Curve Ball (Stadium Series Book 2)

by S A Clayton

  I’m okay with a lot of trash-talking, most of the time it gets me pumped enough to turn my game around. But bringing my girl into this? Bringing the one thing that has nothing to do with my game and everything to do with my happiness and trash-talking her? Not okay.

  So, when my hands fist at my sides as I take another deep breath, Will whispers, “Stay calm, man, this is what he wants.”

  Obviously, T.J. heard him and when he responded, all of my restraint disappeared.

  “What I want is to feel the magic pussy that seems to have brought Anderson to his kn—”

  Before he finishes my fist lifts and rams itself into T.J.’s face, causing him to drop like a rock to the concrete beneath his feet.

  “What the fuck!” Miller screams as he scrambles to his feet and it’s at that moment that Coach decides to open the back door and the second our eyes connect and he sees the scene before him, I know I’m in deep shit.

  “Anderson, get in here. Now!”

  I nod, looking back at Will who asks if I want him to wait but I just shake my head, knowing I won’t be good company at all after this conversation.

  When I get into the building and make my way into the locker room once more, I notice that Coach is the only one left and instead of going into his office like I expected, he pulls up a folding chair next to him and motions for me to sit.

  It’s another few minutes of sitting in silence before he finally talks. “What is going on with you lately? First your game play took a turn for the worse, it’s gotten better but you still have some work to do…”

  I nod my head, knowing he’s right.

  “And now you’re getting in fistfights with a teammate in the parking lot? What the hell, Josh?”

  I hang my head, hating the disappointed tone in his voice and hating my actions even more. The second my fist connected with Miller’s face, I knew I made a mistake, but I won’t lie and say the sight of him lying there writhing in pain wasn’t just a little bit satisfactory.

  When I say nothing, Coach sits back in his chair and lets out a sigh. “Josh, talk to me. I know something’s up.”

  I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees and dipping my head before I spill everything. My relationship with Harper, the stress of my game going downhill, and everything with T.J. and at first, I don’t think he hears me because he doesn’t say a word. But then he clasps me on the shoulder the way he used to when I was a rookie.

  “I get it, kid. Everything seems to be happening at the same time and it can feel overwhelming but that’s what I’m here for, that’s what Will is for.”

  I give him a look as he smirks.

  “Like I don’t know that you guys are best friends. I’m not blind, Josh.”

  I chuckle, feeling a sense of relief wash over me.

  “I need you to give T.J. a break.”

  My eyes shoot up to meet his which are sympathetic.

  “I know he makes it hard. I know he likes to get under your skin but that’s the kid in him.”

  I nod, understanding but also hating he’s getting a pass for what he said just because he’s a stupid kid.

  “Don’t give me that look, Josh. I will talk to Miller. I will explain that if he continues to talk trash like that he will be disciplined but I will tell you right now, and this stays between us.” His eyes tell me if I utter a word outside this room, I’m a dead man, so I agree. “Management wants to see what he can do, so there will be times where he will be playing, and you won’t be.”

  Fuck, I knew this was coming, something I hate but understand on some level.

  “I can’t promise you that when that happens, I’ll be happy about it.”

  He grins, leaning back in his chair.

  “I wouldn’t expect you to, but it’s the game.”

  He’s right. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. He tells me to go home and get some rest, so I heed his advice and leave, heading to my truck. By the time I get outside, everyone else is gone, including T.J. who I’m guessing is nursing an ice pack to his face and a smile crosses my face. Was it stupid of me to punch him? Absolutely. But I’m going home with a smile on my face, so there’s that.

  13

  Harper

  Once I’m out of bed and ready to leave, I text Mel, asking her to meet me at the gym. She agrees, tells me she’ll meet me there. Just as I go to open the front door, my phone rings and I see it’s Josh, so I stop where I am and answer it.

  “Shouldn’t you be at practice?” I tease, listening to his laugh as I lean against the front door, basking in the sound.

  “Good morning to you too, gorgeous.”

  I can tell he’s in his car from the sounds I can hear in the background, smiling at the thought of him driving and thinking about me.

  “You alone in that car?” I ask, wanting to make sure none of his teammates are listening in.

  “I’m alone, Sunshine, don’t worry.”

  “I wasn’t worried. I just wanted to make sure that no one overheard our conversation.”

  He bursts out laughing and I can’t help but join in.

  “You thinking about saying some inappropriate things to me this morning?” he jokes but my laughter dies when I think about the fact that I haven’t seen his smile in over a week.

  “I miss you…” I whisper, closing my eyes and fighting the heaviness in my chest.

  “Aww, sweetheart, I miss you too. It’s almost over.”

  I nod my head, taking a shuddering, deep breath.

  “Harper. listen to me, Sunshine. I know this part of my job sucks. Trust me, I’ve never hated a road trip more in my life but I have one more series to play in Atlanta and then I’ll be home, okay?”

  “Yeah, I know,” I murmur, realizing this is probably the last thing he needs right now. “God, I’m so sorry. This is probably the last thing you need right now. You need to think about the game today.”

