Page 6 of Triple Threat
He looked up and gave me the same blinding smile, but this time, it didn’t reach his eyes. As I kept staring back at him, his features fell.“My agent. He’s pretty pissed at me right now.”
“About the game?”
“Among other things.” Jace grimaced. He placed the phone face down on the counter. “Doesn’t help that he’s my dad.”
“What?”
He shifted back in the seat, running his hands over his thighs. “Yup. We don’t have the best father and son relationship, especially when I don’t perform on the field.”
Jace’s eyes darkened, and my chest tightened. I had no idea how his shoulders held so much weight. This man was a major league baseball player, and I was a nobody—a person drowning in her own life. I was the last person who should dole out any advice.
As soon as that expression flooded his face, he pushed it away, pasting on the same grin. He leaned in closer to me. “What do you want to eat later?”
“Eat?”
“Yeah,” he grinned. “Remember, the whole reason I’m here? Not waiting out here for my health, new girl.”
I flinched, almost dropping the glass at my feet, and heat flooded my cheeks. The entire time we were in that back room, it was hard to ignore Jace’s presence. I’d tried to ignore the way his eyes tracked my every movement, scrutinizing each of my facial features, ignore the ache inside my chest, begging me to get closer to him.
And I would have kept up that wall between us, at least until he spoke so honestly to me. It was the biggest aphrodisiac. If he’d kept up the cocky smirk and the impenetrable façade, I could have brushed him off as another jackass. But those dark cracks showed the parts he kept hidden from the rest of the world. It called out to the loneliness deep in my chest, the one that kept me up late into the night, wondering if it would ever fade.
For most of my life, it had just been my mom and me. My dad took off when my mom found out she was pregnant and never bothered to come back and meet me. Chelsea had also been there, more sister than friend, but it wasn’t the same bond I had with my mom. No one could ever replace her. Living without her was like living with an open wound, one time might not heal.
I cleared my throat, forcing away the coming tears. “You should go. I already told you, there’s no need to thank me. It was my fault you got hurt in the first place.”
Jace’s smile faded away, and he reached out across the bar. When I flinched, he pulled back but tightened his fist at his side. “That came out wrong. I’m here because Iwantto be here. Besides, it’s interesting to watch you work.”
My spine straightened. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “Never mind, forget I said anything.”
I leaned my elbows on the edge of the bar. “Tell me, Jace. What do you think you’ve learned about me?”
He searched my eyes before shifting closer. Our hands almost touched across the surface, close enough that the heat radiating off his skin collided with my own. “You’re confident behind the bar, but a little rusty. You keep checking your phone when people ask for mixed drinks.”
I snorted. “That’s not uncommon.”
“True,” he muttered. “But everyone else has been here for a while, so they act a certain way when the VIPs roll in. They flirt, try to get tips, do everything to make the customers feel special. You’re different—kind, but only to a point. The minute the conversation turns personal, you shut them down.” He shifted closer, lowering his voice so no one else heard him. “And why is that, Kins?”
The breath left my lungs, feeling too exposed. “Maybe I like it that way.”
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “But I think it’s more than that. Like you’re not interested in being a part of the team.”
“Is that such a bad thing?” I turned to grab another glass, hiding the pink that lined my cheeks. Now that Jace had sobered up, he saw a little too much, more than I wanted him to see.
“It can be,” Jace said. “It’s got to get lonely, keeping everyone at arm’s length, not letting them get too close.”
He spoke as if he knew the same struggle, knew what it was like to want to let people in, yet to be unable to move past that fear. Suddenly, my skin became too tight, and my heart pounded louder in my chest.Too exposed, too vulnerable. Everything I hated being. This man—this stranger—had the audacity to point out my insecurity as if he were picking food off the menu. My senses overwhelmed me, and I needed to get out of this room. Away from Jace, away from his too-knowing stare.
After I lifted off the bar, I shook my head. “Go back to your team, Jace. I’m not your problem to solve.”
At the endof the night, I closed the register with a loud groan. Every part of my body hurt: my hands, my feet, and certainly my head. Hunger pangs twisted through my stomach, screaming at me to eat something, considering the last thing I’d consumed was an old granola bar at the beginning of my shift.
The thought of food made me think of Jace, wondering where he’d gone after I brushed him off earlier, but his comments cut deeper—deeper than they should have. I wasn’t trying to have an edge with everyone around me, but there was no use opening up to anyone else. Grief had turned me into the worst version of myself, bitter and angry at the world. Not to mention, I didn’t belong in this city, not anymore. It wasn’t home without mymom—New York might not be everything I dreamed, but at least every corner didn’t remind me of her.
It was for the best that Jace left. If he’d stuck around, he’d realize I wasn’t worth the effort. My head was barely above water, and no one else should have to drown alongside me.
I nodded to Cade as he headed out of the locker room while I entered it, but before he could leave, I reached out and placed my hand on his arm. “Thank you for all of your help tonight.”
