by JL Paul
Gasping, Zoey smacked him on the arm.
“Did anyone get suspended?” Brady asked as he took a painful sip of his beer.
Alex shrugged. “We don’t know yet. But you, Mark, and Pitner were the only ones ejected from our side. I think Anderson and Matthews from their side.”
“We’ll probably all get some kind of fine and suspension,” Ian said grimly, though with amusement in his eyes. “What the hell! It was fun.”
***
“Sorry we didn’t get to go on our date,” Brady said as they drove back to Taylor’s car. “Do you want to try tomorrow or wait until I get back in town?”
She shrugged. “Whatever you want to do, Brady.”
“How about if we wait until I get rid of these damned stitches?”
Smiling, she took his hand. “Okay.”
When they reached her car, she hopped out of his. Brady opened his door and rested his arms on the top. “Do you want come over and watch a movie or something?”
She shook her head, a nervous flutter wreaking havoc in her stomach. “I don’t think so. I’ll probably just go home and go to bed.”
Frowning, he rounded his car to stand in front of her. “Taylor, I promise not to try anything with you tonight.”
“I know, Brady, it’s just…” she trailed off.
He cupped her chin, forcing her gaze to his. “It’s just what?”
She sighed. “I don’t know.”
He dropped her face and gripped her shoulders gently. “You’re fine with me in the car or when we’re around other people. You’re just scared to be at home alone with me. Geez, Taylor. I’m not a monster.”
She dipped her head in shame. “I know that. I just don’t want you to feel as though you have to prove something to me because of last night. Or…umm…because of before.”
He rubbed the back of his neck in agitation. “You think that being nice to you and considerate of your feelings is because of guilt? You think that I’m going out of my way to make things up to you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to hurt like I did in the past.”
Cursing under his breath, he turned away to run his hands wildly through his hair. He twisted back around to gently grab her face.
“Listen to me, Taylor. Yes, I did feel guilty but I thought that you’d forgiven me. Now all I want is for you to feel comfortable around me and for us to be together. In some kind of relationship.”
His gaze darkened and he let out a bitter laugh as he released of her face. “But I’m tired of bending over backwards. This whole issue between us isn’t because of my overwhelming guilt. Maybe it’s because of your lack of trust in me.”
She watched helplessly as he got in his car and left.
Chapter Eleven
Cursing with fury, Taylor hit the backspace key several times. She’d arrived early to get a jump start on her ongoing mall story without interruption from her fellow reporters but it seemed as though everyone had had the same idea. She’d attempted to work all day Sunday; especially when the game was on, but the television set lured her away from her laptop. Brady had never called to ask her how many tickets she'd needed and even though she hadn't expected him to, it still hurt.
“So your boy only got two games, huh,” Josh asked, shaking her out of her miserable thoughts.
“What?” she asked, looking up at him.
He dropped the thick Indianapolis paper on her desk. “Suspensions came out early this morning. Nolan received two games while Pitner and Johnson received five.”
Taylor snatched the paper, rifling through it until she found the sports section. Her eyes quickly scanned the story. The reporter recapped the whole incident and included quotes from Mark and Ian while mentioning that Brady had been taken to the hospital for stitches.
Josh sat on the corner of her desk, watching while she read. “What, he didn’t call you first thing this morning and cry on your shoulder?”
Taylor rolled her eyes, dropped the paper to her desk, and rested her head in her hands. “I haven’t talked to him since Saturday night.”
“Really? Why?”
Taylor sighed. “He thinks I don’t trust him.”
“Well you shouldn’t.”
She snapped her head up, brow crinkled. “You honestly think I shouldn’t?”
“Yes,” Josh said, his voice succinct. His long sigh eased the tension out of his stiff posture. “Look, I just wanted you to talk to him and get a little closure. I didn’t expect you to start dating him again.”
Anger swirled in her stomach as she rose to his level. “Do you think he’s got another bet going with his teammates?”
“No, I don’t. But,” he told her, ticking points off his fingers. “He’s a pro now. He’s got the looks. He’ll have the money. He’s on the road a lot. He’s a player. All that adds up to you getting hurt again.”
Groaning, she plopped back down in her chair. “I don’t know, Josh. He doesn’t seem like that anymore. I mean, he was actually hurt because he thinks I don’t trust him.”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “Think about it for a second. Remember how he was in high school? He’d pursue a girl and once he got her, he’d date her for awhile before he’d grow bored and drop her. He did it to Gretchen Steel several times. He likes the chase, Taylor.”
“Brady Nolan never had to pursue any females. They usually dropped at his feet,” she snorted. “Besides, you didn’t even go to high school with him.”
“No, but I hung out with his brother from time to time and he always bragged about Brady’s love life.”
She shook her head. “He’s matured since then.”
Josh stood up. “Maybe.” He squeezed her shoulder and walked away.
She bit her bottom lip while she processed Josh’s words. She shook her head and forced all thoughts of Brady out of her mind so she could return to her story. Her fingers finally found the right keys and she settled in comfortably, words racing across her monitor.
