Spencer (The Ninth Inning: Season Three #8)

by Lindsay Paige

  “Well, I’ve had a wonderful time, but I have to do some work.” I pass off Grant to Sofia, hug and kiss my mother, and even hug Tricia, and shake Martin’s hand, telling them I hope they enjoy their visit.

  When I get into the car, I tell Larry to drive around before taking me home. He does and all I do and stare out the window at the night sky.

  Spencer and I are alike. We have a great time together, and it’s not just sex. He makes me laugh, seems to be concerned when I’m worried, and there’s something about a guy who takes care of his mom the way he does.

  Have I fallen for Spencer?

  ***

  “WHAT’S GOING ON with you and Harmony?” Mom asks the next morning when we’re out for breakfast.

  “Shouldn’t you be asking if I’m going to bless your marriage to Martin?”

  It’s pretty bad if I’d rather talk about that than Harmony. Martin seems to be okay. That’s the best I have. I can tell how much Mom loves him and can even see that he loves her just as much. That, or he’s putting on one hell of a show. He hasn’t tried to talk to me alone. He hasn’t tried to overly convince me that he deserves my approval. He hasn’t tried to overstep any boundaries. In fact, he’s a quiet guy who seems like he would like me to like him for my mom’s sake, but he almost seems like he’ll marry her anyway. What I like the most about him so far is that he’s given me time alone with my mom. He doesn’t join us for everything, like right now. Martin is having breakfast by himself.

  “Spencer, tell me.”

  Three stupid words. I wonder if anyone ever realized that stupid things leave the mouth in threes. I love you. I like you. Spencer, tell me. Even worse, I don’t have a good enough comeback to make her leave it alone.

  “When we went out for breakfast yesterday and you stepped away?” Mom nods. “Harmony saw us, came over, and called you a two-dollar tramp because she thought I was seeing you behind her back.” Harmony’s reaction makes me wonder if my mom was right. Is she starting to have feelings for me? Every instinct after she blew up at me told me to run as far as I could. I haven’t yet, though, and that confuses me.

  “Has she apologized?”

  I nod.

  “So, what’s the big deal? Surely, you aren’t all twisted up and pissed because she made the mistake of taking me for a tramp?”

  That does irk me, but if Harmony had known she was my mother, she wouldn’t have ever called her that. I don’t know what the big deal is now.

  “I think you should forgive her.”

  “I already have,” I interrupt.

  “I also think you should stop seeing her.”

  I jerk my gaze from my plate up to Mom. “What? Why?”

  “You’re forgetting that I spent time with her yesterday. She seemed bothered by what happened; at least, I’m assuming that’s what was wrong. Something was upsetting her. If you have no real intention other than being her buddy, then you need to end things now because I think she has or is starting to have feelings for you. You won’t be doing her any good by continuing to see her.”

  Shifting in my seat, I poke at my food. Just like that, at her one suggestion, I realize that I do not want to stop seeing Harmony. But what if she’s right? It would be wrong of me to continue fucking her, wouldn’t it?

  “You have feelings for her too,” Mom says quietly.

  I tilt my head. “Mom.”

  “What? You act as if it’s impossible for you to like someone, Spencer.”

  “Excuse me,” a man’s voice interrupts my mom, causing us both to look toward the intruder. My heart stops beating, and I stop breathing. “Well, I’ll be. I can’t believe it’s y’all.”

  “What the fuck do you want?” I spit the words at him as I stand to come nose to nose with the man who hurt us the most. The man who came into our lives and broke both our hearts.

  “Spencer!” Mom chides.

  “I don’t know what you’re doing here or why you thought it would be okay to speak to us, but it’s not. Get the fuck away from us.”

  His eyes are wide, his mouth parted. He’s surprised we hate him? What a fucking idiot! “I just wanted to say hello, Spencer. You both look great, and you’ve done fantastic in life by the looks of it.”

  “You don’t know shit about my life.”