  Josh sighs, like he’s annoyed and for a split second I wonder if I should hang up before he says something I don’t want to hear.

  “Listen to me. You are my girl and that means I want to know what’s going on in that head of yours. That includes when you miss me and when you’re struggling. Got it?”

  “Yeah. But I’m still sorry for dumping all of that on you.”

  “There is nothing to apologize for. What you fail to realize is that all of those things you just said? I feel them too. I miss you like crazy and it’s good to know you’re in the same boat.”

  The smile grows with every second and as I take a deep breath, the heaviness starts to crumble.

  “I do have to go, sweetheart. I just pulled into the stadium.”

  “Okay, good luck.”

  He chuckles low, and we say our goodbyes before I pick up my keys off the small table next to the door and head to the gym.

  The second I walk up to the front doors of the gym, Mel and Henry are outside talking and from the way Henry’s arms are moving, I know something is wrong. The closer I get, they both notice and stop talking, turning toward me. I wouldn’t think anything of it if it weren’t for Henry’s concerned expression and the way Mel’s shoulders slump.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, reaching for the front door and pulling it open.

  “Buttercup, we need to talk, and I think it’s best we stay outside for it.” Henry and Mel share a look as my eyes travel between them, wondering what the hell is going on.

  “Okay, someone needs to start talking before I start to freak out,” I warn, the uneasy feeling rising inside me with every passing second that they stay silent.

  “Honey,” Mel starts. “For the record, I want to remind you that what I’m about to show you isn’t that big of a deal and isn’t the end of the world. It could be much worse.”

  Before I can think of what she could possibly mean, Mel takes the large yellow manila envelope from Henry’s grip and hands it to me. What strikes me first are the big block letters that spell out my first name. Second comes the fact that documents in envelopes lik
e this never mean good news. At least that’s what they teach you on TV.

  I hold it carefully between my hands as I open the top, meeting Henry’s eyes that are filled with pity. My stomach rolls because that look never leads to anything good.

  My fingers take hold of the few pieces of paper from inside the envelope and the moment I see what’s in my hands, every breath I had inside my chest disappears and I see red. My hands start to shake as I try and concentrate on the pictures in front of me.

  This can’t be happening.

  This can’t be real.

  All the photos are from the week before Josh left on his road trip, the one where we were less than decent in an abandoned parking lot. Fuck, these are the types of pictures celebrities are hacked for, and here I am standing on the street outside my gym with my palms filled with them.

  Shit.

  “What the actual fuck,” I whisper to myself, sifting through the photos one by one, hoping I’m dreaming and this isn’t my reality right now. Henry and Mel obviously hear me because they both form a protective circle around me. “How…” I mutter. “Why…” I can’t speak in coherent sentences to save my life right now and I hate it. I hate that these photos are flustering me, I hate the idea that someone took these photos, looked through them and then printed them. It makes my skin crawl.

  Fuck.

  These are naked pictures of me.

  Hard copies, which means that there are digital copies owned by someone who can look at them whenever they want.

  Jesus Christ.

  I flip through the photos once again, one at a time, and cringe as they get worse and worse the more I look. There’s one of Josh with his hand down my pants outside the truck, there’s one where Josh’s hands are in very inappropriate locations, but the kicker? The last photo has my shirt pulled up, breasts exposed as my head is thrown back in ecstasy.

  I crumple the photos in my hand, shoving them back into Mel’s hands. “What the hell am I supposed to do with those?” I ask because I honestly have no idea what I’m supposed to do here. It’s not every day that you get naked pictures of yourself handed to you by your best friend and uncle. “Where did you find them?” Wondering if anyone else has seen them and witnessed me in the throes of an orgasm.

  “Taped to the front door,” Henry says as our eyes meet and there’s a mixture of pity and disappointment in his gaze.

  The cracks in my armor start to widen as the tears start to fall.

  “I’m sorry.” I don’t know who I’m apologizing to, Henry or myself, but all I know is that this is all my fault. “I should have known dating Josh was going to grab attention. I just never thought it would be this type of press,” I admit, wiping away the stray tears from my cheeks. “What am I going to do?” I ask as Mel hands the crumpled pieces of paper to Henry as Mel wraps her arm around my shoulder.

  “Well, you need to talk to Josh.”

  I hold up my hand, shaking my head. Nope, that is the last thing I want to do.

  “No, I’m not involving him in this.”

  Mel freezes and lets me go, shifting so she’s facing me and looking me straight in the eyes.

  “Harper, I know you’re feeling pretty vulnerable right now, but you need to think rationally for a second.”

  I shake my head as she takes my shoulders and shakes me lightly.

  “Josh deserves to know that these pictures exist. You know this. You know this affects him just as much as it affects you.”

  I know she’s right, but I can’t even begin to understand what telling Josh would be like. I don’t even want to think about it.

  “No, having that kind of burden on him when he’s already having a hard season… I can’t do that to him. He’s already stressed enough, and he doesn’t need this added on top of it all.” These pictures could ruin his entire career, these pictures could ruin one of the best things in my life right now and I’m not ready to let that happen.

