Behind the Plate: A New Adult Sports Romance (The Boys of Baseball Book 2)

by J. Sterling

  “Wonder if that means something,” Mac said with a nod, and I glanced in the direction he’d indicated before my stomach twisted at the sight.

  Danika was walking hand in hand with some guy. Jared, I assumed. Her boyfriend. The girl wasn’t mine. She didn’t belong to me. Yet here I was, standing with my hands clenched into fists like Jared was touching something that didn’t belong to him. I wanted to rip his hand from hers.

  “I told you she had a boyfriend,” I said, trying to sound unbothered, but holy hell, I was worked the fuck up.

  Jared’s hand moved to her lower back, inches from her ass, and I saw red like a madman. She smiled up at him, and they stopped walking as she pointed toward the entrance of a building. Nothing made any sense. Not my reaction to this, not the way I was feeling inside. Nothing. I was not this kind of guy. I didn’t do things like this. I didn’t feel these types of ways.

  “You look really happy about that,” Mac said with a laugh as he pointed at my fists. “Thought you weren’t into her?”

  “I’m not,” I bit out before I unfurled my hands. “I barely even know her.”

  “Uh-huh. Let’s go.” He punched my arm before pulling on my shirtsleeve. “Carter. Walk.”

  I did as Mac had demanded, moving in slow strides, still torturing myself by watching as Jared pressed a quick kiss to Danika’s lips. She walked away from him without looking back. He walked away from her like he had somewhere else to be. I squinted as I tried to focus in on his face.

  Why the hell did he look so familiar?

  Not Friends

  Danika

  Chance was being distant. He and I had been in this room for five minutes, and we’d barely spoken more than two words. He seemed angry. Or annoyed. No, he definitely seemed angry. It rolled off him like waves of energy, filling the room.

  “Why are you being weird?” I asked because there was so much distance between the two of us that he might as well be in another room.

  “I’m not being weird. Am I?” He looked up and batted his eyes at me.

  I refused to be mesmerized by those green beauties.

  “Yes, you are,” I insisted.

  He shrugged.

  “What is it? What’s the matter?” I pushed because that was what us girls did. We didn’t always believe your words. Not when your body language, your tone of voice, and your mannerisms conflicted with the things you said. We pushed when we knew you were lying. So, that was what I did. I pushed.

  “Are you always like this?”

  “Like what?” I snarled.

  “Bossy.”

  I snapped my gum. “I think you know the answer to that already.”

  He laughed, that small dimple appearing as he angled his body toward mine, but didn’t move his chair.

  “Listen, Hotshot, I just want to make sure you’re not mad at me for some reason.”

  “Why would I be mad at you?” he asked, and I knew he meant it. His expression instantly shifted into one of confusion.

  “I don’t know. You’re just”—I paused and sucked in a breath—“sitting really far away. And acting pissed off at the world.”

  A smirk appeared. “You want me to sit closer to you, Danika?” His tone was husky. Sexy. And I hated how much I liked it. “You like it better that way?”

  I cleared my throat. “We obviously can’t study if we’re twenty feet apart.”

  “Would you rather sit in my lap?”

  What the hell?

  “Seriously, what is wrong with you?” I asked, feeling offended and disrespected.

  Why was Chance talking to me like that? He was hot and cold, but it felt like something more. Like he was playing some sort of game, and I wanted no part of it.

  His chair screeched against the floor as he pushed it back and stood to his feet. I watched him, my eyes wide as he started pacing back and forth in the tiny room.

  “I can’t be your friend, okay?” Chance said the words but refused to look at me.

  My heart felt like it’d lodged itself in my throat. I hadn’t expected him to end our barely begun bargain.

  “Can’t or won’t?” I managed to ask through my shock.

  “Does it make a difference?” He gave me a side-eye, still standing, his posture defensive, his jaw locked.

  “It does to me,” I said even though I had no idea what difference it made. Sometimes, I asked questions simply to be argumentative or to get more information out of people. I was definitely doing that now just to keep Chance talking.

  “I can’t,” he said. “Today anyway,” he breathed out like the admission physically pained him. “I just … can’t be your friend today.”

  “So, you’ll be my friend again tomorrow?” I asked, my tone filled with as much sarcasm because I didn’t appreciate feeling like a fool, and whenever I did, sarcasm was my go-to defense mechanism.

  He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “Friendship isn’t a game, Chance. You don’t get to turn it off and on whenever you want.”

  “Fine. We won’t be friends then. Problem solved.”

  I pushed out of my chair and stood before storming over to him and jamming my finger against his stupid rock-hard chest. “You don’t get to decide for both of us.” I continued my jabbing.

  The distance between us was miniscule, but he closed it further, and our toes touched.

  “I don’t, huh?” He looked down at me, those green eyes flaming.

  We were so close that I could feel his breath, feel the heat radiating off of his body into mine.

  I swallowed hard and resisted the urge to close my eyes and lean in for a kiss. This guy was not my boyfriend. And even though I was ridiculously attracted to him, I didn’t want to be. He pushed all of my buttons, riled me up without even trying, and made me feel too many things.