  A soft but firm touch on my arm distracts me. I look down to see my mom. “Let’s take a walk,” she tells me. “It was nice seeing you, Johnny,” she says to him. Mom grabs my arm and leads me away. We head to the register so we can pay, but I keep glancing back into the room at the son of a bitch who had the fucking nerve to speak to us. When we walk outside, Mom pulls me to a nearby bench to sit down. She takes my hand and unclenches my fist. “What was all of that about?”

  I send an incredulous look her way. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Spencer,” she begins softly. “That happened a long time ago.”

  It feels just like yesterday right now. That bastard became a part of our family, only for Mom to find out he was essentially living a double life. Johnny was married with a family of his own. We were his family on the side. It was fucked up. I had to go to the same school with his son, who was the same age as me. The scandal went around the town, and they made my mom out to be a whore. She didn’t know he was married! The town was big enough that not everyone knew everyone else. How was it her fault that he deceived us?

  And now, when he pops in, I’m supposed to have forgiven him because time has passed? Hell no.

  “Did you know he was in Memphis?”

  Mom nods. “Saw it on Facebook.”

  “You’re friends with him on Facebook?”

  “No, but he sent a request awhile back. That’s how I know. Spencer, please tell me it still doesn’t bother you what he did to us. I know it was painful, but we overcame it. Look at us now. He’s on his third or fourth wife by now.”

  I run a hand through my hair. She doesn’t get it. He ruined our lives back then. I squeeze my eyes closed in anger as I remember how I had started calling him Dad shortly before the shit hit the fan. That’s how serious things were. That’s how much he fucked us up. Talking about this with Mom isn’t what I want to do, so I blurt out the one thing that may get me out of it.

  “I need to see Harmony.”

  Mom frowns as her eyebrows pull together. “What?”

  “I need to see Harmony,” I repeat. “Let’s get you back to the hotel. I’ll come pick you and Martin up later.” I stand, grab her hand to pull her up, and start walking without waiting for her to answer. Her mouth opens, but I speak before she can. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, Mom.” Once we’re in my car, I pull out my cell to call Harmony’s main office, not the one at the stadium. Claire answers. “Is Harmony there?”

  “Spencer? Yeah, she’s here. Do you need to speak with her?”

  “No. Is she busy?”

  “Not at the moment.”

  “What about in the next hour?”

  Claire sounds confused. “Nothing. I mean, she’ll be preparing for a meeting, but—”

  “Keep her schedule free. I’m coming to see her, but don’t tell her.” I don’t know if I will be welcomed at this point.

  “I don’t know, Spencer. I think she’d want me to tell her.”

  “Will you please do this one thing for me, Claire?” I try to keep myself from getting frustrated and pissed. Wouldn’t do me any good to piss off the one person who is the gateway to Harmony while she’s at work.

  “Okay. I won’t tell her.”

  “Thank you.” We hang up as I pull up at Mom’s hotel. I can tell she wants to say something. “We’ll talk later, I promise.” Hopefully, we won’t need to. I lean over to kiss her cheek.

  “We’re talking later,” she says before she opens the door and gets out. As soon as she’s inside the building, I pull away to drive across town to Harmony’s office.

  When Claire sees me, she stands and blocks my way before I can burst into the room. “She’s in a mood. Be nic
e to her.”

  I don’t know what I plan to do, so I just nod. Claire steps out of my way, and I open the heavy wooden door. Harmony doesn’t lift her head as she scans some papers on her desk. “What is it, Claire?”

  The door closes with a thud behind me. Harmony lifts her head at my silence. The pen drops from her fingertips, and she quickly stands. “Spencer, what are you doing here?”

  What am I doing here?

  What in the fuck am I doing here?

  Why is that such a hard question to answer?

  Harmony walks around her desk until she’s in front of me. “Spencer?” I stare into her eyes. No words appear in my head for me to say. I feel her fingers wrap around a set of mine. “Is everything okay?” Her other hand lifts to rest on my chest, and it’s then that I realize I’m breathing heavy.

  I need to say something. Or do something. With my free hand, I grab the back of her neck and pull her to me. My head dips to kiss her. I’ve never had a woman melt into me the way Harmony does just now. Her breasts are pressed against my chest, and I need to feel more of her.

