Winning Streak

by Alice Ward

  Crack!

  The ball came off the bat like a damn rocket, sailing just above our second baseman’s head. Center was hustling, and I pressed my cleat to my base, waiting for whatever shit came sailing my way. It was a damn fine throw, but Walker tagged the base a step before it wedged inside my glove.

  Shit.

  One out. Man on first. We can handle this.

  “Girlfriend’s got some nice titties,” Walker snorted as he removed his batting gloves and stuck them in his pocket. I ignored him, or tried to. “Pretty mouth too.”

  I gritted my teeth as Seth wound up again, and Walker shuffled farther from the base. I was ready — cleat on base, glove extended to pick that bastard off. Instead, Seth followed through with the pitch, and Walker headed for second.

  Crack!

  It was a grounder, but Ace picked it up. With a quick turn, he whipped it to second.

  “Safe!”

  Fuck.

  Second turned and found my glove, but it was too late.

  “Safe!”

  One out. Man on first and second. We can still handle this.

  Glancing back into the stands, Eliana was still smiling and talking. Katrina was gone, and a few other women were staring at their phones, some with a hand over their mouths.

  Focus!

  Getting back into pick-off position, I watched Seth glance over at me. He turned and threw. It was perfect, right at my feet, and I got my glove down just an inch before my man dove back and touched base.

  “Out!”

  That was better. Two outs. Man on second. This game was ours.

  Another glance up, and more and more people were staring at their phones. I was staring right at her when Eliana looked down at the row of people in front of her. She leaned forward, her face a mask of growing horror as she reached for the phone in front of her.

  No, baby. Don’t look.

  Crack!

  Agony flared in my thigh as the ball came off the bat at lightning speed. I hadn’t even seen it. Didn’t even know where it had gone after it clipped me. All I knew was that I was on the ground, two runners heading toward home, and the woman I loved staring blankly.

  We’d just lost.

  Everything.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Eliana

  In one moment, things felt normal. I was watching my man protect his base at the end of an exciting game. The next… it all fell apart.

  All it took was a glance down at the woman’s phone in front of me. I’d only seen it for a split second, but I’d known. The bodies. The movements. Strawberry blonde hair.

  I’d leaned forward for a better look, needing to see if this was an old video or something new.

  It was new.

  Horribly new.

  It was Kane and me in his kitchen.

  Reaching for the phone, I grabbed it out of the woman’s hand just as a ball cracked against a bat. There was a loud gasp from the crowd, then screams of “get it” and “throw.” But I wasn’t paying attention. I was watching Kane’s face move between my legs.

  “Oh no.”

  It was Zoe, and she snatched the phone from my hand. “Kane’s hurt,” I heard her say from a distance. I looked up, and he was on the ground, another player behind him scrambling for a ball. A runner touched home, tying the game, with another closing in.

  Finally, the right fielder scooped up the ball and shot it to home, but not in time.

  “Safe!”

  Kane’s winning streak was over. So much was over.

  I wasn’t his good luck charm anymore.

  I met his eyes as he sat there, looking as numb as I felt. Hands hooked under my arms, pulling me up, but I didn’t want to go. Or stay. I didn’t know.

  As I was pulled down the row of seats, Kane pushed himself up as trainers surrounded him. He shook them off and started limping toward the dugout.

  “What’s happening?”

  The question came from Nana, and I looked back to watch Marsha holding the older woman’s arm as they moved up the few steps to the suite. “I don’t know,” Marsha answered, her eyes meeting mine.

  In the box, Katrina Delaney rushed over to me but stopped when she was only a few feet away. “You know?” I guessed my knowledge was written all over my face.

  Sinking into a chair, I dropped my face in my hands as I absorbed this latest intrusion.

  How?

  It was one thing for an old boyfriend to hide a camera and record our intimate encounters. It was completely another for Kane to also be involved.

  The door burst open, and the sound of cleats on concrete rang as Kane burst into the room. “What happened?” he demanded. When no one said anything, he raised his voice, “What happened!”