  “No. It’s not fair. And it’s immature. Grow up, Chance,” I spat and took a step back before I did something I’d never forgive myself for. I was not a cheater.

  “Immature?” he asked.

  “Extremely. The fact that you can’t even handle being friends with me when I’ve given you no reason for it is stupid. And dumb. And moronic.”

  “You keep using words that all mean the same thing.”

  “So what?” I said, my tone completely flustered because he was right. And because my heart wouldn’t stop racing. I was almost certain Chance could hear it reverberating off the walls around us. It felt that loud.

  I gave my heart a silent pep talk, reminding it that there was nothing to see here, but it didn’t listen. It had a mind of its own.

  I let out a frustrated groan as I moved back to my chair and sat. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Chance stared at me before he slowly moved toward his own chair and pulled off his hat. He ran his fingers through his dark hair before tossing his hat on top of the table. “I don’t know how to be friends with you. I’m really not trying to be an asshole, Danika.”

  “Well, you could have fooled me.” I reached for my book and opened it to some problems we needed to cover.

  Then, I went to work, attempting to teach Chance Carter math that he would never in a million years even use. Not only because he was going to get drafted and play professional baseball, but also because no one used this crap in the real world and we both knew it.

  I slammed the front door of my apartment as soon as I walked in and made an annoyed screaming sound. “I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!” I shouted, not knowing or caring if Sunny was home or not.

  “Who do we hate?” Sunny appeared, a concerned look on her face.

  That answered that question.

  “Chance Carter. That’s who!” I tossed my backpack on the table and dramatically flopped onto the couch, covering my eyes with the backs of my hands.

  “Why? What did Señor Thick Thighs do?”

  Pulling my hands away, I gave her a snarl, “Señor Thick Thighs? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “What?” she said innocently. “The guy�
��s a catcher. He has delicious thighs. It’s not my fault. I didn’t make him.”

  “Please stop talking about Chance’s thighs. I’m trying to be mad at him here.”

  She sat on the couch next to me and folded her legs up underneath her body. “What happened?”

  “He’s infuriating! Said that we couldn’t be friends anymore.”

  “Were you friends in the first place?”

  “We were! We made a deal. And he took it back,” I said before realizing how stupid and juvenile I sounded. Great. Now, I was the immature one.

  Sunny started laughing. “It’s not funny. It just sounds funny. You’re mad because Chance doesn’t want to be your friend. So what? It’s not in your tutor job description to be his buddy. Why do you care so much?”

  That really was the million-dollar question. Why the hell did I care so much? “I don’t know.”

  “Liar.”

  My eyes flew to meet hers. “Why would I lie?”

  “Because you don’t want to admit that you’re attracted to him.”

  “Who isn’t attracted to him?” I rolled my eyes and tried to play it off, avoiding the accusation.

  “Exactly. But you think it makes you a bad person to be attracted to someone other than your boyfriend. News flash: it doesn’t. It makes you human.”

  “That’s not it. I mean, it’s not like Chance is the only hot guy on campus,” I said before I started searching my mind for other hot guys to add to my imaginary list. I came up empty and hoped Sunny didn’t ask me to elaborate or start naming names.

  “Then”—Sunny tilted her head—“why are you so mad that he doesn’t want to be friends?”

  “I already told you, I don’t know!” I shouted, my temper flaring at Sunny for all the wrong reasons. I wasn’t mad at her. I was mad at myself.

  “I think you do know.”

  My teeth ground together with her accusation, and I tried not to think about why I was so worked up by Chance’s flip-flopping behavior.

  “Danika.” Sunny’s voice was soft, and I breathed out an exaggerated sigh before facing her.

  “I really don’t know why I’m so upset. I shouldn’t care at all,” I started to say before Sunny cut me off.

  “But you do.”

  “But I do. I don’t want to. But I do,” I admitted before looking away and staring a hole in the carpet. It wasn’t judging me the way I currently was. “And I really don’t know why.”

  “Have you ever considered the fact that you might actually like him?”

  I vehemently shook my head. “I don’t even really know him. I can’t like someone I don’t know,” I started to explain before adding, “I mean, I can’t like someone at all. I have a boyfriend.”

  Sunny rolled her eyes and groaned at the same time. “Your boyfriend sucks, Danika.”

  “I don’t know why you hate Jared so much,” I said with a small shrug and watched as her entire body tensed.

  “I just do,” she said, and I wondered for the first time if she was hiding something from me. “I don’t think he’s the right guy for you, but it’s not my life, so …”

  A guttural laugh escaped from somewhere deep inside me. “And you think Chance is the right guy for me?”

  “I didn’t say that either. I just know Jared isn’t,” she said with confidence before looking somewhere over my shoulder.

  Sunny was obviously feeling bold today. We’d talked about Jared before but never to this extent.

  “I swear you used to like him. Then, one day, it just”—I paused as I snapped my fingers—“changed for some reason.”

  Sunny offered no further explanation. “Yeah, I don’t know. You guys fight a lot. He’s pretty controlling. And I’m not sure if that’s just a New York thing or what, but I don’t know if you even see it.”