  Reluctantly, I pull away. “One second, darlin’.” I reach behind me to pull open the door and crane my neck. Claire is looking at me with raised brows. “No disruptions.”

  “What? You are really overstepping now, Spencer. You aren’t my boss!”

  “No disruptions, Claire!” Harmony calls out.

  Her cheeks flame red. “Yes, ma’am.”

  I let the door close, turn back to Harmony, and press my lips to hers as I unbutton her blouse. She pulls my shirt over my head. I take the break in kissing to ask, “Desk or wall?”

  “Desk,” she answers. “No one’s fucked me there yet.”

  With a raised brow, I slip my hands under the shoulders of her blouse and let my hands drag it down her arms as I ease it off. “There? Yet? You have someone else fucking you in your office?”

  “Are you going to keep talking about my bad choice of words, or are you going to be the first person to fuck me in my office?”

  That ridiculous question doesn’t need to be answered. I take her hand, grab a throw pillow from one of her chairs, and help Harmony clear off part of her desk before placing the pillow where her ass will be. I stop Harmony when she starts to shimmy out of her skirt and just bunch it up around her waist. She props herself onto her desk. She grabs my belt loops and pulls me closer, kissing me as she undoes the button of my shorts.

  I’ve never needed to fuck her as badly as I need to right now. I slip my hands between her thighs, rubbing and teasing her to get her ready. The second she pulls my cock out, I shoo away her hand to guide myself inside her. A groan from both of us reverberates in our mouths. The fuck is quick as we both climb quickly, and I kiss Harmony the entire time, her long groan smothered by my mouth when she orgasms.

  I rest my forehead against hers as we both take a moment to regain our breathing. When Harmony’s legs fall from my waist, I slowly pull out of her. She tells me there’s a rag in her en-suite bathroom, so I grab that so we can clean ourselves up. Harmony eyes me as we silently get dressed.

  “Mind telling me what that was about?” she asks as she slips her arms into her shirt. I push her hands away and button her up myself.

  “That was my way for showing you that I forgive you.”

  “Bullshit.” She waits for me to respond, but I don’t. When I get to the top button and fasten it, she reaches up and takes my hands. “You looked…off, wild maybe, when you came in. You seemed rattled, Spencer.”

  I stare at our hands. Lifting my gaze to her concerned eyes, I blurt out, “Do you have feelings for me?”

  “No,” she quickly answers, dropping my hands. “Is that what this is about?”

  “No,” I reply as I take a step away to sit in the chair behind her desk. Harmony raises an eyebrow at me before coming to sit sideways in my lap, draping her legs over the arm of the chair.

  “Well? Why are you asking a crazy question like that if it’s not what’s going on?”

  A sudden headache pounds my temples, and I reach up to rub my forehead. Harmony swats my hand away and starts rubbing my temples for me.

  “I don’t have all fucking day, Spencer.” Her impatience is starting to get the best of her.

  I say the first thing that comes to mind. “I needed you. I just needed you is all.”

  “But why?” This time, her voice is soft with a yearning to know the answer. And for some fucking reason, the words just start pouring out.

  “I was having breakfast with my mom, so of course you were brought up. She seems to think you’re starting to like me and have feelings. She also thinks that if you are, I need to break it off since I’m stuck in my ways, and it’s obviously going to end badly. But you aren’t, so we’re fine. Anyway, one of my mom’s old boyfriend’s saw us and came up to us. It pissed me off. He ruined us, and he thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to stop by and say hi?”

  “So, you knew him? Like you knew your mom was dating him?” Harmony asks.

  “Yeah, I knew. He was one of the fuckers that she actually introduced me to. He became part of our family, and then we find out that we’re his second family. He was married with three kids and was cheating on his wife with my mom. I was seven, Harmony. His son was in my class. The other moms whispered about my mom being a whore. He…he was the worst thing that ever happened to us. And you know that despite all that, I used to wish he didn’t have to leave us. I was pissed when I saw him and then Mom wanted to talk about it, and I didn’t want to do that. I dropped her off and came here.”