  Katrina moved first, not answering him, but instead asking everyone who was still skulking around to leave the room. It took a few minutes for the wives and girlfriends to scurry out. Some shooting me looks of sympathy, some just staring in wide-eyed surprise, not sure how to react.

  When there was only Kane, Nana, Marsha, Zoe, and me left, Katrina addressed the man who looked ready to explode.

  “There’s a new video.”

  “No fucking shit.” He limped toward her, favoring his right leg, his hand stuck out.

  “Kane, this isn’t the same as before. This is…” She shook her head as he grabbed the phone from her hand.

  He hit play, and I watched him watch the two of us together. His face registered the same shock I’d felt as he muttered, “How?”

  His eyes blazed as he looked up at me. “Did you do this?”

  Shock made me mute, so I could only shake my head.

  “Did you? You seem to be the common denominator in these videos, Eliana.”

  “Kane Bartholomew!”

  He turned on his grandmother. “Don’t you Kane Bartholomew me,” he roared.

  “That’s enough!” The voice came from the doorway, and I recognized the man as the team’s owner, Rhett Hamilton.

  Marsha wrapped the older woman in her arms, and Kane looked ashamed. “Nana, I’m sorry.” He looked at me. “I’m sorry, I just don’t understand.”

  I was still shaking my head. I didn’t understand either.

  In abject misery, I felt the fangs of despair settling into me, biting and sucking my spirit greedily, draining me of hope. When I was young, I was terrified of vampires, of how they looked so normal until they opened their mouths. As an adult, I realized there were creatures much more terrifying than those who avoided the light. Creatures who hovered in the shadows, ready to leap when you weren’t looking.

  Humans.

  A phone pinged, and Katrina grabbed hers from Kane, dread on her face. “Google alerts,” she muttered, then “Fuck!” Stomping her foot, she pulled her arm back, winding up like she was going to throw her phone.

  Kane grabbed her wrist, then the phone, and Katrina turned away.

  “Show me,” I whispered, then cleared my throat and said it again, louder this time.

  His face tight, Kane limped over to where I sat. Zoe moved, and he took her place and held the phone between us.

  I tapped play.

  This time, we were in his bedroom, and I was riding him on his bed.

  “How?” we said simultaneously, and I knew my face was crimson. It had been bad enough when it was only me, but now him?

  “Your private investigator is here.” It was Rhett, and we both looked up to see a middle-aged man in shorts and a polo. He didn’t look very PI, but he held out a card as he approached.

  He introduced himself as Paul Beck. “I came to the game to see if I could locate anyone paying undue attention to you or Eliana,” Paul explained. “I have both your names in my alerts and got the ding when the video hit. I stayed back, watching the crowd to see if I noticed anyone looking smug.”

  “Did you?” I whispered.

  “No, I didn’t. I’d have the fucker in a headlock if I had.”

  I heard Nana mutter, “Good.”

  Kane mus
t have heard it too because he turned to his mother. “Do you mind taking Nana back?”

  “I do not want to leave this conversation, Kane Bar—”

  “Nana, please. It was bad enough when this was only about Eliana, but… I know you don’t want to see me.”

  Nana’s eyes widened. “You? See you do what?”

  Kane reddened. “Nana,” he said slowly. “Please don’t make me spell it out.”

  “Oh!” She looked directly at me. “Well, nobody told me anything, so how was I supposed to know? But I want to stay anyway. Who do you think changed your diapers?”

  “The nanny.”

  She glared at him. “Well, I supervised. And then you went through that naked phase when we couldn’t keep clothes on you.”

  “Nana…”

  “Well, it’s true. You’d just whip off your clothes and streak around no matter where we were. And how old were you when I caught you and that girl skinny-dipping in my pool?”

  “Nana!”

  I watched the dear woman give herself a mental shake. “Oh yes, sorry. But the point was that I’ve seen you in all your naked glory many times.”