  I started to feel a little defensive, like she had struck a chord or offended me somehow. Right when I was about to argue with her, I realized that she might be right. “I do see it. And I know that things between us have changed, but I just don’t know what it means. I’m not sure that things won’t go back to the way they used to be, you know? Like when we get back home after graduation, maybe things will get better. Do you think that’s possible?”

  “Are you actually asking me?” She started laughing, and I did too. Sunny had dated a handful of guys throughout the years, but they never lasted longer than six months. “Because you know I have no idea. You’re the only person I know who is married to their high school sweetheart.” She made a throwing-up face.

  “We are not married,” I argued. “We don’t even live together.”

  “Thank God for small miracles,” she breathed out, and I swatted her shoulder out of instinct more than anything else.

  I was grateful, too, that Jared and I didn’t live together. Again, another red flag wildly waving itself in front of my eyes that I refused to acknowledge or see.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you still in love with Jared, or do you just love him?”

  I swore she held her breath as she waited for my response, but her question honestly choked me up.

  Of course I loved Jared. He had been there for me when my mom died. And we had been friends for years before we ever started dating. Loving Jared wasn’t a question at all. I absolutely loved and cared and wanted the best for him.

  But was I in love with him?

  “Earth to Danika.” Sunny snapped her fingers in front of my eyes. “It wasn’t that hard of a question.” She narrowed her eyes to study me. “Or was it?”

  “I was just thinking.”

  “Thinking way too hard, if you ask me. You don’t even have to tell me anymore. I have my answer.”

  “That’s not fair. We’ve been together a long time, and it doesn’t feel like it used to. Those all-consuming emotions fade away. I think if we burned that hot the whole time we were with someone, we’d all burn out eventually.”

  I remembered being madly in love with Jared, feeling the way it’d owned me every single time I took a breath, like I couldn’t get enough of him. But I hadn’t felt like that in years. Do people always stay in a constant state of in love with their significant others, or does it change the longer you’re together? Does love ebb and flow like the ocean, or is it supposed to stay solid at all times, never altering its course?

  “So, are you in love with him or not?”

  I wanted to lie just to make her stop asking me these uncomfortable questions, but I couldn’t. “I don’t know. But I do love him,” I emphasized the last words.

  “I know you do.” She sounded almost sad. Like she wished I didn’t. “Let’s talk about Chance again. It’s way more fun.” Sunny grinned, and I started shaking my head.

  “Let’s talk about Mac instead.” I poked her shoulder, realizing that I’d never properly harassed her about hooking up with him at the party.

  Her cheeks instantly turned red.

  “Oh my gosh. Did you sleep with him and not tell me this whole time?”

  “What? No! Mac doesn’t sleep around.” She looked at me like I was crazy for not knowing this.

  “What do you mean, he doesn’t sleep around? The guy’s, like, the biggest player on the planet. How is that even possible?”

  Her face pinched, her expression bewildered. “You really don’t know?”

  “Not unless you tell me,” I said, equally as confused.

  “Mac got his heart broken freshman year. I’ve only heard rumors about it, so I don’t know how much of it is true, but from what I’ve heard, it was apparently pretty brutal. The point is that he doesn’t let anyone get close to him now. Anything he does with a girl is on his terms.”

  “What does that mean, on his terms?” I hadn’t heard the rumors about Mac’s broken heart before, but I wasn’t surprised.

  “It means that he tells you up front what he wants from you and what you can expect from him in return.”

  I must have given her a dumbf
ounded look because she started laughing and held her hands up in the air before I could say anything.

  “For example, at the party, he told me that, if I’d let him, he wanted to kiss me all night long, but he wasn’t going to wine and dine me or call me the next day. Then, he asked me if I was okay with that and waited for my answer.”

  “He said all that? And you still let him put his tongue in your mouth?” I practically shouted between my disbelief and shock.

  “I know it sounds insane, but it was actually kind of refreshing.”

  “Refreshing to know that you’re going to be used up front, so you can lower your expectations to having absolutely none?”

  “It was only kissing, Danika. And Mac was a great kisser, so I didn’t mind.”

  “But what if you wanted to see him again? Or what if you wanted him to call you the next day?” I found myself as perplexed by this concept as I was fascinated.

  “Um”—she shrugged both shoulders—“I did want all that. But I knew he wouldn’t give it to me.”

  “And you were okay with that?”

  “Well, I was until you started harassing me and making me overthink it all,” she whined, and I apologized.

  “He really didn’t try to have sex with you?” I asked because I found that hard to believe.

  She shook her head. “No. I mean, at least he didn’t with me.”

  “Mac sounds even more bizarre than Chance.”

  “Probably why they’re best friends,” she said with a devilish grin, and I realized what I’d just done … I’d brought Chance back into the conversation when we hadn’t even been talking about him.

  I was so screwed.

  Friends Eat Together

  Chance

  My jealousy turned me angry. And cold. And I was shit at hiding it from the one person I wanted to keep it all from. Danika read me like a fucking book, calling me out nonstop on my “attitude problem,” as she liked to name it. The next tutoring session was painful as I tried my best to keep my distance, both physically and emotionally, from her, but she was like a damn magnet, pulling me closer in every way without even trying.