  Harmony is looking at me like I’m still that heartbroken and confused kid.

  “Don’t look at me like that.”

  She leans forward and gives me possibly the softest, gentlest kiss.

  “Don’t kiss me like that either,” I mutter against her lips.

  “Can I ask a question then?”

  Reluctantly, I nod.

  “He’s why you don’t do relationships, isn’t he?”

  “It’s not just him. I’ve watched my mom cry too many times because something she thought would work out didn’t because some prick would leave. That crazy woman thinks we all have soul mates. She got her heart trampled on way too much. I don’t want to have any part in that process, be it the person doing the hurting or the one getting hurt. I don’t want to do the leaving or be the one left behind. That’s why I don’t do relationships.”

  Before she can respond, we hear some voices outside her door. Harmony doesn’t get a chance to leave my lap before the doors swing open and we hear, “not to be disturbed!” as her father barrels into the room.

  Harmony leaps from my lap, and I stand.

  “No wonder Claire didn’t want me coming in,” he says, leveling a glare at me.

  “What are you doing here, Dad?”

  “Sofia’s in the hospital. I came to pick you up since it’s on the way.”

  “What?” Harmony sways, and I reach out to steady her.

  “She fainted; Blake panicked and took her to get checked out. Come on and let’s go, Princess. I’ll wait out front.” He turns and leaves.

  Harmony seems frozen in place. I grab her cell phone and her purse and place them in her hands.

  “She’ll be okay,” I reassure her. “Come on. I’ll walk you down.”

  “Come with me,” she blurts out once we’re in the elevator.

  “What?”

  “You came into my office, needing me, and I was there for you. Repay the favor.”

  I want to argue because this is a totally different kind of favor, but I don’t. Instead, I nod. Harmony tells her dad that she’s riding with me. Once we know Sofia is okay, I have to get to the field for practice. Blake may have a legit reason to miss, but I don’t. Harmony squeezes the life out of my hand, and I let her.

  Turns out, between stress and missing a meal, Sofia fainted. Blake and her entire family will definitely be watching her more carefully now. No one wants to see anything happen t
o her or the baby. Sofia seems fine and keeps saying so. Hopefully, it’s a one-time thing and it won’t happen again.

  “I have to get going,” I whisper to Harmony.

  She turns to me, nods, and lets go of my hand. I kiss her on the cheek, and then I’m on my way to the field. One thing is clear to me now.

  Harmony lied.

  She does have feelings for me.

  She’s not acting on them, though, so it’s no big deal, right? As long as we keep things as they are, we’ll be fine. Because even though I know I should walk away now and even though I know this can’t possibly end well if she decides to voice her feelings, I can’t walk away from her.

  And I have no idea what that means.

  ***

  “HEIDI, I OWE you big time for staying open for me.” I hug my favorite hair stylist and sit down in the chair.

  “It’s no big deal, Harmony. Carissa is watching Eve for me right now, so I’m good.” She snaps the long black apron around my neck.

  “How is baby Eve?” Sofia told me about Heidi and Jordan’s tragedy with their first baby girl.

  “Well, I believe I have survived colic.” She smiles brightly. “She’s sleeping almost five to six hours at a time. Before it was just a couple hours at a time, and more crying than not. But I’ve loved every moment of it.”

  “I’m so glad.”

  Heidi begins to color in my roots with the deep blonde. She asks me about what it’s like owning the Angels. “Not too bad right now,” I joke. It was in all the papers and news how I walked in and fired prickface. The interim GM is a nice guy, and listens to everything I say. Well, actually he’s been going to Colby about certain things, even though we’ve not announced Colby’s position after he retires yet.

  “Jordan was very pleased it was you who bought the team.” Heidi beams in the mirror.

  “I was too. It was scary as hell at first, but now I’m happy about it.”

  She nods and works the hair dye some more, and I close my eyes to relax a bit. I hate the smell of the dye, but I definitely don’t want my roots showing.

  “Okay, we’ll let that set.” She sets the timer and takes a seat next to me at the next station.