  “Mom…” Kane whined, sounding like a little boy.

  Marsha stood up. “Let’s go. I don’t think they want parental units around for this delicate conversation.”

  When Nana finally stood up with a loud “hmph,” Kane nearly sagged in his chair.

  No one said a word until they were safely out the door.

  “Well then,” the private investigator began, “I can also report that I’ve located the address of Brett Southerland based on the information you provided me last night.”

  I glanced over at Kane. I didn’t know he’d done that already.

  “And?”

  “He still lives in New York proper. He’s a PE teacher for an elementary school. Coaches Pee Wee Football. Usual stuff for college football players who don’t make it pro.”

  I cringed as I thought about him being around all those children.

  “I’ll be heading out there tomorrow to case the place, get pictures and any evidence I can. I’ve been in contact with the cybersex crimes unit of the FBI, and they’re very interested in your case. You’ll probably be receiving a call or visit from them.”

  I finally found my voice. “But that’s for the videos from when I was in college. What about the…” I looked at Kane, and the muscles in his jaw popped. “What about the videos from recently?”

  Paul nodded. “I need inside your apartment, Kane. Based on camera angle for the videos, we should be able to locate the source.”

  Kane stood back up, much more slowly than usual. I grabbed his arm. “Are you okay?”

  Gently, he stepped away, and my hand dropped to my side. “Yeah. Let me go change, and we’ll get out of here. I want this figured out as soon as damn possible.”

  Without another glance at me, he limped out.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Kane

  Fury flowed like lava through my veins, burning every part of me. I was afraid to touch or even look too closely at Eliana, thinking I might scald her with just a glance.

  Why?

  How?

  Who?

  The questions tapped against my brain, like the drip-drip-drip from a faucet, threatening to drive me crazy.

  Back in the locker room, most of the guys were already gone. I kicked off my cleats and pulled off my hat, throwing it against the wall. The shirt was next, then pants. That’s when I finally got a good look at my thigh. The large bruise was already black. Deep. Nasty. Spreading. I might have only been hit with an object just a couple inches wide, but this bruise was already easily double that size.

  I stared at it. It was a reminder of how I’d lost focus. Of how I’d cost my team a game. Me. I’d done that, because I’d let my dick control my brain.

  “Let’s look at that.”

  I turned to find the team physician standing in the hall. “It’s okay,” I muttered, but he only crossed his arms over his chest.

  Exhaling deeply, I removed my cup and pulled on some basketball shorts before following him to the treatment room where I knew a bag of ice was waiting.

  “It’s deep. The bone is probably bruised too. Need to do a quick x-ray to rule out a fracture. You’re lucky it didn’t hit your knee.”

  “It isn’t fractured.”

  He just stared at me until I followed him to the x-ray room and climbed onto the table for a couple of shots.

  “No fracture,” he said after examining the image on the screen, “but be on the lookout for signs of a clot. You need to come in for twice a day PT.”

  “Doc, we’ll be on the road the next five days.”

  He peered at me over his glasses. “Correction, the team will be on the road. You’ll be in here twice a day for physical therapy.”

  “Doc!” I shot off the treatment table, nearly staggering when my right thigh took my full weight.

  “Kane. You’re a first baseman. By tomorrow, your thigh will be twice that size. You won’t be able to squat, and your agility will be shit. Do you want your team to suffer because of your ego?”

  Fuck.

  Dropping a bag of ice on my thigh, he attached it with an ace bandage before peering up at me again. “Heard about your troubles. Sorry to hear about it. The internet is a wonderful and a terrible tool.”

  “Yeah, the entire situation is fucked. Sorry, Doc.”

  “Heard worse.” He paused and then took the glasses off and tucked them into his jacket pocket. “Kane, I know you’re probably hurting and embarrassed by all this, but let me tell you that you’re probably only feeling about a fraction of what your girlfriend is feeling. I know it’s the twenty-first century, but some things are slow to change. One of those things is how we judge women opposed to men, especially sexually.”

