talking to the police in Philadelphia, the only thing he could think about was coming home to Rachel. Taking her hand, looking into her eyes, and letting the whole world just fall away. Only she’d been affected by the accusations, and he’d been the one to comfort and protect. He’d had to assure her that they were stronger than any false accusations and rumors. They were a team, the two of them, and no one—not the media, the public, or a messed-up groupie who didn’t know the name of a guy she’d gone down on in an elevator, so she’d used the only name she knew, his—no one would come between them.

  Bryce grabbed his glove to go out and take infield practice. He was about seven steps from his locker when he heard his phone buzz from inside his locker. He took two more steps before realizing it could be Hailey.

  The phone stopped buzzing just as he reached it. Damn. Jillian’s number was at the top of the missed calls list. Bryce hit redial only to have his call go straight to voice mail.

  “Hey, sorry I missed your call. I was on my way out to the field. Call me right back.”

  He paced in front of his locker, staring helplessly at his phone, hoping she’d call back before he got fined for being late for warmups.

  The alert for a voicemail popped up. They must have been leaving messages at the same time.

  “I thought you wanted to talk to Hailey. Guess it couldn’t have been that important.” Jillian sounded put out. But then again, he couldn’t recall a conversation with her that hadn’t been an inconvenience on her part.

  He waited about ten seconds before dialing her number. Again, it went straight to voice mail. After the third try, he gave up. Bryce tossed the phone into his locker and headed out to the field, more frustrated than he’d been in a long time.

  Nothing like fielding a few grounders to get his head back on straight. By the time his turn for batting practice came up, Bryce had put his annoyance with his ex-wife behind him. He was able to set an example for the rookie by leaving his personal problems back in the clubhouse and only bringing his A game onto the field.

  Fletcher must have taken some of his words to heart, because he was raking the shit out of the ball in BP. Bryce was proud of the kid. He’d taken a messed up situation and channeled it into his game. He just hoped he’d get a chance to showcase that fire in a game soon.

  By the bottom of the seventh inning, the rookie got his chance. The Goliaths were up by two runs heading into the top of the inning, but the opposing team managed to tie the game before the Goliaths were able to record the final out.

  A leadoff walk, sacrifice bunt, and an infield hit put Goliaths runners at the corners with the pitcher’s spot coming up. Javier had seen Fletcher’s impressive performance in batting practice and took a cha
nce. After two quick strikes, he called for time and stepped out of the box. Fletcher glanced over at Bryce, who made a motion for the kid to take a deep breath. Bryce hoped he’d remember their conversation about laying off the hot and fast ones.

  The rookie stepped back into the batter’s box. He looked a little more relaxed. And confident. The next pitch was a little high. Just like the first two he’d chased out of the strike zone. A ball in the dirt and the count was tied at two balls and two strikes.

  Come on kid. You got this.

  Bryce closed his eyes but he could hear the contact. He looked up just in time to see the ball sail over the left field wall. A three-run homer put the game back in the Goliaths’ favor. The dugout cleared to congratulate the rookie as he crossed home plate.

  Bryce gave his teammate a hearty pat on the back. “What did I tell you about being a little more selective?”

  “I guess you know what’s up.” Fletcher grinned, the excitement of his first big league homer showing on his face.

  The Goliaths ended up winning the game and Rachel was on hand to interview the rookie. A small sliver of jealousy was overshadowed by pride in his young teammate.

  Chapter 19

  “Congratulations, Ryan, on your first major league homerun.” Rachel didn’t have to fake a smile. “I have a feeling it won’t be your last.”

  “Thank you.” The rookie infielder had the right combination of humility and pride. “I’m just glad I could come through at a time when my team needed it.”

  “A team can always use a three-run homer.” Rachel laughed, so grateful to be talking about the on-field action and not the video she’d seen earlier that day. “But it’s especially exciting in the late innings of a tie ballgame.”

  “I tried not to put too much pressure on myself. Tried not to think of the situation.” He seemed to grow more confident as the interview went on. “I got some advice recently, about being patient. Sometimes when a guy comes up, he wants to make a big impression right away. Prove to himself and the team that being here isn’t a mistake.”