Suddenly, a figured loomed over her, blocking the fluorescent lights and casting a shadow across her screen. She pivoted her chair, groaning as Henry Lake folded his arms across his chest, a sneer on his lips.
“That’s how you get all these good stories, huh?” he leered.
She raised a brow at him. “What do you mean?”
“You’re sleeping with Brady Nolan. No wonder Luther assigned you the interview. Did he give Luther season tickets or something so you could get the big stories?”
He eased closer to her, uncomfortably invading her space.
Her eyes narrowed, dark, ugly words danced on the tip of her tongue while anger pounded a nail in her brain. “You jerk. You have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t? You weren’t at the hospital with Nolan Saturday?” He pushed her notes aside and perched on the corner of her desk.
“I don’t think that’s any of your concern,” she answered as the blood drained from her face. She yanked her notes away from him, bouncing the pages on the desk to straighten them.
He leaned closer. “And you claim to get what you want by hard work. I never thought one would consider sleeping with local celebrities to be that difficult.”
Slipping off the corner, he stormed off to his own desk.
***
Taylor’s head pounded with each step as she walked down the sidewalk to the diner on the corner. After her ‘conversation’ with Henry, she began to notice people in the office giving her curious looks. She’d tried to tell herself she was just being paranoid, but as the morning wore on, she knew it wasn’t all in her mind.
Sliding into a booth, she smiled as a young girl with a blonde pony tail approached her with pen and pad.
“Hi. Do you need a menu?” the perky waitress asked setting a glass of ice water in front of her.
“No. I’ll just have the BLT, please,” Taylor answered.
“Sure.” She wrote Taylor’s order on her pad. She started to walk away when real
ization dawned on her face. “Hey, aren’t you the reporter that’s dating Brady Nolan?”
Taylor groaned inwardly as her heat flooded her cheeks. “No, I’m not.”
“Are you sure? Because I know you’re a reporter, you come in here all the time and my friend said that Teresa Lake told her that you were at the hospital with Brady Nolan.” She smiled as though she’d solved world hunger.
Taylor forced a weak smile in return as she tried unsuccessfully to process the younger girl’s words. “You must have me confused with someone else. Now could you please put my order in? I’m in a hurry.” She nodded toward the kitchen. “And make it to go, huh?”
The waitress turned away in a huff to place Taylor’s order.
The diner wasn’t very crowded yet as it wasn’t quite noon, the appointed lunch time in Somersville, but the people nearby kept casting curious glances her way. By the time her lunch arrived, she still hadn’t decided who she was going to kill first, Brady or that stupid nurse.
She paid for her lunch and took it to a cute park a few blocks from the diner. Sitting alone under a huge oak tree, she munched slowly on her sandwich, not tasting a thing.
Brady had left that morning. The team was due in Denver tomorrow for a three game series and then off to Seattle for an interleague series.
Sighing, she dropped her half eaten sandwich on her lap. He hadn’t even called her.
She watched a couple kids playing in the sandbox, filling their buckets to the brim only to dump them out and repeat the entire process.
Of course, she hadn’t called him either. She was so confused. She just didn’t do well with relationships. Dating Brady in high school had been her longest one and look how that had turned out.
She’d dated men since, but her first priorities had been getting Teddy through high school and her father proper health care.
Digging out her cell phone, she dialed Tia’s number. It went straight to voice mail so she left her a brief message instructing her to come over later that evening.
***
“Yeah, you’re really screwed up,” Tia agreed that night as she plopped down on the sofa, diet soda in hand.
“Gee, thanks,” Taylor muttered.
Tia set her drink on the coffee table. “Listen to me, honey. Maybe Josh has a point about Brady liking the chase but have you ever thought maybe you like being chased?”
Taylor’s eyes grew. “No! Not at all!”
“C’mon, Taylor. What woman doesn’t like being pursued by a hot, sexy man?”
“I…,” she mumbled. Groaning, she fell back against the sofa. “Oh, hell. Am I really like that?”
Tia took her hands. “Not usually, no. But I think Brady’s interest in you has boosted your confidence a bit. Your writing, while always very good, has matured and become even better. You walk a little straighter, not so hunched over. People notice you. I think you like the attention.”
“Is that so bad?”
Tia pulled her into a hug. “No, honey. But sooner or later, you either need to let him catch you or let him go.”
Taylor sighed as she moved away from her friend. “I had him. I let him catch me. I just didn’t know what to do with him after that.”
A sad smile touched Tia’s lips. “Relax. Let things happen naturally. Brady hurt you once and I honestly don’t think he’ll do it again.”
***
She trudged into the office Thursday morning. Sleep had been as nonexistent as Brady’s phone calls and both were causing her serious anxiety. She'd spent most evenings pitting Josh’s words against Tia’s and sadly, had not come up with a solution.
She avoided town as much as possible. Trips to the grocery store and the pharmacy were a joke. People she’d known since she’d moved to Somersville, as well as those she barely knew at all, would approach her to ask all about Brady. She tried very hard to answer politely that she didn’t know and leave it at that but some people were persistent. She ended up spending more time that necessary in Indianapolis working on her story. And if she happened to need a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk, well, Indy wasn’t that far.