  I felt like I was having the birds and bees talk with my dad all over again.

  “You, as the man, will be cheered for having sex. She, on the other hand, will be labeled as a whore. So, you remember that when you go to her tonight. She’s hurting in a way you’ll never face or completely understand.”

  Doc’s words took some of the steam from the anger hovering below the surface. He was right. I’ll get high fives, and Eliana will get judged.

  This would most likely never affect me from a career standpoint. I was still a Beast. I was still going to be the CEO of Steele Global one day. This was a blip on my radar whereas Eliana’s entire career could be tarnished. Hell, she might have trouble being accepted in veterinarian school if the admission officers googled her name. And they would.

  Damn.

  Heading back to the locker room, I pulled on a t-shirt and hoodie, skipping the shower until later. Stuffing my feet into some shoes, I kept the ice bag on and headed out to find Eliana and Zoe.

  I heard them before I saw them, and I stopped so as not to interrupt their conversation.

  “I’m sure he hates me now,” Eliana said in a low voice. “I would hate me if I were him.”

  “Stop,” Zoe snapped. “How are you to blame in any of this? You’re a victim too, El. Both of you are. Stop taking the blame for everything in your life.”

  “It’s just driving me crazy trying to figure this out. And I hate putting Kane in the middle of this.”

  Zoe snorted. “From what little I could see on that video, Kane kinda jumped in the middle, and he didn’t look like he’d been dragged there either.”

  There was a slap and an “ouch.” I didn’t need to see the two to know what happened.

  “I don’t know,” Eliana said, her voice dropping a bit lower. “Do you know what worries me the most?”

  “What?”

  “Kane is such a good person. I’m afraid he might try to stick with me out of some sense of obligation. And not just for his grandmother. I mean, think about how crappy it would look if he up and dumped me after this. So, I think he’ll stay, at least for a while.”

  Eliana sounded so miserabl
e that I almost went to her then, wanting to assure her that I would stay because I cared.

  I heard someone sigh, and I thought it was Zoe. “You still don’t get it, do you?” There was a short pause, and I imagined Eliana shaking her head. “The people in your life are lucky to be in your life. You’re the best friend, the best person I’ve ever known.”

  “Don’t you see? None of this would have happened if he hadn’t tried to save me from Alize at brunch that day. That sense of honor snowballed into me being his fiancée and then agreeing to a wedding date, and now this…”

  “He followed you, remember? He sat down with you, remember? He asked you to the gala, remember? He asked you to marry him, remember? You didn’t grab him by the throat and make him do anything. This was out of control for you too.”

  There were sniffs and movement, and I decided it was time to interrupt. Then Eliana spoke again. “I love him, Zoe, but I think it’s best if I let him go. His future is so big, so bright, I’ll only be like a dark fog hovering around him.”

  Another sigh. “Oh, El. Please don’t do something that drastic yet. If you love him, fight to be with him. Don’t run at the first hint of trouble. You deserve him, and he deserves you. Promise me you’ll wait to decide. Try to find out why this is happening and who is responsible before tossing both of your chances of happiness away. Because, El… I’m pretty sure he loves you too.”

  “Kane?” I whipped around as fast as my bum leg would let me to see Katrina strolling toward me at full speed, her hand tucked into Todd Morris’s hand. “I’ve got security at the players’ entrance. Where’s Eliana?”

  There were clicks of heels behind me, and I turned to see the two women rounding the corner, Eliana’s eyes wide with surprise. “Have you been there long?”

  Scrubbing my face with my hands, I admit, “Just a couple minutes. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  Eliana blushed from her chest to her roots. “Oh… and you…?” I stepped toward her, and she got sidetracked by the limp and ice pack strapped to my thigh. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

  “Heard you’re out for the road trip,” Todd said, and Eliana’s hand flew to her mouth. “Damn ball came off that bat a thousand miles an hour.”