Page 3 of Under Pressure

After she passed five years ago, I finally took the leap to open this place in her memory. All the greens and browns remind me of her and the home I escaped to growing up.

Turning my head while my espresso shot drips out, I smile at the small picture of her I’ve propped on the counter. The near-booger-green frame around it was Callie’s idea, and one that I nearly vetoed before reluctantly accepting. I stare at the stilled memory and ignore the familiar clench of my chest.

With a rough clearing of my throat, I slide my cup to the counter and dispose of my ground beans.

“It’s the start of a new day, Quinny,”she’d always say.“Keep your eyes in front of you. Even one glance behind you is enough to trip.”

I’ve never managed to do that. Not the way she could or Callie does.

I steal glances at the past because it motivates me. It encourages me to make tough choices to achieve the goals that would otherwise seem out of reach. I refuse to go back to the way things used to be.

And that’s not something I’m prepared to change. Not then and certainly not now.

Sorry, Nan.

2

I blowout a gruff exhale and fall onto my back, releasing the tension in my core.

Sweat clings to my skin as I lick my salty upper lip and grin at where my teammate Kellan Pike is curling a forty-pound dumbbell a few feet away from me. I’m pretty sure the right fielder gets off on beingslightlybigger than me, making him the biggest guy on the team. We both know that if I tried hard enough, I could take him.

Most likely.

Can’t say I’d want to test that, though. Especially not when he’s got that Hulk look in his eyes and swollen biceps the size of Wes’ thighs.

Speaking of the catcher, he isn’t in the gym. He was here earlier, tucked away in the batting cages, working on the swing that’s earned the team several homers so far this season. We’re only three months into it now, but he’s threatening to take the lead from Kellan. I’m counting on him to do exactly that.

Now, he’s off doing some family thing that had him all tense and snappy yesterday.

“Careful you don’t blow a blood vessel with all that weight, big boy. It would be a shame to see you trapped in the dugouttonight so you couldn’t use Wes’ absence to sneak in a few extra home runs,” I poke.

Without waiting for an answer, I link my fingers behind my head and curl my body toward my bent knees again, starting another set of crunches. The burn is instant as my muscles contract viciously.

He swaps the dumbbell to his other arm and laughs. “Coming from the guy who only plays every few days. Are you sure you should be here today and not resting in a fluffy bed with your arm wrapped in a silk sleeve or some shit?”

“A silk sleeve? I like the sound of that.”

“Yeah, I bet you fucking do,” he drawls, spreading his bare, hairy-as-all-hell legs wider as he changes his stance.

I shake my damp hair out a bit and start tapping my elbows to my knees, going diagonally. “Has anyone ever told you that you don’t wear jealousy well? It ages you. Gives you more wrinkles than one of those dogs with the squishy faces.”

“A pug?”

I jostle a shoulder. “Sure.”

“I don’t look like a pug, asshole.”

“You do right now.” I drop back to the mat beneath me and point at his face, moving my finger in the air like I’m tracing a bunch of lines that don’t actually exist. “Look in the mirror.”

He scowls, his laid-back demeanour faltering as he ignores me and drops the weight onto its rack with a loud clang. I try to hide my grin while I roll onto my stomach and prop myself up on my forearms. With him behind me, I stare at a spot on the black floor and lift myself into a plank position.

“I’m going to beg Roman to get rid of you in a trade,” he threatens.

My chest shakes with a weak, garbled laugh. “You love me too much to see me go.”

The burn in my abs from earlier pales in comparison to now. Every inch of my chest is on fire as I dig the toes of my sneakers harder into the ground and clench my teeth, bearing down. Idon’t time myself anymore. It’s pure feeling now. I go until I physically can’t anymore.

My fingers curl into my palms, and I suck in barely controlled breaths to steady myself.