Page 76 of The Best Player
“Sure, man.” He moved his gaze from the road to the rearview mirror, concern in there. “This about your family?”
“No, not exactly.”
“What are you talking about, TJ?” Zade asked, his voice growing stronger. He turned around from the front seat and widened his eyes at me, trying to convey some message, but I ignored it.
“Let’s wait until we get back.”
“Sure,” Aaron said, unaware of Zade’s odd behavior. I flipped Zade off, took a deep breath and tried to figure out the best thing to say. I loved her. I wanted to be with her and I wouldn’t hurt her. She was perfect for me, and I thought I could be right for her. The biggest hurdle was not telling Aaron…fucking up our relationship on the field, and it was a risk I had to take. It was stupid to assume I didn’t have room for her and baseball. Zade made it work. Aaron, too.
He pulled into the driveway and took his sweet-ass time getting out of the car. Zade lingered, and stood right in front on the porch with his arms crossed. “Talk outside, boys. It’ll be better for all of us.”
“Dude, why?” Aaron asked, but Zade pointed to me and when Hilly finally picked up my stress, he narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck’s going on?”
“I’m fucking in love with your sister.”
Silence. The only sound came from birds chirping, cars driving by from the busy street blocks away and my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
I continued, slurring my words together to ease the severity. “I want to be with her, just her, and I’m pretty sure she wants to be with me, too.” There. I’d said it. My chest heaved in anticipation of what he would say. Or he could punch me, fight me, hate me. I waited. Zade waited, but Aaron remained silent for a good minute before he smiled.
“You’re joking, right?”
“No.” I remained five feet away from him and kept my distance. “We didn’t mean for it to happen, trust me. But it did and the reason we aren’t together is because I’m a dumbass. But I’m going to earn another chance with her.”
Aaron ran his hand under his jaw, the smile no longer on his face, and his razor-sharp gaze darkened. “What if I say absolutely fucking not?”
“One punch.”
“Wait, what?” he asked, clenching his teeth.
“You get one punch, anywhere on my body.” I moved toward him. “I should’ve told you when I realized it was real. Zade convinced me it was a terrible idea?—”
“Zadeknew?” he fired back, glaring at our third roommate, who looked unamused at our conversation. “You knew he was fooling around with mysister and didn’t say a goddamn word?”
“Don’t bring me into this. I’m here to make sure you fucking idiots don’t injure yourself before our games next week. That’s it.” He held up his hands and scowled. “If I can say anything…it’s that I didn’t know it was more than a hook-up.That’swhat I thought was a terrible idea.”
“You were hooking up with my sister? In our fucking house? With me there?” Aaron asked, his words getting louder each second, like a dam was about to break. “I’ll kill you.”
“I told you, one punch. But it doesn’t matter. I love her. I’ll treat her right. And I think she loves me too. We get each other. She fills that missing piece and I don’t care if you don’t like it.” The more I spoke, the more I felt it. The truth. Her being the piece.
“Fine.”
“Great.”
He moved fast, reared back his right arm into a fist and collided it with my face. I froze, forcing myself not to duck outof the way when his flesh hit mine. It felt like a fucking bomb went off on my right cheek, my skull pounding as the wave of his punch ricocheted through my skull. I stumbled, holding my head in my hands as I fell to the ground. This was worse than a hangover.
So much worse.
Like eighteen semi-trucks had rolled over my face.
“Dude, you good?” Aaron asked. I wasn’t sure how much time had gone by, because my brain was swimming. It could’ve been a minute, or thirty, but I blinked a couple of times before finding my bearings.
“That hurt worse than I imagined.”
“No shit. I didn’t mean to get you right in the face. I was just aiming for something and fuck… Let’s get you some ice.” He pulled me up from the ground and clapped me on the back. “One punch was a good idea. I feel better.”
“Gladyoufucking do.”
“I’m not the most approachable person. I’ve been working on that. I wish you would’ve told me earlier, but now that I hit you and got some aggression out, it kinda makes sense.”