She flung her messenger bag on her desk and flipped on her computer. Disappointed weighed on her heart as she listened to countless, meaningless voice mails, and slammed her phone down.
“That good, huh?” Josh asked as he leaned on the corner of her desk.
“Mmmm,” she mumbled as she perused her email. “It’s just wonderful.”
He chuckled. “Talk to your boy lately?”
She glanced up at him briefly before returning her eyes to the monitor. “No.”
“So I guess you’ve decided to let it all go, huh?”
She twisted away from her monitor to face him fully. “Why the sudden interest, Josh? Didn’t you just tell me a few days ago that I couldn’t trust him?”
Josh held his hands up in mock surrender. “Just wondering where things are. I’m your friend, Taylor. Remember?”
She snorted. “Well, friend, you and my other friend have me so totally confused right now, I can’t sleep at night.”
His shoulders slumped as concern etched his sweet face. “Taylor, that’s not why I said all that stuff. I didn’t mean for you to lose sleep over it.”
“I know,” Taylor sighed, waving him away. She spotted Henry Lake laughing with a sports writer across the office, both concentrating their gaze her way. Taylor stood, turned her computer off, and grabbed her bag. “Tell Lou Grant I’m working from home, okay? I can’t sit here today.”
Josh nodded and watched her leave.
***
“Brady, damn it! I know you don’t have a game until tonight so you can’t be at batting practice already. Pick up the damn phone and call me back,” she barked into her cell phone as she headed home.
Ending the call, she threw the cell phone to the passenger seat in frustration. She’d called him as soon as she’d pulled out of the parking lot hoping he’d have the answers she didn’t. What she hadn’t counted on, however, was Brady not answering his phone. She thought for sure that once he saw it was her, he’d pick up immediately.
“Am I that arrogant?” she asked in disgust as she pulled into her drive. “I’m as bad as he is!”
She unlocked her door, dropped her bag, and immediately plopped on the couch. She thumbed through the address book on her phone, searching for a particular number. She reached Tabby’s and held her finger above it, wondering if she should bother the other woman with her problems. Tabby was nice and they’d become fairly good friends, but would she want to get in the middle of any problems Taylor and Brady were having?
She set her phone down on her coffee table in confusion. Standing, she paced the length of the living room restlessly. How the hell had her meticulously organized life turned so topsy turvy? And how had she become so emotionally wrapped up with a man?
She jumped when her phone rang. She snatched it off the table, checked the screen, and flipped it open with nervous hands.
“Hello.”
“What’s the matter, love? Is everything okay?” Brady asked, voice still heavy with sleep.
She smiled into the phone. “I…um….missed you.”
He was quiet for a moment. “You got all spastic on the phone because you missed me?”
“Yeah,” she said, feeling a little shy.
“Damn, Taylor. I thought something was wrong with you,” he chastised.
“Sorry,” she mumbled quietly, sinking to the sofa. “I had a bad day.”
“It’s only 9:30 in the morning there.”
“Yeah well, it’s been a bad week, okay?” she snapped.
He yawned into the phone. “Calm down, love. What’s going on?”
She sighed. “Brady, when do you come home?”
“Sunday night. Why?”
“Can you just come straight to my house when you get back in town?”
“Are you sure you want me too?” he asked in a stiff tone.
“Yes. I’m sorry about the trus
t thing, okay? I….oh hell! I don’t want to do this over the phone.” She sucked back the mounting tears. “I just want to talk. Figure stuff out.”
His soft chuckles were music to her ears. “Not a problem, love. I’ll call you when I get back into town.”
“Thanks, Brady.”
“It’s okay.” He issued another yawn, making her do the same. “Hey, did you see me hit for the cycle last night?”
She furrowed her brow. “You did not hit for the cycle. You call going one for three with a strike out and a walk hitting for the cycle?”
His deep laugh echoed in her ear and sent tingles racing down her spine. “Nope, not at all. Just checking to make sure you’re still watching.”
She smiled. “Bye, Brady.”
“I’ll call you later, love.”
Chapter Twelve
Taylor sat on the sofa, leg bouncing up and down in nervous anticipation. Brady had called half an hour ago and said he was on his way over. She didn’t know what she was going to say or how she was going to say it but she did know one thing; she wanted him. Yes, he could very well smash her heart to bits as he had once before and yes, he was a handful but she knew in the end it would be worth it. She smiled as she remembered the way he’d handled her after her father’s funeral.
Unable to sit any longer, she stood and crossed the room to the window. Peering through the curtains, she watched the road, waiting for his black car to ease down the street. She needed to have him there in person - to face him. She needed to explain her nervousness and apologize for her behavior.
They were a new thing. They needed to adjust. They needed to take a little time to get to know each other again. High school had been ages and ages ago and certainly both of them had changed.
As patient as she expected him to be with her - she was going to have to be that patient with him. They were going to have to do this together.