  “Fine,” Mel grunts while shaking her head. “I will support you in this but let me tell you one thing; if I see these pictures on any gossip sites, I will tell him myself. Whether you want me to or not. That man deserves to know these exist no matter how awful it feels.”

  I nod, not saying a word because I know she’s right, but the pit in my stomach is ruling my decision-making skills right now, and I need to figure out how to deal with this.

  “Fine,” I mutter, opening the door to the gym and making my way into my office, ignoring all the weird looks and eyes on my back. I can’t get the sinking feeling to leave the pit of my stomach and as much as I wish I could just pick up the phone and talk to Josh, I can’t bother him with this. I’ll fix it.

  I have to.

  I spend the next few hours going through the never-ending piles of paper on my desk when Mel pokes her head through the doorway. I motion for her to come in and sit in her chair that will now always remind me of Josh, no matter who sits in it.

  “How’re you doing?” she asks but I just shake my head because there is no accurate way for me to describe the storm raging inside me right now.

  “Okay, I guess?” I glance up at the ceiling, avoiding her gaze. “I really don’t know where to go from here,” I admit as she gives me a sad smile. All of a sudden, I remember the reason I texted her this morning and I shoot out of my chair.

  “I totally forgot I texted you this morning for a reason!”

  She sits up straight, her eyes widening.

  “Oh ya! I completely forgot about that,” she says as I get up and wave Henry into my office since he was listening outside my door anyway.

  “When you told me about your studio, I spent the next few days trying to figure out a way for me to help.”

  Mel shakes her head, confused.

  “We have some spare space upstairs that is up for grabs, and I’ve talked to Henry, and we’ve decided we’re going to transform it into your own dance studio.” There’s a deafening silence for a good minute, and I wonder if I broke my best friend.

  “Are you kidding me? Please tell me you’re not kidding…” she whispers, getting up and looking between Henry and me.

  I promise her it’s real as she runs over and wraps her arms around me.

  “You’d do that for me?”

  I shake my head, wondering how she doesn’t know I would do just about anything to make sure she’s happy.

  “You’re sure it’s not too much? Obviously, I love the idea but are you sure?”

  I nod again as she looks toward Henry who is just standing there like a proud father.

  “This is something I can give you, please let me do this.”

  She wipes a stray tear from her eye as Henry clears his throat and Mel laughs, turning to hug him as well.

  “Are you sure about this, Henry? I know Harper thinks she runs the place…”

  “Hey!” I yell mockingly.

  Mel grins at me but then looks back at Henry. “I need to know that you’re okay with this.”

  Henry looks down toward my best friend and for a split second I wonder if he only agreed to do this because he knows it will make me happy, but when he smiles and his eyes glimmer, I know everything is fine.

  “My sweet girl,” he says, laying his hand on her shoulder. “This is fine with me. Harper has some great ideas and I think it will be a win-win for me in the end. And if I’m honest, a happy Harper is always best.” He winks in my direction as I roll my eyes at him.

  “Go on, old man, leave the details to us.”

  He lets go of Mel and walks out of my office and into the gym to make his hourly rounds. I turn and hold out my hand, leading us out onto the gym floor and toward the back stairs.

  “Come on, let’s go check out your new studio.”

  “You have no idea how happy I am about this. I’m so grateful for you and Henry, but as your best friend, I want to make sure that you’re okay now that you know about the pictures.”

  The tension returns to my shoulders as the reality of what happened earlier co
mes crashing back and I know that everything just got a whole lot more complicated.

  I squeeze Mel’s hand as we make our way up the stairs and I take my keys out and open the door to what looks like an old apartment. Am I okay after finding out someone followed me and took pictures of me without me knowing? Of course not. It feels like someone broke into my apartment and rummaged through my underwear drawer. The need to scrub myself clean is so strong that I know the feeling of filth seeping into my skin will last a long time. I wish I regretted what we did, I wish I didn’t love the memory we created in the front seat of his truck, but I did love it. I love being in the moment with him, feeling his hands on me, and seeing the pure need in his eyes. I loved that he needed me just as badly as I needed him, and he couldn’t wait to get me home. But what I do hate is that the memory is now tainted with the existence of these pictures.

  “I guess I just can’t get over the fact that someone followed us and watched us have sex, I mean, how perverted is that?”

  Mel shivers next to me. “Do you have any idea who it could be?” she asks as I shake my head.

  The first person to come to mind was Cole. He hasn’t made it a secret how much he hates that I’m dating Josh. He always seems to be around where we are, but even now I don’t think he would stoop that low.

  “Was there a note?” I ask as Mel shakes her head.

  As we step through the door and look around, I turn to Mel. “Do you really think I should tell Josh?” My head keeps telling me it’s easier to not tell him anything but then my heart wants to spew the truth to him the second I talk to him.

  “Harper, as much as I love you, you can be really stupid sometimes. This shouldn’t be something you’re debating you need to tell him.”

  I close my eyes. Picturing his face when I tell him, I shudder at the thought.

  “I don’t know how I would even start that kind of conversation. I don’t want this to ruin what we have going on, and that scares me.”

  “He still deserves to know.”